28 NIKE Poster Cards Type 4 290877 - 290882

The grouping of Type 4 poster cards from 290877 to 290882 includes two iconic posters ; Agassi's "Ace of Hearts" and Bo Jacksons "Ball Player. The dates for all 4 of these are locked in solid as 1988.









290877 Strange Days  (Curtis Strange)   1988 

Curtis Strange wins the 1988 US Open in Brookline Mass.

https://www.oregonlive.com/playbooks-profits/2013/01/nike_golfs_roots_trace_to_1984.html

290878 Ian Rush  1988

Welsh soccer star Ian Rush signed with Nike as their first soccer player in 1982. Rush was a Liverpool Soccer forward, all time goal scorer,  who played for them from 1980 - 1987 and 1988 - 1996. He signed on with Juventis of the Italian League for 1986/87 season then returned to Liverpool. The presence of his stripped Ariston shirt tells us that this poster is from his year in the Italian league and fits as 1988.

https://en.todocoleccion.net/football-shirts/antigua-camiseta-futbol-juventus-87-88-1987-1988-shirt-rush-ariston-vintage~x55787562

290879    Ace of Hearts ( Andre Agassi)   1988

Agassi leaning on his 1957 T-Bird in front of the Las Vegas strip.

Its 1988 date of issuance is firm based on sealed poster info and its presence in the Sept 1988 Nike poster catalog.

http://www.holidays.net/mlk/store/New-1988-Nike-Andre-Agassi-Ace-Of-Hearts-Poster-Sealed-Tennis-Air-Retro-Jordan-3_153254139862.html

290882 The Ball Player  (Bo Jackson)  1988

 The iconic Ballplayer poster while Jackson was playing for the Oakland Raiders and the Kansas City Royals. The printing date of 1988 is on he lower left corner of the poster.

comment added 07/2021 - the date is only on the poster, not the poster card !

lower left corner of poster

27. NIKE Poster Cards Type 4 290870 - 290874

The second grouping of Type 4 poster cards came with 12 known cards between 290270 and 290887 including several important star cards such as Mike Schmidt as Superman, Howie Long's iconic "Lethal Weapon" the Jordan and Spike Lee iconic poster Best on Earth / Best on Mars, Agassi's Ace of Hearts , Bo Jackson's "Ballplayer" , Wayne Gretzky's iconic "I Love LA" and Jordan's iconic "MVP"

Why were these inter spaced with poster cards of type 2 is an outstanding question. 

First we look at 290270 - 290274


290270 Superman  (Mike Schmidt)   1987

Mike Schmidt wearing a Superman tee shirt. Worthpoint dates this issue as 1986. We think it may be 1987 since Ohio Flyer (290269) and Lethal Weapon (290871) are both locked in as 1987.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/mike-schmidt-superman-phillies-nike-poster-36x22-1

290871  Lethal Weapon (Howie Long)      1987

Defensive end for the Oakland/LA Raiders Long won the super bowl in 1984. In this poster we see  Howie Long  mimicking the box office hit of the spring of 1987 "Lethal Weapon" 

Multiple sources date this poster as 1987 including the 1994 Nike / Upper Deck card set so this date is firm.

290872  Supreme Court II**

** added Feb 2021 see blog #63

Appears in the Sept 1988 catalog


290273 Mr. Barkley  (Charles Barkley)   1988

 Barkley shooting the basketball. 

Appears in the 1988 catalog 

290874  Best on Earth / Best on Mars   (MJ and Spike Lee)   1988

Probably the most popular of the Jordan / Spike Lee poster. The 1988 date is firm based on several references and the date on the 1991 Nike Jordan/Lee  poster card set. This was also produces as a type 3 poster card in 1991/92

https://solecollector.com/news/2015/06/michael-jordan-nike-air-jordan-posters https://www.ebay.com/itm/1991-Nike-Trading-Cards-Set-1-Michael-Jordan-and-Mars-Spike-Lee-Blackmon/174033333662?_trkparms=aid%3D1110001%26algo%3DSPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D225074%26meid%3Db6d1bf68aff7488aa39598504c758126%26pid%3D100623%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D324110828813%26itm%3D174033333662%26pmt%3D0%26noa%3D1%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1

26. NIKE Poster Cards Type 4 290 811 - 290819

After stopping with the initial Type 1 grouping at 290249, we have already detailed that NIKE picked up again at 290811. 

Actually several sources including Nike Mike have identified posters associated with Nike numbers 290801 - 290809

which are detailed in blog #65. However no one has ever seen Nike poster cads of 290801 - 290810. 

