1987 Topps - Classic Set

El Caballo

87 Topps holds a special place in my heart.  When I first pulled my cards out of the attic a month ago, it was 87 Topps that I went to first.  I don't know exactly when I first started collecting, but 87 Topps are the first cards I remember having as a child.  My favorite card was from this set... card #6, Ruben Sierra, Record Breaker.  Ruben was coming into his 2nd year in 87 after a very promising rookie campaign.  His rookie card is in all 3 of the major 87 sets (Topps, Fleer, Donruss), although this Record Breaker card is NOT his rookie.  I loved Ruben Sierra.  I was a huge Rangers fan and he was a hot-ticket item at the time.  This was also one of the first cards I remember having.  All of that added up to making it my favorite card, plus this one other factor that pertained specifically to me alone - take a look at the back of the card to find out what it is:

Thanks for breaking the record when I turned 6.

His record-breaking game occurred on September 13th, 1986 - which just happens to be my birthday.  Awesome card rife with memories for me.

Bo Knows the Future

There are other reasons to like 87 Topps as well.  The design is wacky, but very charming to me.  I think a lot of snobby collectors these days look back at 87 Topps with angst, because it was one of the first massively-produced sets that started the whole Junk Wax Era debacle, but I don't blame that on the set.  It was just merely meeting the demand of the age, which was at an all-time high.  Collectors are not as common as they were back then, so to the current-day collector, they were over-produced.  The funky design also rubs some the wrong way - just not me.  I love it.  The wood-grain borders are instantly recognizable.  I love the little circle team logos in the top left and the comic-sans-y type font used for the nameplate.  The Future Stars variants were also a nice touch - Bo Jackson's in particular.

While it's not likely this set will ever see a huge price increase due to the availability and large supply of sets out there, it will always remain one of my favorites for the reasons mentioned above.  It's a fun set to flip through.  There are also a few nice rookie cards in the set, including the aforementioned Bo Jackson ($3), Barry Bonds (kind of - he was also available in 86 Topps Traded as an XRC) ($8), Will Clark ($1), Barry Larkin ($2.50), Rafael Palmeiro ($1.50), Ruben Sierra ($0.50), & Jamie Moyer ($0.50).  The Mark McGwire ($4) card is also kind of a rookie, but most don't consider it to be his true rookie since he had a 1985 Topps Olympics baseball card.  The 87 Topps Traded set also includes a nice Greg Maddux rookie card that books for $10.00 in Beckett.  87 Topps is exactly the type of set that makes me a certified Junk Wax Junkie!  Today's sets are definitely fancier, but can't compete with the kitschy yet endearing design that 87 Topps so perfectly captures.

Don Mattingly: Junk Wax Kings

The honor is all his

I've decided to start a new type of entry for the players that truly embody the spirit of the Junk Wax Era.  Don Mattingly, a.k.a "Donnie Baseball" or "The Hitman", is one such player.  He probably won't make it into the Hall of Fame, but earning the title of Junk Wax King is the next best thing.

Donnie Baseball finished with a respectable career batting average of .307, belting 222 home runs and 1,099 RBIs.  He was a career Yankee, wearing the pinstripes from 1982 to 1995.  He now manages the Los Angeles Dodgers.  His best years were in the mid to late 80s, where he tied a few records, including belting homeruns in 8 straight games back in 1987.  Griffey Jr. tied that record a few years later (1993).  He also hit 6 grand slams in 1987, 2 of them during his 8-game streak, which is still a record today (matched by Travis Hafner in 2006).  Oddly enough, those 6 grand slams were the only of Mattingly's career.  The Hitman also won the AL MVP in 1985, and came close in 1986.  He was also a gold glove third baseman.  He could do it all.

One of 87 Topps best

During the '87 season, Mattingly injured his back for the first time, and it was the start of his career descent.  Each season dropped off in productivity, until he eventually retired after the 1995 season.  The Yankees had a rare period of mediocrity during Mattingly's career there, only making the playoffs once (in his final year).  As a wild-card, They lost to the Mariners that year despite Mattingly batting .417 with 6 RBIs.

