My top 25 sets #9: 1987-88 OPC hockey

Set 1987-88 O-Pee-Chee hockey
Number of cards in set: 264
Affordability: 7.5
Key RCs: Luc Robitaille, Adam Oates, Ron Hextall
Is the set built?:  Just missing 3 cards  (15,53,163)

What I like about this set:   It's part of a classic run of great OPC sets that started in 79-80 and ended in 88-89.  The design is clean and easy on the eyes without taking too much away from the player photo.  The player selection in the last 66 cards is geared towards the Canadian collector, with all the Canadian teams having at least 9 cards included, including players who have horrible airbrushing jobs (Dale Hunter, Clint Malarchuk to name two).  The high numbers also afforded OPC to include some key RCs such as Damphousse, Vernon and Richer.

The back of the card is tremendous.  Very easy to read with a predominantly pink background and black text.  Full career stats are featured as well, and broken down into separate leagues if the player played in the WHA (as Gartner did for the Baby Bulls in 78-79)

What I don't like about this set:   Would have rather seen the team logo in the lower right corner instead of the black puck with the team name.  Other than that, this set is a winner.

I've had this set in a binder for a very long time, but just never got around to finishing it.  That's probably because the last 3 cards I need are some guys named Gretzky, Lemieux and Roy.  No biggie.  Anyone who is just starting out collecting 80's hockey sets should ear mark this one as one of the 2 or 3 key sets to work on.  It has a great look, and the key RCs will not blow your budget through the roof. 

Thanks for reading, Robert