Nostalgia Night – Baseball

I have really been tied up with work, the kids and a brutal sinus infection that won’t seem to go away.  I haven’t been able to get to the ’86 Donruss box yet and it’s kind of driving me nuts.  I want to have the time to sit and go through the whole box.  I’ve never even bought a pack of that product but have some singles and have always loved them.  Opening that box is going to be a new experience for me, which is rare when talking about opening an 80’s box of baseball cards.  But that set has always eluded me.  I’m going to get to it very soon and will have plenty to say about it when I do. While I haven’t had a couple of hours to spare, I have had time to rifle through some of my old boxes while looking for the non-sport packs I just traded with Scott Berger, which was a saweet deal!  In going through those boxes, I decided to try a new (maybe weekly) post called “Nostalgia Night”.  I have boxes of baseball, football and basketball cards that are loaded with 80’s-90’s stars.  I was weighing how many cards, what players, etc when I decided to just pick 10 cards that jumped out at me and start with those.  The first edition will be baseball but I will mix it up frequently in order to stay fresh.  Well, see how it goes.  Maybe this thing has legs or maybe it’s a dud.  Only one way to find out.1987 Topps Eric Davis – There isn’t much that can be said about 87 Topps that hasn’t already been said.  Topps themselves are living off of those bad boys much like an early 2000’s Bama fan was doing with Bear Bryant’s legacy.  Topps has tried to incorporate some type of 87 variation in tons of products and for the most part has been successful.  There’s just something about that wood grain that takes us all back.  Station Wagons, Bedroom Walls and Baseball Cards all shared that design in 87.  Eric Davis is sort of the antithesis of 87 Topps.  He hasn’t gotten much exposure since his playing days and I think that’s a shame.  In his prime, he was a five tool player if there ever was one.  We throw around that word now but he was legit.  He’s just not remembered by many baseball fans of our generation.  87 was his best year and his stats proved that he was capable of doing it all.  He hit .293 with 37 home runs, 100 RBI and 50 stolen bases.  You may be thinking that 50 is a lot of stolen bases.  But it was actually 30 less than his 86 season when he swiped 80.  So yeah, power, average, speed and he also had the glove as is evidenced by 3 gold gloves.  I loved me some Eric Davis back in the day and still do today.  1988 Donruss George Brett – 88 Donruss gets hammered as the set that sent the card industry head long into the Junk Wax Era.  There were tons and tons of this product made and pushed out to the public.  I envision the future as robots still churning through boxes of 88 Donruss.  When Biff Tannen was dropping off the sports almanac with his younger self, he also said “Don’t buy any 88 Donruss, trust me.”  Even though a ton of it was printed, 1988 had a solid selection of stars and rookies.  Some of the older players were wrapping up and players like Tom Glavine and Craig Biggio were just getting started.  George Brett was close to the end of a stellar career.  I knew Brett as a tough player that was a difficult out.  He finished his career with a +.300 batting average and is one of only four players to ever hit over .300 with 3,000 hits and 300 homeruns.  The others?  Stan Musial, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays.  That’s some damn elite company there.  Even towards the end of his career in 88, he churned out a .306 average with 100+ RBI.  He’s also responsible for one of the most memorable moments in baseball history with the Pine Tar Incident.  I don’t have to rehash that whole thing if you’re already reading a blog about 80’s baseball cards.  Let’s just say that I was only 6 when it happened but I have seen it probably a million times in my life.1989 Topps Sandy Alomar Jr. – The first Jr. I was a huge fan of.  I loved pulling Alomar rookie cards in ’89.  His career never lived up to the hype surrounding him in the late 80’s but he was better than average during his career.  He made 6 all-star appearances, a couple of World Series appearances and won Rookie of the Year and a Gold Glove in 90 as well.  While he spent the most productive years of his career (10 seasons) with the Cleveland Indians, his 89 Future Star featured him in his San Diego uni.  He and Carlos Baerga were traded from SD to Cleveland and both were part of a mid 90’s Indians resurgence.  As for 89 Topps, it should not be a secret by now that I have a love hate relationship with the card company.   