As a fan of the Fleer design for the first five years that I collected baseball cards, the 1988 Fleer design stands out in a negative way to me. It was a bland, boring, by-the-book choice which in retrospect seems even more odd as I revisited some of the colorful counterparts utilized in their own subsets from the same year! Perhaps this would be a forgivable offense in most years, but Fleer would find themselves in a fierce battle for relevance with upstarts like Score (1988) and Upper Deck (1989) entering the competition for collector dollars as the Eighties drew to a close. 

Corby Corner

Coming off the 1987 season of home runs and big name rookies, as well as what I thought to be really solid card layouts from all three companies, Fleer followed suit with the others and landed with a thud. The red, white and blue background felt simple and safe, not where they had gone the two years prior. Sadly, there weren’t really any rookies in this class to make these cards shine a little more. By this point the hobby of baseball card collecting had become more of a business, and I believe less time was spent on creating a card that was aesthetically pleasing and rather focus was on cranking out as many as possible. Looking back, I feel this was the year that began the fall of the industry

Favorite Card

Derek – Ken Dayley (#30) – two gloves are better than one!

Tom – I will go back to the player that I felt really was a Hall of Famer until injuries derailed him, Eric Davis (#231). I collected his cards en masse and I really liked this one as you see that whip-like swing had just completed.

Features

White borders accented with red and blue diagonal lines anchor the borders of the 1988 Fleer cards. The player’s name and primary position appear above the photograph, near the upper left corner while the team logo sits in the top right. The card backs denote the player’s biographical information across the top section. The mid-section outlines their yearly statistical output and the bottom third is devoted to “At Their Best – MLB Stat Breakdown” which replaces the Career Highlights news and notes from previous Fleer sets. 

The team checklist again runs in order from the previous season’s final standings, so the 1987 World Champion Minnesota Twins lead off this year’s batch. Cards # 622 through # 640 are devoted to pairs and a few trios of ballplayers with headings such as “Slugging Sophomores” (#622, Wally Joyner and Cory Snyder) and “Crunch Time” (#637, Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis). Rookie prospects are depicted two at a time in cards # 641 through 653) and seven checklists round out the set. 

The Glossy set returns after debuting in ‘87 and parallels the base checklist, the only difference being the glossy feel on the front of the cards. The Update set includes the usual 132 extension of the base set with rookies and players traded since the start of the ‘88 season. Fleer produced a similar number of subsets compared to the previous campaign, some of which were intended for exclusive distribution by Toys R Us, Cumberland Farms and other stores. 

The subset values according to the 1997 edition of the Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles are as follows: Update $10, All-Stars $6, Headliners $5, World Series $2, Update Glossy $15, Award Winners $5, Baseball All-Stars $5, Baseball MVP’s $5, Exciting Stars $5, Hottest Stars $5, League Leaders $5, Mini $10, Record Setters $5, Sluggers/Pitchers $5, Sticker Cards $15, Superstars $5, Team Leaders $5.  

One-and-Dones

The players listed below made their lone appearance on a regular-issue baseball card in the 1988 Fleer set. Appearances on multi-player “rookie” or “top prospect” cards are not included – this is limited to individual cards for each particular player.

