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.