1987 and 1988 Fleer Star Sticker Box Bottom Cut-Outs

Looking through my box bottom cut-out cards, I see that I have four each from both 1987 and 1988 Fleer Star Stickers.  It looks like I opened the entire box of the 1988 stickers, and kept a fair number of packs of the 1987 unopened (as featured in a recent post).

Jose Cruz.

Bob Horner.

For the 1987 box bottoms, we start with Jose Cruz and Bob Horner.  I guess you would call them minor stars.  I featured Jose Cruz once before in one of my boxed set posts; he was a star with the Astros in their division-winning teams of the 80s, and retired just as I started seriously watching baseball.  Bob Horner I remember a little from the Braves in the 80s; he played with them 1978-1986, then spent a year in Japan, and then was with the Cardinals in 1988.  His move to Japan is yet another story of the owners colluding against the players.

Glenn Davis.

Detroit Tigers logo.

For the other two cards from the 1987 box bottom, we have another Astro, Glenn Davis, and the Tigers team logo.  I liked Davis back in the day; he was a power hitter who mostly didn't play for good teams, with the 1986 Astros being the exception.  I guess I don't have much comment on the logo, except that I do like the intensity of the tiger's eyes.

San Francisco Giants logo.

Ron Guidry.

Moving to 1988, I don't have any comment on the Giants logo.  Back in the 80s, I would have thought Ron Guidry would be in the Hall of Fame.  A 170-91 career record may not show a huge number of wins, but it's certainly a high winning percentage, and it comes with a 3.29 ERA, which isn't bad at all.  Add to that 5 Gold Gloves, a Cy Young award, and two World Series wins, among other accomplishments.  But his career wasn't that long, and he didn't rack up huge numbers.

Gary Carter.

Don Baylor.

I've written about Gary Carter several times, especially in a post dedicated to some of his early cards, but also here and here, so I don't have much else to say.  I've mentioned Don Baylor a couple of times as well (see here and here), but I guess I like him more, so I'll say a little more.  The book The Bad Guys Won!, about the Mets winning the 1986 series, puts the blame on the Red Sox in several places, including John McNamara, Bill Buckner, and Jim Rice, at least.  With Bill Buckner, it says that at a critical moment, he talked McNamara into leaving him in the game, when Baylor could have pinch hit.  After that, Buckner flied out, and had his infamous moment with the ball through the legs.  Baylor is pictured here with the Twins, though, and he did win the World Series with them in 1987.  Baylor batted .385 in 5 games in the 1987 World Series.  Interestingly, he was in the World Series for a third consecutive year with a third different team in 1988, losing along with the A's.  He retired after that 1988 season.