1988 Star Promos Baseball Forum

Why are these Promos listed as a set in themselves?  There are actually 40 Promo cards for 1988, one for every 11-card set of different players issued that year. Shouldn't each Promo card be a "Related" card for each player set?

Before I do anything, I will wait to get consensus.

vrooomed should have the answer since he worked at Star.

Yes, almost all Star Co promos "belong" to a set (notable exception, the Pete Rose I just added and sold on ebay, where there was no set actually made). Occassionally, there were also Ad Cards (ad for Star with address on the reverse) that were also printed at the same time as the sets, but not necessarily given out with the sets (usually included in mass mailings).

Dan,

Are you saying that the way it is now, the Promos being a set on their own is the way to go (meaning there are 36 cards to add to this incomplete set)? Or should each Promo be with the player set?

I think each promo belongs with the player's set. The 1988 Rose being the only exception as there was no set. The Ad Cards could be their own set as they usually were not released with the set.

In almost ALL circumstances, the rule at Star was 1 promo card included for every 5 sets bought. Promos were distributed with the sets. This is why for the Nova sets, which were a 500-set print run, there are 100 promos for each player.

That's another thing - the Silver, Gold, Nova (etc.) sets should be their own series each year, with the promos as related to the series. I think we have most of those listed correctly here, but there may be a few outliers.

I still say that one of these days, I'll get into my collection, and start logging it, and scanning it, and fixing it here. :) 

I agree.  I will enter the Nolan Ryan set (I don't think it is there yet) and then the promo.  It is the card I asked you about yesterday.

Are all the Rose promos blank backs?

Yes. As far as I know, that's the case. I didn't always see everything that came through (or was in storage), but I saw most of it.

Generally, Promos are blank backed, while the Ad Cards had the address for Star Co and a blurb about the players featured in the sets. Later on, the "series" set promos started indicating how many were released (Example). In 1992, "prototypes" were produced for a certain group of sets (commonly referred to as the Plastic sets - they were heavily laminated on both sides and make the card seem like thick plastic), probably merely as a means of geting another product in the hobby. Promos were also made of those sets.

Thank you for the info Dan.

Dan is our shining star.