Steve Stanicek (# 174) – The older of two Stanicek brothers to reach the Major Leagues, Steve began his journey as the #1 selection of the San Francisco Giants in the June 1982 Amateur Draft. His sibling Pete recorded a slash line of .243/.319/.307 with 4 round-trippers for Baltimore during the 1987 and 1988 seasons. Primarily a corner infielder before adding outfield duties to his resume in the latter half of his career, Steve contributed a .243 BA with 19 jacks spanning the last month of the ‘82 campaign plus all of ‘83 at Fresno (A). He spent the next two years with the Shreveport Captains (AA), averaging .262 with 9 dingers per year. Dealt in March 1986 to the Brewers in return for outfielder Rob DeWolf, Stanicek reported to the El Paso Diablos (AA) and put on a season-long show on offense as he slashed .343/.448/.583 with 40 two-baggers, 25 circuit clouts and a career-high 116 runs scored. The fireworks continued in ‘87 with a promotion to the Denver Zephyrs (AAA). Stanicek matched his doubles and home run output from the prior campaign while knocking in a personal-best 106 baserunners and producing a slash line of .352/.396/.616. Milwaukee called him up to the big leagues and he debuted as a pinch-hitter for Ernie Riles against veteran southpaw Tommy John on September 16, 1987. The Brew Crew trailed the Bronx Bombers 4-2 in the visitor’s half of the seventh. Stanicek stepped up to the dish with one out and Mike Felder on first base. He hit a ground ball towards third base and Mike Pagliarulo was unable to handle it cleanly. “TJ” was lifted from the game in favor of the tall righthander, Tim Stoddard. Felder advanced to third on Paul Molitor’s fly ball to center, so there were runners at the corners with two outs. Felder scored and Stanicek advanced to second on a wild pitch. Robin Yount followed with a liner between shortstop and third, plating Stanicek with the tying run! After Yount swiped second base, Glenn Braggs tripled to deep right, scoring Yount with the deciding run in the Brewers 5-4 victory. Two days later the Brewers were trailing the Tigers 7-1 heading into the top of the ninth at Tiger Stadium. Sparky Anderson sat Walt Terrell down after he pitched 8 innings of 1-run ball in favor of Mike Henneman. Rob Deer lined out to third-sacker Tom Brookens for the first out, but B.J. Surhoff ripped a double to left-center field. Dale Sveum belted a two-run blast to cut Detroit’s advantage to 7-3. Ernie Riles slapped a base hit to center. Anderson waited until Rick Manning was announced as the pinch-hitter for Juan Castillo, then he summoned left-hander Willie Hernandez from the bullpen. Brewers’ skipper Tom Trebelhorn countered with Stanicek, who promptly singled to left for his first Major League hit. Paul Molitor swatted a three-run big fly, stunning the Motor City fan base as the Brew Crew mounted a fierce comeback! With the lead down to a single run at 7-6, Anderson removed Hernandez from the contest and called upon Eric King. Robin Yount grounded out to second base for the second out but Glenn Braggs beat out an infield single to shortstop to keep the rally alive. Finally, King retired Greg Brock on a fly ball to center. Stanicek received his lone starting assignment on the following day (September 19, 1987). Batting seventh in the lineup as the designated hitter and facing Tigers’ right-hander Doyle Alexander, he lined a single to shallow center field to advance B.J. Surhoff from second to third base with one away in the second inning. Alexander escaped the frame without allowing a run when Surhoff was gunned down at home on a fielder’s choice grounder to first and a 5-4 ground out by Paul Molitor. Stanicek flew out twice and whiffed to finish the contest with one hit in four trips to the dish as the Tigers outlasted the Brewers, 5-2. Stanicek struck out against Dave Righetti leading off the ninth inning in a thrilling 9-8, come-from-behind victory at County Stadium on September 23, 1987. Stanicek’s final tally for the ‘87 campaign included 2 hits in 7 at-bats with a couple of runs scored. In 1988, he didn’t make the Opening Day roster for the Brew Crew and headed back to Denver where he appeared in only 27 games due to injuries. He was released by Milwaukee in October 1988 and signed a minor league deal with the Phillies in January 1989. Stanicek batted .285 with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons (AAA) to earn another cup of coffee. Recalled when rosters expanded from 25 to 40 in September, Stanicek made a grand total of nine plate appearances, all as a pinch-hitter. His lone base hit with the Fightin’ Phillies came on September 9, 1989, facing Expos’ southpaw Zane Smith. Philadelphia trailed Montreal 5-1 in the seventh frame when Randy Ready clubbed a one-out pinch-double to deep center field. Stanicek, batting in the nine hole for reliever Todd Frohwirth, laced a single to short right-center to drive in Ready. The Phillies tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the ninth on a three-run jack by Dickie Thon (off Tim Burke), but the Expos prevailed 6-5 when Andres Galarraga doubled with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and scored on a base hit by Hubie Brooks against losing pitcher Jeff Parrett. The final at-bat of Stanicek’s Major League career occurred on October 1, 1989 versus Montreal. Leading off the seventh inning against reliever Rich Thompson, Stanicek hit the ball back to the pitcher, who threw to first base for the out. Career MLB totals included a .188 BA (3-for-16) with 2 runs and 1 RBI. Returning to the Phillies Triple-A affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for the 1990 campaign, Stanicek compiled a .282 BA with 23 doubles, 10 dingers and 76 ribbies before hanging up his spikes. 

