I remember when the Triple Cheeseburger debuted at McDonalds in 1992. This beast was a thing of beauty. I was always a fan of the two cheeseburgers but when this sweet concoction was created, I fell in love with burgers all over again. Part of why the memory sticks with me so much is that they were coming out in conjunction with the ’92 Dream Team cards and cups. You got the cards with the Triple and a few other items. The cards and the burger were “limited time” items so I jumped all over it. It didn’t last too long and I stepped up to the counter one day and it was just gone. No warning, just no more Triple. I thought about it periodically over the next several times I went but eventually, I moved on.
I didn’t think about that burger again until McDonald’s reintroduced it in 2015. Life is funny like that. Even when you really enjoy something, if you go long enough without it, you start to find other things to take its place and it eventually fades from your memory. You could never forget about the Big Mac because it’s always there. Even if you aren’t ordering it, you see it out of your peripheral and you think, yep, the Ole Big Mac. That’s sort of what happened with Saved By the Bell. Yeah, I know; I loved that show a little too much. But it’s still on in syndication at weird hours of the day so I can get my DVR to record some episodes and quench my Kapowski thirst anytime. The same can’t be said for “Hey Dude”. I loved that show too but it doesn’t show up in any current DVR searches. So SBTB will always rule because it’s nostalgia we can still enjoy.
Music is a little different because we can download just about anything from iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. But there are still groups that get lost in the shuffle because “Metallica”, “Journey”, and “Pearl Jam” are still touring somewhere. What about “Oasis”? Remember how great they were? Or the original “Everclear” group? “Counting Crows” is still touring but they aren’t releasing new music per se. Their last release was 2014 and if you go to their show, you are still going to hear “Mr. Jones“. You aren’t going to hear much “Better Than Ezra” or “Fuel” on playlists today but that doesn’t mean they didn’t kill it in the 90’s. You have to truly be from the 90’s to appreciate non mainstream 90’s music.
But here is the point. Not being relevant today doesn’t mean that you weren’t big time back then. There are plenty of things that were awesome in the 80’s and 90’s and would still be awesome today if given their proper amount of respect. McDonalds thought enough of the Triple Cheese to bring it back. Whether you know or remember the “Counting Crows” or not, you can still go see them in Hartford CT on 8/15! “USA High” is not “Saved By the Bell” and Elena Lyons is not Tiffani Amber-Theissen but it doesn’t mean she isn’t worthy of our time and admiration! Sometimes we get too hung up on the mainstream and we forget that there can be greatness hiding just behind the headlines. We just aren’t used to looking beyond the spotlight.
The same can be said for Baseball Players from my youth. We all remember Ken Griffey Jr., Bo Jackson, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Nolan Ryan. And we absolutely should because they were dominant players. Some are in the Hall of Fame, ESPN makes a “30 for 30” about some of them every year and some of are still visible around the league. But what about the rest of the 80’s/90’s baseball? We had more than 20 stars at any given time throughout the 80’s but we tend to only celebrate the elite of the elite. Some of the other players just don’t get remembered by collectors today because they aren’t in the Hall or they don’t have a statue outside of their stadium or they didn’t do anything crazy enough to warrant a tell-all book. But between the white lines, they were absolutely star players.
I have somewhat of a side project that I work on from time to time where I add some autographs of the players that have been forgotten over time. These guys may not have been forgotten in their hometowns or in the stadium they played most of their career. But by and large, these players have faded into the stat books and the modern day collector will only see them if they journey back to an 80’s set to try and collect it. Let’s take a look at a few of the players I put in this category and the autographs I have of them in my collection. I’m sure I can do more of these in the future if this is the sort of thing you enjoy. I know I enjoy it!
Gerald Perry
We’ll start with an Atlanta Brave, Gerald Perry. I will say that the other players are going to have had better careers than Perry but as a Braves fan in the 80’s, there was Dale Murphy and then there was Gerald Perry. He played on some horrible teams in Atlanta from 1983-1989 but he put together a solid stretch of seasons with his best overall coming in 1988. He hit .300 that season with 8 homers, 74 RBI and 29 stolen bases. He never had much pop but did steal some bags over the years. He had 42 in ’87. His ’88 season was good enough to have him designated the Team MVP in ’89 Donruss. He also earned his lone All-Star appearance in ’88. I still don’t have an auto on a Braves card but I have this sweet yellow ’90 Classic!
George Bell
Here is a guy with a better resume over his career and a player that is typical of the star I am referencing in this piece. George “Taco” Bell hit for a cool .278 career average, topping .300 twice in ’86 and ’87. That is a pretty solid feat for a player with his pop in the 80’s. He hit 31 and 47 home runs during those seasons and hit double digit bombs in every season from ’84 to ’93, with at least 20 in 8 of those 10 seasons. He won the AL MVP in 1987 with a .308 avg, 47 home runs and 134 RBI. He also only struck out 75 times in 660 AB’s. That is a MONSTER season! He also scored 111 runs that year. George, or Jorge, was a legit badass! I have this sweet ’87 Fleer signed by Bell.
Jesse Barfield
Bell’s teammate, Jesse Barfield, made the two the Canadian version of “The Bash Brothers during the 80’s. While Barfield didn’t quite have the average that Bell had, he clubbed his share of home runs and made the middle of that lineup deadly. While his ’87 season wasn’t bad at all, his best year came in ’86. He hit for a .289 average, 40 home runs, 108 RBI and scored 107 runs. The biggest difference at the plate between he and Bell was he struck out 146 times in the ’86 season. But he more than made up for that with his fielding and laser arm. He won 2 Gold Gloves and is widely accepted as the best arm in the majors during the 80’s. He led the league in assists from 1985-1987. Look at this laser!! My autograph for Barfield is this ’85 Topps.
Glenn Davis
Davis didn’t have as long of a career as Bell and Barfield but he played lights out in Houston from 1984-1990. Like Perry, he also earned a Donruss MVP card. From ’85 to ’90, he mashed 164 home runs! He struggled hitting for average with his best season coming in at .271 but he only had one season with more than 84 K’s, which is pretty solid for a power hitter. He finished his career with a .991 fielding percentage and was a 2x All-Star. He also finished second in the NL MVP voting in 1985 behind Mike Schmidt. With great offensive statistics, he is most likely remembered as part of one of the worst trades in MLB history when he was sent to Baltimore for Steve Finley, Pete Harnisch and Curt Schilling. That is a tough one. How about an ’86 Leaf autograph?
Tom Henke
Tom Henke is strangely a forgotten man when collectors think of dominant closers. We remember Lee Smith, Dennis Eckersley and a few others but many forget about “The Terminator”. Perhaps it is because he did most of his damage in Toronto and Blue Jays players from the 80’s tend to be overshadowed by Yankees, Red Sox and Athletics during that time. Henke was an absolute beast, finishing his career with 311 saves and an ERA of 2.67. Henke was a hulking 6’5 and could mow down hitters at an unbelievable clip but his glasses always made him a little less scary to me. Of course, I never stepped into the batters box against him either. He sits 24th on the all time saves list and is ahead of names like Goose Gossage, Bruce Sutter, and Rod Beck. This ’85 Donruss is the autograph of Henke in my collection.
Ramon Martinez
Ok, so Ramon wasn’t even the best pitcher in his family. But this is a guy that the hobby was all over in the late 80’s. He had all the tools to be a long term superstar in the league. Ramon was bigger than Pedro, at 6’4, but Pedro’s career was bigger than life so it’s really unfair to compare the two. Ramon had a great win/loss percentage with a 135-88 career mark. He won 20 games in 1990, finishing 20-6 with a 2.92 ERA, only to finish 2nd in the Cy Young voting to Doug Drabek and his 22-6 Record with a 2.76 ERA. You’ll likely see Drabek at some point if I make this a series. Martinez also had 100+ K’s in 8 consecutive seasons from 1990-1997. He threw a no-hitter in 1995 and he Struck out 18 Braves in 1990 to tie the Dodger record set by Sandy Koufax. I have this sweet 1990 Fleer signed by Martinez.
Bret Saberhagen
Saberhagen is another fire baller that crushed it during the 80’s. He topped the 20 win mark twice in his career going 20-6 with a 2.87 ERA in 1985 and 23-6 with a 2.16 ERA in 1989. He won the Cy Young award both of those seasons. He finished his career with a 167-117 Record and 3.34 ERA. His ERA got crushed from ’95 on. He was a 3x All-Star, World Series Champ and WS MVP (1985), won a Gold Glove in ’89 and pitched a no hitter in 1991. His career hit a little bump when he was traded to the Mets in 1992 but it’s the Mets so that’s not all that surprising. Overall, Saberhagen should be remembered as a dominant pitcher during a stretch where power hitters were really starting to rise. I have this nice oddball “’86 Baseballs Best” signed by Mr. Saberhagen.
