Box Set Special - 1988 Woolworth Baseball Highlights

Another charming box set that is largely overlooked by collectors, this 1988 highlight set from Woolworth's features 33 cards with a nice high gloss finish.  The first 18 cards of the set features players who hit MLB milestones.  But what makes this set especially attractive to any Twins fan is that the last 15 cards highlight the 1987 World Series.

Card #1 features Don Baylor for setting a MLB mark for getting hit by a pitcher the most in a career.  Ouch.  Baylor would go on that same season to play an integral part of the '87 World Series.

Vince Coleman broke Rickey Henderson's streak of consecutive seasons (3) with 100+ bases stolen.  

I don't know if we'll ever see that kind of production even with the new rules.

The Hawk, Andre Dawson won the 1987 NL MVP award.  He had an incredible season hitting 49 HR's, while batting .287 with 137 RBI's.  He's looks mean in this photo, but I have met him and he's an incredibly nice guy.

McGwire was the 1987 ROY hitting 49 HR's.  He outslugged the AL MVP George Bell, who had 47 HR's and a .605 slugging percentage. 

A lean Tony Gwynn (and one of my favorite players), is featured on this card.  He was the NL batting champ hitting .370 with 218 hits.

Eddie Murray is featured for switch hitting HR's in 2 consecutive games.

This might look familiar to Twins fans as Dan Gladden was also featured on the cover of SI for hitting a Grand Slam in game 1, which the Twin won 10-1.  The Twins would also roll to an 8-4 win in game 2.

Heading to St Louis, the Twins didn't fare too well.  As a fan back then, the hope was that the Twins could steal a game in a larger, outdoor stadium but the bats went cold in a 1-3 loss.

We pretty much knew the Twins were done in game #4 when Tom Lawless (who?) hit a home run off of Twins ace Frank Viola.  It was the 2nd and last home run of his career.

Danny Cox outdueled HOF'er Bert Blyleven in game 5.  The Twins struggled at Busch Stadium and gave up 5 stolen bases in this game.  Fortunately, Minnesota had home field advantage.

Returning to the Dome and playing in the only day game of the series, these two players were key to staving off elimination.  Don Baylor, who had set a MLB standard for HBP in Boston, was traded to the Twins in a late season deal for a "player to be named later".  As reported HERE Boston was in Minnesota when the deal was done so he didn't need to travel far to join the Twins.  Baylor's 5th inning HR and Hrbek's 6th inning slam was all the Twins needed to win game 6.

If that Puckett card above looks familiar, its because that is darn near the same photo used in the 1988 UK mini set featured recently by Diamond Jesters.  

Game 7 had all the Twins fans on edge.  All of us hoped the "curse" would be broken and that another Minnesota team would avoid choking.  After the Cardinals scored two quick runs, I don't remember seeing anyone get down.  To watch the Twins steadily comeback and shut down the Cardinals was incredible.  Once game 7 was over, myself and some friends made our way to downtown MPLS and joined the ahem, "festivities" and it's something I'll never forget.

I'm thankful most collectors turn their nose up at a set like this.  But why?  The set features many hall of famers, and for Twins fans the trip down memory lane is totally worth it.  The fact that I paid a mere $1 at my LCS for this set helps too.  

WINNER OF THE TOPPS MAX SCHERZER 70TH PATCH CARD IS RJ!  Please email your address!