The Curious Case of the 1986-87 Fleer Basketball Set

Beginning in the 1950s, Topps had dominated the sports card market for all of the major sports. Inexplicably, after issuing their 1981-82 basketball set, Topps decided to step out of the basketball game. This was an odd choice on their behalf for a couple of reasons. First, the card market was booming and the next handful of years would see sports cards sell at a pace that will probably never be equaled. Next, there was a new crop of players entering the NBA that would change the face of the game both in style and popularity. In fact, Topps had, just a year earlier, released the rookie card of two NBA greats; Larry Bird and Magic Johnson on the same card in the odd 1980-81 "Panels" set.

With Topps gone, a manufacturer called Star Co. became the only NBA licensed brand. Selling limited edition cards in bags, Star never really caught on. However, from 1983-1986, they released about 30 sets including their base sets, NBA Championship team sets, player sets (including one of the aforementioned Bird), promotional sets (Crunch ‘N Munch anyone?), and other oddities. Being the only manufacturer of basketball cards for those three years meant that they produced the only rookie cards of many great players including all time great Micheal Jordan.

In 1986 Fleer brought packs back into the basketball card equation. The red, white, and blue bordered 1986-87 Fleer "Premier" set would go on to become one of the most popular sets of all time. Collectors would recognize cards from this set as the true rookies of the players that already had Star Co. issued rookie cards. This was probably attributed to the fact that the cards were sold in "random" packs instead of the set bags in which Star released their cards. The Fleer set was generally a good looking set and featured some great pictures of some great stars. The set consisted of 132 cards, of which about 60 are recognized as rookie cards. Anyone who was lucky enough to be an avid basketball card collector in 1986 had a valuable stockpile to launch a serious collection overall. The Micheal Jordan card alone is hundreds of times more expensive than any baseball card that was released that same year. This set was truly a collector's dream. Here are the most notable rookie cards of the set: