I have written a lot about the year 1987 on this blog. Experienced readers know that I wasn’t collecting in 1987. I was in college and no longer interested. In ’86 I didn’t buy a single pack. I’m not so clear about ’87, but I think the same was true that year.
So, knowing where I am now with cards, why would I consider 1987 “great”?
Well, I wrote about that too. My social life has never been better. I had found my people, I was finding a new direction for my career and felt comfortable with it, and I also found my life partner, although I probably didn’t know it at the time.
I think about that year a lot, especially in October, the month that year when I and several members of the school newspaper traveled halfway across the country for a four-day student journalism seminar in St. Louis and tore up the city.
It’s crazy that it’s been almost 40 years since that year. Forty years since Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over”? 40 years since “With or Without You”? 40 years since “Heart and Soul”? (T’Pau, not Huey Lewis). It’s also insane that I actually rejected the cards issued that year.
It may well be that the better your life is, the less meaningful cards are. But I didn’t say that!!
To forget about that ugly stuff, I’ll show you a few cards from 1987 that I recently received. I finally tackled that 1987 Topps set and now it’s time to finish the 1987 Fleer.
A few more. Even though I have no nostalgia for this year’s cards, I still want to complete the set because the cards still feature players from my younger years when I really cared about each game. I mean, I was there for the MLB inception of Willie McGee, Dave Righetti, Bob Tewksbury and others. The other reason is that ’87 Fleer is the only ’80s Fleer set I haven’t completed yet. I can’t let it hang.
Bo also had some 1985 Donruss wishes for me. Been treading water with this set build for a while now.
That’s about 120 cards checked off the wishlist, including some large cards, as you can see.
Bo and Fuji’s packages arrived within a few days of each other, so there are some duplicates. But that’s okay. 80s set chases should be full of duplicates!
I haven’t updated my TCDB wishes for ’87 Fleer yet, so I’m not sure how close I am, but I’m guessing it’s less than 100 cards now.
I always liked the look of Fleer from 1987 – the blue ice set – even if it didn’t have the usual nostalgic significance otherwise. But for all the great stuff that happened in ’87 — Tawny Kitaen on the hood and all — and for all those great bars in St. Louis — this set should be complete just so I have another example of “remember when?”
But I have my limits. I hope my life will always be better than trying to complete 1987’s Donruss.
#beautiful #year #cards #meant