Ripping Junk Era Wax: 1988 Score Rack Pack
The late 1980's baseball cards are generally considered "junk." From a price stand point, that is truth. The mass overproduction have rendered most of these cards next to worthless. But, from a nostalgic trip down memory lane these cards are far from worthless. This is my childhood, and 1988 was just the start of my fascination with sports cards.
Many collectors remember vividly opening their first pack of cards and can tell you the moment and set that started it all. That's not quite the case for me. The first small collection I remember is the 1986 Topps football set. As a 4-year old super fan of Jim McMahon I have a faint memory of those beautiful green-bordered football cards.
1987 was largely ignored by this five year cold. G.I. Joe and He-Man took over all of my collecting time.
Then came 1988 and sports began creeping in further and further alongside my favorite cartoons, Teddy Ruxpin, and ALF. As did baseball cards. Topps, Donruss, and Score were all packs my mom would buy for me at the local IGA or Eagle Country Market (Speaking of Eagle's, the "yellow" aisle is still burned in my memory - their generic section was all labeled in bright yellow packaging). I digress...
Score! 1988 brought collectors the first Score trading card set. It was a pioneer in trading cards with large action photos on the front surrounded by small bright colored (green, yellow, blue, red) borders. And the back had pictures, too.
Over the years I have bought several collections of trading cards and in most instances these "junk era" cards come along with it. About a year ago I purchased a collection that came with several complete sets, wax boxes, and a few Unopened packs. After attempting to sell this 1988 Score rack pack on eBay, it still sits in my baseball card room. I thought a Jose Canseco or Fred McGriff collector would be interested, especially for a $0.99 bid. But I was wrong.
It's a lazy Sunday, and with the Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers on the TV why not open this pack of 1988 Score and see what's inside.
Pack 1
Technically it's not a pack, but the rack pack comes with three small stacks of 17 cards plus a "Great Moments in Baseball" mini magic motion cards. This first "pack," is the top third.
The "hit" in this pack is the Rookie Prospect card of Randy Milligan. Milligan made his MLB debut in September of 1987 with the New York Mets, and was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates before the 1988 season began. He was never a hot rookie, but did have an eight-year Big League career playing into the 1994 season.
No big names were in this pack. The biggest might be Harold Reynolds who had a nice playing career and is now an analyst. Kevin Seitzer would have been a nice pull in 1988, as he had been one the hobby's darlings of 1987.
Do you remember July 15, 1986? That's the magic motion inserted here. The date signified the MLB All-Star Game in Houston highlighted by Fernando Valenzuela's five straight strikeouts. It equaled Carl Hubbell's mark of striking out five straight. Hubbell's five victims in 1934 were all future Hall of Famer's: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Joe Cronin. While Fernando equaled the number five, the quality of batters wasn't quite the same: Don Mattingly, Cal Ripken Jr., Jesse Barfield, Lou Whitaker, and Teddy Higuera.
Pack 2
The hit of the rack pack was sitting right here on top for all those to see. It's surprising to me that this pack wasn't gobbled up near release in 1988. This was peak Jose Canseco mania in America. Maybe this rack pack was stuffed away in a sealed case only to be opened years later when Canseco had largely been black balled by the sport and collectors.
This card is different from the others as it was from the Young Superstars 40-card Insert set.
Decent names abound in this 17-card stack. Julio Franco, Lenny Dykstra, and Phil Niekro all had excellent baseball careers.
My favorite pull here isn't named any of the above. Rather it's Ed Lynch, the pitcher (and later General Manager) from the Chicago Cubs. My personal collecting team. I always liked Ed Lynch as a player. Maybe it was because he wasn't a big named player or maybe because he looked like the guy from Three's Company. At any rate, this is a great action shot of Lynch.
Do you remember July 18, 1987? Don Mattingly hit a home run in his eighth consecutive game to tie a 31-year old American League record held by Dale Long.
Pack 3
Fred McGriff was on the top in this pack and is arguably the best card of the 54 cards in this rack pack.
Pricing fluctuated on the McGriff card within two years after its release. Using pricing from my personal collection of Baseball Cards price guide back issues, here are the McGriff prices.
May 1988: unlisted common
February 1989: $0.20
May 1989: $0.40
August 1989: $0.45
October 1990: $0.70
Joining the McGriff in this pack is a bevy of Chicago Cubs and Cubs-related cards. Three Cubs cards are featured here: Leon Durham, Manny Trillo, and Scott Sanderson. Sanderson was always one of my favorite Cubs pitchers of the 1980s, and I was able to meet him in 2017 at Kerry Wood's fundraiser during Cubs Convention weekend.
Another Cubs player appeared on a card here. Jose Lind's card featured the second baseman in action attempting a double play while a sliding Ryne Sandberg can be seen between Lind's legs.
Also, three former Cubs are here with new teams: Tim Stoddard (Yankees), Joe Niekro (Twins), and Dennis Eckersley (Athletics). And two players would become Cubs during the 1989 season: Paul Kilgus and Calvin Schiraldi shown here with the Rangers and Red Sox, respectively.
Do you remember September 16, 1924? The magic motion Insert highlights St. Louis Cardinals Jim Bottomley's single game RBI record. Bottomley set the record by driving in 12 runs against the Dodgers. The previous record holder was Wilbert Robinson. He was managing the Dodgers that day.
Review
Nostalgia wins! The cards will be stuffed away in a box that I will likely label "junk era," only to see the light of day if I am searching for commons to fill up a team lot. Fun was had by reminiscing of these old 1988 Score cards, and I dragged out some old Beckett's and Baseball Card Monthly's. So, I enjoyed writing this and now I'll read up on hobby news from 1989.