But from 89-91, I loved the sets they put out.  It’s really hard for me to even rank those three years because they all have their high points.  90 was the first complete set I owned so it has a special place in my memory.  I’m neck deep in 91 Topps here in 2017, chasing variations and glow backs that I didn’t even know existed back then.  And 89 is one of the purest card designs in my collection.  No neon colors, no throwback attempts, no computer graphics.  Just a plain basic card with a lot of class.1989 Upper Deck Will Clark – Much like 87 Topps, there’s not much I can say about 89 Upper Deck that you don’t already know.  It was the premier set for the company and broke the mold for baseball card features in a time when innovation was needed.  A Groundbreaking set to say the least.  Most famously known for card #1, Ken Griffey Jr, there are several popular, well known cards offered up in the set.  It was loaded with stars as wells as bums.  One of the stars in 89 was Will Clark, or as I like to refer to him thanks to Donruss, William Nuschler Clark Jr.  I really called him Nuschler on RBI and when we were playing in the yard because I was so amused at that middle name.  Another career +.300 hitter, 89 was also his best individual season.  He hit .333 with23 bombs, 111 RBI and scored a league leading 104 runs.  Two great water cooler trivia questions for your friends.  First, in 89, Will finished 2nd in the MVP voting.  Who did he finish behind?  Kevin Mitchell, his SF teammates.  The other – Will hit a home run in his first major league at bat off of what pitcher?  Nolan Ryan.  Not many players can say that!1990 Donruss Juan Gonzalez – if you want Juan’s comprehensive backstory, listen to Episode 52 of Wax Ecstatic’s podcast on ITunes or Audio Boom.  He does a great job with a players background and career in those podcasts. As for my memory of Gonzalez, I remember he was an absolute masher.  His rookie card in 91 made him look like a slim and trim speedster when in fact, he was about to grow into a mammoth of a home run hitter.  There are some allegations as to whether it was all legit but that’s neither here nor there for this conversation.  He was high on my collection list in 1990 and I had high hopes for a massive career.  He did finish his 17 year career with 400+ home runs and 2 AL MVP Awards but he’s been swept under the rug over the last 15 years.  As for 90 Donruss, yeech.  Really very few positives about the set.  But this particular card was known for its reverse negative error in which Juan could be found hitting left handed.  I had both at one time but now only have 2 non error versions.1990 Fleer Dale Murphy – Like 89 Topps, the Fleer set of 1990 was a classy, clean baseball card.  White border, no frills, just baseball.  I remember getting a few packs of Fleer at Halloween from my grandmother and I chucked my candy out of the way and went straight to ripping.  My hit that night was Mark McGwire.  That was 27 years ago and I still remember it so vividly.  That’s a microcosm of what collecting cards is to me.  They can take me back to such a specific place and time and I can have that sense of nostalgia wash over me.  Back to the card, Dale Murphy is a legend in Atlanta, even though he went on and played for the hated Phillies after wrapping up his career with the Braves.  He was the lone bright spot in a stretch of horrendous baseball history for my home team.  I remember going to games as a kid and being one of a handful of fans there to take in the struggling Bravos.  But Murph was one of my heroes.  I’m still dissapointed he hasn’t made it into the Hall of Fame.  His overall career numbers don’t seem to hit any of the benchmark metrics for induction but he’s always been more than that to me.  He was a 2 time MVP on a lousy team and played his butt off every day.  As it stands, he and Roger Maria are the only 2 time MLB MVP’s not in the Hall of Fame.  For shame!  He also got traded right before the Braves magical run of 14 consecutive division championships.  Bad timing.1990 Kmart Jose Canseco – Speaking of Hall of Fame, I don’t suspect Jose is going to get in anytime soon thanks to his post career look behind the curtain.  You could almost commend him for his honesty if you weren’t pretty sure there was a motive behind it.  The KMart baseball cards are certainly not Hall of Fame worthy thenselves.  But those derogatory assessments aside, Jose Canseco was my #1 focus in the late 80’s.  I was Oakland on RBI 3, I wanted all of his cards, I carved a wooden plaque in his honor in 8th grade shop class and I dressed up as him in 7th grade for an autobiographical presentation.  