Bill Lindsey (# 403) – This Broward College backstop was drafted twice in 1979 by the Cardinals and the Angels (when there were January and June phases of the draft) but he failed to sign with either organization. Instead, Lindsey inked a deal with the Yankees as an amateur free agent in April 1981. He toiled in the Bronx Bombers farm system for six seasons prior to being dealt to the White Sox in December 1986 as the “player to be named later” in a six-player swap near the trade deadline (July 30, 1986) – a deal which sent Ron Hassey and Carlos Martinez to the Pale Hose in exchange for Ron Kittle, Joel Skinner and Wayne Tolleson. He showed promise in Rookie Ball playing for the Paintsville Yankees, where he slashed .296/.343/.506 with 8 round-trippers in 176 plate appearances. Lindsey rapped 20 two-base knocks and posted an OBP of .372 for the Greensboro Hornets (A) in ‘82. He slumped a bit over the next couple of years before rebounding offensively with 21 doubles to complement a .365 OBP while spending the majority of the ‘85 campaign with the Albany-Colonie (AA) squad. The backstop repeated Double-A ball in his final year as a Yankees farmhand in ‘86, notching career-highs in homers (12) and RBI (66). Due to Ron Hassey’s injured knees and Ron Karkovice’s feeble offensive production (.071 BA – 6 hits in 85 AB), Chicago elected to promote Lindsey in July 1987 to back up veteran Carlton Fisk behind the dish. At the time of his call-up, he was hitting .282 with eight circuit clouts for the Birmingham Barons (AA). White Sox skipper Jim Fregosi penciled Lindsey’s name into the starting lineup on July 18, 1987 and the backstop made his big-league debut batting ninth. Facing the Indians ace, knuckleballer Tom Candiotti, Lindsey rapped into a 5-3 double play in his first at-bat. He popped up to shortstop in the fifth, then delivered a single to left in the subsequent frame. With a groundout to relief pitcher Reggie Ritter in the seventh, Lindsey finished the game 1-for-4. Eight days later, he received a starting assignment against Ron “Louisiana Lightning” Guidry at Comiskey Park. Lindsey grounded out twice and layed down a successful sacrifice bunt. Fregosi inserted the rookie backstop on August 2, 1987, ironically making his lone appearance at an opponent’s ballpark. Squaring off against the Brewers’ starter Chris Bosio, he fouled out to right fielder Glenn Braggs in the second and struck out looking with reliever Jay Aldrich on the bump in the fourth. Lindsey logged another successful sacrifice bunt in the sixth off Chuck Crim and collected an infield hit to third sacker Steve Kiefer leading off the eighth versus Mark Clear. He earned playing time in five contests over the next week, going 0-for-6 to drop his batting average to .133. The White Sox were getting demolished by the Blue Jays on August 3, 1987 by a score of 14-4. Pinch-hitting for Ozzie Guillen in the home half of the eighth, the rookie backstop notched his lone RBI as a big-leaguer when he lofted a fly ball to left field deep enough to drive in Ken Williams. Lindsey scored his first run in the Majors during the second game of a double-header on August 8, 1987. The Sox held a 5-4 advantage in the seventh when Ivan Calderon and Ron Hassey produced back-to-back base hits. Fregosi sent Lindsey in to pinch-run for Hassey. Greg Walker singled to right, scoring Calderon from third and moving Lindsey up to second base. He moved to third on a fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of Steve “Psycho” Lyons. Williams followed with a double to right field, knocking in Lindsey and Lyons, but the inning ended as Williams unsuccessfully tried to advance to third base. Bill Schroeder laced a two-run single in the top of the eighth inning but Bobby Thigpen secured the 8-6 victory with a six-out save. Lindsey sat for nine days before making his final MLB appearance. Trailing Boston 12-6 in the ninth inning, he entered the game as a defensive replacement for Hassey. In the bottom of the frame, Lindsey rapped a one-out single off southpaw Joe Sambito. Walker promptly blasted a two-run bomb to deep right field. Lindsey’s career totals include a .188 BA (3-for-16) with 2 runs scored and an RBI. He batted .280 with six big-flies for the Vancouver Canadians before calling it a career at the conclusion of the 1988 season.

Did You Know?

Fleer introduced the “At Their Best – MLB Stat Breakdown” to the lower third of the card backs, replacing the “Career Highlights” section. “At Their Best” incorporated day/night and home/road splits for each player from the previous campaign utilizing batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage for hitters and earned run average, wins and losses for pitchers.

Errors

The 1988 Fleer set does not contain any significant error variations. 

Rookie Cards

Tom Glavine, Mark Grace, Ken Caminiti and Gregg Jefferies are among the players making their cardboard debuts in the ’88 Fleer set while future HOF’ers Roberto Alomar, Craig Biggio and John Smoltz notched their inaugural appearances in the ‘88 Fleer Update. 

Price Guide (Then and Now)

The “Beckett Baseball Card Monthly Price Guide” (1997 edition) cataloged the 1988 Fleer Baseball complete set at $20 while the 1988 Fleer Update set logged a $10 value. 

Please add a comment below if you would like to share any memories from collecting the 1988 Fleer baseball card set or your experiences with card collecting in general!

Articles in the Series

The 1984 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1984 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1984 Topps Baseball Set

The 1985 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1985 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1985 Topps Baseball Set

The 1986 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1986 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1986 Topps Baseball Set

The 1987 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1987 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1987 Topps Baseball Set

The 1988 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1988 Fleer Baseball Set

References and Resources

Beckett, Dr. James, Rich Klein and Grant Sandground. Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles. Dallas, TX: Beckett Publications, 1997. Print.

https://www.beckett.com/search/?term=1988+fleer&year_start=1988

http://www.tuffstuff.com/priceguides

http://www.baseballerrors.com/

Trading Card Database – Photo Gallery

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewSet.cfm/sid/121/1988-Fleer

About the Authors

Derek Bain is a New Jersey native with a passion for baseball, statistics, computers and video games who enjoys spending quality time with his family.

Tom Corby – Cousins with Derek, I am a history teacher at New Egypt High School. I have three kids, Addison, Jaclyn, and Mason and I’m happy that I get to coach them in their sports as well. In my spare time I enjoy reading, anything beach related, and fishing when time allows. 

Derek’s Books

“Hardball Architects – Volume 1 (American League Teams)”, published in July 2020, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. 

“Hardball Architects – Volume 2 (National League Teams)”, published in April 2022, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.  

Hardball Architects examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All key moves are scrutinized for every team and Sabermetric principles are applied to the roster construction throughout the lifetime of the organization to encapsulate the hits and misses by front office executives.

“Hardball Retroactive”, published in June 2018, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.  Hardball Retroactive is a modest collection of selected articles that I have written for Seamheads.com along with my Baseball Analytics blog since 2010. Exclusive content includes the chapter on “Minors vs. Majors” which assesses every franchise’s minor league successes and failures in relation to their major league operations.

“Hardball Retrospective” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. Supplemental Statistics, Charts and Graphs along with a discussion forum are offered at TuataraSoftware.com. In Hardball Retrospective, I placed every ballplayer in the modern era (from 1901-present) on their original teams. Using a variety of advanced statistics and methods, I generated revised standings for each season based entirely on the performance of each team’s “original” players. I discuss every team’s “original” players and seasons at length along with organizational performance with respect to the Amateur Draft (or First-Year Player Draft), amateur free agent signings and other methods of player acquisition. Season standings, WAR and Win Shares totals for the “original” teams are compared against the real-time or “actual” team results to assess each franchise’s scouting, development and general management skills.

