The Forever Topps Binder Project: Page 5 (1987 - 1995)

It's been a while, but I am now back and ready to start page 5 of my Forever Topps Binder Project.  I'm still using the stack of cards that I won in a blog contest many, many years ago to fill out as many slots as possible.  Once I get the first pass of the binder complete, then my plans are to go back and try to upgrade the cards to better and/or more interesting cards.  

The Forever Topps Binder Project
Page 5 (1987 - 1995):

1987:  

Current card in binder:  #430 Mike Schmidt

Goal card(s):  #648 Barry Larkin

I am going to try to avoid putting Barry Larkin cards in the Forever Topps Binder Project, but it does seem like sticking Larkin's rookie card in the binder makes a lot of sense.  Of course, the Mike Schmidt card that I currently have in there isn't too bad in its own right!  If I do end up going the Larkin route, I think I probably have around 25 of his 1987 Topps cards lying around, so at least it'll be an easy card to update.

1988:

Current card in binder:  #136 Brian Dayett

Goal card(s):  #250 Nolan Ryan, #450 Barry Bonds, #650 Cal Ripken, Jr.

I've never heard of Mr. Dayett, so this is one card that I know I'll be upgrading soon.  It is interesting that Topps put a number of star players on card number multiples of 50 in this set (just look at the list of goal cards)!

1989:

Current card in binder:  #110 Paul Molitor

Goal card(s):  #540 Bo Jackson, #570 Tony Gwynn, #700 Don Mattingly

Truthfully, I'm perfectly content to let Paul Molitor be the representative for the 1989 Topps set in my binder.  I do think I need to look through my complete 1989 Topps set at some point to see if there might be a better card (more interesting photo, even if maybe not truly a "better player" than Molitor).  

1990:

Current card in binder:  #506 Tom Glavine

Goal card(s):  #336 Ken Griffey, Jr. #414 Frank Thomas

You almost have to have the Frank Thomas rookie card as the single representative for the 1990 Topps set.  However, that card is a subset card (Draft Picks), so I might end up going with Griffey's rookie cup card instead.  I'd be happy with either, though having Tom Glavine in the slot for now is perfectly acceptable.

1991:

Current card in binder:  #540 George Brett

Goal card(s):  #450 Wade Boggs, #790 Ken Griffey, Jr.

This is another set that I've collected in full, and one that I definitely need to go through to pick out the perfect card for my Forever Topps Binder Project.  There are a number of great horizontal shots in the 1991 Topps set, but I think I want to keep the representative card for each set having the same orientation as the majority of that set (thus, for 1991 Topps, I think I am going to aim to have a vertically oriented card).

1992:

Current card in binder:  #185 Benny Santiago

Goal card(s):  #242 Mike Mussina

Mussina is a guy who is from near where I work, so he's about as local a star as I can lay claim to.  In addition, the '92 card is his rookie card (and it's oriented vertically, unlike most of my favorite cards from the 1992 set).  

1993:

Current card in binder:  #205 Gary Carter

Goal card(s):  #179 Ken Griffey, Jr., #200 Kirby Puckett, #572 Trevor Hoffman

The Gary Carter is actually an awesome photo, but I may end up trading him out for Puckett's "big bat" card or Hoffman's rookie card.  Then again, I may decide it's more fun to have cool looking action shots, in which case Carter has a great chance of sticking in the binder!

1994:

Current card in binder:  #725 Sammy Sosa

Goal card(s):  #180 George Brett

I've never been a big fan of the 1994 Topps set, perhaps it's the player name in script?  I'm not sure, but for whatever reason I find the '94 set lacking in both interesting cards and in interesting design elements.  The Sosa card is perfectly fine I guess, but the Brett card is one of the truly unique images in the set, so that's probably the one I'll eventually attempt to acquire.

1995:

Current card in binder:  #213 Pat Hentgen

Goal card(s):  #1 Frank Thomas, #100 Barry Bonds, #397  Ken Griffey, Jr.

There are several horizontal cards that I like a lot (Chipper Jones, for one) but if I'm going to keep the card choice to have the same orientation as the majority of the base set, I'll probably have to go for eventually finding a copy of either Thomas, Bonds, or Griffey.  For my money, the 1994 and 1995 Topps sets are both poor efforts by the company, and that's saying something since the early 90s were smack dab in the middle of my most active collecting period as a child.  

Page 5:

That does it for page 5, at least for a preliminary filling in of cards.  I definitely have some work to do to find the perfect card for each set, but as I've said many times, I have to start somewhere!