So yeah, Jose is a big part of my love for the hobby.  If it were up to me, he’d be front and center in the Hall, regardless of his enhancements.  This dude was a masher, had blazing speed for a big man and hit for a pretty solid average for most of his career.  He was the first 40/40 club member and still only one of four.  Of course, those players have something else in common.  They are Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano.  Again, I don’t care!  You’ll never prove to me that 80% of the league wasn’t doing the same thing.  And Jose was still better than all of them!  If not for Ron Gant, I might be a Jose super collector at this point.  But that place in my collecting heart goes to #5.1990 Upper Deck Tom Glavine – If Dale Murphy was the Atlanta Braves in the 80’s, the same could be said for Tom Glavine in the 90’s if not for John Smoltz and Chipper Jones.  See, the 90’s Braves were quite a bit better than the 80’s  version so there was more star power to share the spotlight.  One of those stars, a real superstar, was Tommy Glavine.  A former hockey player that decided to focus on baseball, he rolled up 10 all star selections, 2 Cy Young awards and a World Series ring in 1995.  Not only did he win that long awaited ring in 95, he was voted the MVP of the 95 World Series.  He finished his career with a 305-203 career record, leading the NL five times in wins. He could also swing the bat, as evidenced by his 4 silver slugger awards.  I could write an entire post on Glavine’s achievements!  Tommy was a stud on the mound and always gave us Braves fans an optimistic feeling when he took the ball.  Like Glavine, 90 Upper Deck was also a star among the card world.  They were still ahead of the rest of the league when it came to design and features and would claim one more year on top before Stadium Club joined the party in 91.1991 Fleer Bo Jackson – I can’t help but chuckle when I see 91 Fleer.  What were they thinking?  What could have possibly given them the idea that a bright yellow card was going to be a big hit?  Where in baseball card history has such a thing been successful?  Did they not pay attention to Donruss in 90?  These are  just plain awful cards in my opinion.  They have nostalgic value but even in 91, I remember thinking they were God awful. Someone that wasn’t God awful was Bo Jackson.  In 91, he was coming off his official induction into the Book of Legends  (thanks to Super Tecmo Bowl) and also a strong baseball campaign in 90 with a .272 average and 28 bombs.  But if you thought 91 was a bad year for Fleer, it was really no comparison to the awful year Bo had.  He injured his hip early in 1991 in a football playoff game, ending a promising career in that sport.  He would then be cut by the Royals, with who he appears on the 91 Fleer.  He would return late in the season with the Chicago White Sox but his otherworldly mythical persona would fade with the hip injury.  He will still go down as one of the top 3 athletes I’ve ever watched play.  Bo is still a legend in many circles and he’ll always have a place in my collection.1992 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr. – The mere mention of the word legend stirs memories of one of the greatest to ever take the field.  He may actually be THE greatest of my 40 years on this earth.  The Kid took the league and hobby by storm in 1989 thanks in large part to Upper Deck.  Ken Griffey Jr. drove Upper Deck’s success but I can’t help but give them credit for driving some of his early success in the hobby as well.  His smile was electric and belonged on a baseball card.  Some 89 sets didn’t even include him in the base but UD made him #1, a risky move that paid off in a huge way!  As for this particular card, it’s probably my favorite of the entire 92 Fleer set.  I’ve mentioned before that I loved the artwork subsets of the early 90’s and this card stood out among them to me.  Colorful and regal, it’s one of my favorite non rookie cards of all time.  In the mid 90’s, I was considered a Ken Griffey Jr. super collector but when me and the hobby went our separate ways in the late 90’s, I lost touch for a while.  When I came back, I never really focused on one player again, except for ole Ronnie Gant.  Now, Ryan Sawyer is the Jr. super collector and he has quite a collection!  I still collect The Kid but I’ll never own as many as I could have if I had stuck with the hobby during my 18-25 age.  

So that does it for the first edition of Nostalgia Night.  What do you think?  Does this thing have legs or is it like the 91 Fleer, one and done?

J-Dub