Yet again in 1989, I opted to purchase a complete set rather than building one from packs. My set came in the illustrated box (see below) and was purchased at an F&M store in Woodlawn, MD. So many of the cards had printing issues which rendered them grainy and unclear that I later actually did pick up a couple of boxes and built a new one. Again in 1989, Topps produced a generally attractive set - many very nice images and a bright, colorful design.
Cards feature a large image area surrounded by a colored border. The team name appears in brightly-colored script in the bottom right of the image and the player's name is written in a bold font in a banner beneath it. The Topps logo appears in the lower left.
Backs are printed in shades of red on a bold black background. Space permitting, a '1988 Monthly Scoreboard' appears which breaks down the player's offensive (or pitching) stats from 1988 by month.
"A" Sheet
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"C" Sheet
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"E" Sheet
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"B" Sheet
"D" Sheet
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"F" Sheet
6 different printing sheets each held 132 unique cards, for a complete set total of 792 cards.
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Wax packs contained 15 cards (along with a stick of gum) and were priced at 45 cents each. Packs came 36 per box and boxes were packed 20 per case.
Each pack also contained either the glossy set offer card or one of 13 different cards advertising items from the "Topps Company Store" - t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, albums and sheets were available. The backs of all these insert cards served as entry forms for the 1989 edition of "Spring Training Fever", a sweepstakes where the grand prize was a trip for four to the 1990 spring training site of the winner's choosing.
Wrappers contained a side panel 'no purchase necessary' way to obtain a Spring Training Fever entry card.
By sending in 6 of these cards along with $1.25, you would receive one of 6 "1989 All Star and Hot Prospects Collector's Edition 10-Card Sets", known in the hobby as simply 'glossy send-away cards'. For $7.50 and 18 cards, you could receive the whole set of 60.
The full glossy set included 60 cards.
The bottom of each wax box contained one of four different panels of 4 uncut 'limited edition' cards. Card backs describe some event from the player's (or manager's) 1988 season.
Topps test-marketed an alternative wax pack which was enclosed in opaque cellophane. Card counts, prices and the design were the same as regular wax packs. Boxes were a bit larger than normal to accommodate the slightly larger packaging.
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Cello packs contained 29 cards and a stick of gum, as well as a entry/order insert card. Packs sold for 79 cents and were packed 24 per box.
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Larger cello packs contained 39 cards and an entry/order card. Packs sold for $1.29 and were packed 24 per box.
So-called "Grocery Jumbos" contained 100 cards, a stick of gum, an entry/order card and 1 special glossy Rookies card. Packs, which carried no MSRP, were packed in cases of 18 which could be folded open into store sales displays.
The glossy Rookies set contained a total of 22 cards.
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Even larger cellos, containing 42 cards and one of the glossy all star cards from rack packs (below) were also available. These 'hanger' packs carried no MSRP.
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Retailers such as K-Mart sold 100-card plastic blister packs. Each pack contained 1 of 22 special "Batting Leaders" cards. Cards depicted the top 22 active batting leaders and were numbered from 1-22 in order of average. Because these packs were somewhat harder to find than other packaging varieties, the Batting Leaders cards are also somewhat rarer today than the other insert sets.
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Rack packs held 42 cards plus one special Glossy All Star Card, and carried no MSRP. They were packaged 24 per box and cases contained either 3 or 6 boxes.
The Glossy All Star set contained 22 cards. All 18 starters from the 1986 All Star game are featured, as well as each manager and the honorary captains. Cards have either the AL or NL shield on the front, as appropriate.
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Vending boxes again contained 500 cards and came packaged 24 per case.
Factory sets came either in a drab white box or in an illustrated, full color variety.
The case pictured below has a shipping label indicating was was sent to a Walgreens store, so perhaps this case variety held the full color set box as my own was purchased at a similar location.
Out of 792 total cards, the set contains 685 basic player cards.
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Included in the basic player card count are two subsets. Topps designated 5 young players as "Future Stars" and recognized the members of the previous season's All Star Rookie team with gold cups.
167 - Steve Searcy, Tigers
233 - Gregg Jefferies, Mets
343 - Gary Sheffield, Brewers
648 - Sandy Alomar, Padres 742 - Mike Harkey, Cubs
465 - Mark Grace, Cubs 1B 296 - Ron Gant, Braves 2B
316 - Walt Weiss, A's SS
490 - Chris Sabo, Reds 3B
156 - Dave Gallagher, White Sox OF
223 - Jay Buhner, Mariners OF
221 - Cecil Espy, Rangers OF
543 - Damon Berryhill, Cubs C
456 - Tim Belcher, Dodgers RHP
583 - Paul Gibson, Tigers LHP
Cards 1-7 highlight record-breaking performances from 1988, with newspaper-like accounts of each on the reverse.