Ruben Sierra
This was probably my favorite non-Braves player to collect in the late 80’s. He had some really cool cards and he too got the MVP treatment from Donruss in 1990. Sierra played 20 years in the big leagues and while he had some heroics in the Bronx later in his career, his time in Texas is what I will always remember. He played there from ’86 to ’92 and smashed 170 home runs and knocked in 756 runs. He also hit over .300 in 1989 and 1991. His best complete season was most likely 1989 when he hit .306, mashed 29 home runs, collected 119 RBI and scored 101 runs. He also had 14 triples that year. He finished 2nd in the MVP voting that season. Sierra is one player that doesn’t get the respect in the hobby that he should. I respect him enough that I added this ’91 Fleer autograph to my collection!
Tim Wallach
Nothing I say here will give him the same amount of respect that’s given to him by @29Collector, the super collector of Tim Wallach, but I’ll do my best! Wallach played 17 seasons and was a 5x All-Star, 3x Gold Glove and 2x Silver Slugger winner. From 1980-1992, he played for the Montreal Expos and was one of the biggest stars on the team. His best season came in 1987 when he hit .298 with 26 home runs and had 123 RBI. He had 10 consecutive double digit home run seasons from 1982-1991 and finished as high as 4th in MVP voting during that stretch. Wallach finished his career with 2,085 hits, 260 home runs and 1,125 RBI. He had a very nice career and was fun to collect. I have this 1984 Topps Autograph in my collection.
Lou Whitaker
Lou was the middle infield teammate of Alan Trammell for many years, playing his entire 19 year career in Detroit. Trammell was recently elected into the Hall of Fame so maybe “Sweet Lou” will get more consideration now. Whitaker played 2B and finished his career with a .276 average, 244 home runs, 2,369 hits, 1,084 RBI and 143 stolen bases. He played at least 109 games (1981 shortened season) from 1978 to 1993. He won ROY in 1978, went to 5 straight All-Star games from 1983-1987 and won 3 consecutive Gold Gloves from 1983-1985. He won Silver Slugger in ’83, ’84, ’85 and ’87 as well. He is in the Top 10 of 17 career categories for the Tigers. Sweet Lou is well known by collectors my age but is overshadowed by Ryne Sandberg, Cal Ripken, Ozzie Smith, Barry Larkin, Rod Carew, Joe Morgan and Trammell in collecting circles. Sweet Lou deserves more love and I love this Autographed ’86 Fleer.
What are your thoughts on this list of players? I’m convinced that these will be some of the guys we look to 50 years from now when we are naming top players from the 80’s. Young collectors may not know these names all that well but when we start looking at the 80’s as somewhat of a vintage era, these players will deserve to be in the discussion. I think these guys deserve to be in any collections that include top players from their generations. Sometimes you have to look a little past the glitz and glam of the “Hall of Fame label” to find some great collectible players. Sometimes we overlook greatness because of the elite around them. You have to admit, while we all loved Phoebe Cates in “Fast Times”, Jennifer Jason Leigh was pretty hot too!
J-Dub
In 1985, I was 8 years old and in the 3rd grade. We played outside from dusk til dawn, our parents never worried about it and we weren’t really getting exposed to all of the garbage I have to worry about with my kids today. I did stay up late one night and sneak in the last 15 minutes of Friday the 13th as a kid and saw a little more than what I was allowed to see but that was about it. I remember getting scared when I saw David Banner transform into the Hulk and I thought it was one of the scariest things I’d ever seen. My kids laugh at those 80’s special effects today.
Bailey (11) and I watched “Silver Bullet” a few weeks ago (released in ’85) and at the end, she said, “I thought this was going to be scary.” I remember seeing that movie for the first time and being terrified! I guess I’ll show her “Maximum Overdrive” and “Night of the Living Dead” next and see what she thinks about those. In fairness, when I take into account that “The Walking Dead” is one of the most popular television shows in history and it is uber gory, it makes sense. She doesn’t watch that show because I don’t think she is quite old enough but it is far more disturbing than anything mainstream that came out during the 80’s.
That’s part of why I remember my time as a kid fondly. Who knows, maybe my kids will look back on there childhood the same way. But when I look back at being a kid, I realize that I didn’t have a whole lot to worry about. I’m not saying it was a utopian society by any means but there really isn’t much of a comparison to what the kids of today have to face. I grew up watching Transformers and He-Man fight for mankind. My kids have YouTube and all the craziness that lives there! You can upload almost anything there these days. There is a Peppa Pig video floating around where the pig goes on a murderous rampage. Yeah, I love horror movies but I don’t want to mix them with my kid’s cartoons.
In the 80’s, about the worst thing we could see on TV as kids was going to be a “Saved by the Bell” episode about taking pills to stay awake and study. Do you remember when Jesse was “So excited! So excited! So excited!”? I will admit though that I watched “Tom and Jerry” a couple of weeks ago and it was pretty brutal by today’s standards. Jerry chased Tom around with a meat cleaver and hammer, which felt out of place in our modern society. I don’t know if Disney would get away with that one today but I’m sure Nickelodeon would slip it in to their rotation. Who knows; maybe all of it is relative to what you are used to?
Whatever the case, pop culture was at a peak in 1985 if you ask my opinion, and if you click on the blog link, you did. Television was rocking shows like; “Mr. Belvadere”, “Growing Pains”, “Cheers”, “The Cosby Show”, “Night Court”, “Family Ties”, “Different Strokes” and “The Facts of Life.” How many catch phrases, character ideas and plot stories do we still get from these masterpieces? The sitcoms of today seem tired and boring compared to these. Maybe that is why we see such a difference in what is on TV vs. today as I mentioned with “The Walking Dead” above. Once it has already been done, you have to go a little further and create something new. Maybe that is why society as a whole has pushed so far beyond the boundaries we once had. I don’t know, it’s just a thought.
Movies were pretty classic in 1985 as well; and it only cost $2.75 to go see them in the theater! I wrote about my favorite 
I will never “move on” from opining about the 80’s and 90’s. The cold hard truth is that I miss everything that made those years fun; VHS tapes, cassettes, posters on the wall, Corey Haim films, drooling over Kelly Kapowski, watching MTV to see the latest video from my favorite band, tuning in to ESPN to see gosh darn sports highlights and not poker tournaments, playing Nintendo when there were only 2 buttons you had to master in order to win a football game. I miss eating whatever I wanted to without having to worry about cholesterol or calorie counts. I remember when bread was a part of the food pyramid and it always contained gluten!
Yes, things were simpler back then but what is wrong with that? What is wrong with sitting down and watching a movie about vehicles coming to life and terrorizing people and it not feeling hokey? What is wrong with believing that blood coming from Ric Flair’s head is real because Dusty Rhodes hit him with a tire iron? When our headphone batteries went dead, we had no choice but to go outside. We couldn’t text or FaceTime every minute of the day so we had to form personalities and then learn how to cope with people who did or didn’t like us because of that personality. WHY HASN’T ANYONE INVENTED THAT TIME MACHINE YET DR. BROWN???
Of course, there is something else I miss about the 80’s; simple but awesome sports cards. By 1989, we had about 6 options to choose from if you included Sportsflics and the companies put everything they had into that annual set they released. You could even buy a collectors kit from the Sears Catalog and 80’s cards were considered “hard-to-find”. While the current year cards weren’t hard to find because they were in every convenience store in America, I do remember the previous year’s sets being difficult. That is why ’87 Topps was so hot in 1989! We spent the whole year trying to collect the entire set through packs and now, you have about a week before the next product releases.
I know there is a good and bad side to those days but the bad only came later when we realized how much we were missing. If I ever find a way to go back to the 80’s, I am staying there so the Junk Wax Era will never really be the Junk Wax Era anyway. That Mark McGwire RC will always be valuable and Donruss will always have logos. As you can see, I really don’t ask for much. Just take me back to a time when video games were 16 bits, TV shows had to be recorded with VCR’s and baseball cards were made to be collected. Is that really too much?
I feel like I’ve gotten heated for some reason. Let me pull back the reigns and focus on something from that will relax me. Here is a prime example of an excellent baseball card set from the 80’s. The 1985 Topps set is a beauty and is loaded with superstars and some heavy hitting rookies. The packs still had gum, the cards still had borders and information on the back, and the big hits were simply the best players. This set was right before they started getting a little crazier with the designs as ’86 and ’87 would attest. This was a true baseball card, all the way around.
They certainly don’t make packs like they used to!
What better card to show off the design than this sweet Gary Pettis? The backs of the 85 Topps has a real holiday feel with the green and red.
The catchers are always a little slim in these rips but here are 3 good ones. Always love Tony Pena in his Pirates uni!
The infielders are a little more stacked with Chicken Man, Ryno, The Wizard and Donnie Baseball. I was a fan of Sweet Lou during the 80’s as well thanks to RBI Baseball.
