Thursday, May 28, 2009

1987 Pacific MISL

Pacific Trading Cards produced the premier edition 110 card set of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). I have seen this set listed as 1987 or 1987-88. There were 12 cards to a pack. They had a simple, yet pleasing design.
Three members of the Dallas Sidekicks popped up in my pack. Of the 3 (and actually of the whole pack), Tatu is clearly the biggest star. In fact, he was the league MVP and the Sidekicks were MISL champs.
I was happy to see two players from my Chicago Sting. Unfortunately, the Sting would fold after just one more season.
The Minnesota Strikers also folded after one more season. I am not sure why these two cards have a different color scheme.
Three members of the Baltimore Blast appeared in the pack. Drago had come over from the Sting. Savage was the Defender of the Year. Brady was a rookie.
The San Diego Sockers and the St. Louis Steamers each contributed 1 player to the effort.

8 comments:

--David said...

Prior to the time of these cards, we were HUGE Pittsburgh Spirit fans! My Dad and a family friend were MISL referees and goal judges. We actually hung out with the Spirit for their annual Christmas parties. At one time, I had a soccer ball-looking hat with every team member's signature (many personalized). Too bad I lost in one of many many moves... Thanks for the memories!

kevincrumbs said...

Hey hey! Frank Klopas!

RoofGod said...

My memories of Drago come from his time with the Detroit Rockers in the now defunct NPSL indoor league. Every time he scored the stadium loudspeaker would blast the theme from Rocky IV.

Motherscratcher said...

Wow! I didn't know these existed. I would love to get my hands on some. I was a huge Clevland Force fan. Mike Sweeney, Keith Furphy, Bernie James, Chris Vaccaro, and

KAAAAIIIIIIII HAAAASKIVIIIIII

Good Times

suprfrog said...

Re: two Minnesota players with different color schemes: IIRC...goalkeepers had the green nameplate at the bottom of the card.

Anonymous said...

There were also a number of varieties in this set including errors with misspelled last names on the front of the card, names in white or black for the Sting, Letteiri in red and green, etc. I have never seen these offered or mentioned - I bought them at Strikers games.

Anonymous said...

I would say that Tino Lettieri and Frank Klopas (who both have appeared in World Cups) are bigger stars than Tatu.



Cosmo

Anonymous said...

I would like to post a scan of the Tino letteiri red version, but I dont' know how to insert the scan into the post