Nice round anniversary aside, why am I hoping to spend the year looking back at the 1987 Topps set? While I certainly liked those 792 cards—actually, since I built six sets, I liked 4,752 cards, plus the thousands of extras that never made it into another duplicate set— it’s not my favorite set of all-time, or what I consider to be the best-looking set of all-time. Those honors are held by the 1985 Fleer set, which I love as much now as I did back in the throes of puberty.
I was too young to really dig the throwback look—the wood panel border celebrated the 25th anniversary of Topps’ iconic 1962 set—and actually much preferred the look of the Fleer or even the 3-D Sportflics among the 1987 cards.
But packs of Fleer, Sportflics and Donruss were harder to find and therefore more expensive as their manufacturers minimized press runs in hopes of increasing demand and value. Topps cards, on the other hand, were as ubiquitous as air, which meant they most easily fed my furious addiction.
Baseball cards became more important than anything—more important than my grades, sorry Mom, or the girls I had yet to not date—once I discovered the joy of collecting a set in the summer of 1986, when a buddy and I bought a few packs of the Topps “mini-leaders” and decided to try and collect all 66 (what can I say, we were young and cautious).
Collecting that set eventually beget completing all three 1986 sets, but 1987 was the first year in which I anticipated the arrival of the new season’s baseball cards. It blew my mind that I could be buying the next season’s baseball cards in January, but there I was, buying full boxes and ripping open packs and even occasionally chewing the gum.
As my Mom said, the money from my paper route (Google it, kids) burned a hole in my pocket. Topps cards were everywhere, they were easily obtainable yet I could not get enough of them. (I also got enough Fleer and Donruss to build multiple sets, and enough Sportflics for a set, which should earn me a medal)
In addition, 1987 Topps cards are the cardboard accompaniment to the most memorable baseball season of my youth. Everyone thinks there’s no better baseball season than the one in which they were 13, but those of us born in late 1973 or the first half of 1974 are actually correct.
The juiced ball. Rookie of the Year winners Mark McGwire and Benito Santiago pursuing some of the most hallowed numbers in the sport. A 13-inning All-Star Game. Tim Raines, All-Star Game MVP and one-man post-collusion wrecking crew. The Milwaukee Brewers, who opened the season 13-0 and had a pitcher throw a no-hitter and a player hit in 39 straight games yet finished seven games out in a terrific AL East race. A classic NLCS between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants. The 85-win Minnesota Twins riding the momentum of the Homerdome to an unlikely pennant and an even more unexpected seven-game World Series win over the Cardinals. The last afternoon World Series game ever. And a whole bunch of other stuff I’m probably forgetting but will remember this year, the 30th anniversary of the best baseball season ever and the most omnipresent baseball card set of all-time.
My plan is to look at all 792 cards over the next 365 days while also commemorating the anniversary of the big baseball moments. I’m a sportswriter so I hope to actually interview some of the people responsible for the cards and memories of our youth. It’ll be fun. Come along for the ride, won’t you?
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