While the 1987 Topps football set is not one of that decade’s more valuable issues, it is certainly one of the cleanest.
There are, however, some nice first-year NFL cards of quarterbacks Jim Kelly, Doug Flutie and Randall Cunningham. Both Kelly and Flutie had appeared in Topps USFL sets — Kelly in 1984, Flutie the following year — but the ’87 set was the first time they were depicted in NFL uniforms.
The NFL in 1987 had to deal with a 24-day strike that saw replacement players filling out rosters until the impasse was settled. It did not affect the Topps set, which was printed in massive quantities as the late 1980s glut of trading cards in all sports was heading toward its peak.
The Basics
For the fifth consecutive year, Topps put out a 396-card set. A box held 36 packs, while a pack consisted of 15 cards plus one of 24 glossy “1000 Yard Club” cards — and a stick of gum, of course. Topps also offered 25-card rack packs and 29-card cello packs. And for the first time, Topps offered a factory football set.
The set also included 16 Box Bottom cards. Four were printed on the bottom of every box.
There are two subsets in the 1987 set — Record Breakers in card Nos. 2-8, and League Leaders (card Nos. 227-231). Beginning with card No. 10 (Phil Simms, the MVP of Super Bowl XXI), cards are numbered by teams.
Card fronts are simple with two banners across the top. One banner lists the team name, while the other one identifies the player. The player’s position is listed above his name plate. Banners were also color-coded with the primary colors of the player’s team.
The card backs are dominated by red stock, with vital statistics listed on the left-hand side. The majority of the card is taken up by a large shield that includes a paragraph about the player and statistics from previous years.
Key players
Notables in the set are the rookie card of Hall of Famer Kelly (No. 362) and Flutie’s first-year card (No. 45).
Another rookie card of note is quarterback Randall Cunningham (No. 296) who would spend his first 11 seasons in the NFL with the Philadelphia Eagles. Herschel Walker (No. 264), an all-world running back at the University of Georgia who won the Heisman Trophy as a junior and then jumped to the USFL for three seasons (1983-85), also had his first NFL card in the ’87 set.
Other rookie cards were of Bill Brooks (No. 378), Kenneth Davis (No. 352), Jim Everett (No. 145), Ernest Givins (No. 310), Hall of Famer Charles Haley (No. 125), Sean Jones (No. 222), Eric Martin (No. 276) and John Offerdahl (No. 244)
The set also has second-year cards of Hall of Famers Jerry Rice (No. 115) and Steve Young (No. 384) and marks the final regular-season issue of a Walter Payton card (No. 46).
Errors
There were three cards with errors. The most glaring was the back of Steelers Hall of Fame receiver John Stallworth’s card (No. 288), whose statistics ended after the 1981 season and did not include numbers from 1982 to 1986.
A statistical heading for the back of Rueben Mayes’ card (No. 274) read “Comp” for completions, rather than “Yds.” Mayes was a running back for six seasons, but did not throw any passes.
And there were two fact errors on the back of Bengals defensive end Ross Browner (No. 175). The first referred to Browner’s squad winning the Super Bowl against the 49ers, when in fact, San Francisco won Super Bowl XVI, 26-21. The other gaffe was the date of the game, listed on the Topps card as “1-10-82.” That was the date of the 1981 AFC Championship Game, won 27-7 by the Bengals in the “Freezer Bowl,” when the temperatures in Cincinnati dropped to 9-below zero and there was a wind chill factor of minus-54. The Super Bowl was played two weeks later, on “1-24-82” (Jan. 24, 1982) and the Bengals lost that one.
Grading
To date, a total of 43,071 cards from the 1987 set have been graded by PSA. There are 8,832 that have been awarded a Gem Mint 10 grade, including 436 of the 5,107 Kelly submissions. Not surprisingly, Kelly’s card is the one submitted the most times for grading.
However, there are only 54 gem-mint cards of Flutie (out of 1,190 submitted) and 124 of Cunningham (out of 4,175).
1000 Yard Club
Inserted into every wax pack of the 1987 Topps football set, the 1000 Yard Club cards featured 24 players who gained 1,000 yards or more either as a running back or receiver.
The cards were printed on heavy white cardboard stock with a glossy front. The design featured a border of Greek Ionic columns on the left and right borders, a subtle note that the player depicted was worthy of the Parthenon.
The most coveted card in the insert set belonged to Payton (No. 7). Completing a set of the 1000 Yard club is neither difficult nor expensive. Of the 529 Payton cards submitted to PSA, 57 earned a PSA 10 grade.
The only other card with plenty of submissions is that of Rice (No. 2) with 345; 25 of them have been graded gem mint.
Pricing
1987 Topps Football is a little more expensive than its all too common baseball brother but a nice complete set can be had for $40-$60 on eBay. Tack on another $5-10 for a set of the glossy inserts.
Kelly’s rookie card isn’t pricey unless you’re talking about one of those 10s. PSA 9s can be had for under $60 with nice, ungraded examples available for much less.
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