1987 Topps Football Box Bottom Cards / Panels

After putting team cards on the back of their Football boxes in 1986, Topps returned to putting player cards on the bottom of their 1987 Football wax boxes (as they had done in 1985):


Whereas the 1987 Topps Football cards have a white border, the box bottom cards have a yellow border to easily differentiate them from the regular cards.

Once again, Topps issued 4 different boxes for a total of 16 different cards numbered A - P as seen on the back of this panel:

Unfortunately I have only been able to locate 2 of the 4 panels, but you can see the complete list of players / panels on the checklist on the back of the box:


To wrap up this look at the 1987 Topps Football box bottom cards, here is a look at the top of the box featuring Phil Simms:

1987 Topps & OPC Box Bottom Cards / Panels

For their 1987 Baseball wax boxes, Topps once again issued 4 different card panels to encourage collectors to buy multiple boxes, but this year they put the cards on the back of the box instead of on the bottom, which resulted in only 2 cards per panel instead of 4 as they had done the previous year.




The cards are numbered A - H, and the backs include a writeup about a career milestone the player reached during the 1986 season:


Because they are located on the back of the box instead of the bottom, in order to fit both cards on the panel, they are smaller than a standard sized card, and are closer to the size of 1975 Topps mini cards. This picture of the set in a 9 pocket sheet gives an idea of their size:


The bottom of the box includes a small checklist of the 4 different boxes:


Here is a view of the top of the box:


OPC issued the same 8 card set, but put the cards on the bottom of the box in 4 card panels (although they did retain the smaller card size), so there are only 2 different OPC boxes:



The backs have English / French backs with the OPC logo:

Wacky Packages 2010 All New Series (ANS) 7

It looks like the release of the 2010 Wacky Packages set (which is the 7th of the "All New Series" or ANS) is just around the corner as an ad has just come out


as well as a one sheet containing additional information about the set and the various inserts:


Check out the bottom of the ad - Topps has come up with a great use for the "cereal" boxes that they have used in the past for sports cards - these boxes depict classic Wacky cereal parodies!

In addition, some other titles are pictured on the cover of the Aug/Sept cover of the Non-Sport Update Price Guide:


When word first came out about this set in May, the projected release date was August 23. I'm not sure if that is still the release date or not, but Topps.com is indicated that they will be released this month so they should be showing up shortly.

Based on the titles shown so far, this looks like it will be a great series!

1987 Fleer Box Bottom Cards / Panels

Fleer issued 4 different baseball card panels on bottom their 1987 Baseball wax boxes, and once again included a team logo card on each panel as they did in 1986. The team logo cards feature the 1986 World Champion New York Mets, the AL Champion Boston Red Sox and the other 2 1986 playoff teams - the Houston Astros and California Angels.





The cards are numberd C1 - C16, with the team logo cards serving as checklists:


Here is a look at the top of the box:


Fleer also included cards on the bottom of their Star Sticker boxes, with 2 different panels



The Star Sticker box bottom cards are numbered S1 - S8, with the team logo cards including a checklist:




Fleer even extended the idea to the boxes that were used to sell some of their 44 card boxed sets that were sold by various retail chains. You don't see these boxes available that often since collectors typically didn't buy an entire box of 24 boxed sets, so many of these were likely thrown out by the stores once they were empty.

The 2 boxes that I am aware of that contain cards on the bottom are the 1987 Fleer Limited Edition Baseball Superstars box




and the 1987 Baseball's Best Sluggers vs. Pitchers box:





Some of the other boxed set boxes may have cards on the bottom, but I haven't been able to find any boxes to confirm. Since Fleer issued 9 different boxed sets in 1987, it may be possible that there are other box bottom cards on some of those boxes.

1987 Donruss Box Bottom Cards / Panels

For the third year in a row, Donruss included cards on the bottom of their wax boxes:


Once again Donruss created a card of the completed puzzle that was used as the insert in 1987 Donruss packs with this year's puzzle featuring Roberto Clemente.

The numbering on the cards picks up from where the 1986 set left off (PC4 - PC9) as the 1987 box features cards PC10 - PC12 as well as the unnumbered puzzle:


All 1987 Donruss Baseball boxes featured the same 4 cards.


