Completed Set: 1987 Topps Baseball

 

Wood grain. 

 

We all know it. We've all been bombarded by it over the years. 

 

But back in 1987, it seemed new—at least to me. I had no idea that the design was essentially lifted from the 1962 Topps release. And it didn't even matter.

I was 9 years old, living in lower New York, and loving baseball. The Mets had just won the World Series with Gooden, Strawberry, Hernandez, Carter, HoJo, Dykstra, and the crew. Up in the Bronx it was also a pretty special time, with guys like Mattingly, Rickey, Winfield, Guidry, Rags (Righetti), and Pags (Pagliarulo).

 

Closer to home, our small town had a pretty competitive Little League. Baseball seemed to be everywhere, and so were baseball cards. I remember getting packs of '87 Topps at the local card shop, the local stationery store, the local drug store, Toys 'R' Us, and probably a few other places. Wax, rack, cello. It was all fine by me.

So I suppose it's needless to say that the 1987 Topps set is pretty nostalgic for me. It's so nostalgic, in fact, that I can picture the baseball glove and aluminum bat that I used back then. I can see the various baseball fields around town where we played. I can almost feel our Little League uniforms, and our mesh trucker hats with the foam panels on the front. Yep, those wood-grain cards really take me back. 

I'll even give you another two examples.

 

(1) When I rediscovered my childhood collection in my mom's attic in 2013, this 1987 Topps set was already in a binder. However, I was surprised to find that there were empty slots in quite a few pages. I'd never completed it! After I brought the numerous boxes and binders from the attic back to my home, the very first order of business was to complete the '87 set. I just had to right that wrong.

(2) I can look through many of the cards in '87 Topps and tell you the player's name without even looking at the text printed on the front. For example:

 

From left to right, that's Sammy Khalifa, Mickey Brantley, and Larry McWilliams. 

 

Could I tell you anything else about these three players? How many seasons they spent in the big leagues? Other teams they may have played for? Anything at all?

 

No. Nothing.

 

But that's how influential this set is to me. (It's also probably a good indicator of how many packs I opened, and how many hours I spent sorting the cards back then.) I don't know how many cards in the '87 set I can actually do this with, but it's probably more than any other set of the 1980s. Or any decade. And I'd guess most of you collectors can point to a similar set from your early collecting days.

 

Okay, nostalgia finally aside, let's focus on the cards. 

 

First thing to point out? The '87 set has its share of quality action shots.  

 

 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Topps also showed some professional ballplayers when the pressure of the big game was off, just hanging out and enjoying themselves.

 

 

 

 Then you've got the classic "take a knee and fold your arms" baseball card pose...

 

 

 

...As well as the other standard poses of the era. I do like how the photographers sometimes took their shots from a lower vantage point. Ballplayers were our heroes, and these images have that heroic look.

 

  

 

 

And thankfully, we were still in the era of those glorious satin jackets. Have a look at these three beauties.

Speaking of beauties, how about all the bespectacled players in this set?

 

 

And the mustaches? They were evident all through the set. But gone were the unkempt, wild push-brooms and Fu Manchus of the '70s, as well as the big mops of hair flying out from all sides of the baseball cap. In most cases, the 1987 ballplayer was a neater, more trimmed, nicely groomed variety.

 

 

 

Oh, but there were still some "beauties" of another kind. Airbrush jobs.

And if you like rookie cards, the 1987 Topps set has 'em. You'll find all the guys who were first featured in the '86 Traded set, plus a few more. 

So which ones are really rookie cards? The 1987s, or the 1986 Traded cards? This was a hotly contested debate at the schoolyard back in '87. 

Even these two big guys were in the conversation. 

Rookie cards or not, they were two of the hottest cards in the set back then, that's for sure.

And check Mr. Canseco's card again. In 1987, The Topps "All-Star Rookie" cup made its first appearance on cardboard since the 1978 set. As for their "Future Stars" (See Rafael Palmeiro and Bo Jackson a few rows up), Topps had given players this label in the past on those famous three-player cards. However, 1987 marked the first time the company added that label to solo cards. They even came up with a colorful script for the occasion. I wonder if they felt the need to compete with the "Rated Rookies" that were so popular in Donruss sets of the era.

Now let's look at a card back

 

The dark blue on light yellow is a pretty good combination for readability. And as was often the case on Topps cards of the '80s, you'd get a little interesting factoid at the bottom when space allowed.

 

 

Back to the card fronts now. Players representing the A.L. and N.L. All-Stars received a second card in the set. And following the template of all 1980s Topps sets, there were some Record Breakers.

