1988 Topps Big Baseball: Part 2

 

I remember first seeing them in big round bins near the cash register at G.C. Murphy’s in the Monroeville Mall.

            Or at least that’s how I remember it.

            Topps Big Baseball, thrown into the bins with an assortment of other baseball card packs. All individually labeled with a price tag.

            (God, what unfortunately part-timer, high school kid got stuck with that job).

            Shiny cellophane packages gleaming off the discount department store’s lights. The word BIG emblazoned in a bright color. Cellophane wrappers! I know, I know, Topps had messed with using cellophane wrappers in their 1986 and 1987 Leaders release (and probably something else I’m missing) …but those cards were mini. I’ve never been into mini cards in The Hobby. Just not my style to go mini. Or micro. I was a kid in the 1980s, who wanted cards from the 1970s, who felt like he made the score of a lifetime when he got cards from the 1960s…who…daydreamed cards from the 1950s.

            The 1950s made their cards BIG.

            At least for a few years.

            I wanted cards that looked like that.

            That I could afford.

            It stands to reason that me and my pocket change/couch change/paper route change/whatever mall walking around money that I had on me that day…we were going to be taking a chance on Topps Big Baseball.

            And the set didn’t disappoint.

            It’s that perfect blend of 1950s nostalgia meets 1980s flash. Something the folks in Hollywood had been trying to push on us for almost the whole decade back then. I know I’ve soured on Heritage and kind of consider them to be imitative rather than a unique product, despite the number of inserts that end up in the sets. And maybe a more skeptical eye, one whose childhood memories aren’t seeped into the product, would look at Topps Big Baseball (at least the 1988 Set, the less said about 1989 and, especially 1990, the better) as being imitative as well.

            But I’d beg to differ, regardless of my bias.

            I know that Topps today are the standard bearer of stoking our baseball card nostalgia, but back then it still felt (hindsight being 20/20) that they were throwing product out there to see what stuck. At least by the time the Junk Wax Era was in full steam, they were. And despite its winks at the 1950s, Topps Big Baseball feel very much of its era.

            At least the front of the cards do.

            Splashy borders.

            That colorful paint splatter of a player’s name.

            More Sonny Crockett than Ralph Kramden.

            If I remember correctly, in 1988, Topps Big Baseball was marketed as being for kids, in the way they rather sheepishly did with Opening Day and do with Big League. If that’s the case then, in 1988, that’s pretty telling for where The Hobby was headed. That there was no longer the assumption that kids were the primary collectors of base sports cards. That maybe older collectors were taking over that market. That Topps needed to release a product to be specifically marketed to children.

            I mean, Upper Deck would be released the following year.

            And we all know where The Hobby headed after that.

            But 1988 Topps Big Baseball is a fun set to collect.

            It’s also awkward set.

            First, there’s the size. Not your standard (Since 1957 anyway) 2 ½ x 3 ½ inches, Topps Big Baseball measures 2 5/8 x 3 ¾. In 1988, a kid my age had a hard enough time finding card sleeves and binder sheets that I could put my standard cards in, let alone an oversized product that hadn’t been produced in size for about thirty-two years. The set is parsed strangely too. It’s the first set that I ever remember coming out in series form. Series 1 (#1-88). Series 2 (#89-176). Series 3 (#177-264). Why not make it a 300-card set and have the series go #1-100, #101-200, and #201-300? I guess you’d have to ask guys working in corporate in the late 1980s, and seek out your answers searching for the ghost of Sy Berger.

            Tragedy aside, I managed to get ahold of a box of Series 3 1988 Topps Big Baseball cards. And while it’s the last series in the set, Topps still held back a little bit of star power to make it worth the purchase.

            Even some rookies you might''ve been chasing.

             And the boxes are still very reasonably priced. I’ve seen them anywhere from $14.95 a wax box to $20 per box. And if you’re buying a box, you’re pretty much putting a set together, considering how few cards there are per series, and Topps penchant for including a lot of doubles back in the 1980s.

            I know I’m putting a set together.

            …provided my mail doesn’t get stolen again.

 

Thanks for Reading! Happy Collecting!

Next Friday: Russell Streur is going to be back…and he’s taking us to Rickwood Field. And if you don’t know what that is, stop by on May 12^th to find out.