Mattingly was a favorite among baseball card collectors during the Junk Wax Era, when he was producing at an MVP-level, and the often lone bright spot on the beloved but down-trodden Yankees roster.  His 84 Donruss rookie was a highly-sought after card during the late 80s and 90s, and surprisingly, still is today.  That's why I chose Mattingly for the first Junk Wax Kings entry.  Despite many of our then-heroes falling out of grace (see Jose Canseco), Mattingly has remained desirable among collectors.  It's hard to determine exactly why.  His career was very bright at times, but died off at nearly the same rate that interest in card collecting died off.  Why did his cards remain valuable?  It might be because they all look amazing.

I am the Rookie Monster

A good comparison for Donnie Baseball, career-wise, would be Will Clark.  At one point during the Junk Wax Era, Will the Thrill was also highly sought after among collectors.  His 87 rookie cards were pricey, and it was a great thing to pull a Will Clark from a wax pack.  His career numbers are similar to Mattingly's - actually a little better.  He finished with a .303 batting average, 284 HRs, and 1,205 RBIs.  He also won a gold glove and an MVP award.  He was plagued with injuries later in his career, like Mattingly, but still maintained decent production despite less playing time on the field.  Clark won't make it into the Hall of Fame either.  To me, they had similar careers.  Will Clark did not maintain his status with collectors though - not like Mattingly did.  His values plummeted with a lot of the other Junk Wax Era players.  His rookie cards, which I held on to so dearly during my collecting days, aren't worth much either.  His 87 Donruss Rated Rookie books for $1.50... 87 Topps for just $1.00.  Clark's 87 Fleer holds the most value at a whopping $3.00.  Compare that to Mattingly's 84 Donruss rookie card at $30.00.

'84 Topps RC

So why does Mattingly still draw the attention of collectors, when someone with a very comparable career like Will Clark does not?  I have no idea.  I still love both Mattingly and Clark, and very much appreciate all of their cards in my collection.  I do show some favoritism towards Mattingly, but I don't know if that's because Beckett does also, or if Beckett does because collectors like myself do.  Either way, Mattingly has earned his title among the Junk Wax Kings, and you do have to admit his cards always look amazing.  Oddly enough, I do not own his 84 Donruss Rookie (or Fleer or Topps), but it is high on my wish list!

So here's to you, Donnie Baseball!  Thanks for being an integral part of my Junk Wax hobby!

1991 Fleer: Junkiest of the Wax

About a month ago I pulled my collection out of the attic and spread it out on my office room floor.  Since then I've slowly been picking away at each stack, pulling out my favorite players and placing them in sleeves and top-loaders.  Then I sort the remainder of the commons into other stacks by brand, then year, then in order by card number.  It's been an extremely tedious, but also very rewarding and relaxing experience.  I throw on some tunes or an audiobook and sort my stacks in peace.  Some stacks are more fun than others.

One of the best was 1990 Leaf.  I'll dedicate an entire post to that one.  This isn't that post.  This post is about the stack I had been avoiding and delaying, until last night.  The junkiest of my beloved junk wax collection.  A set so junky that even I, a self-proclaimed Junk Wax Junkie, was not looking forward to going through.

Bo Knows 87 Topps

Here's the thing about junk wax - though not high on the value scale, the sets often hold a lot of other positive attributes.  They can have charm, often though creative design.  That charm can also happen through feelings of nostalgia.  I have strong resonating memories for the 1987 Topps design.  It's different - kind of weird, actually - and maybe off-putting for some collector's.  I love it though.  1989 Donruss is another very 80s/early 90s looking design that holds a lot of charm.  It's one of my all-time faves.  By the time junk wax reached it's full velocity in production though, I feel like some of the companies stopped caring about the design a bit.  Or a lot.  Or maybe they did care, but just lost the ability to balance innovative design and maintain low costs.  1989 Upper Deck (and then the aforementioned 1990 Leaf) changed the game when it came to quality of the photography, design, and card stock.  Maybe some of the other companies just had a hard time keeping up and went for something different when it came to design.

Can The Wizard save this
design?

1990 Donruss started the downward trend, after several consecutive years of strong design (85-89 were all really good years for Donruss).  The red cards and cursive font just didn't really work.  They followed that with one of the worst designs ever with the 1991 Donruss set.  The Blue cards were bad, the green ones even worse.  Fleer had a tough go too - the 1990 Fleer set design was weak, 1992-94 Fleer I don't even remember without looking up.  They came out with the Fleer Ultra line, which improved things quite a bit (trying to compete with Topps Stadium Club), but I don't know if those improvements were enough to offset what you are about to see.  None of those compare to this monstrosity:  1991 Fleer.  Holy crap.