Cards 661-665 highlight the events of five past seasons - 1984, 1979, 1974, 1969 and 1964 - in a Turn Back the Clock subset. Fronts feature a Topps card image from that year, and backs provide narrative descriptions of some of its most memorable events.
Cards 386-407 are N.L. (386-396) and A.L. (397-407) 'All Stars'. Players appearing in this set didn't necessarily appear on the rosters of either 1988 squad, but rather they seem to be Topps' selections for the best players at their positions in 1988.
A.L. and N.L. cards differ in the use of red and blue in on the card fronts. Card backs provide the top performers, by league, in a variety of statistical categories, as well as a few brief season highlights of the subject.
10 players taken in the first round of the June, 1988 amatuer draft appear throughout the set. Backs detail their academic careers.
26 Team Leader cards are scattered throughout the set. Fronts feature a photo of one or more players from the team, and backs list the club's top batting and pitching performers from 1988.
The set includes cards depicting the current managers of the 26 clubs. Card backs provide brief information about the manager and a team checklist.
6 checklist cards mark the set off in increments of 132: 1-132, 133-264, 265-396, 397-528, 529-660 and 661-792.
A full checklist of the 1989 set, including printable formats, can be found at the Trading Card Database HERE.
Hall of Famers Craig Biggio (49), John Smoltz (382) and Randy Johnson (647) make their debuts in the 1989 set, as do Gregg Jefferies (233) and Gary Sheffield (343).
Taking bows are Hall of Famers Bruce Sutter (11) and Mike Schmidt (100), as well as Jim Sundberg (78), Bob Forsch (163), Ron Guidry (255), Larry Parrish (354), Tommy John (359) and Don Baylor (673).
Topps again produced a 132-card boxed Traded set late in the season to reflect those players who had changed teams and rookies not included in the base set. Cards are numbered 1T-132T.
The set contains 126 basic player cards, as well as 5 managers and a checklist. Cards were printed on thinner, white card stock and were only available via dealers. Sets came packed in cases of 100 as usual, but smaller 16-set cases were also availale.
Hall of Famer Ken Griffey, Jr. (41T) debuts in the set, as do Tom Gordon (38T), Kenny Rogers (104T), Deion Sanders (110T) and Omar Vizquel (122T). Kent Tekulve (116T) makes his final appearance.
Traded sets included a small card hawking subscriptions to Topps' new (and short-lived) magazine venture.
In 1989 Topps again produced what the hobby has come to call "Tiffany" editions of both their basic and Traded sets. Cards in each were printed on heavier, glossy white card stock.
Production occurred at Topps' facility in Ireland and each set was limited to a reported 15,000 units.
As usual, each set was packed 6 per case and were only available via dealers.
Each Future Star card can be found with the words "Future Star" placed higher on the card than was intended (Gary Sheffield's card actually as two misplaced samples, in addition to his properly formatted card).
Card 594 of Jimy Williams exists in a version that lacks proper blue inking in the crook of the "J" in "Jays"..
Card 665, Turn Back the Clock/1964, can be found with or without the copyright line along the back left edge.
Card 605, Bob Welch, was printed with and without the "Complete Major League Pitching Record" line in white type beneath his vital statistics.
Card 27 of Orestes Destrade can be found with an incorrect printing sheet designator "E*F*" instead of the proper "F*".
Card 303 of Felix Fermin exists with an improper extra "*" in the copyright line.
Topps reduced their total paint job count from 13 in 1988 to just 2 in 1989, but still one wonders what they were thinking. Hipolito Pena was with the Yankees in part of June and all of September, 1988, and appears in both the basic Donruss and Fleer 1989 sets in a real Yankee uniform. Moreover, Brady Anderson came to the Orioles in late July, 1988 and stayed the remainder of the year with them, and he appears in the basic Donruss, Fleer, Score AND Upper Deck sets in full Baltimore garb.
As to what is going on with Jack Clark, where his wrists and hands appear to have been either painted in or cut and pasted from somewhere else, it's anyones' guess.
This sell sheet advertises the large 39-card cello packs.