How to find print run information?

[Kubo]

I was wondering if their was a resource for checking what the print run on different card sets were for each year. For example, where can I find info if I'd like to know how many cases of 2004 Bowman Chrome were produced?

[soxrox6892]

i think u can call bowman(topps) and they'll tell u for gus but i never heard of the case thing

[S.A.M.]

You can back out the number of boxes released if you have one bit of key information. You need to know the insert odds of a numbered card or cards.

So for 2004 Bowman Chrome Baseball we'll use base set autographs and their odds as stated by Beckett.

The # of base set autos is 20.
The per pack odds are 1 base set auto for every 25 packs.
The stated print run for each auto is 2000 cards.
So to get the total # of autos we multiply the # of autos by their print run, 20 x 2,000, and we arrive at the total # of base set autos in existence, 40,000.
Since we know the odds of pulling one of these autos we can determine the total # of packs released; multiply the # packs required to pull a single auto (1 in 25) by the number of autos, 25 x 40,000, and we get the total # of packs released, 1,000,000. And at 4 cards per pack that's a total of 4,000,000 cards in existence. It also means there were about 55,556 boxes released.

Hope that helps and assuming that the numbers from the manufacturer are correct this can be done for any product.

[Kubo]

That's a good technique, assuming there is at least one numbered set in the series. I guess there isn't an online repository then... just gotta do a little of my own legwork then.

[S.A.M.]

Yeah, no repository unfortunately. For most of the sets of recent years there is print run info and odds. Obviously it won't work for any vintage or most late 80's early 90's product.
Another key item this depends on is reliable information from the manufacturer about odds and print runs. I've done this a few times and from what I've found the upper deck brands are the most reliable. Multiple times with topps the numbers haven't added up. I have less experience with donruss/leaf/playoff, but so far things have made sense.

[S.A.M.]

dupe post . . .