Thanks @ A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts! - Free Isiah Thomas Card

 A little over a week ago, Jon over at A Penny Sleeve for your Thoughts ran a Free Stuff Friday: Anniversary Edition.  This was to celebrate his 5th Blogaversary.  I have not participated in his Free Stuff Fridays before, but saw an awesome 87-88 Fleer Isiah Thomas card that I could not pass up.  Late 1980s basketball cards definitely appeal to me and this was an excellent hook up.  Last week I just finished watching "The Last Dance" and the rivalry that Isiah and Jordan had was intense....two large egos, both skilled, and both destined for the Hall of Fame....I knew I needed this card.  It looks awesome in hand and I can't thank you enough Jon!  Good luck on the next 5 years with your blog!

Phoebe Cates, Tom Cruise, Jackie Chan - 1987 Japanese Roadshow Cards

A lot of great things came out in the 1980s and movies were right there at the top.  Terminator, Predator, Back to the Future, Top Gun, Gremlins, Breakfast Club....the list is nearly endless.  The U.S. influence on movies and pop culture was borderless and the Japanese couldn't eat up enough of it.  If you wanted to find out what was happening in the U.S. film and tv industry, you had your subscription to the Roadshow magazine.  It was the bible for pop culture.  As a bonus, they would often print collector cards of the latest stars to insert in the magazine.  These are great opportunities to get some early cards of young actresses and actors.  I have about half a dozen or so of these and recently picked this one up....even before Phoebe Cates "reentered" the news as one of the idols of the Stranger Things kids.  Look at the lineup on these cards from 1987:

Phoebe Cates - She was a stunner in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Gremlins (1984)
River Phoenix - His role in Stand By Me was unforgettable (1986)
Jennifer Connelly - A oft overlooked movie with David Bowie, Labyrinth (1986), earned her a spot on this card.
Tom Cruise - Top Gun (1986), need I say more.
David Mendenhall - Playing Sylvester Stallone's son in Over the Top (1986) was enough to garner his own card.
Lea Thompson - Red Dawn (1984), Back to the Future (1985), Space Camp (1986) - Boom!
Lucy Deakins - I have not see The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), but it was popular enough for Lucy to make the Roadshow card list.
Jackie Chan - He had already done 30 movies by the time this card was printed.  A true movie icon.

You'll likely see more of these Roadshow cards in the future on this blog as I walk down memory lane.  A fun little piece of card collecting history!

1987 Mike Tyson Japanese Bromide Card

About 5 years or so, I managed to collect, catalogue, and checklist the entire 180-card Japanese World Boxing Magazine cards from 1996-1999 and documented it here.  This set has Manny Pacquiao's rookie card in it as well as dozens of other boxers that only have cards in this set.  I still am not aware of the checklist being in Japanese yet so this was an extremely rewarding challenge.  At the time, I also knew of the bromides that World Boxing had done from ~1982-1990, but had never tried collecting any of them.  I am not sure how many of the bromides there are in the entire set and I am not sure I plan on collecting them all, but I wanted to pick up the earliest one that I knew of that features Mike Tyson.  I managed to snag this August 1987 one at a good deal and took a chance.  It is Card #64 and features Mike Tyson in his prime.  These bromides are rather large at 6.5" x 10" and were affixed inside the magazine so you'd have to cut them out which looks to be very challenging.  My bromide was already cut, albeit not very well, so I didn't have to face this daunting task.  I just might get the bug and try to at least checklist what I can.