OK, I said last month when I did the last Elusive '80s post that the next one would show up pretty quick, and here it is.
Only a month between posts hasn't given me much time to tackle any of those elusive '80s needs but several are sitting in carts and you're looking at the most recent arrival, which was on the last post as a need -- the wonderfully charming Jiffy Pop Fernando. (Never mind that "1st annual" nonsense).
In this post I'm tackling the Dodgers I need from sets issued in 1987 -- still seems ludicrous that I would need anything from 1987, even with this series telling me that needs are all around me, no matter what year.
Expect a few more Valenzuela appearances.
1987
1987 Albuquerque Dukes Police
Technically not a Dodgers set but I've been known to gather Albuquerque Dukes cards from the '70s and '80s, as so many future Dodgers favorites are displayed on those cards. This is a 30-card set and I don't have a single one. It's quite inventive for a police set, riffing on the 1963 Topps design.
1987 Bill Goff Advertising Cards
I don't know much about this. There are only two cards in the set, one of Ebbets Field, shown here, and one of Yankee Stadium. It's the size of a postcard. The backs are mostly blank. Not much here inspires me to add one.
1987 1948 Bowman Reprint
Reprints still going strong in 1987, I've come across several of the Bowman reprints through this series. Though I don't usually look for reprints, this Pete Reiser is the only one of the three in the set that I don't have, so it seems dumb not to add it.
1987 Coins of America Smokey and the Pros
Here's a completely new one on me. These laminated cards are part of an effort to highlight the California wildland fire program, combining vintage Smokey the Bear posters with various past Topps baseball cards. The backs are all the same, mentioning the partnership between professional baseball and California fire prevention. It's 32 cards and the checklist is about as varied as possible -- Wayne Tolleson? I don't know if there is a link between Hubie Brooks, Boots Day, Ben Oglivie, Russ Snyder and Ned Yost, but it makes me want to complete the whole thing.
The only Dodger card in the set is Ken McMullen, showing his 1974 Topps card.
1987 Red Foley's Best Baseball Book Ever Stickers
Red Foley was a sportswriter and longtime official scorer and his Best Baseball Book Ever contained 130 peel-off stickers, which are tiny (1.5-by-1.75 inches). I have a lot of things to do before I get around to chasing the five wee Dodgers stickers in this set.
1987 General Mills Booklets
I'm pretty damn sure I have one of these somewhere. I'm also certain that if I had time I could find where I featured it on my blog. As always, the problem with "strip cards" or similarly configured items, is that I don't want to cut them into individual cards, especially since the booklets are flimsy (and therefore easy to fold).
The Dodgers to get are Guerrero, Sax and Valenzuela.
1987 Hostess Superstar Stickers
Moar Stickers! And more tiny ones, too. This is a 30-card set issued by Hostess of Canada (tip-off is the first six cards in the set are Blue Jays or Expos). These were issued one-per Hostess potato chip bag. They are 1 3/4-by-1 3/8 (tiny!). Fernando is the only Dodger. Backs are in English and French.
1987 Hygrade All-Time Greats
Kind of dumb that I still need one of these, so Pee Wee is already in a shopping cart. Outside of that I need a couple of the photo variation cards but those are too challenging for the effort I want to throw at these.
1987 Los Angeles Dodgers Police
Three cards are keeping me from completing this -- Valenzuela (again), Lasorda and a card of the coaching staff.
1987 O-Pee-Chee Stickers
I've been over and over this on these posts, but the Topps/OPC sticker sets of the mid-1980s don't interest me much, mostly because a lot of the stickers show players from two different teams -- the bane of team collectors. (You can separate them, but then you have yet another tiny sticker). The stickers with just one player are more desirable to me. But, still, I don't have any of these.
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1987 Perez-Steele Great Moments Postcards (Series 2)
The Perez-Steele Great Moments series that began in 1985 continues in 1987 with 12 more cards, utilizing the 1911 Turkey Red design. The cards are 5.75-by-8 inches and numbered to 5,000. The series, featuring Dick Perez art, continued into the 1990s. Sandy Koufax is the only Dodger in this series and therefore the only card I need.
1987 7-Eleven Superstar Sport Coins
Thank goodness, we come to the end of the confusing series of 7-Eleven coins with the 1987 versions. Once again, they were issued in East, Mideast and West regions, as well as Chicago and Detroit regions, just to give you more to keep track of. Safe to say, I need all the Dodgers but adding them brings up thoughts of trying to keep them all straight in my collection, which is a definite deterrent.
1987 Smokey the Bear 38th Annual Fresno Hot Stove Dinner
A difficult regional set of 18 cards in an odd shape -- 4-by-6. The cards are black-and-white. There are three Dodgers, Franklin Stubbs, Tom Niedenfuer and Steve Sax.
1987 Smokey the Bear Los Angeles Dodgers All-Stars Stadium Giveaway
Smokey the Bear was really cranking out the card sets in 1987. This is another odd-shaped item at 2.5-by-3.75 inches. Alas, I've never lived anywhere near Dodger Stadium, so the only card I have from this set is an autographed Steve Garvey card.
1987-89 Sports Collectors Warehouse
These large-sized cards feature the art of Christopher Peluso and just about all of them contain multiple images of the showcased great. Multiple Dodgers in this set, but the large size will probably keep me away.
1987 TCMA 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers
Outrageous that I still need one of the cards in this nine-card set. It's Don Newcombe here, so this card is about to be purchased. It's strange that I gobbled up eight of the cards fairly early into my blogging career and then stopped for whatever reason.
1987 Topps Coins
I'm even more lax on gathering the various coin issues. There are just two Dodgers in this set. I have multiples of the Steve Sax. The Fernando coin is overdue.
1987 Topps Stickers
Book-ending this post with Valenzuelas! Again, I can take or leave the mid-1980s stickers sets, and the single-player stickers are the interesting ones for me. Need the Fernando and the Steve Sax. Then there all the shared stickers with lesser teams that can avoid my collection forever for all I care.
And that wraps up 1987!
The sets that I still need weren't too interesting to me this time around. I don't know if that's a trend or not. I'll have to tackle 1988 and 1989 to find out. I'm sure I'll have to break those up into two separate posts, given the state of the hobby at the time.
So until then, keep hunting those elusive '80s cards!
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