Don Daglow (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony LaRussa Baseball) contributed the foreword for Hardball Retrospective. The foreword and preview of my book are accessible here. 

“Hardball Retrospective – Addendum 2014 to 2016” supplements my research for Hardball Retrospective, providing retroactive standings based on Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win Shares (WS) for each “original” team over the past three seasons (2014-2016). Team totals from 2010 – 2013 are included for reference purposes. “Addendum” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. 

While the changes from the previous year’s effort were subtle, I immediately appreciated the design of the 1987 Fleer baseball cards. I made multiple attempts to acquire the cards but they were very difficult to track down. My recollection is that the product was highly sought after and the prices quickly exceeded a threshold that I was not willing to cross. As I wasn’t a big fan of the 1987 Topps offering at the time, I focused instead on my ‘87 Donruss collection. Many years later I was able to locate a dealer with a 5000-count box of 1987 Fleer commons, so I finally got my hands on the majority of this set.   

Corby Corner

Ok, I’ll say it, I personally liked the Fleer set the best in 1987. It was not the most glamorous, didn’t have the Rated Rookies like Donruss, but there was something about that set that made me want to buy those wax boxes and create set after set. I believe I made three if I am not mistaken. Again, if you are looking for a reason, I don’t have one, and sometimes it’s cool that certain players or sets just strike your fancy. Well the set did have some solid cards in it. Will Clark, Ruben Sierra, Bobby Bonilla were hot items in ‘87, though their stars would fade as the 90’s approached. “Wally World” Joyner lit up the league and his “rookie” card was in the set, and the same can be said for Barry Bonds. Like I stated prior, this set didn’t light the world on fire, but it also didn’t disappoint. Sadly, to me, this was the peak of baseball card collecting. I think the 1988 sets just lacked any real star power, and in 1989 the saturated market officially moved the hobby from collecting to greed. 

Features

Fleer softened the color scheme from the dark blue in ‘86 to a two-tone border, using a lighter blue on the top half with white towards the bottom. Player names and primary fielding positions are incorporated into the upper left corner while the team logos are affixed to the lower right. The readability of the card backs is improved from the prior year due to the color scheme, which utilizes the light blue-white combo along with a pair of pink columns. The formatting of each player’s biographical and statistical information mirrors previous Fleer releases. Similar to past releases, the set is ordered based on the final standings from last season and alphabetically by the player’s last names. The back end of the set includes nineteen “Superstar Specials” (usually two or more players with a specific theme), ten “Major League Prospects” (two players per card) and seven checklists for a total of 660 cards.

Fleer opened the floodgates with regards to their production of subsets in 1987, ramping up the offerings from seven in ‘86 to seventeen one year later! The six-card “Headliners” substituted for the previous season’s “Future Hall of Famers” in Fleer rack packs. A twelve-card “World Series” subset were issued in collated sets only to hobby dealers. Subsets that were composed of 44 cards and sold exclusively in chain stores include “Award Winners” (7-11), “All-Stars” (Franklin), “Exciting Stars” (Cumberland Farms), “Hottest Stars” (Revco), “League Leaders” (Walgreens), “Limited Edition (McCrory’s), “Record Setters” (Eckert’s Drug Stores). Multiple chain stores distributed “Game Winners” – Bi-Mart, Pay’n’Save, M.E. Moses, Mott’s, and Winn’s. All of the subsets featured standard size cards with the exception of the “Mini” series which were printed on 1 13/16” by 2 9/16” stock. 

The subset values according to the 1997 edition of the Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles are as follows: Update $15, Glossy $30, Update Glossy $10, Mini $6, All-Stars $22, Headliners $8, Award Winners $4, Baseball All-Stars $5, Exciting Stars $4, Game Winners $5, Hottest Stars $5, League Leaders $5, Limited Edition $4, Record Setters $4, Sluggers/Pitchers $5, Star Stickers $15, World Series $2. 

One-and-Dones

None of the players in the 1987 Fleer set qualify for the ‘one-and-done’ designation (i.e. all appeared on other regular-issue cards during their careers). This does not include multi-player cards such as “Major League Prospects”. 

Did You Know?

Fleer card backs replaced the career highlight information from previous offerings with a “Pro Scouts Report”. Pitchers received rankings for six different pitch types ranging from “average” to “awesome” while hitters depicted three strike zones outlining the locations where they produce the best results. 

Errors

The 1987 Fleer set does not contain any significant error variations. 

Rookie Cards

Barry Bonds, Bo Jackson, Barry Larkin, Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, Wally Joyner, Ruben Sierra, Bobby Bonilla, Devon White, Chuck Finley, Jamie Moyer, John Kruk, Terry Steinbach, Mitch Williams and Mike Stanley highlight the list of players making their cardboard debuts in the ’87 Fleer set.

Price Guide (Then and Now)

The “Beckett Baseball Card Monthly Price Guide” (December 1987 edition) cataloged the 1987 Fleer Baseball complete set at $40. The Major League Prospects card (#652) featuring Orioles’ backstop John Stefero along with Royals’ rookie sensation Kevin Seitzer fetched $7 during the winter of ‘87 but was eclipsed in later years by Fleer’s first regular issue cards of Barry Bonds, Will Clark and Bo Jackson, among others. At the present time, a Bo Jackson (#369) with a grade of PSA 9 can be found in the $20-$40 range. 

