Cards I Love Part 5- 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken

I spent my last year of elementary school at Carman Trails in Manchester, Missouri.  I only went there for two years during fifth and sixth grades.  Unfortunately, my sixth grade homeroom teacher was not a very interesting.  A little dry.  She liked to talk about herself, grandkids, and how she missed teaching kindergarten.  Her main subject was reading, which she taught by reading to us.  Did I read stuff during sixth grade?  I am not sure.

We rotated to other classrooms for math, science, and language/writing.  Thirty years later, the thing I remember best was my science teacher reading us "Two Minute Mysteries" to waste time during class, and the time she let us play with Freon in sandwich bags.  As a person who is currently employed as a teacher, I am miffed at how any of these people faired well on their evaluations.

Baseball cards were really fun in sixth grade.  The middle school me had not yet ruined them by putting way too much time into them over school work.  At this point, I was still just opening the packs to find cards of players that I liked, but that would change during this year.  There are a few of these posts that revolve around the sixth grade me.  Things changed in bad ways for awhile after 1989.

When did I first see the Bill Ripken card?

I do not know, but it was all the rage in sixth grade when it came out that spring.  More likely, it was all the rage with sixth graders who collected baseball cards.  Carmen Trails is/was a bunch of middle class white kids in suburban St. Louis, so probably a healthy number.

There was one kid in my sixth grade class who used this card as a bookmark.  I knew that person from fifth grade through my mid/late twenties.  I never heard him talk about baseball.  I never saw him read a book.  Probably a "stick it to the man" type of kid and an adult.  

I am sure that there are plenty of people who will tell you that the Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card is the best card you can own from 1989.  They are probably right.  Those same people were also probably either adults that year, or they were not alive or very young.  As for me, as someone approaching middle school, it was hard to believe that any baseball card could be cooler than one that said "FUCK FACE" on it.  

How did this happen?  It's almost too incredible to believe.  

This was one of the first non-Cardinal, non-players I watched in person, common baseball cards that I really enjoyed.  Bill Ripken was not a very good player, but this card is simply incredible.  Other Bill Ripken cards in my collection were just herded into a box of Orioles commons.  However, the 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken card was an instant classic.  

I was aware that there were variations created where Fleer hid the "FUCK FACE" writing on Ripken's bat, but sixth grader me did not care about black or white scribbles.  Give me the baseball card with the F bomb.  

Later on in life, I spent a little time reconnecting with this card and found a few of the variations.  I am not an expert on the card by any means, but I believe that most of my variations involve black boxes or scribbles.  Those are really easy to find and inexpensive.  

I know this is a different post than the others that I have made during this past week, a little less serious, and far less personal connection to the card.  Still, the Bill Ripken card was a memorable one for many who collected in the late 1980s.  Maybe as a near middle schooler at the time, a card with a curse word on the front stands out more than it should, but I am sure others share enjoyment in owning this card.  

Friday Five: Top 5 1980s Fleer Sets

We have worn the Durham Bulls and Cardinals out during the past few months, so I am going to go back to the whole baseball card thing for awhile.  You know, I started this blog as a baseball card blog, but wander off to food and Wes Anderson movies.  Back to my roots for the next few months on my weekly Friday Five posts.  This week I am focused on the 1980s Fleer products.  After carefully looking through all the Fleer sets produced in the 1980s, including Update sets, I have picked out the best of the best based on design, cool base set cards, and important rookies cards.

Sets are in numerical order by year.  Cue the music....

1982 Fleer 

This was the second Fleer set issued in the 1980s behind the error filled 1981 set.  The design was really simple with the white border, colored band, and player information in that oval thing at the bottom center of the card.  If you flip through the base set there are lots of good early eighties players in here: Nolan Ryan, Ozzie Smith, Reggie Jackson, etc.  The Brad Mills card is actually my favorite card out of the base set.  The set is really made by the most important rookie card in the product.

Not the best of the Cal Ripken rookie cards, but there are not really any bad ones.  Easily the best card in this set and the only reason that this set makes this list.  Hate to play you that way Brad Mills, but it's true.  If you do not own this set it worth it for the Ripken card alone.   If you own the Ripken card, but not the rest of the rest...Well, there's Brad Mills.  

1983 Fleer 

This was the first year that I collected cards and my first pack of baseball cards.  My first card was a Jim Smith.  The base set is pretty similar to the 1982 set in terms of photography, but the design of the card was changed up a bit.  The grey bordered cards were a little something different at the time and I still cannot recall many sets with just a grey border outside of this and the 1970 Topps.  Seriously, nothing too cool about most of the base set, but there were three pretty important rookie cards in this product......

All Hall of Famers.  My favorite of the group is the Sandberg card.  Love that blue pinstriped Cubs uniform.  This set is really affordable considering that it has three Hall of Fame rookie cards.  The cost of buying the whole set is not going to be too much more than buying three nice copies of the important rookie cards in the set.   

1984 Fleer Update

The only Update set on my list and one of the absolute best sets of the 1980s.  The cards are actually somewhat difficult to find and the set has two monster rookie in it.  My favorite card in the base set is the Pete Rose Expos card.  The all-time hits leader was briefly on the Expos during the 1984 season in between his stint with the Phillies and second go around with the Reds.  The two best cards belong to Roger Clemens and Kirby Puckett.  