On top of that, each team received a "Leaders" card, which listed some hitters and pitchers on the back who were tops on their team in various categories. The Manager cards were simple yet classy with that script font. The Turn Back the Clock subset was a nice touch as well, and allowed young collectors to learn a bit about the baseball heroes of years gone by.

 

 

And finally, here's a checklist featuring even more wood grain, plus a "Spring Fever" sweepstakes card that came in every wax pack.

And that's 1987 Topps. If you made it through all that wood grain and you're still reading, kudos to you. I know some folks have had just about enough, what with all the rehashing Topps has done with this set over the past couple of decades in their Archives and Heritage products.

 

But this really was a big set for me. I've actually completed it three times at this point, and many of the cards in each set are the originals from my childhood. That's how many duplicates I had.

 

Now here are some questions for you readers and collectors:

 

Is there a set of cards from your childhood that you hold higher than all others? 

 

Have you completed it? If you have it in a binder, do you take it out and look through the cards every so often?

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.

Giveaway Win from Retro Robbie Cards and Coins

For a content creator on YouTube, reaching 1,000 subscribers is a big milestone. It means that you can be part of the YouTube Partner Program, which gives you the ability to start monetizing your channel. 

One of the YouTube content creators I follow in the trading card realm is Retro Robbie, who posts videos about trading cards and coins. Over the past year or two, his channel has grown and his subscribers have increased, to the point where he started to hold a giveaway each time he gained another 100 subscribers. If you watch any of his videos, you'll clearly see that he's got the enthusiasm to be a content creator.

Well, recently all that enthusiasm helped him reach the 900-subscriber mark, and I happened to catch the video that allowed subscribers to enter the giveaway. All we had to do was like the video and leave a comment on it, so I figured I'd go for it. Once the entry period closed, Retro Robbie would choose 9 winners, and give each one a little team bag filled with cards from the sport of their choice. Some modern, some vintage.

 

And wouldn't you know it? I was one of the winners! I selected hockey as my sport of choice, and within a week or so, the prize package showed up in my mailbox.

Let's see what I got.

 

 

 

First up was a branded sticker. It seems like anyone who's anyone on YouTube has a branded sticker, or logo, or something. But now let's get to the cards.

That's Brett Hull's second-year card on the left, and a fun one, as it looks like he's enjoying pre-game warmups. In the middle, Bob Lorimer was a defensive defenseman who was with the Islanders for their first two Stanley Cup championships. Then he and another player were traded to the Colorado Rockies for a first-round draft pick. Yeesh. Talk about going from the top of the league to the bottom. (Fun fact: The Islanders used that pick to select Pat Lafontaine in 1983.) On the right, Adin Hill is currently with the Vegas Golden Knights, and had a great run as the starting goaltender during the 2022-23 playoffs, helping the Knights win the Cup. He's been playing rather well this season, too.

These next three cards are a bit more common. Joe Cirella had a solid 15-year career, mostly for the Devils and Rangers. Patrik Carnback was one of the original Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and Rob Murray played in 108 total games across 8 seasons for Washington and Winnipeg.

Wayne Bianchin was a winger who played for Pittsburgh and Edmonton. In 1976-77 he had an interesting stat line: 28 goals and only 6 assists for 34 points in 79 games played. Joe Nieuwendyk is a Hall-of-Famer and 3x Cup winner (Calgary, Dallas, and New Jersey). The O-Pee-Chee Premier card he's featured on up there is from the very first Premier release, and I wish I had more cards from the set. They're somewhat scarce for a junk wax set, and the big rookies like Sergei Fedorov and Jaromir Jagr command a pretty decent price out there. On the right, Mason Appleton has found himself a steady role with Winnipeg over the past couple of years.

Oleg Belov was a Russian prospect drafted by Pittsburgh in 1995, but he opted for the European professional leagues, playing in Sweden, Switzerland, and then back in Russia. As for Alexander Mogilny, I sure hope he makes the Hall of Fame one day. He was electric throughout his career, especially in Buffalo, and just missed 1,000 career games played (990) and 500 career goals scored (473). Elvis Merzļikins is a young Latvian goalie who has played a pretty decent role in the Columbus net recently.

 

 

 

It's hard to see from the scan, but that card on the left is a Topps Premier Gold parallel of Kevin Miller, who played for a whopping 9 teams across his 13-year NHL career. (Not as many teams as journeyman legend Mike Sillinger, however.) Miller's brothers, Kelly and Kip, also played in the NHL, as did his cousins, Ryan and Drew. On the right is a man who needs no introduction: Jaromir Jagr. Since leaving the NHL in 2018, he's played for Kladno, the professional team he owns in Czechia. He says he's going to retire at the end of this season. We'll see. I mean, he's only 53 years old.

