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.