Please add a comment below if you would like to share any memories from collecting the 1987 Fleer baseball card set or your experiences with card collecting in general!

Articles in the Series

The 1984 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1984 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1984 Topps Baseball Set

The 1985 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1985 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1985 Topps Baseball Set

The 1986 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1986 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1986 Topps Baseball Set

The 1987 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1987 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1987 Topps Baseball Set

The 1988 Donruss Baseball Set

References and Resources

Beckett, Dr. James, Rich Klein and Grant Sandground. Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles. Dallas, TX: Beckett Publications, 1997. Print.

Beckett.com (requires subscription to view prices):

https://www.beckett.com/search/?term=1987+fleer&year_start=1987

http://www.tuffstuff.com/priceguides

http://www.baseballerrors.com/

Trading Card Database – Photo Gallery

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewSet.cfm/sid/115/1987-Fleer

About the Authors

Derek Bain is a New Jersey native with a passion for baseball, statistics, computers and video games who enjoys spending quality time with his family.

Tom Corby – Cousins with Derek, I am a history teacher at New Egypt High School. I have three kids, Addison, Jaclyn, and Mason and I’m happy that I get to coach them in their sports as well. In my spare time I enjoy reading, anything beach related, and fishing when time allows. 

Derek’s Books

“Hardball Architects – Volume 1 (American League Teams)”, published in July 2020, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. 

“Hardball Architects – Volume 2 (National League Teams)”, published in April 2022, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. 

Hardball Architects examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All key moves are scrutinized for every team and Sabermetric principles are applied to the roster construction throughout the lifetime of the organization to encapsulate the hits and misses by front office executives.

“Hardball Retroactive”, published in June 2018, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.  Hardball Retroactive is a modest collection of selected articles that I have written for Seamheads.com along with my Baseball Analytics blog since 2010. Exclusive content includes the chapter on “Minors vs. Majors” which assesses every franchise’s minor league successes and failures in relation to their major league operations.

“Hardball Retrospective” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. Supplemental Statistics, Charts and Graphs along with a discussion forum are offered at TuataraSoftware.com. In Hardball Retrospective, I placed every ballplayer in the modern era (from 1901-present) on their original teams. Using a variety of advanced statistics and methods, I generated revised standings for each season based entirely on the performance of each team’s “original” players. I discuss every team’s “original” players and seasons at length along with organizational performance with respect to the Amateur Draft (or First-Year Player Draft), amateur free agent signings and other methods of player acquisition. Season standings, WAR and Win Shares totals for the “original” teams are compared against the real-time or “actual” team results to assess each franchise’s scouting, development and general management skills.

Don Daglow (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony LaRussa Baseball) contributed the foreword for Hardball Retrospective. The foreword and preview of my book are accessible here. 

“Hardball Retrospective – Addendum 2014 to 2016” supplements my research for Hardball Retrospective, providing retroactive standings based on Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win Shares (WS) for each “original” team over the past three seasons (2014-2016). Team totals from 2010 – 2013 are included for reference purposes. “Addendum” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. 

My collecting days began as Fleer really hit their stride. Following an uneven debut in ‘81 and a lackluster ‘82, Fleer ironed out the rough spots and delivered a solid effort through the next half-decade. The ‘86 effort did not disappoint as the company introduced minor tweaks to the previous campaign to produce another winning product. Fleer employed a simple but effective system for the running order of their checklists: teams were represented based on the standings from the prior season and the players were grouped by team and then sorted alphabetically by last name. This was extremely conducive to set or team building as opposed to the random order in the competition’s sets. Speculative collectors were already clamoring for Jose Canseco rookie cards based on his September 1985 MLB debut (.302 BA, .490 SLG, 5 HR, 13 RBI). Fleer hedged their bets as Canseco was paired with reliever Eric Plunk on one of the new “Major League Prospect” cards rather than making his initial Fleer entry on an individual card.   

Corby Corner

After a successful 1985 set, I feel that Fleer played it safe in 1986, not really embarrassing the decade’s wild side like Donruss did this year. The card itself seemed to be just a flip of the ‘85 one, meaning they just took the team logo from top to bottom and rounded it off a bit. That said, I believe that Fleer really missed an opportunity in 1986, one that Donruss jumped on. 

After 1985’s rookie class, there was bound to be some letdown in 1986, but the drop off was dramatic. Outside of the “Eric Plunk rookie”, there really wasn’t another youngster in the Clemens, Doc, Kirby type realm we saw the year past. To me, sets are more fun to collect and show value when the greatness is spread out and not concentrated in one guy, though I have to admit, when you opened a pack and saw Jose Canseco staring back at you, it was like hitting the lottery as a kid. 

I will give Fleer a pass on this year, maybe they were just distracted since they were putting together an NBA set as well. If I remember correctly there was a rookie with the last name of Jordan in it, UNC guy I think. Maybe you’ve heard of him?

