1989 Fleer Randy Johnson #381 Marlboro Errors - 30 Years Later

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by jacksoncoupage

And they’re still dirt cheap/way undervalued. All things considered.

I agree and always found it strange how cheap they sold for. He is a HOFer and for being junk wax era cards they are somewhat scarce. While hoarding them several years ago the only ones I paid more than $5 for are the green scribbles.

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by bnorth

I agree and always found it strange how cheap they sold for. He is a HOFer and for being junk wax era cards they are somewhat scarce. While hoarding them several years ago the only ones I paid more than $5 for are the green scribbles.

If the majority of the hobby understood just how quickly the card went through so many changes and had a better understanding of those changes, the situation would be very different. Id say "enjoy it while it lasts" but if at this point of hobby insanity they still sell for so little, they probably aren't going to go too crazy anytime soon.

[Statfreak101]

Talked to the seller this morning, and he claims the card sold.

He reached out to me Saturday morning and said it was officially on the market for $15K OBO. Crazy.

[hockeyhockey]

Originally Posted by Statfreak101

Talked to the seller this morning, and he claims the card sold.

He reached out to me Saturday morning and said it was officially on the market for $15K OBO. Crazy.

insanity. where was he selling it? randy johnson black market site? didn't see on ebay.

[steve5838]

Awesome information and excited that another one of these turned up! Thank you Statfreak101 for the heads up on this. The week before last Statfreak101 told me about seeing this card raw in a FB group. He reached out to the person who posted the pic (a card shop owner) and found out "...it sounds like a guy brought in a collection from the 80s and 90s, and had 14 different 89 Fleer hand collated sets...and inside one of the sets was this card." I forwarded the message and picture of the ungraded card to Kevin and we both agreed that this looked exactly like our cards. I honestly spent the better part of that night trying to find the Facebook group on my own. Unfortunately, I am incompetent navigating FB and had no luck. I didn’t see the graded card until David posted the pic here. It is incredibly exciting. I wish I knew more. Were these some sort of first press run on the first day before a quality check process? Did some "fix" not make it on one of the lines at the start of the first day of production?

I agree with Hatorade that this new find reinforces the likelihood there are more of these out there. I believe this card has the staying power to be a very important card for those who love 1980s wax and crave something really scarce (of course I am biased). As I’ve mentioned before, this card and its many versions feel (at least to me) like an 80’s take on the parallels of modern collecting. The clear and blue versions are scarce in an absolute sense and hard to come by no matter how much you search – which is so much different from almost anything else from the junk wax era. Things are crazy now in all markets, but I think the fascination with this card will continue to grow as people who were kids in the 80s continue to build out their collections. I agree with Dylan that initial lack of demand for this card was likely due to lack of information on the versions and lack of knowledge about the relative scarcity. There is a learning curve for the card because searching "Randy Johnson Marlboro" on eBay returns tons of results… even though very few listings for the rarest versions come up (or stay up long).

In thinking about this card and its many versions I keep going back to ideas of scarcity and available substitutes. In person the clear one is super rare (very scare) and in person there is a dramatic difference between it and any of the tinted/obscured versions (lack of substitutes). The closest you can get is putting very intense lighting on the sign in a br2 (as I’ve done in several posts last year) but even then, not really and in person no one would ever confuse the two. I guess the other possible substitute is the magnet with a picture of the clear version someone is selling on eBay (no that isn’t me… but it keeps getting suggested to me). The blue tint ones are the same way – in that they stand out visually among others.

When I heard about this new clear one, I actually bought (2) unopened boxes of 1989 Fleer #83261 just on the off chance someone had picked up the card in a recent wax pull. Paid way too much but got caught up in the excitement! The absolute scarcity of the clear one makes it hard to assign a value. It’s no secret that I’ve toyed around with listing the card. Kevin can also vouch for me that over the last couple years I’ve offered him up to $15k for his clear one (sorry for being such a pest, Kevin). It is a strange card for sure. In that respect, I’m not surprised on the ask price. I read the book “The Card” last year and there are parallels to the chase for this and other urban legend cards (e.g., the 31 PSA graded examples of the T206 White Border Honus Wagner). Everyone has their own idea of what is valuable to them… my next "best" card in my collection is a 1990 Frank Thomas NNOF PSA 7.5. I would give that up in a heartbeat for even a PSA 4 of a clear Marlboro card.

At the end of the day definitely take it all with a grain of salt as these are just my two cents. I have no idea why this card is still such a fascination to me but love the ride.

Steve

[Statfreak101]

Originally Posted by steve5838

Awesome information and excited that another one of these turned up! Thank you Statfreak101 for the heads up on this. The week before last Statfreak101 told me about seeing this card raw in a FB group. He reached out to the person who posted the pic (a card shop owner) and found out "...it sounds like a guy brought in a collection from the 80s and 90s, and had 14 different 89 Fleer hand collated sets...and inside one of the sets was this card." I forwarded the message and picture of the ungraded card to Kevin and we both agreed that this looked exactly like our cards. I honestly spent the better part of that night trying to find the Facebook group on my own. Unfortunately, I am incompetent navigating FB and had no luck. I didn’t see the graded card until David posted the pic here. It is incredibly exciting. I wish I knew more. Were these some sort of first press run on the first day before a quality check process? Did some "fix" not make it on one of the lines at the start of the first day of production?

