How many 1986-87 Fleer Basketball cards did Fleer actually print? Unfortunately, Fleer never released official production numbers, so we may never know for certain. But one figure has circulated in the hobby for years: approximately 250,000 of each card.
That estimate comes from hobbyist Reed Kasaoka, who said a high-level Fleer executive told him in the late 1990s that the company had printed about 250,000 of each card in the 1986-87 set. According to the same executive, disappointing sales led Fleer to cut production roughly in half for 1987-88 Fleer Basketball.
The numbers can’t be independently verified, but plenty of other hobby evidence supports the basic idea that Fleer produced considerably fewer 1987-88 basketball cards than it did in 1986-87.
Why Would Fleer Have Printed Fewer Cards in 1987-88?
Today, 1986-87 Fleer Basketball is one of the most popular sets in the hobby, thanks largely to Michael Jordan’s iconic #57. But when the set was released, basketball cards weren’t exactly a hot commodity.
Let me start by saying that all I’m trying to do here is piece together some hobby history. Fleer never released print-run information directly, and this wasn’t necessarily the sort of information anyone thought to document and preserve at the time. The people who worked for Fleer and other card companies weren’t necessarily collectors; for a lot of them, it was just a job.
Earlier in the decade, Topps stopped producing basketball cards after its 1981-82 set, and Fleer’s return to the sport in 1986 came after several years without a mainstream basketball card set.
A September 1986 Fleer press release announcing the company’s return to basketball cards helps put the set’s release into context. Fleer was reentering a basketball card market that Topps had abandoned several years earlier and was essentially testing whether collectors were ready for basketball cards again.
As it turned out, the cards weren’t an immediate hit. Boxes reportedly struggled to sell for even $10 at retail, despite Fleer offering them directly to dealers for $9 each, or $108 per case.
One collector recalled a shop owner offering him ten boxes that had been collecting dust on the shelf for just $5 apiece. I’ve also been told that Fleer offered full-value refunds for unsold cases, while other collectors and dealers remember boxes remaining plentiful and inexpensive at shows for the next several years.
That history makes the story about Fleer cutting production for 1987-88 considerably more plausible.
Where Does the 250,000-Card Estimate Come From?
The 250,000 figure comes from longtime hobbyist Reed Kasaoka, who shared the story on the Collectors Universe forum in 2014. Kasaoka said that while working at Beckett in the late 1990s, he spoke with a high-level Fleer executive who told him the company had printed approximately 250,000 of each card in the 1986-87 Fleer Basketball set.
According to Kasaoka, the same executive said disappointing sales led Fleer to cut production in half the following year.
That would put the 1987-88 production run at roughly 125,000 of each card. Again, though, these aren’t official Fleer production figures, they’re numbers recalled from a conversation that took place years after the sets were produced.
What Other Evidence Supports a Smaller 1987-88 Print Run?
PSA’s population report offers another interesting data point. There have been nearly five times as many 1986-87 Fleer cards graded as 1987-88 Fleer cards. Of course, some of that disparity is driven by the value of the 1986-87 cards after grading, particularly Michael Jordan’s rookie, so PSA populations can’t be treated as a proxy for the original print runs. But the difference is still notable.
At times, high-grade 1987-88 Fleer commons have also commanded prices of more than $100, even during periods when cards could be submitted for grading for as little as $6 apiece. That suggests there simply weren’t huge supplies of high-grade examples waiting to be graded despite the financial incentive to do so.
In an article about the 1987-88 Fleer set, unopened-card expert Steve Taft noted that there always seemed to be more 1986-87 Fleer around. One set registry collector agreed, saying that for every box of 1987-88 Fleer he encountered, he saw considerably more 1986-87 boxes for sale. That matches what I’ve generally seen in the hobby as well.
I don’t think the argument that collectors simply hoarded more 1986-87 Fleer holds much water, either. The hobby as a whole was booming by 1986, and there have been plenty of periods when rapidly rising prices would have encouraged anyone sitting on unopened 1986-87 Fleer to sell: the publication of Beckett’s first basketball card guide, the Bulls’ championships, Jordan’s retirements and comebacks, and so on.
And if a collector or dealer had the foresight to stash away 1986-87 Fleer, it seems reasonable that at least some of those same people would have saved 1987-88 Fleer, too.
So How Many 1986-87 Fleer Basketball Sets Were Made?
If the 250,000-per-card figure is accurate, Fleer theoretically printed enough 1986-87 basketball cards for approximately 250,000 complete 132-card base sets.
That doesn’t mean 250,000 complete sets ever existed, of course. The cards were distributed in wax packs, some product went unsold or was returned, and untold numbers of cards have been lost, damaged, or discarded over the past 40 years. More importantly, the 250,000 figure itself remains an unverified recollection rather than an official Fleer production record.
We may never know the exact numbers. But Kasaoka’s account, the memories of dealers and collectors, PSA populations, and the relative availability of unopened material all point in the same direction: Fleer appears to have produced considerably more 1986-87 basketball than 1987-88.
That helps explain something that might otherwise seem surprising. Despite the enormous popularity of Michael Jordan’s rookie card and the 1986-87 set as a whole, the following year’s Fleer basketball issue may actually be considerably scarcer.
If you’ve heard stories about the 1986-87 or 1987-88 Fleer Basketball print runs, please share them in the comments.
Want to see what’s still out there? Check out 1986-87 Fleer Basketball cards, packs, boxes, and sets currently available on eBay.
Star cards are like gold. They are rare.