Features

A dark blue border surrounds the player photo on the 1986 Fleer card fronts. A rounded, thin white line encloses the photo and extends into an oval bubble towards the base of the card which displays the team logo to the left and the player’s name and primary position in the center. Each oval utilizes a primary color from the team uniform as it’s background and the checklist is grouped by franchise and ordered alphabetically by player’s last names which greatly aids in sorting and set-building. The checklist runs in descending order based on the standings from the previous season with the 1985 World Series champion Royals leading off. Averaging 25 cards per team, the standard player cards consume the first 625 cards out of 660 in the set. The remaining 35 cards are divided into three categories: special cards depicting stars or superstar players “in-action” or in a group photo; “Major League Prospect” cards with a pair of rookies; and seven checklist cards to close out the set. The Jose Canseco/Eric Plunk rookie card was high on collector’s wish lists from the get-go while the market for several other prospects including Benito Santiago, Andrés Galarraga and Cecil Fielder/Cory Snyder spiked at various times. Each wax pack included a team logo sticker and the wax boxes now held some additional value as the bottom of the box displayed three players and a team logo. There were two box-bottom variations: box #1 contained the Kansas City logo along with George Brett, Ozzie Guillen and Dale Murphy while box #2 depicted the St. Louis logo, Tom Browning, Gary Carter and Carlton Fisk.

The third iteration of the Fleer Update set retained the same layout as the regular series along with the standard 132 additional cards. To differentiate the update sets, the card numbers are prefixed with a “U-”. Barry Bonds, Will Clark, Ruben Sierra, Bobby Bonilla, Wally Joyner and Kevin Mitchell make their first Fleer appearances while Jose Canseco and Andres Galarraga get their own card after sharing the spotlight in the regular series. The Future Hall of Famers series consisted of six players that were destined for enshrinement with the exception of Pete Rose. Randomly inserted into “three-packs”, this one-and-done set packed a punch with Steve Carlton, Tom Seaver, Rod Carew, Nolan Ryan and Reggie Jackson. The All-Stars subset made its debut in ‘86 igniting a decade-long run as random inserts in wax and cello packs. The card fronts consist of red (American) and blue (National) backgrounds, depicting a dozen ball players selected by Fleer to represent their “All-Star” team. The ‘86 edition contains superstars such as Cal Ripken Jr., Don Mattingly, George Brett, Rickey Henderson and Dwight Gooden. McCrory’s were the exclusive retailer of the 44-card Limited Edition box sets for the second straight year. The Sticker series continued to be a mainstay in the Fleer lineup as it matched the regular issue for longevity (the product was discontinued after the ‘88 season). New releases included the 120-card Mini set along with League Leaders and Sluggers/Pitchers box sets with 44 cards apiece. The Minis replicated the regular card format from the ‘86 edition albeit with a different photo, and the card size was scaled down to 1 13/16” x 2 9/16”.      

The subset values according to the 1997 edition of the Beckett Almanac of Baseball Cards and Collectibles are as follows: Update $15, All-Stars $30, Future Hall of Famers $18, League Leaders $5, Limited Edition $5, Mini $8, Sluggers/Pitchers $5, Sluggers/Pitchers Box Cards $10, Sticker Cards $15, Stickers Wax Box Cards $4, Regular Series Wax Box Cards $5. 

One-and-Dones

The players listed below made their lone appearance on a regular-issue baseball card in the 1986 Fleer set.

Bruce Tanner (#218) – The son of former MLB outfielder and long-time skipper Chuck Tanner was drafted in the fourth round of the June 1983 Amateur Draft by the White Sox. The righty tallied 25 relief appearances for three minor league affiliates in the Summer of ‘83 – Appleton (A), Niagara Falls (A-) and Glen Falls (AA). He fashioned a composite ERA of 3.16 and notched 4 saves in spite of an unsightly 1.765 WHIP. Tanner pitched exclusively for the Appleton Foxes in ‘84 and responded with 12 victories along with a 1.96 ERA and WHIP of 1.019 in 37 outings (9 starts). Assigned to Buffalo (AAA) to begin the ‘85 campaign, he spent two months with the club prior to earning a promotion to the big leagues. ChiSox skipper Tony La Russa awarded Tanner the starting nod against Seattle on June 12, 1985 and he secured his first (and only) MLB victory with 6 ⅔ innings of 2-run ball. He retired the first 9 Mariners he faced and then allowed four straight singles to knot the score at 2-2. Rudy Law doubled home a pair of Sox in the fifth and Daryl Boston blasted a 2-run shot off Roy Thomas as Chicago claimed a 6-3 win. Tanner started 4 contests in June for the Pale Hose. Opposing the Athletics in his second start, he issued a bases-loaded walk to Alfredo Griffin (which is REALLY hard to do, given the fact that Griffin only drew four free passes in the previous campaign!). Otherwise he delivered a solid effort, throwing 5 innings of 1-run ball. He exited the contest ahead 3-1 but Dusty Baker cracked a 2-run shot off Bob James in the eighth which propelled the match into extra innings. Harold Baines crushed a walk-off bomb off Keith Atherton leading off the bottom of the 13th, lifting Chicago to a 4-3 victory. Tanner’s third start was abysmal as the Angels tagged him for seven runs in 1 ⅓ innings. Rod Carew and Reggie Jackson knocked in two runs apiece and Ruppert Jones launched a long ball to contribute to the onslaught as the visiting Halos filled up the scoreboard in a laugher, 11-1. In his last MLB start, Tanner yielded 9 hits and 4 runs to the Twins in 5 ⅓ frames which punched his ticket back to Buffalo. He crafted a 3.46 ERA through two stints with the Bisons to merit a September call-up. Deployed strictly as a reliever as the Sox were still in the thick of the division race, Tanner made 6 appearances down the stretch. Through 8 ⅓ innings of relief work he allowed only 2 earned runs along with 7 hits and 2 walks. Tanner’s final MLB outing was eventful – he gave up a pair of singles and made a throwing error on a sacrifice bunt attempt before regaining his composure to strike out the last batter he faced (Tony Phillips). Back in Buffalo for the ‘86 campaign, Tanner fashioned an ERA of 4.16 along with a record of 8-10 in 23 starts. The ChiSox dealt Tanner along with Gene Nelson to the Athletics in December 1986 in exchange for infielder Donnie Hill. He missed most of the ‘87 season but made 16 starts in the following year for Huntsville (AA) resulting in 7 victories and a 3.23 ERA. Tanner split his final campaign (1989) between the Tacoma Tigers (AAA) and the Phoenix Firebirds (AAA). 

