The 1987 Fleer baseball card set was the sixth installment in Fleer’s run producing baseball cards under an exclusive license with MLB Properties. Coming off the heels of huge success with their 1986 set featuring a large rookie class including Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, and Mark McGwire, Fleer aimed to build on that momentum with their 1987 offering.
With a total of 792 cards in the base set, the 1987 Fleer cards had several noteworthy aspects that made it a highly desirable issue among collectors. For starters, the visual design saw some tweaks that gave the cards a cleaner, more modern look compared to past years. Gone were the swirling patterns and intricate borders of earlier Fleer sets – replaced by a predominantly white backdrop with team logos prominent at the top of each card. Card stock was also noticeably thicker and higher quality than previous Fleer productions.
From a player perspective, the 1987 Fleer set featured excellent rookie class headlined by future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine, as well as solid young talents Kevin McReynolds, Gregg Olson, and Mark Grace. The base collection also showcased baseball’s biggest stars of the day such as Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Ozzie Smith, and Rickey Henderson. What’s more, this was the final Fleer set to include iconic players like Reggie Jackson and Willie Stargell who would soon retire.
In addition to the standard base cards, Fleer packed the 1987 edition with several exciting insert series to entice collectors. Chief among these was the hugely popular “Fleer Sticker Book” promotion. Consumers could acquire stickers corresponding to every player featured in the base set, which were then affixed to pages in a companion album. This added element of fun and interaction took the hobby to new heights. Other notable parallels included “Gray Back” parallel variants, “Traded” update cards showing players on their new teams, and mini “Postcards” depicting players against scenic city backgrounds.
From a production standpoint, Fleer printed the 1987 set in much higher numbers than previous years to meet growing demand. Quality control issues led to several known printing errors that have since become quite valuable among error card connoisseurs. Some examples include “double printing” where two images appeared side-by-side on a card, “upside-down photograph” follies, and missing team logos at the top of cards. While aggravating for the company, these quirks have added to the charm and mystique of the ’87 Fleer set in retrosepct.
Critical to the long term resonance of the 1987 Fleer baseballs cards was the marquee players it captured in their early career arcs. Perhaps most notably, it featured rookie cards of Hall of Famers Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux, both of whom had spectacular multi-decade careers. Glavine’s Fleer rookie in particular has become one of the most iconic and sought-after cards from the entire decade of the 1980s as he developed into a premier lefty ace and 300-game winner. Elsewhere, the ’87 Fleer set gave early glimpses of coming stars like Mark Grace, Kevin McReynolds, and Gregg Olson at the outset of their MLB tenures.
In summation, the 1987 Fleer baseball card release has earned a sterling reputation among collectors and enthusiasts due to a potent mix of factors. Its modernized visual design, explosion of parallel insert sets, incorporation of rising young talent balanced by established vets, and enduring rookie cards of all-time greats like Glavine and Maddux have cemented it as a seminal 1980s issue. While producing it was not without complications, the resulting product captured the sport of baseball at an exciting time of transition to new eras of talent. For these reasons, the ’87 Fleer collection remains a highly sought trophy piece for collectors today.
In the ensuing decades since 1987, demand and values for the set have grown remarkably. Near-mint examples of star player commons can still be acquired relatively affordably, but prime rookies like Glavine and graded gems command premium prices. The 1987 Fleer Mark McGwire rookie in mint condition has eclipsed the $100k sales threshold in recent auction results. Even higher end, specially autographed or unique error cards can bring mid-five or six figure returns. As nostalgia continues to fuel collector appetite and markets mature, the appeal and financial worth of this storied baseball card set only figures to appreciate more with time. For both casual fans and serious investors, 1987 Fleer remains an icon of the hobby that established new standards of production quality, memorabilia elements, and financial potential for the future of the sport.
