Similar Card Type - same year/cross sports

[kailes2872]

The first year that I really collected was 1979 football and 1980 basketball/baseball. One thing that I remember from that year was that all three sets had similar gloss on the front and similar backs - basketball was red, baseball was blue,and I think football was green. In the fall of '80, the football set that came out was more of a matte finish. And then, when baseball came out in the spring of '81, it was more of a matte finish than the '80 set.

I am not sure if this is coincidence or not, but it really stood out to me. I also look like at a set like '59 Fleer Ted Williams and '59 Fleer 3 Stooges and they look similar as well.

Does anyone know if there is a similar setting that is used across the different sports to where they have a similarity within the year?


EDIT - I added some examples of what I was talking about and maybe it is purely my imagination as it is a memory from collecting them out of the pack - but even though those sets were all unique in design, there felt like there was a common thread through the sports. In the fall of 80, the gloss was turned down and it seemed that the baseball cards were less glossy.

When I go through my albums, '65 pops as a much more glossy finish than 64 and 66.