On the Radar - 2022 Topps Series 2 Yount Checklist

 As I write this Series 2 is just a week away and Robin has some cards to chase in this series too.  I'll add images as stuff starts showing up.

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY
2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY Black

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY Gold

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY Platinum

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps All-Star Baseball Relics #87ASR-RY Red
2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY Black

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY Gold

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY Platinum

2022 Topps (Series 2) - 1987 Topps Baseball Relics #87BR-RY Red

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Black #/299

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Blue

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Gold #/75

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Platinum #/1

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts #DGDC-37 Red #/10

2022 Topps (Series 2) - Diamond Greats Die-Cuts Autographs #DGDC-14 #/10 or less

On the Radar - 2022 Topps Series 1

 With the new year comes new cards and I'm always a little excited with Series 1 finally comes out.  While I've been mainly focusing on my player collections (mostly just Robin) I still enjoy putting together the flagship Topps set and update set each year.  This year there are quite a few inserts that Robin has the potential to show up in, but I can confirm we he does have cards to chase in Series 1.

Topps is once again beating the dead horse of the 1987 Topps design.  Not that I mind, I love the 87 set, it was the first set I ever put together.  And Robin is in the 100 card Series 1 set.  With all the parallels and also the Chrome parallel and autograph parallel.  Man 2022 is off to a bang with new Yount cards!  It's also possible that Robin might be in a Legends base variation.  I'll add images as stuff starts popping up.

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball #T87-54
2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball #T87-54 Black #/299
2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball #T87-54 Blue
2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball #T87-54 Gold #/75
2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball #T87-54 Platinum #/1
2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball #T87-54 Red #/10
2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball #T87-54 Wood #/1

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome #T87C-13

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome #T87C-13 Blue #/150

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome #T87C-13 Gold #/50

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome #T87C-13 Green #/99

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome #T87C-13 Orange #/25

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome #T87C-13 Purple #/75

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome #T87C-13 Red #/5

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome #T87C-13 Superfractor #/1

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome Autographs #T87C-13

2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome Autographs #T87C-13 Orange #/25
2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome Autographs #T87C-13 Red #/5
2022 Topps (Series 1) - 1987 Topps Baseball Silver Promo Pack Chrome Autographs #T87C-13 SuperFractor #/1

1987 General Mills Booklets PSA Graded 8

Year: 1987

Manufacturer: MSA

Set: General Mills Booklet

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Food Issue Oddball

Another PSA graded Yount that I got from fellow Yount collector Matt many years ago.  A beautiful hand cut Robin Yount from the 1987 General Mills Booklets.  I'm pretty sure I have an uncut one of these somewhere, but looked in my Excel spreadsheet inventory but don't see it listed.  I'll have to dig deeper to see if I actually do.  Regardless the "card" was cut out of booklet that was inserted in Cherrios and Honey Nut Cheerios in Canada back in 1987.  There were 6 different booklets and each booklet featured 10 players.  Robin's booklet is the AL East booklet and  features Don Mattingly, Ricky Henderson, Kirk Gibson, Eddie Murray, among others.  

Produced by MSA and if you collect Robin Yount you probably recognized this well used airbrushed photo.  A great looking specimen for the Yount collection.

1987 Fleer Limited Edition

Year: 1987

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Limited Edition Box Set

Card Number: 44

Card Type: Base

Another day another box set card.  The 80's were awash in these cheap sets.  I can remember seeing these at my LCS back in the 80's for a buck a piece.  But the nice thing about these sets is you got 44 cards of pretty much the hottest players of the day.  Robin is featured in quite a few of them.  Here we have 1987's Fleer Limited Edition.  You can see the full checklist here. Overall the design is pretty basic, but not unappealing.  Fleer like a lot of the other card companies put out a lot of these kinds of sets.  Sometimes on their own and other times in conjunction with a store, like K-mart or Woolsworth.  Still fun to pick out your players.  Contrary to the name this set was not limited in anyway and like most of these box sets were very overproduced.  You can still find these sets for a buck a piece if you look for them.

