Fleer Mini Baseball Cards Sets of the 1980s – Box Set Boom

Remember the boxed set boom of the 1980s and early 1990s?

It was all the fun of baseball card collecting without the hassle of opening packs and wondering who you were going to pull. Alright, so maybe it’s not hard to see why they fell by the wayside…

Still, while most of those sets hold little value these days as a result of mass production, they make the perfect oddball addition for single player or team collectors, not to mention the nostalgia factor.

The bulk of our focus in this series so far have been the mass-produced sets released by Fleer and Topps in conjunction with retail stores in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but there were also some larger boxed sets produced specifically for hobby retailers.

The Fleer Mini sets of the 1980s–or “Fleer Classic Miniatures” as they are more formally known–were one example. They are a partial parallel with the same design as that year’s Fleer base set, but with a smaller checklist, different player photos and much smaller 1 13/16” x 2 1/2″ dimensions.

The sets were released for three straight years in 1986, 1987 and 1988 before the idea was discontinued.

1986 Fleer Classic Miniatures Baseball

Cards: 120
Hall of Famers: 29

The marquee Rookie Card of the 1986 Fleer flagship set was Oakland Athletics slugger Jose Canseco. After he put together an AL Rookie of the Year winning performance, he was also featured on the 1986 Fleer Mini Baseball checklist.

While he shared his Rookie Card with pitcher Eric Plunk, he is pictured solo in the Fleer Minis set. It’s a must-own early card for Canseco collectors.

The highest book values in the set belong to Cal Ripken Jr. ($1.50), Nolan Ryan ($1.50), Tony Gwynn ($1.00) and Roger Clemens ($1.00), and there are an impressive 29 Hall of Famers among the 120-card checklist.

Ozzie Guillen, Vince Coleman and Todd Worrell are among the other notable players who have Rookie Cards in the 1986 Fleer Baseball base set and are also included in the parallel mini set.

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1987 Fleer Classic Miniatures Baseball

Cards: 120
Hall of Famers: 19

The 1987 Fleer Mini set could have been epic thanks to a 1987 Rookie Card class that includes Barry Bonds, Greg Maddux, Bo Jackson, Barry Larkin and Will Clark. But none of these players are on the 1987 Fleer Mini Baseball checklist.

Instead, the only notable rookie-year players are Texas Rangers slugger Ruben Sierra and California Angels standout Wally Joyner.

The headlining stars in the set are Cal Ripken Jr., George Brett, Roger Clemens, Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Don Mattingly, Ozzie Smith, Ryne Sandberg, Kirby Puckett and Wade Boggs.

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1988 Fleer Classic Miniatures Baseball

Cards: 120
Hall of Famers: 17

The 1988 Rookie Card class was a relatively weak one, with Tom Glavine and Roberto Alomar as the only Hall of Famers

Glavine has a Rookie Card in the 1988 Fleer base set and Alomar has an XRC in the Fleer Update release, but neither of them are in the Fleer Mini set after largely forgettable 1988 seasons.

Instead, the top card in the 1988 Fleer Mini Baseball set is Chicago Cubs first baseman Mark Grace.

He hit .296/.371/.403 with 34 extra-base hits in 134 games to finish runner-up in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 1988. He has a shared Rookie Card with Darrin Jackson in the Fleer base set and a solo card in the Fleer Update set, giving him three distinctly different cards from 1988 Fleer products.

There is also an early card of Oakland Athletics slugger and 1990s star Mark McGwire after he was left out of the 1987 set.

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