Wednesday, October 8, 2008

1987 Topps


I was meandering through my first year of what would be many attempts at going to college (this story has a happy ending, many, many years later...) and I wasn't into collecting too much in 1987. Pretty much everything I collected from that year was found years later while digging through commons bins, so I don't have any boring stories about walks in the snow to reminisce about. 

No, my best story about 1987 and the Tigers was going to a game at Fenway Park with my dad that summer to see the Tigers play. A week before my 18th birthday my dad and I took a trip down from Brunswick to see the game. It was a Navy Base bus trip where we got a ride and a ticket for $20 each. We sat way out in right field near the top of the park. Midway through the game, I went down to try and get some pictures. I was down about 12 rows from the field when I stood in the walkway and squatted down behind a couple of nuns to get a few pics.

I asked them if they minded if I took a few pics, and they said not at all. I talked to them for a minute and told them that I was at the game with my dad and told them where our seats were. After I took a couple of pics they told me that they were about to leave, and they gave me their ticket stubs and told me that I was welcome to their seats.

Well hells bells, (hey, I'm not Catholic...) I took off across Fenway to go get my dad and we ended up with fantastic seats looking straight down the third base line just a dozen or so rows off the field. I have a bunch of pictures (of course they are in storage in Tennessee and not here where I could post one) that one day I will make sure to get up on here. I got some great pics of the Tigers batting against Clemens that day.

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1987/B06060BOS1987.htm

It was an awesome game and an awesome day and Mike Heath drove in two runs in the top of the 14th inning for a 5-3 Tigers win. (For any Tiger forumites reading this, that's how the 5-3 thing got started....)

With that, here's the 1987 Topps Detroit Tigers:
36 Eric King
72 Walt Terrell
98 Bill Scherrer
148 Dave Collins
171 Chuck Cary
196 Randy O'Neal
218 Sparky Anderson
234 Pat Sheridan
265 Darrell Evans
298 Larry Herndon
361 Mark Thurmond
384 Johnny Grubb
411 Darnell Coles
432 Jim Slaton
483 Dwight Lowry
492 Mike Heath
515 Willie Hernandez
613 Lance Parrish All-Star
631 Team Leaders
661 Lou Whitaker
674 Bill Campbell
687 Alan Trammell
700 Dave Bergman
713 Tom Brookens
726 Frank Tanana
739 Chet Lemon
752 Dan Petry
765 Kirk Gibson
778 Jack Morris
791 Lance Parrish


There were a couple of Glossy All-Stars again. I recorded the 1986 All-Star Game on tape, and I can't count how many times I watched Sweet Lou's HR off of Dwight Gooden. Really, it may be close to 100.

14 Lou Whitaker
20 Lance Parrish


Even the Traded set finally featured one of my favorite players to become a Tiger. I am sure Mad Dog is just seconds away from a HR in that picture. I was at the Tigers-Cubs game in 2000 where Madlock sang Take Me Out To The Ballgame while dressed in his Tigers uniform. Good Times.

46T Mike Henneman
71T Bill Madlock
91T Matt Nokes
104T Jeff Robinson

As exciting as 1987 was for this Tigers fan, my most special memory of that year will always be watching that game with my dad. It was a beautiful day and we had an absolute blast. 21 years later, and I still remember it like yesterday. 

Thanks Dad. Of all the games we've ever been to, that was my favorite one.

4 comments:

lookjona said...

1987 Topps All-Star Send-Ins
1987 brings us a border of yellow (or possibly goldenrod, I'm not sure...)
7. Lou Whitaker
47. Jack Morris
58. Lance Parrish

lookjona said...

1987 Topps Mini Leaders
Same story as '86, similar wood grain background, 2-1/8" x 3", 76 in all.
53. Kirk Gibson
54. Willie Hernandez
55. Jack Morris
56. Alan Trammell

lookjona said...

1987 Topps Rookies
Glossy Rookie set, similar to the All-Star set.
8. Eric King

lookjona said...

1987 Topps Coins
Technically not cards, a 48 coin set.
11. Kirk Gibson
18. Jack Morris