All about the Base - 1987 Topps

Year: 1987

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 773

Card Type: Base

The 1987 Topps set holds a special place in my heart as it's the first set I ever tried to put together.  And I bought a lot of packs.  Wax packs from my LCS, cello packs from the convience stores, rack packs from the grocery store.  Plus the wood grain border reminds me of my fathers den decked out in the fake wood paneling.  And of course the set brings back memories of the 1962 Topps.  And I might have a fondness for the set as a Brewers fan with the backs of the cards featuring a Brewers color scheme.  

The card backs feature a nice sized and well placed card number.  This year marks the first year that Robin's stats over take the back of the card and don't allow for any more trivia or stat write-ups, instead the only bonus we get is the game winning RBIs that was placed on Robin's card last year and will be the only extra for year's to come.

1987 Classic Green

Year: 1987

Card Manufacturer: Classic

Card Set: Classic Baseball Trivia Game

Card Number: 44

Card Type: Base 

In the 80's everyone had a gimmick. Topps gave you gum, Donruss, puzzle pieces, Fleer, it was stickers.  Classic it was all about trivia.  Early on the only way to get Classic cards was to by the sets or games.  If my memory serves me correctly later on Classic did offer packs, but most early cards were only available in whole sets.  Usually a blister pack that included a game board and spinner.  There were also travel sets and add-ons.  Still over all the Classic cards competed very well with the big three at the time and the overall design is simple, but not unappealing. And the sets included a good sampling of the players of the day.

1987 Kraft Home Plate Heroes Panel Variations

An interesting little tid bit if you happen to care about such things.  While researching some cards online I came across a great five year old post on Freedom Card Board's forums (page 7).  On it the thread creator was offering up oddball checklists he had put together for various players, all you had to do was ask.  And luckily enough someone back then had asked for Robin Yount's.  A lot of the stuff on the list I already knew about, but here and there I was able to pick up some interesting facts. One of those facts was the different variations of panels that Robin had for the 1987 Kraft Home Plate Heroes set.  The standard catalog does state that each player has 5 different variations and there are 120 panel combinations in all.  But the catalog doesn't say what those combinations are.  Luckily the post does and with a little effort I was able to find images off all 5.  I do have the Chili Davis panel in my collection, but Robin is also featured with Dale Murphy, Nolan Ryan, Darryl Strawberry, and Von Hayes.  To mix it up a little more if you're into collecting the whole box there are also two different product boxes to find.  The cards themselves are blank backed  and were created by everybody's favorite oddball food issue card maker MSA.

1987 Topps

Year: 1987

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Baseball (Flagship)

Card Number: 773

Card Type: Base

Out of all the sets Topps has produced the 1987 flagship set is the one I hold closest to my heart.  This was the first set I remember trying to complete and actively buying packs of cards.  It's also a design I really like.  It reminds me of my father's den or perhaps that cool basement bar my uncle had.  And while the set was produced at the height of the junk wax era it's still a good looking set with plenty of printing errors to make putting a decent set together a challenge.  

I probably own well over 100 Younts from the set and I don't think any of them would grade to 10.  I do own a PSA graded 10 card though.

The backs feature the blue and yellow color scheme that I always loved because it matched the Brewers colors.

1987 Topps PSA Graded Gem Mint 10

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Topps Baseball

Year:  1987

Card Number: 773

Card Type: Base

Attributes: Graded

Grading Company: PSA

Grade: GEM MT 10

Sometimes I just get itch I can't scratch.  A few years back I just decided I'd pick up a few graded Younts for the collection.  With 1987 Topps having a soft spot in my heart because it was the first set I actively collected I searched Ebay until I found this beauty.  Not only was it gem mint 10, it was cheap.  For my collecting purposes I consider a graded card and a raw card as two unique cards.  

The scans don't do the card justice it really is a beautiful example and while you can tell its not perfectly centered it's pretty darn close. I probably have over 100 1987 Topps Younts laying around, but this is the only one that's graded.  I'll be featuring a lot more from my graded collection in the future too.