Thanks Shawn - 88 or 89 sounds about right. I think Larry is firm on 81, but I was just thinking there's a natural cutoff in the late 80s. I only say that because at some point in there picking a rookie card becomes really arbitrary. We know the 86 Topps is Jerry Rice's rookie. But a few years later in 89, Barry Sanders had a Score, a Pro Set, and a Topps. Soon after I think Upper Deck, Fleer, Action Packed??, SP??, Pacific??, etc. (I'm not even sure if these are all separate companies or what) were issuing sets - I've never really seen an article that explains the history of it, maybe because the late 80s aren't all that historical yet...
|