The outfield was loaded with studs. The first thing I notice about this selection is the uniforms. Rock has the sweet Expos, Hendu has the old school Mariners and Willie McGee had the baby blue St. Louis jersey. Teams should still be wearing these jerseys! I’d also like to know how Jorge Bell became George Bell.
This was before Dennis was Oil Can and before Tommy John was a surgery. The Brewers had 2 Hall of Famers in their rotation and Eck and Dave Stewart were about to embark on a World Series run together in Oakland. Good times!
There were some sweet manager cards in 85 Topps. Bobby Cox would soon be an Atlanta Brave but not before Chuck Tanner took his shot. Pete Rose was one of the last player/managers and we all know how that worked out. LaRussa was about to join Eck and Stewart in Oakland.
The Record Breakers included Juan Samuel with the most steals by a rookie. He wound up winning ROY in 1984. While he had a serviceable career with 3 All-Star appearances, he never caught fire in the hobby.
Here are some of the All-Stars from 1984. Again, some of the uniforms jump right off the page. That Padres uniform is one from the 80’s I could probably do without but please bring back the Expos, Cards and Astros uniforms.
There were a lot of Father/Son inserts in 1985. Another couple of Boone’s were on their way into the league too. There were also a couple of future Fathers of major leaguers in this set; Ken Griffey Sr. and Jose Cruz.
This is the only Darryl Strawberry I pulled but it’s pretty sweet. I also love the Dunston but it has pretty severe gum damage. Look at that beautiful jersey on Floyd Bannister!
The rookie class was pitcher heavy with Rocket, Doc, Saberhagen, Key and Gubicza. All of these guys had nice careers and a few of them had great careers. The Eric Davis is one of my favorite RC’s from this year. Alvin Davis is one of the more underrated superstars from the 80’s.
Here are some of the players from the U.S. National Team. I missed out on Will Clark.
But I didn’t miss out on the stud of the set! This card was three bills when I was in high school and one of the most sought after 80’s cards in the entire hobby. I only pulled 1 but it is the first one I’ve ever pulled from a pack. This made the box well worth it!
This Score is a product of nostalgia and pulling a Mark McGwire Team USA card. If I hadn’t pulled it, I’m afraid I would’ve landed on a 3. This is not the best design Topps had in the 80’s but it was not the worst either. The box is a little pricey if you don’t wind up pulling some of the studs. Even with McGwire, I missed out on Puckett and Strawberry. But this set has a strong rookie class and there are several stars who were still very early in their careers here. I kinda like the green and red backs and definitely enjoyed the #1 Pick inserts. You can run the risk of pulling some gum damaged stars because they didn’t discriminate on the cards they put in the back of the pack. But overall, this is a classic set from the 80’s and has good value for retro collectors.
The closure of Toys R Us has sort of affected me in a way I can’t explain. I’m not depressed or anything but riding by that empty store is just a very weird feeling. Their slogan was, “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid!” What are we supposed to do now that they are closed? Does that mean we have to grow up? I still went in the store quite a bit because I have kids of my own and there was a feeling that you just couldn’t get at other stores, at least locally. Other stores have toy sections but let’s be real; nothing compared to Toys R US, or even Kay-Bee for that matter, which is also gone now.
While I understand that the closure of this store was part of natural selection as we all continue our move to an online world, it is hard to lose something that was a big part of your past and not feel some sort of way. Another quote that hits a nostalgic person right in the feels is attributed to Buddha, who said, “You can only lose what you cling to.” That’s what “we” do. We cling to the tiny fabrics that make up the tapestry of our lives and each one means something to us. If you start pulling threads out of the overall work, things have a tendency to start to fray.
Sam Goody
Big “B” Drugs
Piggy Wiggly
Arcades
Video Stores
Upper Deck
The packs were pretty sweet – tamper proof foil like the years before but blue this season with pinstripes.
A staple of Upper Deck was the hologram stickers. These were full size team logos.
Here is the design of 1991 Upper Deck. As you will recall, 1989 had the base line on the right side of the card. 1990 had the base line across the top. This year had the base line running down the left side of the card. Upper Deck always had some unique photos too, like this Bert Blyleven.
There was only one notable catcher but it was one of my favorite ’91 Upper Deck cards when I was a kid. This Sandy Alomar Jr. was so colorful and I loved the photo.
The infield was stacked with young players and grizzled veterans. There were 2 future Bravos here with Fred McGriff and Andres Galarraga. Big Cat is rocking the Expos uni, which is always great. Paul Molitor was such an underrated player. By this point in his career (13 seasons), he had a career .299 average, was averaging double digit home runs and had multiple 40+ stolen base seasons. You can throw Alvin Davis in that underrated category as well.
The outfield is pretty loaded up too. Deion Sanders and Dave Justice were key cogs in the Braves outfield and lineup during the great run of the 90’s. And because this was the high series box, I landed a Bo Jackson in both Kansas City and Chicago. While I didn’t pull a Ken Griffey Jr., he did appear on this card of Ken Sr. And I will always see Kirby in that Twins uni but will never get used to seeing Strawberry in Dodger Blue.
The pitchers were pretty legendary in this set. Randy Johnson was getting started on a Hall of Fame career while Nolan Ryan was wrapping his up. This card of Nolan features a pretty iconic image of the Express. Maddux would soon discover that chicks dig the long ball so this bunt might have been one of his last. And the Braves got their fill of Scott Erickson, Jack Morris and Doug Drabek in the playoffs that year.
These cards are very memorable from the early 90’s junk wax era. Everyone remembers the Rickey Henderson and Lou Brock card, along with the 1917 White Sox throwback.
I only pulled two of the artist checklist. One was a sweet Chris Sabo while the other was a ho-hum Roberto Kelly.
These are some of the rookies and prospects that stood out in 1991. I didn’t pull a Chipper but I did snag a Mo Vaughn and Eric Karros. Steve Decker was a huge prospect for the Giants in ’91 but he didn’t pan out.
I didn’t pull an Aaron autograph but I did load up on the Baseball Heroes cards. Those 70’s Milwaukee uniforms were hot!
These cards deserve their own segment and comment. The first was the Hank Aaron hologram. I searched for this card like a 1/1 Trout back in 1991. This is a sweet insert!
I was a huge fan of Jose Canseco in 1991 so I was blown away by this card of his twin brother, Ozzie. At the time, I had no idea that Ozzie was playing so I thought it was an amazing card.
Though I didn’t pull the Chipper RC, I did pull what was considered THE ROOKIE CARD of the set in 1991. This Todd Van Poppel was on the cover of Beckett and highly sought after in the hobby. I actually think this card is better than any I have pulled so far in 2018 Topps Inception.
This was one of those “retirement cards” from the junk wax era. This was as hot as Gregg Jefferies’ 1989 Future Stars for a while. This would have been a huge box in 1991.
The first of two Hall of Fame RC’s is this Jeff Bagwell. Bags was a hot rookie and he turned out to have a stellar career. I pulled 5 of these in the box!
The other Hall of Fame RC I pulled was this awesome Frank Thomas. Though he and Bagwell both had cards in 1990, this was their first Upper Deck cards. This is a very special card for me and one that I will slide right into my current PC.
1991 Upper Deck is a classic set from the junk wax era and had some great individual cards that are memorable. The Ozzie Canseco, Todd Van Poppel and Kevin Maas cards were so hot when this set came out. Some other players turned out to be the long term guys like Chipper, Bagwell and Big Frank but this set really covered the spectrum of hot rookies and solid veterans. The design was typical Upper Deck and the only change from year to year was the base line on the card. Boxes can be found relatively cheap now with this one costing me $12.95 and regardless of the odds, there is a chance to pull a Hank Aaron autograph if you are extremely lucky. I really like this set better than 1990 but not as good as 1989. I’d give it an overall “4” on the Dub-O-Meter and would lean closer to a “5” than a “3” on the scale. What do you think about 1991 Upper Deck?
I remember writing scary stories as a kid (5th, 6th, 7th grade maybe) and I based them loosely on characters like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. I wasn’t very original but my mind was pretty active and I could come up with some stories that could fill three or four pages of notebook paper. My horror career obviously never took off and I really never even let a lot of people read it. It was then that I tried to do some illustration with my story-telling and realized that I wouldn’t be wowing anybody with those skills. I am 40 now and just to give you an idea, I tried to draw Jason just tonight and this is what it looked like. I stared at a photo and drew this and you might think my kids drew it if I hadn’t told you. The only thing I was ever able to accomplish was the 80’s “S” and it was the first initial of my last name so I thought I was pretty cool.
My brother, Chase, could draw a lot better than me. He drew the storefront of an auto parts place one time and I still have it hanging on the inside of my armoire. Yes, I am still using a piece of furniture that I had when I was 15. It is now where I store a lot of my baseball card paraphernalia. I have some old boxes of junk wax in there, along with autographs, patches and 8X10’s that I don’t have in the storage boxes in the closet. But every time I open that armoire, I see that drawing fastened to the back of the door with electrical tape. I don’t know why I still have it but I do. He’s gone on to be a lot more artistic than me in adulthood and his job is essentially based on precision and design, so his skills carried over.
