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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Zman Repack Box & Contest - Pack 1: 1988 Donruss

Ok, I'm going to do something fun with these packs that zman40 sent me as a contest winner. There are seven packs that I'm opening that are from the years 1988-1990. Here are the packs:

1988 Donruss
1988 Score
1989 Donruss
1989 Topps
1990 Donruss
1990 Fleer
1990 Score

These packs all suck today, but they didn't back in the day. So, I dug up this:

This is the May 1991 issue of Tuff Stuff with David Robinson on the cover. The bottom is cut off because the magazine is about twice the size of my scanner bed. I'm going to open those 7 packs first and price the cards in that old issue of Tuff Stuff to find out the book value of these cards around opening day in '91.

YOUR MISSION IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT:

Rank the packs from highest total book value to the lowest total book value in 1991 prices. If you think 1989 Donruss will be the best pack, rank it #1. If you think 1990 Fleer will be the worst pack, rank it #7. You get one point for each pack in the correct slot. Simple enough? The person who gets the most points wins. I'll also be asking a question from the Tuff Stuff magazine on each pack rip. The first person to get the answer gets a bonus point. You can make your pick at any time up until right before the last pack is ripped, but I'll dock you a point for each pack I rip after this one.

So what's the prize? A card or cards equal to the total 1991 book value of all the crap out of these packs. The winner gets to choose.

First Bonus Question:

What is the caption on the cover of this magazine?

Ok, here's the '88 Donruss pack rip. Look it over and make your guesses while I take a few minutes to check the prices and scan the cards.

77 Ed Lynch with big wax stain on his face 2¢
427 Greg Harris 5¢
294 Tom Niedenfuer 5¢
163 Alan Ashby 5¢
660 Jerry Royster 5¢
515 Craig Lefferts 5¢
381 Kirk McCaaskill 5¢
248 Fred Lynn 5¢
117 Chris Bosio 5¢
601 Joe Table 5¢
468 Hubie Brooks 5¢
212 Vance Law 5¢
561 Lester Lancaster 5¢
428 Johnny Ray 5¢
295 Robin Yount 35¢
Musial Puzzle 13 14 15 0¢

Total Book Value: $1.02

Hoo boy, this pack was a stinker. Not one card was in the guide, not even Yount! I counted him as a regional star though. The man won two freakin' MVPs and he's stuck in the Minor Star ghetto. What a load of crap. It's not like they didn't have room for him, the magazine is the size of a tabloid newspaper. Here's the three 'best' cards from the pack:

Robin Yount

TOTALLY saved this pack from utter oblivion. A little off center, but what the hell.

Jose Mesa RC

Look at the size of that boy's head. It's like an orange on a toothpick. A virtual planetoid. It has it's own weather system! Hurricane Jheri's about to make landfall! The fact that this is the second best card in the pack is troubling. I see #7: 88 Donruss upcoming in a lot of contest entries.

Hubie Brooks

No matter how dreadful the pack is Hubie's got a positive attitude. He makes me feel better about the whole thing. Thanks, Hubie!

Here's an interesting 1988 Donruss fact from the investment potential section in Tuff Stuff:
If Jeffries, or any of the other 39 cards which were single printed, start to perform, the set will propel even more.

There are single printed cards in this set?? I didn't think anything in this set could possibly be single printed. Maybe sextuple printed instead of octuple printed...

Up next: 1989 Donruss. I'll have it posted at 9:00pm tomorrow. Any contest entries after that time get docked one point. If you have a preference for the pack after that, let me know...

Trivia answer:
Bay Rat gets the first bonus point but recuses himself from the rest of the trivia since he has the magazine. I had a nice chuckle over the "Move Over Wilt" caption, but when you come to think about it, the Admiral had a helluva career. It's not like Olden Polynice is the one supposedly shoving Wilt off his perch.

20 comments:

steveisjewish said...

from worst to first

7 - 88 Donruss
6 - 89 Topps
5 - 90 Donruss
4 - 89 Donruss
3 - 90 Fleer
2 - 88 Score
1 - 90 Score

Jeffrey Wolfe said...

1 89 Donruss
2 89 Topps
3 90 Score
4 90 Donruss
5 90 Fleer
6 88 Score
7 88 Donruss

Bay Rat North West said...

