The late 1980s were a transformative time for the baseball card industry. While the golden age of the 1970s saw explosive growth and innovation, the mid-80s brought consolidation and cost-cutting. The 1987 baseball card market in particular saw the introduction of a new grading standard that would come to define the modern hobby – the infamous “87 Score”.
In the 1970s and early 80s, the two major baseball card producers were Topps and Fleer. Each year they would release full color sets featuring every major leaguer with glossy photo fronts and statistical information on the back. Card quality was generally high with thick stock paper and vibrant inks used for printing. As the decade wore on, collectors began to notice declining quality in the cards themselves. Photos were smaller and lower resolution, centering and cutting was often off, and the card stock seemed thinner and more prone to damage. Behind the scenes, the baseball card market had reached saturation after enormous growth in the late 70s. Both Topps and Fleer were looking to cut costs to maintain profitability amidst falling demand.
For the 1987 season, Topps took the first drastic step by introducing a new, lower quality paper stock dubbed the “87 Score”. Made of extremely thin cardboard with a powdery texture, the 87 Score cards had a noticeable drop in heft and feel from previous years. The photo sizes remained small but now had an even grainier, lower resolution appearance. Perhaps most notoriously, the 87 Score paper was prone to dings, dents, creases and other handling damage at a much higher rate than in the past. While this allowed Topps to produce cards for less money per pack, it severely impacted the collectibility of the set and consumer perception of quality.
Fleer’s 1987 offering tried to maintain past standards but lacked the major league license, featuring minor leaguers instead. They also experimented with oddball parallel sets and odder still “Air Attack” cards with mini parachutes attached. However, Fleer’s higher production costs and lack of big name players led to weak sales. They would lose their MLB license after the 1988 season. With Fleer out of the yearly card race, Topps had a clear monopoly and no incentive to improve the lowly 87 Score stock.
While reviled by purists, the 87 Score paper became the new normal baseline for mass produced baseball cards through the late 80s and early 90s. The thinner stock made for cards that showed more wear and tear but were also easier to stack in penny sleeves and binder pages. Sets from 1988 to 1991 would all utilize the same flimsy 87 Score cardboard. It wasn’t until the early 90s that card manufacturers began to notice collectors demanding a return to higher quality paper and production standards.
Upper Deck shook up the baseball card world when they arrived in 1989 with their premium quality printing and stock. The success of their rookie cards of Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas showed there was money to be made in re-capturing the lost lustre of the 1970s. Other companies like Score, Donruss and Fleer tried competing on quality in the early 90s. In 1992 Topps caved and released their first modern high quality set since the 80s boom era.
To this day, 1987 Topps baseball cards remain infamous as the low point in modern card production because of their “87 Score” paper stock. While reviled at the time, the ubiquity of the design has made complete ’87 sets a rite of passage for collectors. Individual high-grade 87s of stars like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Sr. remain quite collectible and desirable in the hobby. The 87 Score instigated a race to improve quality that raised the bar for the entire baseball card industry. In retrospect, they serve as a reminder of how far cardmaking has come.
