1987 M&M’s Star Lineup: A Deliciously Unique Card Set

If I could hop into a time machine and head straight back to 1987 in search of the M&M’s Star Lineup baseball cards, I’m convinced I would completely miss them all over again. As a die-hard lover of food-issued cards and "oddball" grocery sets, it baffles me that I cannot recall a single moment of seeing these on shelves during my childhood - and I worked at a grocery store!  Maybe I was looking at the wrong candy racks, or maybe they just flew under my radar.  Either way, when I recently stumbled across a pristine, intact paneled set online, my collector instincts kicked in.  I couldn't hit that "Buy It Now" button fast enough. Most modern hobbyists would probably skip right past obscure, perforated panels like this, favoring standard wax packs instead. But for me, finding a forgotten piece of 1980s junk-wax-era food promotion was a great thrill.

 

My quick internet research indicates these two-card panels were packed-in premiums alongside M&M's retail candy products. The checklist is incredibly top-heavy: out of 24 total cards, 12 are legendary Hall of Famers.

If you look at the design, it seems likely that Fleer drew inspiration from these retail panels for their 1990 baseball set.  And true to the "oddball" era, almost every image features charming airbrushing—save for a perfectly natural-looking George Brett.

The card backs offer a bizarre quirk that I don't recall seeing anywhere else: the stat grids are hardcoded to start precisely with the 1980 season.  If a player hadn't made their major league debut yet, the line is simply left completely blank.  While some collectors might find that strange, I actually don't mind it—it’s a creative way to maintain a uniform layout and avoid ugly, empty white space.  As an added bonus for easy sorting, the manufacturers wisely printed the card number on both the front and the back.

Speaking of quirks, the font size on the back of Valenzuela's card is very different.  Every card is the same except this one.

And on the back of Ozzie's card where the wording makes it sound like he won seven straight gold gloves in a single season.  There's another example above where Joe Carter led his team in 'up at bats'.  But maybe I'm just being too picky.

Ultimately, the 1987 M&M’s Star Lineup reminds us why we fell in love with collecting in the first place. It isn't always about the highest monetary value or the perfect gem-mint grade. Sometimes, it's just about the thrill of chasing down a weird, heavily airbrushed piece of grocery store history that makes you smile.