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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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 1991 Topps Traded set contains 132 standard-size cards. The cards were issued primarily in factory set form through hobby dealers but was also made available on a limited basis in wax packs (grey backs) and collated factory sets (white backs) are from different card stock. Both versions are valued equally. The card design is identical to the regular issue 1991 Topps cards except for the white stock (for factory card sets) and T-suffix numbering. The set is numbered in alphabetical order. The set includes a Team USA subset, featuring 25 of America's top collegiate players.

The 1989 Topps Traded set contains 132 standard-size cards. The cards were distributed exclusively in factory set form in red and white taped boxes through hobby dealers. The cards are identical to the 1989 Topps regular issue cards except for whiter stock and t-suffixed numbering on back. Rookie Cards in this set include Ken Griffey Jr., Deion Sanders and Omar Vizquel.

This 132-card standard-size Traded set was distributed exclusively in factory set form in a special green and white box through hobby dealers. The card fronts are identical in style to the Topps regular issue except for whiter stock and t-suffixed numbering on back. The cards are ordered alphabetically by player's last name. The key extended Rookie Cards in this set are Ellis Burks, Dave Cone, Greg Maddux, Fred McGriff and Matt Williams.

The 1990 Topps set contains 792 standard-size cards. Cards were issued primarily in wax packs, rack packs and hobby and retail Christmas factory sets. Cards fronts feature various colored borders with the player's name at the bottom and team name at top. Subsets include All-Stars (385-407), Turn Back The Clock (661-665), and Draft Picks (scattered throughout the set). The key Rookie Cards in this set are Juan Gonzalez, Marquis Grissom, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas, Larry Walker and Bernie Williams. The Thomas card (414A) was printed without his name on front creating a scarce variation.

This 132-card standard-size Traded set, numbered 1T - 132T, was distributed exclusively in hobby set form in a red and white box through hobby dealers. The set numbering is in alphabetical order by player's name. The cards are identical to regular-issue 1986 Topps cards except for whiter stock and 'T'-suffixed numbering. Key extended Rookie Cards (XRC) in this set are Barry Bonds, Will Clark, Andres Galarraga, Bobby Bonilla, Jose Canseco, Bo Jackson, Wally Joyner, John Kruk and Kevin Mitchell.

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