Now my cousin, Michael, is in a real band. He plays the guitar and does things that I can only dream of being able to do. They are called Chasing Victory and they formed in 2001. He and his group of high school friends formed the band and just started playing locally. After 3 years of hard work, they would eventually release three albums that are available on iTunes today. Those albums are “A Not So Tragic Cover Up” (2004), “I Call This Abandonment” (2005) and their most accomplished album (according to me), “Fiends” (2007). They also toured during those years and played almost 300 shows per year throughout the US and Canada. They appeared with Underoath, Acceptance, August Burns Red, Emery, May Day Parade and many others. They were featured on several collaboration albums over the years as well.
Around 2007, the bandmates started getting married and planning families and decided to break up. They were pretty well established at that point on the “Screamo” scene and it was a sad thought that they were done. Of course, they were just growing up and the next stage of life was calling but they had legitimate talent and were very popular with their peers and fans. Fortunately, they would remain friends over the years and they never let the talent die because they have continued to do various musical projects over the years. While not quite like the worldwide albums and nationwide tours from the mid 2000’s, they never really lost their fan base. To prove that, they were named by AP Magazine as one of the “Top 10 Bands We Wish Never Broke Up” and “Most Influential Band” last year by the lead singer of Bring Me The Horizon, Oli Sykes.
Now, in 2018, they are about to step out into the public spotlight again. They have been working on an album for the last year and I have had the privilege of hearing some occasional sampling and raw recordings ahead of the album being released on February 9, 2018. The album is called “Friends, Vol 1” and is an alliteration of the last album title in 2007, “Fiends”. The album title is powerful because, according to Michael, “No matter what, we have always remained the best of friends; even through the lowest of the lows that you experience while touring, and also the highs. We named it Friends because of the profound impact we have had on each other’s lives.” Even after a 10 year layoff, they sound like they haven’t missed a beat. They recently released the album’s second single, “Kenosis”, and you can check it out 
So I’ve tried art, music and now writing but I’m still not an “artist” per se. I do love the arts though and have always wanted to be good at all of those things. My wife has been taking some art classes lately and she is really good. At least someone in my house can do something artistic! As usual, at this point you may be asking how this is going to tie in to sports cards but you should know by now that I always bring it back full circle. While I was trying to learn to draw as a kid, there was somebody else out there that was doing it a lot better than me. I have expressed my love for sketch cards many times here and 1991 Pro-Vision is probably my favorite single insert of all time. But as for a set, I don’t think 1991 Score will ever be topped as it relates to inserts and sketch cards; at least for me. While I loved ’91 Pro-Vision, I really didn’t like the base set so finding those inserts came with a price. I definitely enjoyed the base design of ’91 Score more than Fleer so the sketch cards were a bonus.
A box of 1991 Score weighs about a ton. There are 36 packs with 16 player cards and 1 magic motion card per box. The packs are the sweet old school baggies that Score made famous in the late 80’s. The box was split into 2 series’ much like some other sets in 1991. I have a box of Series 1 thanks to my good friend Steve (@
The fronts of the cards came in 4 colorful designs; Blue, Aqua, White and Black. We’ll cover the fronts in a minute. As for the backs, they were a bit busy. The cards covered every year of a player’s career so players like Nolan Ryan and Joe Carter had tiny stat lines. Where they could, they would fit some written information about the player.
Here are the notable catchers from Series 1. One of the catchers had the unusual designation of C-CF. He would later become a Hall of Fame Second Baseman as well! How many catchers would you guess had the capability to play CF? I always liked the Carlton Fisk card as well because he was in the throwback White Sox uniform and the card had the black design.
The infielders include some of the best players in Junk Wax history! Every one of these players were studs in their own way. The odd man in this section is Dave Justice. While he did play 1B as a minor leaguer and some as a rookie, he played over 100 games in RF this particular season but still didn’t earn that designation on his card.
Speaking of outfielders, look at this collection! The Sosa was another favorite of mine (again in the throwback). Damn I miss the late 80’s and early 90’s!
Every collector likely remembers Pedro Martinez. My buddy Shane (@
There were a ton of prospect cards in Series 1. There were some recognizable names like Karl Rhodes, Mickey Morandini and Brian McRae. But the stud in 1991 was Phil Plantier! He was hovering near Judge-Mania territory!
The best rookie in the entire set is in Series 2; Chipper Jones. But there are some names that were highly collectible in ’91. Carl Everett, Rondell White and Alex Fernandez were hot names but the player who had the best career was Mike “Moose” Mussina.
Now we find ourselves in the best part of the checklist; the inserts!! The first cards found were the “Highlight” cards. I REALLY loved the blue dazzle lights in the background. This Bo Jackson was a centerpiece in my binder for a while.
Next up is the “Master Blaster”. These are very 90’s! The Master Blaster series covered big time hitters and used red strobes in the background.
The “Rifleman” was the next group. These were players with cannon’s for arms. Obviously, these used green strobes in the background and another Bo is always a welcome addition.
“K-Man” covered the pitchers who were dominant on the mound in 1990. Here we have that Ramon Martinez guy again. I pulled Bobby Witt but would have liked to have had the other Rangers K-Man.
Finally, the cards we have all been waiting for; All-Star’s! These were sweet artist sketch cards with “big head” designs. While not the same type of feel as the Pro-Vision cards, these were very high on my list of wants in 1991. My favorite was always the Ken Griffey Jr.
Last but not least, we have the “Dream Team” insert. This was another favorite of mine in the early 90’s. I only pulled one from this box but it was a great one; Jose Canseco. These were really classy and each card had a unique shot of the super star.
This set remains one of my favorite overall sets for a few reasons. First, the colorful designs in the base set looked really good and were more appealing than those tried in 1988. Next, every insert card in the set was unique and collectible to me. I liked some better than others but I liked them all. Finally, the All-Star cards are second only to Pro-Vision during that time on my rankings of sketch cards. I liked these better than ’90 and ’91 Diamond Kings to be honest. The box was $10 and the only drawback is that the rookie class was not as stellar as some of the other years. But that small blemish will not deter me from giving this set a “5” on the Dub-O-Meter. I really like ’91 Score and would love for the current Score sets to include some of these cool inserts. I was saddened when Chasing Victory called it quits but they are making a comeback 10 years later. What say you Score??
I made my money mowing lawns of a local insurance company and church in Camilla. I ALWAYS had my headphones on! The music in 1992 was about as good as I remember. That was the year that Pearl Jam’s “Ten” was at the height of popularity and I was blown away by “Black”, “Jeremy”, “Even Flow” and “Alive”. While Pearl Jam was #1 on the tuner, there were some others that were pretty hot back in the day. I enjoyed Toad the Wet Sprocket, Nirvana, Cypress Hill, Boyz II Men, The Cure and House of Pain. I wore out the House of Pain CD with “Jump Around” and it finally became useless due to scratches and damage.
Reservoir Dogs – I learned that it is actually possible to form the perfect cast for a movie. I have been a Steve Buscemi fan since that movie. But I also have always enjoyed Michael Madsen, Tarantino and Harvey Keitel. This was such a great film!
Basic Instinct – I learned that rewinding and pausing a movie on the same scene over and over will eventually do enough damage that tracking can’t even fix the picture. Oh, Sharon Stone, you minx!
Unforgiven – This remains my favorite western of all time. I learned that you just don’t mess with Clint Eastwood, even if your name is Gene Hackman. Hackman may have been the boss in “Hoosier’s” but Eastwood was the shooter in this film! Is that play on words lousy or what?
A Few Good Men – This is where we learned that despite Tom Cruise’s ability to fly a plane inverted and take out Jester below the hard deck, he wasn’t quite prepared to handle the truth from Jack Nicholson.
League of Their Own – Perhaps the greatest lesson for a young sports fan; “There’s no crying in baseball!”
Wayne’s World – I learned that if a woman became President, someone would undoubtedly call her Baberham Lincoln. Also, Led Zeppelin didn’t write tunes that people liked; they left that to the BeeGees.
My Cousin Vinny – This one taught me quite a bit about “good ole boy” politics but I can’t seem to ever get past Marisa Tomei.
Mighty Ducks – I’m telling you, the Flying V would never work in real life! I learned about true fiction in this film.
Dead Alive – What is there to say about this one other than I learned that there was a movie out there that could even make ME sick to my stomach.
White Men Can’t Jump – Finally, I already knew this one so didn’t really learn anything new. I had been playing basketball for several years and you would have had trouble sliding a piece of notebook paper between my foot and floor when I jumped.