Somehow this is Damon Severson's 11th season in the league, which means I'm getting rather old. Severson was a solid defenseman in New Jersey for many years, and just a couple of seasons ago was traded to Columbus, where he's also done well. The man attached to the mustache on the right is Lanny McDonald, who had a fantastic NHL career and is a Hall-of-Famer. Side note: I love those Colorado jerseys.

 

And that's my little prize pack from Retro Robbie. There's some great variety there, with cards ranging from the 1978-79 set all the way to 2022-23. 

 

If you have a favorite card from the bunch, let me know in the comment section.

 

And if you enjoy YouTube creators who post content about trading cards of all kinds (as well as coins), I hope you'll consider visiting Retro Robbie's channel and subscribing. As you'll see, he's already made it across the 1,000 subscriber mark!

 

A Smorgasbord! Jiffy Pop Discs

From the 1970s through the 1990s, it seemed like you could find your favorite baseball stars on food product packaging everywhere you looked: supermarkets, corner stores, restaurants, and beyond. This past year, in an effort to capture a little more nostalgia, I set a goal to expand my own collection of these "food-issue" cards. In this series I'll show the specific examples I've acquired, and share a little bit of history about the food or beverage sponsor as well. 

Previous entries can be found here.

 

 

  

 

Based on the calendar, you know that Spring is technically right around the corner.  But it sure doesn't feel that way. You're still wearing your winter coat, gloves, scarf, and hat on the way to school in the morning. (Mom's orders.) And what's more is that there's still no baseball being played—on TV or on the Little League fields. It's been another restless weekend.

 

What can help get you through the winter doldrums? 

 

Well, mom has just come back from the supermarket, and check out what she bought:

Jiffy Pop popcorn! That's always a treat, especially now that you're old enough to help mom make it on the stove top.

 

But the excitement doesn't stop there. Before you can even look into the other brown bags to see what else mom bought, you notice the bottom portion of the Jiffy Pop label.

 

 

A free Major League baseball card is inside? No way. You resist the urge to tear into the package right there on the kitchen counter, and wait patiently for the popcorn-making opportunity to arrive.

A few days later, it does, and you're doubly excited. You can't wait to see what card is inside the package. You can't wait to help make the popcorn and watch that foil dome pop up as you shake the container over the stove-top burner.

You peel back the lid, and here's the player you find:

 

Not bad at all. Hernandez is a big star on the 20-card checklist. You ask mom to wait for you to put the card up in your room before she starts the popcorn. And as you're running up to your room, you remember that mom bought some Jiffy Pop with a baseball card inside a couple of years ago, too. You open your closet door, rummage through your shoe boxes, and finally see it.

 

Another good one! Mr. McGee had a great season that previous year, leading the National League in hits (216), triples (18), and batting average (.353). He was also an All-Star, won a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger award, and was the National League MVP.

 

You bet he likes a hot-off-the stove container of Jiffy Pop, too.

 

Here's a little more about the product:

 

It was marketed under the Jiffy Pop name for the first time way back in 1959 by its inventor, a chemist named Frederick C. Mennen. From there, a company named American Home Products caught wind of it. They enjoyed the novelty of the product so much that they purchased the rights from Mennen, and began marketing Jiffy Pop nationwide within a year. Their slogan? "As much fun to make as it is to eat."

And it was. An aluminum pan contained the corn kernels and other ingredients, while a somewhat intricately folded sheet of foil sealed the top of the pan. As the heat and steam began popping the kernels, they'd crash into the foil top, gradually expanding it into a dome.

 

That description might not have sounded too exciting, so I think I'll allow this vintage television commercial to do the whole thing a little more justice.

 

 

 

A countdown from launch control, space travel, alien friends, and a glow-in-the-dark Goonies cap. That rounds up the mid-1980s pretty well.

 

And you know what? Jiffy Pop still exists! You can find it at grocery stores and other outlets, like Walmart. (Unfortunately, the packages no longer come with a baseball card inside.) 

How about you readers? Did you ever make Jiffy Pop when you were a kid? Do you have any Jiffy Pop baseball discs?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading.

 

1991-92 Bowman Hockey: A Redesign

Here's the word of the day at Nine Pockets:

gradient (noun): change in the value of a quantity (such as temperature, pressure, or concentration) with change in a given variable and especially per unit distance in a specified direction. 

 

From a design perspective, that "change in the value of a quantity . . . in a specified direction" also applies to color. 