After looking through my old time card porn the cover has:
Move over Wilt

I did not look up the values so here goes:

1 1990 Donruss -Always seemed to be the most expensive back then
2 1990 Score - Full color baby!
3 1990 Fleer - More star cards it seems
4 1989 Donruss - see above
5 1988 Donruss - see above
6 1989 Topps - slackers
7 1988 Score - poor quality

Bay Rat North West said...

And since I have the magazine I won't answer any of those questions about it to keep it real.

night owl said...

I'm too tired to look up the prices, so this is sheer guessery:

1. 1989 Topps
2. 1990 Score
3. 1988 Donruss
4. 1989 Donruss
5. 1990 Fleer
6. 1990 Donruss
7. 1988 Score

Jeffrey Wolfe said...

OMG! I almost forgot that there was a nasty rumor that Donruss short printed the last hundred or so cards in the '88 set! And it just so happened that all the rookie cards were near the back of the set by complete accident of course. I remember me and my friends fighting over Jeffries and Glavines rookies and actually when putting my set together the high numbers did seem hard to pull. Little did we kids know that Donruss wouldn't stop printing the '88 issue until 2004 and that 900 billion cases of this stuff would be buried in Yucca Mountain somewhere near the '82 ET Atari cartridges. "Short print" is relative term when it comes in the context of '88 Donruss mythic overproduction. Ah, sweet memories =)

Jeffrey Wolfe said...

You should open '90 Score next. See if you get a Knoblauch auto. Or a Bo in shoulder pads. Or how bout a Frank or Sosa rookie...

Don said...

1. 90 Score
2. 90 Donruss
3. 90 Fleer
4. 89 Topps
5. 88 Score
6. 89 Donruss
7. 88 Donruss

I will also add this on the 88 Donruss: IIRC there was a rumor about an accident in the warehouse involving a stack of cards in uncut form that were damaged by a forklift operator. Of course the sheets had the Jeffries card on it.

It will be funny if you pull the Black and White Bo card out of the 90 Score pack. I remember when dealers were offering $15 just for that card alone at card shows outside Waco that summer.

dayf said...

'90 Score it is...

Bay Rat North West gets the bonus point just for having the magazine...

Motherscratcher said...

Mesa's head is like sputnik.

1. 1990 fleer
2. 1989 Donruss
3. 1990 Donruss
4. 1989 Topps
5. 1990 Score
6. 1988 Donruss
7. 1988 Score

Anonymous said...

Ugh!! 88 Donruss, I want to HURL!

Anonymous said...

dayf, your contests are toppermost of the poppermost. even if i never know the answers.

zman40 said...

1. 90 Fleer
2. 89 Donruss
3. 90 Score
4. 88 Score
5. 90 Donruss
6. 89 Topps
7. 88 Donruss

deal said...

Got it.

7 1988 Donruss
6 1990 Score
5 1989 Donruss
4 1988 Score
3 1989 Topps
2 1990 Donruss
1 1990 Fleer

good luck with the math

madding said...

1 - 90 Score
2 - 89 Donruss
3 - 88 Score
4 - 90 Donruss
5 - 89 Topps
6 - 88 Donruss
7 - 90 Fleer

I don't remember any crazy 88 Donruss rumors, but there were actually 26 SP cards in the set (to match the 26 MVP bonus cards that were inserted). Some sheets had the MVP cards and others had the base cards. Don't confuse "SP" and rare in this case, of course.

Also, the Knoblauch autos were inserted into a later set, weren't they? Like 1993?

Jeffrey Wolfe said...

nah the '90 knoblauch auto still books for 10 bucks in tuff stuff

Anonymous said...

1. 1990 Score
2. 1989 Topps
3. 1990 Donruss
4. 1990 Fleer
5. 1989 Donruss
6. 1988 Score
7. 1988 Donruss

Patsearcher said...

1 89 Donruss
2 89 Topps
3 90 Donruss
4 90 Score
5 90 Fleer
6 88 Donruss
7 88 Score

MMayes said...

90 Donruss
90 Score
89 Donruss
89 Topps
90 Fleer
88 Score
88 Donruss

Duane said...

7 88 Donruss
6 90 Fleer
5 88 Score
4 90 Donruss
3 89 Topps
2 89 Donruss
1 90 Score


Man I loved the '90 Score back in the day---I got a Knoblauch or Kyle Abbott in every pack it seemed. I wanted Earl Cunningham and Frank Thomas---I got 1 right.