But in 1992, they did a complete 180! They released high quality card stock with glossy photos and a border design that was much easier on the eyes. They brought back Pro-Vision and also introduced a new All-Star insert set that was reminiscent of other premium brands of the early 90’s. Finally, the checklist was really, really good and is very reflective of a wonderful time in baseball. They moved away from the wax packs and went to more of a cello type wrapper but it was pretty thick and easy to tell if tampered with. I found this box at my LCS for $8.95. The box has 36 packs with 16 cards each.
This year had a pretty good mix of young and old catchers. One of these guys wouldn’t be a catcher for long and one of these guys was a catcher for 100 years.
One of the deepest power positions in the set, First Base featured some true sluggers. Three of these hitters topped 500 home runs and one fell just three short.
The middle infielders didn’t have as much pop but they certainly got on base a ton! And I don’t know that you’ll find a slicker fielding trio than Larkin, Vizquel and Ozzie.
The hot corner was pretty hot in ’92 as well. You had a little bit of everything here with Caminiti’s arm, Williams’ bat and Sheffield’s all around skill.
I could barely fit all the outfielders in one picture. These are 20 legitimate stars from the early 90’s! Sosa, Belle and Justice represented the young guys while Murphy, Strawberry, Henderson and Hawk provided veteran leadership.
There were quite a few Hall of Fame pitchers in 1992. The following year, Maddux would join Glavine and Smoltz to form one of the deadliest rotations in MLB history.
You can bet your bottom dollar that these guys are going to make an appearance in the “Dated Rookie” Project!
Historically, Fleer has been known to swing and miss on the prospects in their sets. They do hit on one or two each year and I suppose Kenny Lofton would be that ONE in 1992.
How about some “Super Stars”? Who are Boggs and Baines looking at?
Another insert set was the “Record Setters”. Joe Carter got a three-photo card for his 100 RBI seasons.
“League Leaders” was a staple in Fleer over the years. Most of the time the insert set featured both AL and NL players on the same card but this year was a bit different.
Here is the nice glossy All-Star insert along with the Roger Clemens Career Highlights Card. These were very nice looking Cards and had a ’92 Fleer Ultra feel.
Here is what I came for! I pulled the 5 best Pro-Vision Cards as far as I’m concerned. The one thing about ’91 that is superior to ’92 is the black border but damn I love these Pro-Vision cards!
Bernie Williams was one of the three big rookies I pulled from this box. Bernie is a fan favorite in the Bronx and a welcome addition to my collection.
The next big rookie I pulled was one of the newest members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, Jim Thome. He was a very classy ball player and one of the best power hitters of the 90’s that didn’t get linked to steroids. Thome was a beast!
The last big rookie I pulled was Pudge Rodriguez, another recent inductee into the Hall. Pudge was one of the best catchers I’ve ever seen play and was a stud on the field and in the Hobby.
This particular set break is the exact reason I do what I do with junk wax sets. I really had forgotten just how good 1992 Fleer was. The cards are in better condition than most boxes I open from the era, the checklist is loaded, the inserts are very retro and you simply can’t beat Pro-Vision Cards. It’s easy for some to label ’92 Fleer as one of those sets that was smack dab in the middle of the Junk era but the set really stands out when you take the time to look at the design and players found in the packs. In a complete rebound from 1991, I’m giving ’92 Fleer a “5” on the Dub-O-Meter. I can’t find a real problem with this set. It truly holds up 25 years later and deserves to be remembered in a much better light than we currently hold it. Give ’92 Fleer a shot and I know you’ll feel the same!
There are a lot of things we see and think could be amazing but simply turn out to be entries into our “crash and burn” memoirs. Anybody remember the NES Power Glove? Yeah, Kelly Kapowski couldn’t even save this abysmal product. This was supposed to change gaming forever but all it did was make me long for the days of the Power Pad. It was virtually impossible to play a video game with the controller on one of your arms. But it had so much promise! I wanted it to work out so badly that I gave it more chances to fail than I normally would have any other toy or game at the time. It was just brutal.
Let’s talk about Caddyshack II for a minute. Was there a better opportunity for a great sequel in the comedy genre in the 80’s? I can do a whole separate post about terrible sequels but the original Caddyshack remains one of the funniest movies in the history of cinema and deserved a better follow up. I just KNEW it was going to be awesome and marked it down as a sure thing. But when you replace Rodney Dangerfield with Jackie Mason and remove Bill Murray from a movie cast, you just can’t expect it to be as good as the first. My heart hurts a little when I happen to catch CS II on the tube nowadays. How could something that was destined to be so right turn out so wrong?
Then you have some things that start out blazing and even have a reasonable enough run that you get sucked in more than usual. Notwithstanding the 2017 UGA Bulldogs (which I still love) in that particular scenario, think about Guns N Roses. They put out pure gold when they released Appetite for Destruction in 1987. They gave us such gems as “Paradise City”, “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child Of Mine” but by 1990, they were kicking guys out of the band, showing up late for gigs or just not showing up altogether. What could have been a magical run as one of the best rock bands ever was derailed by narcissism, greed and hard drugs; or more simply put, the 80’s!
So where am I going with this? You know it always ties into my sports card addiction and this is no exception. I’ve started a new personal project that is related to this premise of Optimism Bias. I started collecting in the late 80’s and there were players that we all had to have and pulling them from folded up wax wrappers was the first step of retirement planning at 10. During that time, the illustrious Junk Wax Era as it’s so lovingly referred to, we firmly believed that these 3×5 pieces of cardboard were going to make us rich. We coveted certain cards like some would bitcoins today. All we needed were toploaders and time and we would be set for life.
Well, like many of the above examples, that didn’t really work out as planned either. A big reason is because the card market was more saturated than any early teen could understand or even be aware of. We didn’t know that there were 10 billion Ken Griffey Jr ’89 Donruss Rated Rookies floating around. What we did know was that Beckett Monthly was our version of Jim Cramer’s “Mad Money” and if it was on the hot list, we were investing! Another reason the financial planning hit a Cecil Fielder sized bump in the road was that most of the players didn’t pan out. That’s the reason I’m more focused on with this project.
With the help of my Twitter buddy Nick (@
Jim Abbott was a pitcher for 10 years in the majors despite the fact that was missing his right hand. He actually pitched a no hitter in 1993 and had a reasonable career but his rookie Cards never took off like I thought they would. He finished his career with an 87-108 career record, a 4.25 ERA and less than 1,000 K’s so he wasn’t a statistical monster by any stretch. But I always admired Abbott and stocked up on all of his rookies.
Sandy Alomar Jr was not exactly a bust but he wasn’t even the best Alomar in baseball at the time. He played a robust 20 year career and hit for a .273 average but with only 112 home runs. He won both AL ROY and a Gold Glove in 1990 so his cards were hot but his card values always fell a little short. I still have Alomar as a top 3 catcher from my collecting youth but he’s not making many lists in 2018 with collectors.
Eric Anthony is one of the players that I went after hard! I had a ton of these Score rookies as well as the 90 Donruss Rated Rookies. Even though Anthony played 9 seasons, he did not have a career that will ever equate to Hobby Love. He hit for a career .231 average, never hit 20 home runs, never had double digit steals and never topped 80 RBI in a season. All of my wishful thinking was for naught. He was a home run crusher in the minors with 31 in 1989 and his first MLB Hit was a 414 foot bomb in the Astrodome. But he never put it all together.
Every collector worth his salt knows the name Gregg Jefferies. As this project grows, I will make it a point to find a 1989 Topps Future Star Autograph. That was the first card that was going to make me rich. Ken Griffey Jr wasn’t quite there yet and Jefferies was as sure a bet as ever. After being drafted in 1985, he won Minor League POY in both ’86 and ’87 before being called up in late August 1988. He hit .328 for the remainder of 1988, which led to the Mets trading their starting 2B, Wally Backman, to the Twins to make room for the young star. He responded by hitting .258 in 1989 and the rest is history. He had a career that was probably better than most on this list with a career .289 avg, 196 steals and 2 All-Star appearances. But his career was supposed to be better than all the guys on this list. It was just supposed to be a lot better than it actually was.
This is the guy that makes me unable to trust Aaron Judge. While Judge put up mammoth numbers that make Maas look like Rafael Belliard, Kevin had his own amazing rookie season in 1990. He set a record for reaching 10 home runs in the fewest at bats (72) and ultimately hit 21 home runs in only 79 games as a rookie. For you mathematicians out there, that is a home run every 3+ games which, when extrapolated over a full season, would be about 45. He played 148 games the next year and hit 23 home runs but his 5 year career would close with a .230 average and only 65 home runs. It sure was fun collecting him in 1990 though!
Big Ben McDonald was one of the hot young arms in Baltimore with Curt Schilling and Gregg Olson. He won a Gold Medal as a member of the 1988 Olympic Team in Seoul, Korea and is an inductee in the College Baseball Hall of Fame. But his major league career did not meet the expectations of a young Dub who was hoarding his 1990 Fleer rookie cards. I expected more than his 78-70 record but he just didn’t get it done.