But just as they had done the previous year, Donruss did have a second set of 4 cards on the bottom of their other major offering that year - the 1987 Donruss All Stars / Pop Up set:



These cards continue the same numbering and are numbered PC13 - PC15.

1987 was the final year that Donruss included cards on the bottom of their boxes. Donruss was the first to come up with the idea, and was also the first to discontinue the practice. Their competitors who quickly followed their lead did not abandon the idea as quickly as they kept producing box bottom cards until the early 1990's which we will continue to cover in future posts.

1986 Topps Football Wax Box Team Cards

Topps issued 4 different Football wax boxes in 1986 with cards printed on the boxes. Unlike the 1985 Football boxes which featured 4 different player cards on the bottom of each box, the 1986 boxes had 1 team card printed on the back of the box. Here are the 4 team cards:


This picture of a 1986 Football wax box shows the full back panel with the team card:


The 4 teams that make up the set are the Super Bowl XX champion 1985 Chicago Bears, their opponent the New England Patriots, and the teams that made it as far as the NFC and AFC Championship games - the Los Angeles Rams and the Miami Dolphins.

The back of the cards list the players pictured in the team photo:


Interestingly, the cards are not numbered.

The Story Behind One of the Most Oddball Cards of All Time - the 1976 Topps Bubble Gum Blowing Champ Card

Thanks to the magic of YouTube, we now have the video to go with one of the more interesting oddball baseball cards of all time - the 1976 Topps card featuring the 1975 Joe Garagiola / Bazooka Bubble Blowing Champ Kurt Bevacqua:


Anyone who has collected the 1976 Topps set or just enjoys oddball cards has probably seen this card before. The back of the card is just as odd as the front:

A card with brackets is definitely something you don't see every day!

The Bubble Blowing Championship was broadcast on "The Baseball World of Joe Garagiola"


which was the pregame show to Game 3 of the 1975 World Series:


The item you see behind the graphics is a fishbowl full of Bazooka Bubble Gum:


The show starts off with Joe introducing American League Champ Kurt Bevacqua and National League Champ Johnny Oates as they are digging into the bowl to get their gum:


Before the Championship gets started, Joe talks about the competition leading up to the big event, and we get to see some footage from a few players



including Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter


Bill Buckner


Tim McCarver, who talks about knowing the gum is ready when its "bubbleable":


and Andy Messersmith, who Joe says was a "one of the legends of bubble blowing". Andy talks about having a 10 year run where he was undefeated, and that he decided he would retire once he lost. He mentions having been defeated the previous season by Steve Yeager, which is when he knew it was time to hang it up.


After a commercial break, we're back to the Championship, with Kurt, Johnny, Joe and National League Umpire Dick Stello who will do the official measuring:


In the background, we see some uncut sheets of 1975 Topps cards as well as a full uncut sheet of the Joe Garagiola card that Topps made for Joe to use as business cards:




Joe makes a reference to this being at a National League Park and that Johnny Oates will go last, so presumably this was done at Riverfront Stadium before the start of Game 3 of the World Series.

Kurt goes first


and then Johnny


They both get three tries, and Kurt ends up being the winner. As a result, Kurt wins $1,000 for himself and an additional $1,000 for his favorite charity, and Johnny gets $500 for himself and $500 for charity.

Topps President Joel Shorin presents checks to each of the players after the competition:


Thanks to the great Topps Archive site with Dave's post on this classic card, we've got a copy of the rules (click to enlarge):

One of the more odd items in the rules is that for the judging during the preliminary team and league championship rounds, the measuring and judging could be done by an umpire or a clergyman.

In addition to the cash prize, one of the awards for both the AL and NL Champions is a giant sized baseball card of themselves. In this shot, you can see Johnny Oates' giant card behind Kurt:


This set of rules appears to be what Joe is holding in his hand in the picture below as at the beginning of the competition Joe reads some of the rules


The other interesting thing to note in this picture is that Kurt isn't wearing any shoes. We never see Johnny's feet, so I don't know if he was barefoot as well.

At the very end, we see Kurt out of uniform, and looking very 1975-ish as he stands with Joe as they talk about the competition:


You can enjoy the entire proceedings here in Part 1




and Part 2:




The great thing in watching these clips is how serious everyone is taking this competition. As Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of the story".