Colin Ward (#645) – The southpaw was chosen in the third round of the June 1982 Amateur Draft by Detroit. Plagued by control problems throughout his career, the Tigers quickly soured on Ward after a season and a half in which he compiled a WHIP of 1.624. San Francisco picked him up in a February 1984 swap for fellow lefthander Pat Larkin. Despite posting a 5.41 ERA and a 1.720 WHIP for Phoenix (AAA) over the next two years, Ward received a promotion in the middle of September 1985 as the Giants barreled towards a 100-loss campaign. Four days after Roger Craig replaced Jim Davenport as the San Francisco skipper, Ward made his debut as a reliever against the rival Dodgers with his club trailing by 10 runs after six frames. True to form, he issued a free pass to the first batter he faced, Mike Scioscia. The lefty composed himself and retired the next three batters in order. In the eighth inning, Ward walked free-swinging leadoff hitter Mariano Duncan and yielded a one-out single to first-sacker Enos Cabell before inducing a grounder to third by Mike A. Marshall and a fly out to center off the bat of Bob Bailor. Called upon four days later, the portsider whiffed Bobby L. Brown of the Padres to prevent further damage after Greg Minton allowed 3 runs after San Diego extended their lead to 7-2. Ward held the division-winning Dodgers at bay with a pair of scoreless frames on September 27, 1985. After retiring Cabell on a foul pop-up two days later, the left-hander’s pitching record included a 0.00 ERA in 4 ⅔  innings. Craig rewarded the portsider with a pair of starting assignments in the final week of the season. Opposing the Astros on October 2, 1985, Ward breezed through the Houston lineup. He faltered briefly in the fourth, yielding back-to-back singles to Kevin Bass and Glenn Davis followed by a Phil Garner sacrifice fly. Otherwise his first start was a resounding success: 6 innings, 3 hits, 2 walks and 1 run along with 5 whiffs. Holding a 2-1 advantage, Craig turned the game over to the bullpen with predictable results. Mark W. Davis worked in and out of trouble in the seventh but gave up a gopher ball to Jim Pankovits leading off the eighth inning, the first of four Astros to score in an eventual 7-2 defeat. Ward did not fare well in his second start and final MLB appearance against Atlanta on October 6, 1985. He recorded consecutive outs on fly balls to begin the contest, followed by a walk to Dale Murphy and a two-bagger off the bat of Bob Horner to place runners on second and third. Terry Harper ripped a base hit to left field which plated Murphy but Jeffrey “HacMan” Leonard gunned down Horner at home to limit the damage. In the second inning, Ward issued a one-out walk to Paul Runge and a single to the backstop, Larry Owen. Braves’ starting pitcher Steve “Bedrock” Bedrosian laid down a sacrifice bunt. Andres Thomas delivered a two-run single and Paul Zuvella knocked Ward out of the game with a double. Albert Hall greeted reliever Frank Williams with a two-run base knock, leaving Ward with a pitching line of 1.2 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 5 ER. His ERA bloated from 0.84 to 4.38. Giants GM Al Rosen dealt Ward to the Reds for left-hander Bob Buchanan in November 1985. However the deal was voided three months later when Buchanan failed a physical. Failing to make the big-league roster out of Spring Training, the lefty spent the majority of the ‘86 season with Phoenix (AAA) and made 4 starts for the Shreveport Captains (AA). Overall in 26 outings (25 starts), Ward tallied 9 wins against 12 losses along with an ERA of 4.70. Rosen completed a 4-player swap in April 1987 which sent the southpaw to San Diego. Ward appeared in 12 games for the Las Vegas Stars (AAA) in ‘87 and then spent his final year in pro ball with the Vermont Mariners (AA). He made a pair of starts for the independent San Bernadino Spirit, fashioning a 1.86 ERA in 9 ⅔ innings before hanging up his spikes. 

Did You Know?

Fleer included interesting facts about some of the players on the bottom section of the card backs. 

Vince Coleman (#31) – “Stole 289 bases in 323 minor league games from ‘82 to ‘84.”

John Tudor (#47) – “High school pitching coach noted flaw in his delivery while watching him pitch on TV, called him to correct it, and he won 18 of next 19 games.”

Mike Marshall (#131) – “Nickname is ‘Big Foot’ because of size 14 shoe.”

