Sunday, March 29, 2015

Complete sets: 1987 Woolworth's Topps

A little bit more than two years ago I received a ridiculous large flat-rate box from blogging legend BA Benny as part of our final trade before he closed up shop.  I showed off pretty much everything he sent to some degree, but there was also a very nice number of complete sets, many of the oddball box variety, and I slowly got around to posting those in their entirety.  The last time I posted one was last July, about nine months ago, but these were on my mind again recently because I'm going through everything I have to get my major PCs all scanned.  That means you may see a few more of these posts in the near future (where "near future" equals maybe less than a year this time).

Today's set is another small boxed offering from their heyday of the 1980s.  Topps produced a number of highlight-type sets in a partnership with retailer Woolworth's; I'm young enough that I didn't experience the store at the height of its fame but old enough to at least know a bit about it.  The 1987 set celebrates some highlights from the 1986 season including career milestones, league leaders, award winners, and especially that year's World Series.

The cards are glossy and feel more rigid than something comparable like a Tiffany issue.  The fronts don't include much besides the player's name in very tiny writing, the set's logo, and an overly large white border combined with another yellow border inside.  The backs are done in yellow/gold and purple and briefly explain the highlight.  If I had my way the front border wouldn't be so obnoxious and the face of the card would give some sort of inkling about the highlight instead of nothing at all.  That said, the player selection is pretty good since this is a highlight set.  Tony Gwynn is my only PC player in it, but there's other cards that make it worth scanning the set!

Here's the box pretty much as it arrived to me, e.g. with a little bit of character:

And here are the 33 cards in this oddball offering, fronts and backs!:




I hope some of you find these interesting because I still have more to show off!

5 comments:

  1. I love all of the '80s boxed sets because I saw so few of them when I was collecting them. So, yes, show more!

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  2. Those small store specific sets remind me so much of my childhood. Kmart and Kay Bee toys were two of the most prevalent for me.

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    1. I somehow just never ended up with many of those, but now I have a nice bunch of examples of ones I've enjoyed picking up. And I totally remember KayBee Toys!

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  3. These type sets popped up all over in the mid to late 80's

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    1. Like I said to Matt I really didn't see those around when I was a kid, though I was pretty young and didn't get into collecting right away. Fortunately I have a few more of these to post.

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