 

It's interesting and science-y enough, but this is a trading card blog. So what in the world does it have to do with trading cards? And the 1991-92 Bowman hockey set?

 

Well, by the time the 1991-92 sporting season came along, the trading card industry was quite familiar with color gradients. Have a look at these three examples.

 

 

1987 Fleer, 1989 Donruss, and 1992 Fleer show their color gradient chops, vertically and horizontally

 

So it shouldn't be a surprise that the Bowman brand took their shot at it, too. Look here.

 

 

That dark purple-to-light-purple fade across the bottom is peculiar enough. But then you add the orange and light blue border around the rest of card, and it feels like maybe Bowman was borrowing from the popular southwestern design motifs of the early '90s. 

 

 

You could totally display some 1991-92 Bowman cards in a room like that.

 

And all of the cards in the set feature that same border design and color combination. It's not what I'd expect for a hockey card, but then again, if there was any era to find odd color combinations on cards, the early '90s was it. In fact, Bowman thought so much of the design that they used it for their baseball and football sets that year, too!

 

All that being said, when I was looking through the cards in Bowman's hockey set a few months ago, I paused for some reflection. As fitting as those colors were for the early '90s (and although there is something nice about having a set of cards with the same border design across the entire set), I thought the cards could use an update. So I got to work. 

 

Now I'm ready to show the results.

 

As I've done with other set redesigns, I selected one card from each team to work with. The choices were based on the photograph—it had to contain something that represented the sport well, or showed the uniform and team logo clearly.

 

Here we go, in alphabetical order, by city.

 

To go into more detail:

 

(1) Most teams have two main colors (aside from white and black), so I decided to use those team colors for the gradient bar and borders. I had to tinker with some teams more than others, but I like the result. For teams like Detroit and Toronto, which only have one main color, I added a neutral gray.

 

(2) In general, I like it when card fronts feature the player's position, or at least an abbreviation for the position. That little space on the left side of the gradient bar seemed like a perfect location to add the G, D, C, LW, or RW designation—almost like the folks at Bowman designed it that way. So I made use of the space.

(3) I went back and forth on adding a team logo to the card. First I tried placing the logo in a white circle, but it felt like way too many other card sets—even a couple from the same 1991-92 season, like O-Pee-Chee and Pro Set. Eventually I settled on a triangular "shield" type of shape. The downward-pointing direction matched up well with the upward-pointing triangle at the bottom left of the card. But in the end, I scrapped it altogether. The logo felt distracting.

 

And besides, that same year, Parkhurst only had a player name on the front. Stadium Club only had a player name on the front. And Pro Set Platinum didn't have anything on the front. No player name. No team logo. Just a full-bleed image and the Pro Set Platinum logo. So the lack of a team logo is fine here.

 

But wait, there's more.

 

In 1991, the San Jose Sharks became the first expansion team since the WHA–NHL merger in 1979. And although there weren't any official Sharks cards in the 1991-92 Bowman set, the company did add a "Now with Sharks" note to the cards of a few players who'd been claimed by San Jose in the expansion draft or traded to the team during the season. For some bonus content, I found one of those cards, did a little bit of airbrushing, and removed the "Now with Sharks" note.

 

 

This was the only Sharks card in the set that featured a headshot, and I'm thankful for that. Airbrushing a player's full uniform, or even their jersey, was something I didn't want to do. The collar of the jersey was enough.

But wait, there's still more.

Because this Bowman set is numbered and organized by team, I wanted to see how a 9-pocket page would look in the new design. I thought the Hartford redesign looked pretty nifty, and made that my experiment.

First, here are 9 of the team's cards in their original design.

 

 

It's really not so bad when you see it in the familiar 9-card layout. But I love those Hartford jerseys and colors. I needed to see the 9 cards in the new design. Here they are.

 

 

Ahh. That's the stuff.

 

And that 9-pocket page looked so sharp, I decided to do another team. Here's Vancouver in the original design.

Again, not bad by any means. But get a load of them in the new design.

I think that yellow-orange-black gradient is pretty sweet.

So that's the redesign. I had fun with this one, for sure. I think Vancouver, Hartford, Los Angeles, and Calgary are my favorites at the moment.

What are your thoughts? Which team looks the best? 

 

Do you think hockey card collectors would have opened more Bowman packs in 1991-92 if the cards were color matched like the ones above? 

Let me know in the comment section. And thanks for reading, as always.

My First Facebook Marketplace Experience: Wax Boxes!

I'm sure I'm late to the party here compared with many collectors, but recently I discovered Facebook Marketplace.

