1987 Fleer Bobby Bonilla RC #605

I might be dialing things back to ancient history, but I grabbed this card because it reminded me of a trading card magazine that touted Bonilla as the better card ‘investment’ over his Pittsburgh Pirates teammate, Barry Bonds - I want to say Sports Card Trader was the publication, which probably no one in the 21st century remembers, though I occasionally read it as a young collector in the early 1990s.

Bonilla had a productive career, though he’s mostly immortalized for Bobby Bonilla Day - my mother is the accountant in the family, but maybe how the deal works is if even if you end up paying a guy more over time, maybe the yearly amount almost ends up being spare change found in cushions [considering what the New York Mets were supposed to be making], rather than one lump sum being paid out.

I think it might be neat to build up micro-mini collection of these one-time stars and treat the cards like they were still hot commodities - putting them in top loaders and/or semi-rigids and hoarding them as snapshots of a re-imagined collect past for me.

1987 Fleer Will Clark #269

I wanted to get Clark's best mainstream rookie card for ownage sake because Clark emerged as a ‘national superstar’ back when I was getting into baseball and collecting cards - perhaps I didn't really know what it was like to have Clark star for my MLB team but he was a pretty big deal for a little while in San Francisco.

Clark fit the stereotype of an intense, driven ‘money player’ with the ability to clutch up in key situations - though he retired back in 2000 I can go to YouTube and dial up highlights to marvel at his sweet swing.

After his glory days with the Giants, Clark moved on to the Texas Rangers and while still recognized as a star through the mid 1990s - his yearly numbers seemed to take more conventional, ‘mortal’ dips for a player in his 30s as compared to others who were hitting home runs left and right.