Sports Cards and Memorabilia from the 1991 Sears Christmas Catalog

I have fond memories of pouring through the Sears Christmas catalog. As a kid, I would spend hours pouring through the toy section, studying everything carefully, dog-earing important pages and looking for anything that wasn’t available at my local K-Mart.

Even into adulthood, there was a certain level of excitement. I still went right to the toys even though I was past that phase of my life (if you’re somehow able to turn a blind eye to the shelves of action figures, Funko Pops and LEGO behind me as I type this).

But then the Internet happened.

The last time I saw a Sears Christmas catalog, it was little more than a glossy flyer. The entire thing was thinner than the toy section of old. It was more heartbreaking than the time I discovered the Archie Double Digest wasn’t 256 pages anymore.

Times change. Now I can spend hours looking at toys, clothes and anything else I need from my desk, on my phone, anywhere. Mass market catalogs are a relic of the past. I get it. Watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Special isn’t the same without the book in my lap that weighed as much as a cat. But I’ll manage.

Especially when I can strike Internet gold and look through the Sears catalogs of my youth once again.

1991 was a big year for the hobby. Card collecting was as mainstream as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman and Sweet Valley High. And how can we forget Zubaz?

Cards and memorabilia got a lot of attention in the 1991 Sears Christmas catalog. As in seven full pages.

 Baseball Cards in the 1991 Sears Christmas Catalog

The Sears Christmas catalog made set building easy. 1991 Topps, Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss and Score were all available as factory sets. 1991 Topps Traded as well.

Look at those prices. When you see a seemingly expensive listing or Craigslist ad for one of these today, this might help explain why. Twenty-five years ago, the main sets started at $30 a piece. And Upper Deck, well, they were premium from the start so the 1991 factory set is $47.

And then there are the collector kits.

I remember getting one of these.

Don’t be fooled. Those “out-of-print” cards they advertise weren’t exactly old. Just like the pictures show, most came from a couple of years prior.

But that card locker.

Basketball and football don’t get quite the same level of attention as baseball. That said, they get more than hockey, which isn’t even mentioned in the toy section outside of a Ninja Turtles table hockey game.

The catalog has a few sets, a box of 1991 Fleer Football, some “value packs” of recent leftovers and another collecting kit.

Need more supplies? The Wish Book has them.

Ultra PRO’s boxes have gotten a lot more attractive since 1991. That binder shelf is interesting, although when you talked Dream Team and cards back in 1991, all roads led to Score.

How about that Master Collector storage unit. It fits binders and boxes seamlessly. And that funky faux-chest look is pretty sweet too with it’s front-opening panel. The only drawback is something with “Master Collector” on the front is like a beacon for potential robbers.

It wasn’t just sports cards in the 1991 Sears Christmas catalog. There was memorabilia as well.

There were coins.

Even autographed balls and sticks.

Mickey Mantle, Joe Montana, Wayne Gretzky, a dual-signed Griffey ball — those had to have been expensive even back in 1991, right?

$50 for both Griffeys together, $40 for a Willie Mays, $90 for a Mantle or Sandy Koufax signed baseball. It’s tough to tell about the authenticity and provenance of the signatures from a catalog, but one would hope that Sears would be legit.

So there you have it, sports cards and collectibles at the hobby’s peak according to Sears.