I agree with 1987 for Topps. Topps was still the company everyone wanted, Fleer and Donruss were afterthoughts.
In 1987 Donruss and Fleer were clearly not as popular and not sold nearly as much in big box stores and warehouse clubs. I'd go to Sam's Club and buy 2-3 boxes of 87 Topps, I don't recall them carrying anything else.
I'd be curious to know especially what Fleer's production numbers were compared to Topps, I bet a lot less.
By 1990 everyone had ramped the presses and Score had jumped in along with Upper Deck and Leaf, and from 1990 to 92 or so there was product everywhere. I had a small card shop for a year in a small town, and you really couldn't hardly give Topps away by 1990, they all wanted Leaf or UD.
That was also the time when 87 Fleer rookies (Bonds, Kevin Mitchel and Will Clark) became the desired rookies from the 87 sets, and were much tougher to find in the pre internet days. 88 Fleer was more sought after also than Topps. Glavine's rookie had a definite premium at the time in Fleer, plus the Billy Ripken FF card pushed 88 Fleer to the top.
Just my random ramblings and recollections.
|