Another Yankee makes the early list with Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens. You may be too young to even remember Bam Bam from the Flintstones but he carried a wooden club around and smashed things with it. Thus, Meulens was nicknamed Bam Bam because of his propensity to smash things. In 1990, Kevin Maas was at 1B and Bam Bam was at 3rd and I had yet to fully develop my hatred for the Evil Empire. In 1987, he hit .300 with 28 home runs and 103 RBI at Single A so he was a hot commodity when his cards started getting produced a couple years later. Not only did he never hit .300 or 28 home runs or 103 RBI in a major league season, his career totals never reached those numbers either. He mustered a .220 avg, 15 home runs and 53 RBI over 4 years with the Yankees.
I’m going to add Planier in a Red Sox jersey at some point but this one is a start. I do like Plantier’s autograph as it puts many players today to shame. Plantier finished 8th in ROY voting in 1991 despite only playing 53 games. But in 148 at bats, he hit 11 bombs while maintaining a .331 average. After a disappointing follow up in 1992, he was sent to the Padres. He had a very nice season in 1993 hitting 34 bombs and collecting 100 RBI but that was as good as it ever got by a long shot. He would only have one other double digit home run season and wouldn’t hit more than 41 RBI again either. After a promising start, he finished his career with an average of .243 and 91 home runs.
Here is the pitcher that helped provide Braves fans the wonderful career of Chipper Jones. He was drafted 14th overall in 1990 and the Braves were so bad, Van Poppel said he would not sign with them if they chose him. They didn’t choose him and instead drafted Chipper Jones. They would then go on and win 14 straight division titles. What did Van Poppel do? He put together a career shorter than the Braves run (11 seasons) and finished with a career 40-52 record along with a 5.58 ERA. I was in on him as a rookie and his 90 Upper Deck is a classic but I’m grateful he didn’t like my Braves that year.
Greg Vaughn was a home run blaster for the Brewers and a mainstay in my binder in the early 90’s. He really had a serviceable career but he was the #4 overall pick in 1986 and had high expectations placed in him. He was a 4x All-Star, hit 355 home runs and even won a Silver Slugger award in 1998. He also hit 50 home runs in 1998 but was overshadowed by a couple guys named McGwire and Sosa. He never hit for an average, finishing with a career number of .242 but he also clubbed over 1,000 RBI. He was a very solid home run hitter in the 90’s but is mostly a forgotten man in the Hobby today.
Ole Jerome Walton was quite the tease. The Cubs were on my TV every day thanks to WGN and Walton was somebody I got to see often. He won the ROY in 1989 by hitting .293 and stealing 24 bases in only 116 games. He even had a 30 game hitting streak that season. Together with Dwight Smith, a future addition to Dated Rookies, the youth movement in Chicago, along with veterans André Dawson, Ryne Sandberg, Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace was supposed to translate into big things and they did win the NL East in 1989. But like Walton’s career, they dropped off in 1990. Walton would settle into a career backup role and only muster 25 home runs and 58 stolen bases while hitting .269.
The last player on the list for this first installment is Todd Zeile. Zeile’s career finished better than most on this list but didn’t match the hype that came with his rookie cards. He played 16 seasons and hit for a .265 average to go along with 253 home runs and 1,110 RBI. He topped 30 home runs and 100 RBI just once in that 16 year career and never touched .300. He had a good but not great career but I had a ton of his rookie cards and was hoping that they would one day give me a shot at early retirement. It was not to be and his career highlight for me will always be his appearance on Seinfeld.
Rock carries a pretty wide definition and I like just about all of it. The thing about rock music is that it usually has some deep meaning to the band and listener and takes a little bit more thought to write. That’s just my opinion so don’t lose your mind over it. The musician’s are generally creating their own music in most cases as well instead of a computer generating the tune or beat. The music is mostly original with very little sampling from other songs. It’s original and unique to me and that’s why I’ve always been drawn to it. I will not quibble over the fact that I am a rock snob.
There are some instances where I prefer a heavy riff and some screaming. That’s usually when I’m about to play a basketball or softball game or otherwise need some sort of adrenaline boost. That is another thing about rock music for me; it’s visceral. A song can put me in a certain state of mind or cure the blues or even bring me down from being too amped up. I’m not extremely picky when it comes to rock music but there are certain pockets of the genre that hit me harder than others. One such pocket would be the illustrious Power Ballad of the 80’s.
I was right in the middle of the young teenage years in the late 80’s so rock music and girls were pretty high on my priority list. Dances were also pretty popular around that time so the Power Ballad was the perfect opportunity to snuggle up to a cute girl and enjoy the tunes. I remember a lot of birthday party dances that were at friends houses and all that was needed was a boom box and open floor. Well, you also needed some tight-roll, acid washed jeans and hair gel but that was with any type of party. We learned all the words to the Power Ballad and we imitated the glam rock singers because it was obviously what the chicks were into. It was a crazy time!
Speaking of holding up better than others, let’s talk about a football set that has stood the test of time. I am going to call it underrated because I had really forgotten about how good the product was until I recently went through one of my old school boxes looking for “random” hits from the past. I think that 1991 Upper Deck Football has some of the best photograph for a football set outside of some possible current releases and it deserves a comparison to Stadium Club Baseball in the fact that it was a huge step up from what the market was offering at the time. Even Fleer Ultra was pretty far behind what ’91 Upper Deck brought to the table. Let’s call 1991 Upper Deck the Def Leppard of Junk Wax Football. Most Junk Wax is really good but some just stand out more than others.
The box was fairly standard for 1991; 36 packs with 12 cards per pack. Upper Deck football did not have any filler in the packs like puzzle pieces or gum or even the hologram stickers like UD baseball. The packs were all cards. They were very similar to baseball in that they were foil and sealed on each end for that UD standard “tamper proof” feature. The only feature I question is “Limited Edition”. I’m not sure how limited any sets were in 1991.
One of the best features of 1991 Upper Deck football was the team checklist sketch Cards. Here is a Prime Time that was just awesome! You know I’m a sucker for sketch cards and these were nice. I have the full spread of what I pulled later in the post but this one deserved it’s own photo.
Photography was a highlight for 91 UD. I mentioned that in my last post and it’s what prompted me to rip this box. This was one of my favorite Cards from 1991. You may recall the similar Nolan Ryan triple exposure card in baseball. This was a great card in the early 90’s and set the bar for innovative photos in football sets.
As for other QB’s I pulled, here are some of the Stars. You may not be able to tell from this photo but the Marino was taken in the snow. There is another Dolphin shot later in the snow, which was ironic for Miami.
I pulled the usual early 90’s studs at running back with the exception of Bo but I did pull a cool team checklist sketch I’ll show off later. Ickey is doing the shuffle in his photo! You may remember Marcus Dupree from the great 30 For 30; “The Best That Never Was.”
More great photography can be found in the wide receiver selection. Flipper Anderson is making a one handed catch while Mark Jackson is about to take a big hit.
Tight End was slim but these were great ones! Looks like Novacek is the holder for a field goal. How many Tight Ends are asked to do that these days?
If you read my last post, you’ll know that this Reggie is one of my favorites. The Fridge even looks good in 91 UD. Collectors from my generation will remember Dennis Byrd. For those of you who don’t, do yourself a favor and look him up.
Look at this Matt Millen card! I was not a huge fan of Millen (especially as a GM) but this card just screams old school football! My man Percy Snow was included too so, cha-ching!
I’m still blown away by how clear these photos are! Felix is getting stretched out, Scott Case just laid Cleveland Gary out and Rod Woodson is in his Pro Bowl uni.
The headliner of the Star Rookie Class was Dan McGwire (Mark’s little brother). Todd Marinovich got a lot of hype too. But that first QB on row 3 wound up being the best of the bunch. Russell Maryland, Alvin Harper, Ricky Watters and Eric Turner all had solid careers while Browning Nagle and Aaron Craver fizzled.
Here are the great sketch Cards! These are just awesome! I love the ones with the names on them. Bo and Herschel are my favorites but I also like Flash 80 and LT. Once again, Warren Moon is pictured with an actual moon in the background just like ’90 Score Hot Guns.
The Team MVP’s didn’t have very many surprises but there were a couple. Greg Townsend got the Team MVP for the Raiders. That Raiders team had Marcus Allen, Bo Jackson and Tim Brown. Bobby Humphrey also got the honor for the Broncos over Elway. I won’t complain about André Rison for my Falcons!
The season leaders insert covered the major individual stat leaders. I remember Mark Carrier being a real ball hawk on Tecmo.
Aerial Threats showcased prolific QB and WR tandems. Here is the other Miami snow card. I’m a little surprised Steve DeBerg made it into this insert set.
