1987 marked an exciting year for collectors of sports memorabilia and trading cards. It was in this year that Mars, Incorporated released their wildly popular series of M&M’s Baseball Cards. This unique promotion featured color photos of Major League Baseball players on card-shaped chocolate candies. With flashy packaging and the fun prospect of eating the cards after enjoying them, the 1987 M&M’s Baseball set was an immediate hit.
At the time, the Topps Company had dominated the baseball card market for decades. They were facing new competition in the late 1980s from competitors like Fleer and Donruss looking to capture some of that lucrative market. Seeing an opportunity for synergistic brand promotion, Mars worked with MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association to produce this novel candy-card crossover. Each colorful wrapper contained a 35mm photo laminated onto an actual chocolate nougat disc that was about the size and thickness of a typical trading card.
Some key things made the 1987 M&M’s Baseball set stand out. For one, the photo quality was remarkably high for candy wrappers of the time period. Professional photographer Bryan Hanau was commissioned to capture crisp, colorful action shots of over 150 players. Hanau’s pictures gave collectors high-quality images of their favorite stars to admire even after the chocolate was gone. The set also differed from traditional cardboard issues in only featuring photos, without any player stats or team logos on the wrappers. This streamlined design let the candies really show off Hanau’s gorgeous photographs.
Another unique factor was the limited print run. Whereas sports card manufacturers would spit out tens or hundreds of millions of a given year’s set, Mars only produced 20 million wrappers for the 1987 M&M’s Baseball collection. With such a constrained quantity compared to the hunger for nostalgia and memorabilia among fans, the issues took on greater scarcity value from the very beginning. The one-year-only nature of the sets at that time also helped propel the candies towards legendary collector status. After 1987, Mars opted to change future promotions to multipacks themed around specific sports rather than stand-alone candy-card series.
Naturally, consuming the chocolates posed its own risks and rewards for collectors. While it was tempting to surrender to one’s sweet tooth, eating the disc meant destroying the coveted photo and memories encapsulated within. On the other hand, unwrapping marvels like a Roberto Clemente or Ozzie Smith candy without consuming it went against the promotional spirit. For seasoned traders, the candies took on a whole new dimension of value depending on whether they remained pristine or showed tooth marks. Today, preserved 1987 examples in their colorful foil can fetch hundreds of dollars online.
Among the notable rookies and stars featured in the 1987 assortment were Mark McGwire, Orel Hershiser, Eric Davis, Bobby Thigpen, Lenny Dykstra, and Barry Larkin. Iconic veterans like Pete Rose, George Brett, and Nolan Ryan also made appearances. Not every big name player participated due to individual sponsorship agreements. Notable absentees included Doc Gooden, Kirby Puckett, and Roger Clemens. Regional distribution patterns also meant certain heroes had better odds of showing up in candy racks based on their team’s fan base location.
The innovative M&M’s promotion was a boon for both Mars and Major League Baseball. The candies drew new interest around the national pastime from casual and younger fans. Meanwhile, MLB benefited from extra marketing exposure during their 1987 season. For collectors, the M&M’s issues opened a gateway to the card hobby for many and remain forever intertwined with fond memories of summer baseball. While Topps, Donruss, and Fleer produced the conventional cardboard that filled factory-sealed wax packs, Mars provided a unique collectors’ item that was as much about enjoyment as accumulation. Even after 35 years, examples from the single-year 1987 M&M’s Baseball set retain their vivid colors and allure, cementing their place in the lineage of classic sports collectibles.
In summary, Mars’ 1987 M&M’s Baseball promotion was tremendously popular and pioneering, giving collectors a novel way to experience the marriage of candy, photography, and nostalgia for America’s favorite pastime. By combining state-of-the-art printing, elite athlete images, and scarcity by design, the candies captured immediate demand while accruing further mystique as the years passed. For fans of ’80s memorabilia, the year 1987 undoubtedly brings to mind cracking open an M&M’s wrapper to uncover a childhood baseball hero immortalized in chocolate.