 

The original impetus wasn't even for any kind of purchase, trading cards or otherwise. It was because I had a few items I wanted to sell, including a couple of golf clubs and some small pieces of furniture. Normally I'd go to craigslist for that kind of thing, but my brother had mentioned Marketplace a few months prior, so I figured I'd give it a try.

 

I've got to say it was pretty easy to navigate the site and create listings. And other than the slight annoyance of some people (or bots) asking "Is this item still available?" and then immediately demanding my phone number and home address, it's been a pleasant experience. Since my original listings went up, I've made a couple of sales, and our garage is a bit less cluttered. 

 

Win-win.

 

So I suppose rather naturally, I felt like seeing what the other side of the coin was like. I went through a short list of items I might need or want: golf balls, some books, other collectibles (ahem. . . trading cards) and conducted some searches.

Soon I found myself scrolling through the listings and bookmarking the ones that I was interested in. And you know what? It felt reminiscent of an old mail-order catalog from a toy store or department store that you'd get back in the day. I can't be the only one who looked through a Toys-R-Us circular or a Sears catalog and proceeded to dog-ear the pages that had items I wanted, right? Facebook Marketplace is like a modern version of those catalogs, in a way. At least that's how I've been having fun with it.

 

And my experience with trading cards so far? The listings really run the gamut, from "too good to be true" on one end to "RARE ERROR JUNK WAX CARD FOR $5,000!" on the other end.

 

So it takes a bit of effort to find the legitimate deals. And even after that, finding a time to meet up to purchase an item can take a while, and involve a tedious back-and-forth with the seller. But all that work can pay off.

 

Case in point?

 

 

This 1990-91 Topps hockey wax box, complete with 36 packs! A member listed it for quite a bargain—just about the same price it would have been in 1990, at the original price of 50¢ per pack. For the dose of nostalgia, I couldn't resist. He was located between my office and my home, and as soon as we worked out a day and time to meet, the box was mine.

Here's a look at the inside:

That illustrated hockey guy who is seen celebrating a goal on the front of each pack wrapper was used from the 1985-86 set all the way through to this 1990-91 set. Different color patterns were featured each time. He had a pretty good run!

 

And here's a shot of the box bottom, featuring one of the four-card panels that Topps made popular from the mid-1980s into the early '90s.

That's a pretty good quartet there! (Mike Modano's rookie card is found within the base set, so that box bottom version is pretty cool.)

But that's not the only deal I found.

 

A couple of months ago I posted about a hockey pack rip that my brother and I did after a round of golf. The packs were from the 1991-92 Upper Deck hockey set. Funny enough, around the same time that I found the Topps hockey box shown above listed on Marketplace, I found a different seller who was offering a full wax box from the Upper Deck set.

 

And as the timing worked out, I met up with the seller and picked up the box just one day after I met up with the seller of the Topps hockey box!

Here it is.

 

 

 

Still sealed in the original factory wrap. But that's not all . . .

 

 

 

The seller had a second box! And at the price he was offering, I couldn't say no. 

 

This other box was sealed as well, but there was a bunch of dirt and grime on it. (At least I hope it was just dirt and grime.) So I peeled it off before I took the photo.

 

Here's the unsealed box in "local card shop display mode."

 

 

That would have been an attractive sight to young collectors during the 1991-92 hockey season, for sure.

And following Topps' lead, Upper Deck put something on the box bottoms, as well.

Instead of a four-card panel, it was just one large "card". (No stats on the back, however.) Got to love that Brett Hull image.

Now, do I know what I'm going to do with these boxes?

No.

I've already got the complete 1990-91 Topps set and 1991-92 Upper Deck set (stay tuned for separate blog posts about that), so there's no need to open packs in an effort to try and find any cards I need.

There is a chance of finding a special autographed Brett Hull card in those Upper Deck packs, so maybe I'll open a few packs from the unsealed box, just for fun, and to see if I can somehow pull an autographed card.

 

I could also save some packs for future rips on the golf course with my brother.

Or maybe I'll send some packs to hockey card collectors out there, so they can get a little dose of nostalgia, too.

For now, all three boxes are going to be displayed on a shelf in my home office closet, which is partially used to house my card collection.

What I do know is that I purchased three hockey wax boxes in a 24-hour period, and I've been searching Marketplace to see what else might be out there. And this raises a small red flag. I only have so much room in my home office closet. And I'm not sure I need to load up on 1990s wax boxes.

 

As Barney Fife might say, I think I need to nip this activity in the bud.

 

 

 

How about you readers and collectors? Do you have any favorable (or unfavorable) experiences with buying or selling cards on Facebook Marketplace? Do I have a wax box problem developing? Should I nip it?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading, as always!