For what ever reason 290811 - 290817 were produced as Type 4 (no information printed on front or back. 29018 and 29019 are currently unknown and could exist as either type 2 or 4 IF THEY EXIST

This grouping includes Mark Jackson, Frank Viola and (5) "No finish Line" posters. In 1976, Nike hired John Brown Partners, as its advertising agency. In 1977 the agency created the first brand ad for the company, called "There is no finish line", in which no Nike products were shown. 

It is thought that these 5 "no finish line" poster cards were issued ~ 1988 since they are bookended by Home Town and Sweet Music both of which are 1988 releases and Worthpoint dates the no finish line tennis poster cards as 1988 and they first appear in the 1988 catalog.

290811  Home Town  (Mark Jackson)  1988

Mark Jackson the star of St Johns, he was the 18th pick of the 1987 NBA draft by the hometown  New York Knicks.  Jackson averaged 13.6 points and 10.6 assists  in his rookie season, earning him the 1988 Rookie of the Year award. 

290812  Basketball (No Finish Line)   1988

It has been reported that this No finish line BB player is Michael Jordan but that is not true. I have contacted Bill Sumner who took the picture and says that this was a random young BB player at the gym at N Texas State  where he took the photo. 

 

290813 Running ( No Finish Line Benoit-Samuelson)   1988

Winner of the ladies marathon in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. In 1987 she set the time record for a women at the Boston marathon. 

290814   Fitness (No Finish Line)  1988

Depicted here is Joanne Ernst, American triathlete winner in the 1985 Hawaii Ironman Triathlon competition. We know this Earnst because of its presence and description in the 1991 poster catalog.

290815  Tennis (No Finish Line)  1988

Nike’s There is No Finish Line poster for tennis debuted in 1988. As part of its There Is No Finish Line series, photographer Bill Sumner shot this image at a court in Texas. He was perched on a bucket crane about 10 stories off of the ground, accompanied by art director Ron Dumas, who had an assistant on the ground place the balls.

Worthpoint has dated this poster as 1988.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1988-nike-finish-line-tennis-poster-482601035

290216  Hiking  (No Finish Line)   1988

The Columbia Gorge with a hiker surrounded by a hillside.

290817  Sweet Music (Frank Viola)   1988

Frankie Vlola pitched the Twins to their first World Series win in 1987. He finished the season with a 17–10 record, a 2.90 ERA, and 197 strikeouts in 251 2/3 innings. Viola  then went a combined 3–1 with 25 strikeouts in the post-season. Series MVP with the Twins in 1987 and won the AL Cy Young Award in 1988..

            https://www.jliasport.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=827737

290818 UNK

290819 UNK

25. NIKE Poster Cards Type 4

Because of where they sit chronologically we will look at the Type 4 poster cards before we look at the type 3's.

The type 4 poster cards have no identifying information on the front or back of these mini posters. They are printed on thin stock. As stated previously they were identified by info available about the posters and their presence in NIKE poster catalogs and order forms.

The type 4 poster cards are found in two groupings; (7) cards 

between  290811 - 290817 and 12 poster cards between 290870 - 290887
We have so far identified (19) of a possible (24)  type 4  poster cards.

Type 4 NIKE Poster Cards

Nike Number POSTER TITLE TYPE  Year of  Issue 290xxx 811 home town Mark Jackson  4 1988 812 no finish line basketball   4 1988 813 no finish line running  Benoit / Samuelson  4 1988 814 no finish line fitness 4 1988 815 no finish line tennis  4 1988 816 no finish line hiking  4 1988 817 Sweet Music (Frank Viola) 4 1988 818 UNK 819 UNK 870 Superman (Mike Schmidt) 4 1987 871 Lethal Weapon (Howie long) 4 1987 872                 Supreme Court II** 4 1988 873 Mr Barkley  4 1988 874 (4) Earth / Mars (Jordan / Lee)  4 1988  877 Strange Days (Curtis Strange) 4 1988 878 Ian Rush   Soccer   4 1988 879 Ace of Hearts -  Agassi  4 1988 880 UNK 882 the ball player - Bo Jackson   4 1988 883 Jordan MVP 4 1988 884 double trouble 4 1988/89 885 I Love LA  Gretzky   4 1989 887 1621 serious hang time (Anthony Carter) Hit and Run (Bo Jax) *** ** added Feb 2021 see blog #63 ***added Oct 2021 see blog #72 4 4 1989

24. NIKE Poster Cards Type 2 290894 - 290898, 291543, 291621, 291884

Finishing the Type 2 grouping,  290894 - 290898 consists of the Met's Darryl Strawberry, the Yankees Steve Sax, McEnroe's iconic "Rebel with a Cause" , womens volleyball and Craig Blanchette wheel chair racing. 

