1988 Topps Baseball Card Story on ESPN
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Game changer? It was in the cards
Twenty-five years of baseball history through the prism of a 1988 Topps set
By Jim Caple | ESPN.com
As I was searching for a box to wrap a Christmas present last month, I came across a complete set of 1988 Topps baseball cards in an unsealed box way back on a shelf in a storage room. I bought them 25 years ago, but apparently I'd never opened them. Looking through the set, I quickly came across the above card.
Is there a better way to symbolize how baseball began changing in 1988 than this photo of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco as "Athletics Leaders"? The Bash Brothers were at the peak of their popularity that season. McGwire was coming off his 49-home run rookie year (imagine, a player hitting almost 50 home runs in a single season!), while Canseco was becoming the first 40-40 player in history.
My college softball team copied the Bash Brothers' signature salute by bashing our forearms together after big moments in our games. (In fact, several of us still greet each other this way, though we may need to stop due to osteoporosis.) Back then, the Bash Brothers' feats were something to celebrate, not suspect.
That changed in the fall of 1988.
More.... http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8847155/baseball-cards-1988-provide-time-capsule
Twenty-five years of baseball history through the prism of a 1988 Topps set
By Jim Caple | ESPN.com
As I was searching for a box to wrap a Christmas present last month, I came across a complete set of 1988 Topps baseball cards in an unsealed box way back on a shelf in a storage room. I bought them 25 years ago, but apparently I'd never opened them. Looking through the set, I quickly came across the above card.
Is there a better way to symbolize how baseball began changing in 1988 than this photo of Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco as "Athletics Leaders"? The Bash Brothers were at the peak of their popularity that season. McGwire was coming off his 49-home run rookie year (imagine, a player hitting almost 50 home runs in a single season!), while Canseco was becoming the first 40-40 player in history.
My college softball team copied the Bash Brothers' signature salute by bashing our forearms together after big moments in our games. (In fact, several of us still greet each other this way, though we may need to stop due to osteoporosis.) Back then, the Bash Brothers' feats were something to celebrate, not suspect.
That changed in the fall of 1988.
More.... http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8847155/baseball-cards-1988-provide-time-capsule
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Comments
The inserts included a picture of the Jack Clark glossy AS with a mysterious caption 'card not included' beside it. At some point in the print run, a crude black arrow was printed over the caption.
I never heard/read which version was harder to find, but I remember finding them pretty equally in the boxes I opened throughout that year.