I agree with Hatorade that this new find reinforces the likelihood there are more of these out there. I believe this card has the staying power to be a very important card for those who love 1980s wax and crave something really scarce (of course I am biased). As I’ve mentioned before, this card and its many versions feel (at least to me) like an 80’s take on the parallels of modern collecting. The clear and blue versions are scarce in an absolute sense and hard to come by no matter how much you search – which is so much different from almost anything else from the junk wax era. Things are crazy now in all markets, but I think the fascination with this card will continue to grow as people who were kids in the 80s continue to build out their collections. I agree with Dylan that initial lack of demand for this card was likely due to lack of information on the versions and lack of knowledge about the relative scarcity. There is a learning curve for the card because searching "Randy Johnson Marlboro" on eBay returns tons of results… even though very few listings for the rarest versions come up (or stay up long).

In thinking about this card and its many versions I keep going back to ideas of scarcity and available substitutes. In person the clear one is super rare (very scare) and in person there is a dramatic difference between it and any of the tinted/obscured versions (lack of substitutes). The closest you can get is putting very intense lighting on the sign in a br2 (as I’ve done in several posts last year) but even then, not really and in person no one would ever confuse the two. I guess the other possible substitute is the magnet with a picture of the clear version someone is selling on eBay (no that isn’t me… but it keeps getting suggested to me). The blue tint ones are the same way – in that they stand out visually among others.

When I heard about this new clear one, I actually bought (2) unopened boxes of 1989 Fleer #83261 just on the off chance someone had picked up the card in a recent wax pull. Paid way too much but got caught up in the excitement! The absolute scarcity of the clear one makes it hard to assign a value. It’s no secret that I’ve toyed around with listing the card. Kevin can also vouch for me that over the last couple years I’ve offered him up to $15k for his clear one (sorry for being such a pest, Kevin). It is a strange card for sure. In that respect, I’m not surprised on the ask price. I read the book “The Card” last year and there are parallels to the chase for this and other urban legend cards (e.g., the 31 PSA graded examples of the T206 White Border Honus Wagner). Everyone has their own idea of what is valuable to them… my next "best" card in my collection is a 1990 Frank Thomas NNOF PSA 7.5. I would give that up in a heartbeat for even a PSA 4 of a clear Marlboro card.

At the end of the day definitely take it all with a grain of salt as these are just my two cents. I have no idea why this card is still such a fascination to me but love the ride.

Steve

I can't help but agree with this post. If I could "like" it, I most certainly would.

If I ever end up pulling one of these out of a pack, I certainly hope someone is there with me to catch me when I fall over!

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Statfreak101

I can't help but agree with this post. If I could "like" it, I most certainly would.

If I ever end up pulling one of these out of a pack, I certainly hope someone is there with me to catch me when I fall over!

+1 it is a great post.

There should definitely be more out there some place. I wonder if there was ever/is a no tint at all version.

[butchie_t]

Originally Posted by Statfreak101

I can't help but agree with this post. If I could "like" it, I most certainly would.

If I ever end up pulling one of these out of a pack, I certainly hope someone is there with me to catch me when I fall over!

Ummm, no offense. But they need to catch the card and let you bounce.

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Statfreak101

I can't help but agree with this post. If I could "like" it, I most certainly would.

My sentiments exactly.

[Athos01]

Excellent write-up Steve, I 100% agree with everything you said in there. These cards are unbelievably rare with the clear Marlboro, as now we know of only 3 clear versions. The Thomas NNOF gets all the pub; however, this card is far more scarce than that. Hopefully at some point, folks will realize that.

I am anxious to hear what the RJ looks like if you end up opening one of your very early Fleer boxes. Those are among the earliest date codes I've ever seen, and any RJ in the box will most certainly be some type of Marlboro version.

As Dylan mentioned, these cards went through so many changes in such a short period of time, it puts all the Ripken changes to shame. This is what makes '89 Fleer so fun to collect though, the thought of hitting one of these ultra-rare '89 Fleer cards from a set which can be considered anything but rare.

Not to take anything away from the Johnson cards, but those checklists with positions on front are incredibly scarce too. While nobody cares much, they are darn near impossible to find.

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Athos01

Excellent write-up Steve, I 100% agree with everything you said in there. These cards are unbelievably rare with the clear Marlboro, as now we know of only 3 clear versions. The Thomas NNOF gets all the pub; however, this card is far more scarce than that. Hopefully at some point, folks will realize that.

I am anxious to hear what the RJ looks like if you end up opening one of your very early Fleer boxes. Those are among the earliest date codes I've ever seen, and any RJ in the box will most certainly be some type of Marlboro version.

As Dylan mentioned, these cards went through so many changes in such a short period of time, it puts all the Ripken changes to shame. This is what makes '89 Fleer so fun to collect though, the thought of hitting one of these ultra-rare '89 Fleer cards from a set which can be considered anything but rare.

Not to take anything away from the Johnson cards, but those checklists with positions on front are incredibly scarce too. While nobody cares much, they are darn near impossible to find.

I believe that it has been confirmed several times over that the cases, especially mid November dates, contain a variety of correction types (obviously excluding one with a clear...) ranging from slight tint to boxed signs. Has this changed or has new info come up? I don't see nearly as much 1989 Fleer broken as I did last summer.

[Mike D.]

Originally Posted by hockeyhockey

insanity. where was he selling it? randy johnson black market site? didn't see on ebay.

Be careful, if you Google "black market randy johnson" you might find something other than what you're looking for...