Both players are in the Hall of Fame and these are their only 1984 issued cards.  Both have several rookie cards in 1985 products that are also considered rookie issues, but these are the top of the food pyramid as far as 1980s rookie cards in Fleer products.  Yes, I would put these two above the Ripken rookie card.  Finding this set is much more of a challenge than the other sets on my list and will cost considerably more money. 

1987 Fleer

The 1987 Fleer set should only be bought if you want some rookie cards of some pretty good baseball players.  There is Will Clark, Barry Larkin, Barry Bonds, and Rafael Palmeiro.  The rest of the 1987 Fleer set is rather boring.  The blue card design is pretty cool, but again it all comes down to the big rookie cards in this set.  

I am not going to get in too deep on the whole steroids thing right now, but there is a lot of Hall of Fame caliber talent in this set given how cheap it is on sites like Ebay.  If you can track down a copy the Tiffany version of this set looks really nice and rarely costs more than $30 and comes in a nice tin.  The high gloss finish is well worth the extra money.  

1989 Fleer

If I had to pick out just one base set from the 1980s Fleer products this would be it.  The design leaves a little bit to be desired, but in my opinion it offers one of the best base cards of the decade and an underrated rookie card too.  The Ripken card is one of the more iconic modern baseball cards for all the wrong reasons.  This is the unedited version of the card, but some of the edits are rare and extremely pricey.  The two rookie cards worth owning.......

The Griffey rookie card is nice and is underrated in someways, but the real prize here is the Randy Johnson rookie card which is underrated in almost everyday imaginable.  Similar to the Ripken card there are different variations of the Johnson card because of a Marlboro cigarette sign over his right shoulder.  Some cards the sign is visible, others it is blocked out by different colored boxes.  Like most things 1980s Fleer the Johnson card is not too expensive and is not too difficult to track down either.  

30 Year Top 50: 1987 Fleer

#38-This is another great 80s set with great rookies, but was completely overproduced.  However, the potential for this set to move up or down is tied to how the Hall of Fame voters deal with the Steroid Era players.  Currently, the 1987 Fleer set houses one important Hall of Fame rookie card, but could potentially be holding other key Hall of Fame rookies.

1987 Fleer Barry Larkin

Barry Larkin was elected to the Hall of Fame this past summer.  This isn't the best card in the set, but is an easy and cheap rookie card of a Hall of Fame player and should be a card most collectors are able to put into their collections.  The regular Fleer issue sells for $2 max while graded versions might max out in the high twenties.  The Glossy version of the Larkin card sells for $2-$3, but the graded versions are a little steeper.  A good graded Fleer Glossy Larkin will run over $50 depending on the grading.  

1987 Fleer Barry Bonds

The best card in the 1987 Fleer set is clearly the Barry Bonds rookie.  Love him, or hate him this is the best card in this set.  Raw versions of the card sell for between $5 and $10 dollars with a premium on the Graded and Glossy versions.  A high end grade on a Glossy Bonds rookie will easily take you over $100.  In my opinion, Bonds is a Hall of Famer and is slightly different from the other steroid cheats in one regard.  Since the steroids case around Bonds has played out in court it is widely accepted that Bonds start date for steroid use was the 1999 season.  Look at the first thirteen years of Bonds career and he is a Hall of Famer.  This is another great card that collectors should try to add to their collection.

1987 Fleer Will Clark 

There are several other nice rookie cards in this set besides the Bonds and Larkin.  Most noteably are the first year issues of Will Clark, Rafael Palmeiro, and Bo Jackson.  While none of those players are Hall of Famers, they are all solid Major League players with a good collecting hobby.  Particularly the Clark and Jackson.  The complete sealed Glossy set of cards can be found for between $25 and $30 while the regular issue set can be found for less than $10.  If you aren't interested in owning the whole set I strongly recommend keeping your eyes open for single copies of some of the key rookies from this set.  

Like the 1987 Fleer Set?  Not in my Top 50 is the 1989 Fleer set.  Just like the 1987 set the 1989 Fleer issue has some nice rookie cards.  My two favorites are the Ken Griffey Jr rookie and the Randy Johnson.  If you have some spare time and want to research the Randy Johnson card, it has a few different versions.  Notice over his right shoulder is a Marlboro sign.  Fleer creatively edited this card multiple times.  

1989 Fleer Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. 

The real story of the 1989 Fleer set is the card of Orioles second baseman Bill Ripken.  In fact, the card is so important to the world of baseball cards the last 30 years I almost put this set in the Top 50 based on that card alone.  So, if you have never seen the Bill Ripken card here it goes.  

1989 Fleer Bill Ripken

This card was issued at a time when kids still collected baseball cards, so imagine the horror Fleer must of felt when they made the ultimate proofreading gaffe in baseball card history.  A quick check of Ripken's bat knob will show that the handle of his bat reads F*** Face.  Collectors went crazy for the card.  Fleer, of course, tried to correct the mistake.  Several different ways.  I am not sure which came first, but here's a look at the edit job.  

1989 Fleer Bill Ripken Whiteout

1989 Fleer Bill Ripken Blackout

1989 Fleer Bill Ripken Black Scribble