1981: Topps, Donruss or Fleer?

[Steve D]

I grew up about 20 miles east of San Diego, and remember buying all three companies' cards at the local Price Club (it was later bought out by Costco). I vividly recall going into the Price Club and seeing literally shrinkwrapped pallets of all three waxboxes there.

My favorite was Fleer because of all the variations, the fact that the photos were so clear...Rod Carew!! (and so many were portraits), the great collation, and the numbering of the cards by team. Donruss was my least favorite, due to the lousy collation (multiples of the same card in a pack), and bad quality (thin stock, off-centering, damage). 648 cards in a Donruss box (and 600 cards in the set), and after two boxes, you'd still be missing over half the set.

I put together multiple (8-10) Fleer sets just from wax packs. With both Donruss and Topps, I had to take my wantlist and buy/trade the cards at the local monthly card show. I think I only completed one Donruss set, and two or three Topps sets.

Steve