The 1987 Score baseball card set was released at the height of the baseball card boom of the late 1980s. Following the success of the iconic 1986 Topps set featuring rookie cards of Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark McGwire, card manufacturers were pumping out new sets at a furious pace to capitalize on the marketplace. Score entered the fray in 1987 with a massive 792 card base set along with additional oddball parallels and inserts to attract collectors.
While not nearly as iconic or valuable as the corresponding flagship Topps set from that same year, the 1987 Score issue did represent an evolution for the brand. Score had been a mainstay in the baseball card space for over a decade by this point but was still trying to carve out its own identity beyond being a secondary option to the industry leader Topps. The ambitious 1987 set showed Score was willing to go big to compete.
Perhaps the most distinguishing aspect of the 1987 Score design was the photography. Gone were the classic posed headshots that had been the Score standard up to that point. Now nearly every card featured an action shot of the player, sometimes mid-swing or mid-throw. While certainly more dynamic than static poses, the photography quality was hit or miss with many blurry or oddly cropped images. Some purists preferred the clean simplicity of traditional baseball card portraits.
In what would become tradition for Score releases going forward, parallel subsets added even more cards to collect. The base set was joined by Superstar Performers, All-Star Highlights, Record Breakers, and Rookies of the Year subsets. Each parallel ran around 50 cards and often featured the same players but with different statistical highlights called out on the front. Other inserts spotlighted batting leaders, home run leaders, stolen base kings and more.
Rookie cards in the 1987 Score set featured some future Hall of Famers like Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, and John Smoltz as well as Barry Larkin, Mark Grace, and Cory Snyder. None would ascend to the same iconic status as Griffey and McGwire’s Topps rookies from 1986. The lack of true superstar rookie cards slightly diminished the long term appeal and value of the 1987 Score set compared to flagships from other years.
Distribution of Score products was also far less widespread than Topps. While Score boxes and packs could be found in many shops, availability was not uniformly national like the monopoly Topps enjoyed. Regionally, Score was stronger in some areas compared to others. This disconnect meant some subsets and parallel variations ended up much rarer than their checklist numbers would suggest since distribution was not balanced.
Still, collectors found many gems within the 1987 Score set. Stars of the day like Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, Dave Henderson, and Ozzie Smith had some of their sharpest on-field cards in the Score set compared to other issues that year. Collectors could also chase alphanumeric variations within the primary base set where players were coded by their position and uniform number but without images on the fronts.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the inclusion of retired stars/legends cards mixed in with the current players. Icons like Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, and Bob Gibson appeared in special “Legends” uniforms on their Score cards – a jarring contrast from the familiar images collectors were used to seeing. There was something nostalgic yet eerie about seeing sporting immortals depicted in dated vintage uniforms rather than their prime playing days attire.
In the end, while the 1987 Score baseball card set did not achieve the same lofty heights as signature releases from Topps, it helped establish the brand as a true MLB license holder and alternative on shelves. Issues with photograph quality, lack of truly iconic rookies, and uneven distribution limited some of its broader appeal over the long run. Yet for collectors of 1980s cardboard and fans of daily “wax pack warfare,” the 1987 Score baseball cards still invoke plenty of memories of a boom period in the hobby. While outshone by behemoths like 1987 Topps, it earned its place among the notable baseball card sets produced during baseball’s golden age on trading cards.
The nostalgia and varied collectible possibilities within the enormous 792 card 1987 Score base set, from stars to subsets to anomalies, ensured it found an appreciative audience at the comic, drug and hobby shops of the 1980s. Three decades later, it still represents the transition of Score to a more action-oriented photographic style and larger scale production model that pushed the envelope versus competitors. Whether a fan of the cards, the players, or just a product of its time, the 1987 Score baseball release richly captures the excesses, energy and enthusiasm of the industry during the peak of the cardboard craze.