Ted Power (#187) – “Was only 20-game winner in professional baseball in ‘81 and had to do it with Albuquerque (18 in regular season, 1 in playoffs) and Dodgers (1).”

Terry Francona (#248) – “Nicknamed ‘Mandrake’ by his teammates for magical way he swings bat.”

Joe Hesketh (#250) – “Baseball rarity: Charged with a balk even before he threw his first major league pitch in Expos debut in ‘84.”

U.L. Washington (#264) – “Ever-present toothpick is his symbol.”

Marty Barrett (#340) – “Twice got baserunners with hidden ball trick.”

Tom Brunansky (#387) – “Logs each pitch, at bat and result in notebook.”

Jim Gantner (#487) – “Nickname is Gumby.”

Brad Komminsk (#520) – “Hall of Famer Hank Aaron has labeled him as a ‘can’t miss major leaguer’ after watching him move through Braves organization.”

Brad Wellman (#553) – “Earned $1000 in ‘83 by responding to clubhouse dare and shaved his head.”

Mike Mason (#565) – “Was credited with capturing a pack of vicious dogs at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Fla., while pitching there in Rookie League in ‘82.”

Errors

The 1986 Fleer set does not contain any significant error variations.

Rookie Cards

Jose Canseco, Benito Santiago, Paul O’Neill, Cecil Fielder, Lenny Dykstra, Ozzie Guillen, Kal Daniels and Vince Coleman highlight the list of players making their cardboard debuts in the ’86 Fleer set.

Price Guide (Then and Now)

The “Beckett Baseball Card Monthly Price Guide” (November 1986 edition) lists the 1986 Fleer Baseball complete set at $20. The rookie combo card depicting Jose Canseco and Eric Plunk suggested a $4 value while the Dwight Gooden card fetched a couple of bucks. The Canseco / Plunk rookie (#649, graded PSA 8) currently sells in the $10-$25 range. 

Please add a comment below if you would like to share any memories from collecting the 1986 Fleer baseball card set or your experiences with card collecting in general!

Articles in the Series

The 1984 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1984 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1984 Topps Baseball Set

The 1985 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1985 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1985 Topps Baseball Set

The 1986 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1986 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1986 Topps Baseball Set

The 1987 Donruss Baseball Set

The 1987 Fleer Baseball Set

The 1987 Topps Baseball Set

The 1988 Donruss Baseball Set

References and Resources

https://www.beckett.com/search/?term=1986+fleer&year_start=1986

http://www.tuffstuff.com/priceguides

http://www.baseballerrors.com/

Trading Card Database – Photo Gallery

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewSet.cfm/sid/107/1986-Fleer

About the Authors

Derek Bain is a New Jersey native with a passion for baseball, statistics, computers and video games who enjoys spending quality time with his family.

Tom Corby – Cousins with Derek, I am a history teacher at New Egypt High School. I have three kids, Addison, Jaclyn, and Mason and I’m happy that I get to coach them in their sports as well. In my spare time I enjoy reading, anything beach related, and fishing when time allows. 

Derek’s Books

“Hardball Architects – Volume 1 (American League Teams)”, published in July 2020, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. 

“Hardball Architects – Volume 2 (National League Teams)”, published in April 2022, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. 

“Hardball Architects” examines the trades, free agent acquisitions, draft picks and other transactions for the 30 Major League Baseball franchises, divided into a 2-volume set (American League and National League). All key moves are scrutinized for every team and Sabermetric principles are applied to the roster construction throughout the lifetime of the organization to encapsulate the hits and misses by front office executives.

“Hardball Retroactive”, published in June 2018, is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. A cross-section of essays that I penned for Seamheads.com along with my Baseball Analytics blog spanning nearly a decade touching on subjects including “Taking the Extra Base”, “General Manager Scorecard”, “Worst Trades”, “BABIP By Location” and “Baseball Birthplaces and the Retro World Baseball Classic”. Rediscover your favorite hardball arcade and simulations in “Play Retro Baseball Video Games In Your Browser” or take a deep dive into every franchise’s minor league successes and failures in relation to their major league operations in “Minors vs. Majors”.

“Hardball Retrospective” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com. Supplemental Statistics, Charts and Graphs along with a discussion forum are offered at TuataraSoftware.com. In Hardball Retrospective, I placed every ballplayer in the modern era (from 1901-present) on their original teams. Using a variety of advanced statistics and methods, I generated revised standings for each season based entirely on the performance of each team’s “original” players. I discuss every team’s “original” players and seasons at length along with organizational performance with respect to the Amateur Draft (or First-Year Player Draft), amateur free agent signings and other methods of player acquisition. Season standings, WAR and Win Shares totals for the “original” teams are compared against the real-time or “actual” team results to assess each franchise’s scouting, development and general management skills.

Don Daglow (Intellivision World Series Major League Baseball, Earl Weaver Baseball, Tony LaRussa Baseball) contributed the foreword for Hardball Retrospective. The foreword and preview of my book are accessible here. 

“Hardball Retrospective – Addendum 2014 to 2016” supplements my research for Hardball Retrospective, providing retroactive standings based on Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and Win Shares (WS) for each “original” team over the past three seasons (2014-2016). Team totals from 2010 – 2013 are included for reference purposes. “Addendum” is available in paperback and digital (Kindle) format at Amazon.com.