As with baseball, UD focused on a legend for its “Football Heroes” insert. Joe Montana got the call in 1991 and I pulled 7 of the 9 Cards on the checklist.
I pulled one Game Breaker in the box and it was the great Barry Sanders. I may check this subset out and try to put it together. This is a striking card in person but maybe even more striking with my reflection in it!
This was a very easy set to score. The box cost me $14.95 so price is a plus. Photography is top notch and unrivaled for football at the time. One of the key rookies is Brett Favre. It’s loaded with stars and Hall of Famers. The design is clean and classy. It has great sketch cards littered throughout the checklist. This is about as perfect a set for the early 90’s as you will find. I would highly recommend you find a box and rip it just because the quality is so good for the “Junk Wax” era. This was an easy “5” on the Dub-O-Meter and may be the highest quality set I’ve reviewed for under $20 per box. Give it a shot and let me know what you think!
Everyone who is over the age of 30 likely remembers the Sears Wishbook. This 600 page publication had just about everything your heart could desire. Kids loved this book but now that I have a couple kids of my own, I can imagine that parents didn’t get the same enjoyment from it. I found the 1989 book online and was able to sift through the entire 683 pages. It brought back some great memories but one thing that stuck out to me was how expensive some of the items were some 28 years ago. If they seem expensive now, imagine how that felt in 1989 currency!
For example, can you believe that VCR’s in 1989 were as much as $300? You can buy 8-10 BlueRay players for $300 today. You had to rewind tapes and constantly adjust tracking on your VCR too! I do remember these old sports videos though and they were certainly worth the $15 price tag.
You had to have a TV to watch those videos on as well. I’m pretty sure we actually had the middle TV when I was a kid. This is a 27 inch TV for $750! Computer monitors are bigger than 27 inches now. But these were top of the line in 1989.
And what about communications? A normal corded phone would run you anywhere from $50-$100. If you wanted a cordless, it would cost upwards of $125! For the fun loving teen, there was also the Garfield phone for $50. I’m going to guess that this phone outsold all other designs throughout the course of history.
If you wanted personal music, that was going to cost you as well. Some of these Walkman’s were over $100! We are talking about cassette playing, wired headphones, AM/FM devices that cost a Benjamin. I totally feel for my parents and what I probably put them through.
Video games were certainly more important to me back then than VCR’s. And for half the price of a VCR, you could own the sweet Nintendo Entertainment System. No piece of technology has ever been more important to me throughout the course of my life. And just look at these games; Friday the 13th, Marble Madness, Double Dribble, Excitebike and Tecmo Bowl! I really think time could have stood still in 1989 and I would have been just fine.
There were other choices in 1989 for video game consoles but I was a couple years away from the 16-bit Sega and had outgrown the Atari.
If you wanted your gaming on the go, you could opt for the GameBoy. I played it a ton but I actually never owned a GameBoy of my own. I never really wanted one all that bad but I did enjoy the occasional playing of my friends games.
Some people were lucky enough to even have a computer. This Commodore wasn’t much more costly than the Nintendo but that didn’t include the monitor and the mouse. If you wanted those necessities, you were approaching $500. And you certainly had to have the disk drive, which was another $200. By the time you threw in the printer, you were looking at a $1,000 setup. The games were pretty awesome though!
For the gamer on a budget, you could always go with these gems. I had several different baseball and football handhelds during my youth.
When I had to put down the video games and actually go outside and play, I would throw baseballs at my pitch return. I threw at that net for hours on end and learned just as much about fielding as I did pitching.
I always wanted one of these pool tables as well but the closest I ever got was the small pool table in the picture. This wasn’t the easiest table to navigate but I remember playing quite a few games on it.
Then there was the clothing. Pajamas and Sweatsuits were my go to choices back in the day. The Nintendo sweatsuit was pretty sweet. And the team pajamas were pretty awesome too.
I’m pretty sure I had one of these get ups as well but it was UGA. I think there is a picture floating around somewhere with me wearing it. Maybe I’ll find that one day.
And of course, I had a couple of pairs of the sweatpants with the team names down the leg. I had some bicycle shorts too but they weren’t Lakers design.
I had to include this because who didn’t love a great sleeping bag. I remember taking mine to spend the night parties and zipping myself up in it to get all cozy. My daughter sleeps in her sleeping bag now in her bed so kids must still like them.
Finally, for the collectors out there, Sears offered some pretty sweet sports card deals. They had the exclusive Sears Ingots, which I bought at a recent card show(’85 version). They also had “Talking Baseball”, Baseball Star Pop Ups, the Baseball Card Collector’s Case, Price Guides, Binders and more! But item #8 could be had for $14.90 and it’s one of my favorite football sets from my youth; 1989 Topps.
I recently picked up a wax box of 1989 Topps to relive some of the magic of the greatest year ever. Even though some of the key rookie cards from this set are found in the Traded Set, the base set is still loaded with stars and some of the classic rookies from 1989. I love the box and wrappers from 1989 and who will argue over a .45 cent pack?
There were also box bottom cards as was customary for Topps in the 80’s. This year was Players of the Week and I picked up Week’s 13, 14, 15 and 16.
Also a customary inclusion in late 80’s football were the 1,000 Yard Club cards. These were glossy inserts at 1 per pack and covered a plethora of players that hit 1,000 yards. There are familiar names here!
The late 80’s were loaded with Hall of Fame and Star QB’s in the NFL. I pulled Boomer, Jim Kelly, Moon, Cunningham, Elway, Marino and many others.
It’s hard to beat the stud running backs in 1989. Bo Jackson and Christian Okoye were on the way in while Herschel and Craig were mid stride and Tony Dorsett and Eric Dickerson were wrapping up their illustrious careers.
Wide Receiver was not devoid of stars either. Jerry Rice and John Taylor were both 1,000 yard receivers on the same team. Sterling Sharpe, Cris Carter and Andre Reed were some of my favorites.
In 1989, Tight Ends were more blockers than pass catchers. While that isn’t too much the case today, these were some good pass catchers back in the day. And we have the rare Jay Novachek in a Cardinals uniform.
The Defensive Line in 1989 was nasty! Bruce Smith, Richard Dent, Chris Doleman, Reggie White and Howie Long?? These dudes were absolute beasts!
Things didn’t get easier for the offense if they got to the second level of the defense either. LT and Mike Singletary were legendary at the linebacker position but all of these guys were studly.
Finally, the big hitters were in the secondary. Ronnie Lott was a man among men and Joey Browner and Rod Woodson could cover as well as they could hit. Now I am pretty sure Chuck Cecil wouldn’t have had a long career with today’s NFL safety rules. This guy was not scared of anything and he would absolutely take out receivers any time they came across the middle.
The Record Breakers were pretty dang good players too! Tim Brown, Eric Dickerson, Steve Largent and Dan Marino are all 80’s Icons!
I pulled 5 of the League Leader cards and I’ve always loved the Herschel/Dickerson card.
I pulled a ton of these team leader cards as well but I’ll only picture a few to show the design.
The “Super Rookies” were solid in ’89 with the inclusion of Brian Blades, Mark Rypien and Chris Spielman. Though there were two others I pulled that deserve their own photo spots.
Michael Irvin was the man and was one of the key players that helped turn the Cowboys around in the 90’s. This RC is always a welcome addition.
Then there is the gem of the base set, Thurman Thomas! I used Thurman so many times on Tecmo because the Bills were loaded. I wish they had won at least one of those Super Bowls because those guys deserved one.
Because I wanted to make this post complete, I also swiped the Traded Set for $7.95 from my LCS. Not including the big guys, there are still some solid names in this Traded Set that make it well worth the price. Steve Young, Don Beebe and Herschel headline the non-big guys. And I didn’t forget about you Scotty; Mr. Steve Grogan is included!
Here are the studs (except one) in the traded set. The rookies of Aikman, Deion, DT and Rison make this Traded Set worth so much more than the cost!
The best card in the entire 1989 Base and Traded Set is this awesome Barry Sanders. I love this card and it might be my favorite 80’s football card!
I don’t think anyone would argue that the 1989 Topps set is loaded and a great addition to any collection. I give it an easy “5” on the Dub-O-Meter because the design is classic 80’s and the checklist is star studded! This was such a great rookie year and still included many big stars that were either in the middle of their careers or winding down. There is really nothing I don’t like about this set, except for the 28 year old gum!
I fancy myself as having a little bit of Al Bundy in my personality though. I can be crass, to the point and say things I probably shouldn’t at times. I love sports, love to watch TV and appreciate his ability to completely tune out those around him when they are grinding his last nerve. I also don’t mind the occasional swimsuit calendar on the wall. I never wanted to be a shoe salesman but I did want to one day have a secret club in my garage that consisted of me and my friends sitting around drinking beer and talking about our wives. I still haven’t formed that club but I do have some friends that enjoy sitting around drinking a beer. We only talk about how great our wives are though. We would never disparage our significant others, right?