Arya Stark looked too
closely.

Can you still see after beholding the might of that card?  Some of these cards actually have nice photos.  Too bad you'll never notice them through all of that yellow.  This is the set I've been avoiding from the beginning, partially because I just don't like the design (obviously), and partially because I have about 37 thousand of them.  I started sorting them last night, and maybe for the first time since I cracked open the boxes storing my collection, I would have rather been doing something else.  On previous nights I stayed up way too late just to finish sorting a set, or logging it into my ridiculously large spreadsheet database.  Last night I finished about half of it and then retired to watch some Netflix.

He HAD to know

The market agrees with my disdain for this set (and the 91 Donruss).  The entire 720-card set books for a whopping $8, with the highest card in the set valued at $1.25 (Griffey & a Griffey/Bonds combo card).  Values don't mean so much to me, but they can go a long way in making up for a design I don't really care for.  Here they only exacerbate the problem.  I have a ton of them, they aren't worth anything, and I don't really like the design.  Sometimes one card in a set can also change the viewpoint for an entire set.  Take 1989 Fleer, where the craze over finding a rare "Fuck Face" variant of the Billy Ripken card stole everyone's imagination for a few months (and it's still a highly-coveted card).  I actually really like the design of 89 Fleer, and the Griffey rookie card helps too, but I think Billy Ripken went a long way in endearing that set in many of our hearts.

So, what's next?  Do I throw them out?  Do I give them away or sell them at a flea market or garage sale?  Short answer:  NO WAY!  They are part of my collection, and I love my collection.  We all have family members we don't like as much as others - do we kick them out of the family?  No, we love them too, because they are family.  1991 Fleer is my drunk uncle, and I love him unconditionally.

I am a Junk Wax Junkie!

When I first learned about the term "junk wax", I was actually offended.  It hurt.  The Junk Wax Era, as so many like to call it, was my prime collecting period as a kid with dreams that my collection would be worth millions when I reached adulthood (it's debatable whether or not that has happened yet, despite my age).

For those that don't know, the term "junk wax era" has been applied to most of the baseball card sets that were released from the mid 80's through the 90s.  These cards haven't increased in value over time like cards from prior generations because they were "over-produced".  I put that in quotes because I have my own thoughts on what that really means, but I'll save that for another post.  For a longer description of junk wax, click here.

Sweet 'stache!

So you remember that awesome 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco Rated Rookie card you pulled from a pack when you were a kid?  You know, the one with the sweet teen 'stache that was worth $100 in the late 80s?  Yeah, well, it books for like $12 now according to Beckett.  Of course Canseco played his own part in that epic collapse, with the baseball that bounced off of his head for a home run, the weird pitching incident, steroids, career downturn, and being a douche bag in general.

I'll do the math for you.  As a 9 year old in 1989, $100 to me was a TON of money, roughly equivalent to $47 trillion as an adult.  So booking at $12 is a bit of a letdown to my optimistic, non-jaded, 9-year old self.  You can apply this same principle to most of the cards from the junk wax era.

HOWEVER (you knew that was coming), it's not all bad news.  I collected baseball cards when I was 9 because I loved baseball.  I loved the players.  I really loved the cards.  That hasn't changed.  I still love those cards, and as I have had a collecting renaissance of sorts over the past month, learning about the (lack of) value of my collection hasn't diminished my fondness at all.  They certainly weren't "junk" to me then, and they aren't now either.  That's promising.  It's nice to know that I can still derive enjoyment from my collection without it being worth tens of thousands of dollars.

I have embraced the "junk wax" term now.  I have been to several shops over the past month, along with 1 card show, and I went from meekly asking about 80's and 90's cards to proudly wearing my Junk Wax Junkie badge of honor.  So that's why I started this blog.  I doubt many will stumble upon it, but it's a nice way to chronicle this time in my life as a 34-year old when my baseball card collecting hobby had life breathed back into it.  Maybe one day 20 years down the road, I'll look back at this journal with fond memories of collecting again, just as I'm experiencing now reminiscing about my childhood.