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Awesome night card, pt. 172


Dan Meyer is carrying 19 home runs in a single hand on this card.

The numbers on the bats that he is holding correspond with the uniform numbers of the players on the 1983 Oakland A's. No. 30 is starting catcher Bob Kearney. He hit eight home runs in '83. No. 3 is designated hitter Jeff Burroughs. He hit 10 home runs in 1983.

 No. 7 is Dan Meyer himself. He hit one whole home run in '83. I can see why he grabbed the other bats. Maybe some slugging would rub off on him.

But the reason this card is here, other than it is an awesome night card, is that the other day on twitter people were ranking the 1980s Fleer sets in order of preference.

This is an everlasting fun little exercise, so I shall do it here for posterity:

1. 1984 (blue painter's tape set): classic design, team logo, memorable photos
2. 1981 (no name yet): a new take on cards -- hey the set is in order by team!
3. 1988 (barbershop pole set): pleasing patriotic design
4. 1987 (blue freeze pop set): what can I say? I like blue sets
5. 1982 (no name yet): lots of issues, but you've got to love the team color-coded borders
6. 1985 (man in gray flannel suit set): more color-coded borders but less space for photo
7. 1983 (no name yet): bleh, gray borders, but team logos on front!
8. 1986 (no name yet): the most forgotten set of the '80s for me
9. 1989 (pinstriped gangster suit set): Yuck. And so much of it.

I don't think Fleer ever really mastered a set during the 1980s, but I sure do miss them.

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Night Card Binder candidate: Dan Meyer, 1984 Fleer, #455
Does it make the binder?: Enthusiastically.

Comments

Nick said…
My top two are the same as yours, I've always thought that '84 was Fleer's finest moment.

I'd probably have '82 in the #3 slot, I was never all that big on Fleer's 1988 design.

Is it just me, or do gold-and-green A's jerseys always make for awesome night cards?
Once a Cub said…
Is that a really a 3 on the bat? Looks more like a 6 with an underline (to differentiate from a 9)?

Might be easier to tell with card in hand but just my observation.
night owl said…
Could be a 6, I suppose. My eyes aren't as good as they once were. No. 6 was Mitchell Page, who played in only 57 games for the A's in 1983.
I'm partial to the early 80's issues of Fleer, mistakes and all.
gcrl said…
i figured you probably already had the card when i sent it, but i knew it was a good one.
CaptKirk42 said…
1981 Fleer used to trick me into thinking it was a Donruss card, so maybe a name for 81 Fleer would be Donruss Decoy?