In addition, the posters "Strange Thoughts", "Hit and Run" and   "For Women Only" were all issued in 1988 as a type 2 poster cards out of sequence with numbers 291543, 291621 and 291884.   



290894 Cream of the Crop (Darryl Strawberry)   1989

 The Mets Strawberry standing in a field of strawberries.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1989-nike-darryl-strawberry-york-mets-1724136262

290895 Sax's (Steve Sax)     1989

Steve Sax moved from the Dodgers to the Yankees in 1989. This poster depicts Sax in front of a yellow cab on 5th avenue..

290896 Rebel with a Cause (John McEnroe)  1989

McEnroe recreating the 1955 James Dean photo in NYC Times Square. 

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/john-mcenroe-rebel-cause-nike-framed-458358587ur.com/all-posts/2018/11/3/frrf

290897 Women's Volleyball    1989

290898 Just Do It (Craig Blanchette)  1989

Part of the 1988 "just do it" campaign. Note all known examples of this poster cards are instead of 5 x 7 inches appear to be 4 9/16 x 7 inches.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhTmX6F5_o

the following 3 type 2 poster cards are also covered in blog #47

291543 Strange Thoughts 1988 

Curtis Strange showing the evolution of his swing 

291621 Hit and Run 1988

Bo Jackson as a baseball (hit) and football (run) player. These were issued as two different poster cards with the same Nike numbered back .

291884 For Women Only   1988

It is unknown why the womens basketball poster was issued with an out of sequence number. It appears in the sept 1988 catalog.

23. NIKE Poster CArds Type 2 290890 - 290893

The grouping 290890 to 290893 includes cyclist Mark Allen, Jordan in the playground, Butch Reynolds running like the wind and Nolan Ryan's iconic "Texas Ranger"









290890 Mark Allen  1989

This poster became know as "Go Like Hell" 

https://gallery.doctorfunks.com/products/nike-1989-rare-poster-cycling-storm-new-still-sealed

This Nike number was also assigned to the poster Cycling (Jeff Pierce) . It was also issued as both type 2 and 4 but was miss labeled (type 2) as Mark Allen. This is discussed in blog 64. 

290891  Playground  1989

MJ soaring above the local kids in a little pick up game in the playground.

solecollector.com/news/2015/06/michael-jordan-nike-air-jordan-posters

290292 Run Like the Wind (Butch Reynolds)   1989

Harry "Butch" Reynolds is an American former track star who competed in the 400 meter dash. He held the world record for the event for 11 years with his personal best time of 43.29 seconds set in 1988. That year, he was the silver medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He is pictured running by a wind farm. 

290893 Texas Ranger (Nolan Ryan)   1989

Ryan had just been traded from the Astros to the Tx Rangers. This iconic poster pictures  Ryan, in a long duster and  cowboy Hat; standing in the middle of the road in the Ghost Town of Pride, Texas; where there just happens to be a pitcher's mound.  Ryan is grasping his weapon of choice, a baseball.

https://community.cardboardconnection.com/forums/forum/collectors-showcase/baseball-showcase/18582-poster-review-nolan-ryan-texas-ranger-nike-poster

22. NIKE Poster Cards Type 2 290875 - 290888

 290875 CLARK (Will Clark)  1989

the 1989 World Series featured Oakland and Mark McGwire vs San Francisco and Will Clark. It was known as the Battle of the Bay. We will all remember the earthquake that took place during this series. Nike posters of Clark and McGwire, when joined on edge, show the SF/Oakland Bay Bridge.

They appear in the Sept 1989 catalog but appear at the border of 883 Jordan "MVP" (1988) and Gretzky "Hockey Night in CA" (1989) so they could go either way. 

290876 McGwire (Mark McGwire)  1989

McGwire has amassed 117 HR in 3 years as he entered the WS as probably the most feared slugger of the time. Steroid revelations had not become public knowledge yet !

290881 Wimps II     1988

                                           found in the Sept 1988 catalog 

Wrestling...Also exists in a type 3 printing. 

290886 Hockey Night in California - Wayne Gretzky   1989

Probably the greatest hockey player of all time. This same image was used for Hockey Night in CA and for I Love LA which is 290885 and will be discussed as a type 4. Gretzky moved to the LA Kings for the 1988/89 season 

290888 High Flyin' 360   1989

Part of the Mars Blackman / Jordan Ad campaign that started in 1988.
Also exists as a type 3 printing 

solecollector.com/news/2015/06/michael-jordan-nike-air-jordan-posters