Collecting the 1987 Fleer Basketball Card Set

Set Notes

What happens when a 132-card set is loaded with great second-year players, but lacks star rookie cards of it's own? PSA's Kevin Glew has some thoughts on playing second fiddle.

Curator of Collections, Card Cyber Museum

Playing second fiddle isn't easy.

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Excerpt

Just ask John Oates. One half of a hugely successful music duo, he's been overshadowed by his taller and more charismatic bandmate, Daryl Hall, for more than 30 years.

What does this have to do with sports cards? Well, the 1986-87 Fleer Basketball set is the Daryl Hall of hoops issues and the 1987-88 Fleer set is the John Oates.

Like Hall, the 1986-87 set – with its who's who of basketball rookies – still commands considerable attention. The 1987-88 offering, on the other hand, remains in the background, out of the limelight.

More set notes

The cards in this 407-card set measure approximately 2 1/2" by 3 1/2". Topps returned to the vertical obverse, adopted what we now call the standard card size, and used a large, uncluttered colo photo for the first time since 1952. Cards in the series 265 to 352 and the unnumbered checklist cards are scarcer than other cards in the set. However, within this scarce series (265-362) there are 22 cards which were printed in double the quantity of the other cards in the series; these 22 double prints are indicated by DP in the Beckett checklists.

The cards in this 340-card set measure approximately 2 5/8" by 3 3/4". Following up with another horizontally oriented card in 1956, Topps improved the format by layering the color 'head' shot onto an actual action sequence involving the player. Cards 1 to 180 come with either white or gray backs: in the 1 to 100 sequence, gray backs are less common (worth about 10 percent more) and in the 101 to 180 sequence, white backs are less common (worth 30 percent more).

The cards in this 206-card set measure approximately 2 5/8" by 3 3/4. Both the large 'head' shot and the smaller full-length photos used on each card of the 1955 Topps set are in color. The card fronts were designed horizontally for the first time in Topps' history. The first card features Dusty Rhodes, hitting star and MVP in the New York Giants' 1954 World Series sweep over the Cleveland Indians. A 'high' series, 161 to 210, is more difficult to find than cards 1 to 160. Numbers 175, 186, 203 and 209 were never issued.

The cards in this 250-card set measure approximately 2 5/8" by 3 3/4". Each of the cards in the 1954 Topps set contains a large 'head' shot of the player in color plus a smaller full-length photo in black and white set against a color background. The cards were issued in one-card penny packs or five-card nickel packs. Fifteen card cello packs have also been seen. The penny packs came 120 to a box. The set contains the Rookie Cards of Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks and Al Kaline and two separate cards of Ted Williams (number 1 and number 250).

In its now standard procedure, Topps issued its standard-size Traded (or extended) set for the fourth year in a row. Several of the year's top rookies not contained in the regular set are pictured in the 1984 Traded set. Extended Rookie Cards in this set include Dwight Gooden, Jimmy Key, Mark Langston, Jose Rijo and Bret Saberhagen. Again this year, the Topps affiliate in Ireland printed the cards, and the cards were available through hobby channels only in facotry set form. The set numbering is in alphabetical order by player's name.

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