Here's some of those cutoffs don't work for me.
White cardstock --- Mid 60's and especially 68,69, and 70. and late 70's with basketball. Yeah, the thin stuff started in 93, but there was a lot of white stock earlier.
Inserts? ---- Early 60's. Sort of stopped in 73-4 with the team checklists, but there were other inserts throughout the early 80's in certain packs.
Shiny? - Much of what Topps makes isn't. (A+G, Gypsy Queen, most of heritage....) Even the base stuff isn't much different than 89 UD.
So maybe 81 works as the year the competition began. (Of course ignoring 51-55 and 59-60)
I see the cards as a continuing thing, each decade has it's "thing", and also for the most part some throwbacks and sets ahead of their time.
Steve B
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