Last night I watched a YouTube video of a guying ripping two packs of 1986-87 Fleer. Fairly entertaining, and kind of stressful. You find yourself rooting for the guy after he invested that much in those two packs.
Just one small PWE trade with new TCDB member bizauer to share today. One card for the 1992 Stadium Club set:
And two football additions for the Michigan collection:
Opening Day is tomorrow. While I no longer follow baseball, and haven't purchased a pack of baseball cards since 1992, it is a significant day as it is a harbinger of nicer weather. In honor of Opening Day 2019 I look back 30 years to 1989. 1989 was a huge year for so many reasons. I was a baseball fan at this time and had adopted the A's as my team. Who couldn't like Canseco, McGwire, Henderson, Stewart, etc? I even collected Canseco cards and wore my hat like Dave Stewart - good bow to the brim and low over the eyes. I also collected Bo Jackson and had a nice little collection going. I even wore Bo's Nike cross-trainers one year. Tim Burton's Batman movie was released as was Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, and lest we forget, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Two TV behemoths premiered in 1989; Seinfeld and The Simpsons. And the music was amazing... in a cheesy pop way.
During the summer of 1989 I was between the 7th and 8th grades - a prime age to collect cards. I spent quite a bit of time at my best friend Scott's house. The usual Friday night routine included shooting some hoops, looking over cards at the kitchen table while listening to the radio, playing NES, and then watching Letterman at 11:30. Saturday nights were the same except we watched SNL at 10:30 (Carvey, Hartman, Lovitz, Miller, Nealon, etc). Ah, the care-free days of youth.
1989 baseball cards were all about Ken Griffey Jr, Gregg Jefferies, and Gary Sheffield. In looking over the baseball cards on my For Trade list on TCDB 1989 ranks as my #1 year and 1989 Donruss ranks as my #1 set. In fact 1989 Donruss, 1989 Topps, and 1989 Score all rank in my top seven sets. Let's dive into the baseball cards of 1989...
1989 Bowman. At the time I really liked Bowman. It was new. It was different with it's slightly larger size, simplified front, and faux auto. I bought quite a few of these and nearly have a complete set. I loathe these cards now due to the storage issues and am often tempted to put all of them on my For Trade list.
1989 Donruss. I bought a TON of these. They're not bad, they're not great. Ugh, I wish someone had stopped me from buying so damn many of these.
1989 Fleer. I bought a few packs but ultimately just ended up buying the the factory set. I actually kind of like the use of the pinstripes. Not bad. This set caught fire because of Billy Ripken of couse. I bought a copy of the "F@#k Face" card at the monthly card show at the Lake Geneva YMCA. Sadly, that card is long gone. Wish I had it.
1989 Score. The second year of Score was quite a departure from the first. 1988 featured full color borders and then in 1989 they go with white borders. I really liked Score as the backs set them apart.
1989 Topps. I hated the 1988 Topps design. HATED it. I still do. So bloody dull. 1989 was a huge improvement in comparison. I bought few Topps packs in '88; I bought far more in '89.
1989 Topps Big. For some reason I bought quite a few of these. I have about 2/3 of the set. Must of have been the novelty factor. Like the Bowman set I'm not even sure I want any of these due to storing them. The more I look at these though the more I like them. The full color back is nice and I am a sucker for cartoons on cards.
1989 Topps Mini. I liked the base set so of course I chased the minis as well. I managed to the collect the majority of the set and managed to complete the set via trades through TCDB. I really like that they did not repeat the photos from the flagship set. I also like the full color backs; another change from the flagship set.
1989 Upper Deck. As my daughter would say, "Fancy". Better cardstock, better photos, higher quality... more expensive. Collector's choice is right as how was a 13 year old supposed to rip enough packs to build an 800 card set? I picked up a couple of packs and then broke down and bought the factory set. Of course, I sold the Griffey years ago so my set is now incomplete.
My big takeaways from the 1989 baseball season, the ones I remember 30 years later, are:
- Bo Jackson's All-Star Game performance
- the A's sweep the Giants in the Earthquake World Series
- the Cubs won the division
- Pete Rose banned for life
- Giamatti dies shortly after the Rose announcement
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