Even though Jason Seaver could be a cornball sometimes, he couldn’t hold a candle to Danny Tanner on “Full House”. Even as a kid, I thought he was a total square. I enjoyed Jessie and Joey much more than I did Danny but I guess that was how it was meant to be written. I definitely didn’t want to be in a house with a bunch of girls when I was 10 either. Yuck! I didn’t have any sisters and actually didn’t have a female cousin until I was about 14 or so. I just never latched on to “Full House” like I did these other sitcoms because I just couldn’t really relate to it like the others. They did all have something in common though; they all debuted in 1987. As I went back and looked through some of the coolness of 1987, I realized that it was a major year for television and the big screen. Maybe that’s because I was 10 and really started getting into TV but there was a lot of excellent options that year.
As for TV, that was the year that we were introduced to Spuds McKenzie. You tell me one kid from 1987 that didn’t want a Spuds of his own. I didn’t even pay attention to the beer part of the ad. I wanted that dog! We also met the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles that year and my cousin is still a pizza fanatic because of Michelangelo. It helps that his name is Michael as well. Then there were those awesome Micro Machines commercials. That guy had a pretty amazing talent with the fast talking! My brother played with those a lot more than I did but I always marveled at the commercials. That probably wouldn’t be a very safe toy for kids by today’s standards.
The news on TV that year was also very riveting. That was the year that Baby Jessica fell into a well in her aunt’s backyard in Texas. And when I say well, what I really mean is this tiny pipe that only an 18 month old child could fit in. It took 58 hours to free her from that well and it was a televised event. It was quite scary for parents but it made me leery of small spaces for a while as well. She was eventually rescued from the pipe some 22 feet below ground and is doing well today as per media reports. Someone who didn’t do quite so well with their media circus fame in 1987 was Jim Bakker. Bakker was a TV Evangelist who was accused of rape by a secretary that actually led to the uncovering of financial fraud that led to a 45 year prison conviction. He only served 5 years before being paroled but went through a pretty public divorce from Tammy Faye as well. He has somehow found himself back in the ministry and on TV. I’m just going to leave that alone.
The movies were awesome in 1987 were totally tubular! My personal favorites from that year were “Predator” and “Running Man”. I was a big Arnold fan and loved all of his movies. “Predator” was one of the first sci-fi horror movies I watched, along with “Aliens”. That movie kind of freaked me out but I thought it was really cool too. Carl Weathers was the man! As for “Running Man”, this was another sci-fi thriller about a TV game show where the only winners were the contestants who actually finished the game alive. As crazy as that movie premise seemed in 1987, to be brutally honest, we don’t seem too far from some kind of reality show that is very similar to “Running Man” in 2017. It’s a little scary how close that movie portrayed the way our society is heading.
There were a lot of other classic movies released that year as well. Some of the more well known include “Lethal Weapon”, “The Untouchables”, “Dirty Dancing” and “Robocop”. Obviously, these are big name movies so I don’t have to explain how good they were. In the horror genre, there were a few that are still on my favorites list. I still love “The Lost Boys” and watched it at a friend’s house when I was totally not supposed to. I had to hide the fact that I was scared to death at my house at night because that would have eventually led to the fact that I watched it. My favorite Freddy movie was “Dream Warriors” and it was released that year as well. Throw in “Creepshow 2” and you’ve got quite a starter list of movies you should go back and re-watch.
What about some family movies from ’87? Well, there was “Harry and the Hendersons”, which gave Bigfoot a soft and warm side that made you want to have him as a pet. Then there was “Ernest Goes to Camp”, which does not hold up well in 2017. Trust me, it is not good today. “Summer School” was a fun movie that had a couple of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” super fans in it. “Raising Arizona” was the first great Nicholas Cage film that also starred Holly Hunter. And “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” was a hilarious comedy with Steve Martin and John Candy. One of the best lines in a comedy film in the 80’s came from that movie. After waking up in a hotel room together, they had this unforgettable exchange:
“Full Metal Jacket” is a cult classic from 1987 and I have watched the first half of that movie over and over and over. That drill sergeant is one of the greatest movie characters ever! I remember Private Pile, Private Joker and all of the characters and one liner’s from that film. It’s one that I still have on VHS in my collection. Finally, I developed a pretty strong crush that year on Elisabeth Shue thanks to “Adventures in Babysitting”. She was already a cutie in “The Karate Kid” but this one put me over the top. I still stop the channel surfing when I see her on my TV screen!
There were other cool things from 1987 like “Mike Tyson’s Punch Out”, Guns N Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction” and Bon Jovi’s “Livin on a Prayer.” 1987 was really a great year for pop culture. That year produced some pretty cool trading cards as well. I remember Garbage Pail Kids that year and trying to gross out the girls in my class with those hideous cards. One of the most iconic sets ever was the 1987 Wood Grain Topps design with the beautiful Bo Jackson Future Star. I also did a review of 1987 Fleer here a few weeks ago. This was almost the perfect year for collecting because most weren’t aware it was overproduced yet but they also only had a few sets to choose from.
The remaining set from that year was 1987 Donruss. I never had a ton of ’87 Donruss because I didn’t really start collecting until 1989. But even as a non-collecting kid that played with the classic toys of those days, I had some ’87 Topps lying around. I think most kids had some ’87 Topps, even if half of us didn’t know what we had. But Donruss was a relative unknown to me for many years. I have since added some pieces to my collection but I’ve never busted a full box, or even multiple packs to be honest. My recent trip to the LCS has provided that opportunity now. I picked up a full box for a mere $25, which I think is a pretty good deal.
First, the wrappers were not my favorite from Donruss. I didn’t like the copper color but they are still wax packs so they aren’t all bad either.
I was able to pull the full Clemente Puzzle together so that was a success!
The Diamond Kings were just as I remembered them. The artwork of Dick Perez is unmistakable. Surprisingly, my least favorite is the Jose Canseco because his head looks so odd on the card. I love the Murphy, Straw, Smith, Puckett and Davis!
The Rated Rookies pictured here were names that you may remember but not Hall of Fame type talent. I particularly liked Benito Santiago in the late 80’s. Rafael Palmeiro could have landed in the Hall had he not had his issues during the steroid era.
These three players epitomized the term “Speed”. Vince Coleman may have been the fastest but Rickey Henderson was the most prolific base stealer. Rock Raines was the closest to a 5 tool player of the group.
The infielders here are absolute studs. This was Will Clark’s rookie Donruss card and Fred McGriff’s second year card. There is a lot of talent here!
The outfielders are just as awesome and star studded as the infielders above. Jose’s rookie was the famous 1986 Donruss but this was Bobby Bonilla’s base rookie as he was included in 1986’s “The Rookies” set. Just look at that smile on Puckett! These guys make me want to pull out RBI Baseball and start swinging!
The pitchers here are Ace material. Lee Smith was a closer but he was as dominant as the starters. The Dodgers rotation was pretty scary with Fernando and Orel. It looks like Doc was startled by someone that got his attention as the photo was about to be taken.
The Veterans are all here too in 1987. I dare you to tell me you wouldn’t have wanted these guys on your team in the 80’s! Pete Rose had the elusive 1B/Mgr card. I really liked Joe Carter too and I think he is vastly underrated in the hobby today. The same could be said about Jim Rice.
The two hits in the box were these great Rated Rookies. While I missed out on the Barry Bonds RC, I am pleased that I pulled Bo and McGwire. I have now pulled all three major Bo Jackson rookies this year ripping old wax. I really wish the careers for these two had ended up better than they did. I wish Bo had stayed healthy and I wish McGwire could have just been this good without the whole steroid thing.
Finally, ’87 Donruss had a nice box bottom like many other mid 80’s wax boxes. The bottom here had Murphy and a sweet Canseco photo taken with him perfectly centered in a star on the outfield wall. There is a Reardon and Clemente puzzle card as well but the Canseco is the real gem here.
As with other 1987 rips, this one was loads of fun. A rookie class of Bo, McGwire and Bonds make the ripping exciting but the inclusion of every major star from the 80’s makes the box well worth the $25 price tag. The design was not as good as 1986 but was better than 1988 in my opinion. This was probably one of the top Donruss designs for me but came right one year after my favorite so I tend to judge it too harshly. I have to give this a “4” on the Dub-O-Meter for a few reasons. The checklist is great, the design is good, the price is reasonable and the Clemente Puzzle is a classic. On the negative, the cards weren’t cut very well and collation was as odd as I’ve seen with consecutively numbered cards. The positives far outweigh the negatives here so the 4 is closer to a 4.5 than a 3.5. I would say that ultimately, the set lands somewhere between Carol Seaver and Kelly Bundy, if you know what I mean. I’d recommend this set as a fun build and the box as a nostalgic rip worth your time. What say you about 1987 Donruss?