Childhood Gems, Updated Daily - Page 5

88horsepower · 03-23-2023, 09:14 AM

I was thinking about Lance Johnson earlier and looked at his numbers. From 1991-1996 the dude averaged 14 triples a year and led the league five out of those six seasons. His career best was a staggering 21 triples in 1996 when he was an All-Star for the New York Mets. Unreal numbers for the modern era.

DioBrando · 03-23-2023, 09:43 AM

Dug this out for this thread. I started collecting in 87/88 and Jim was supposed to be a big thing for the Cardinals. Their 1st round pick in 83. If I remember correctly, injuries hit him pretty hard, he hung around as a utility guy for a while

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

88horsepower · 03-23-2023, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DioBrando

Dug this out for this thread. I started collecting in 87/88 and Jim was supposed to be a big thing for the Cardinals. Their 1st round pick in 83. If I remember correctly, injuries hit him pretty hard, he hung around as a utility guy for a while

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

Yes! I always wanted to get his 1987 Donruss Rated Rookies. Can’t be too many of his cards slabbed, which makes your post especially cool to see. He didn’t pan out, unfortunately, but I definitely recall he was supposed to be a hot player when he arrived on the scene in 1987.

88horsepower · 03-24-2023, 09:20 AM

Ok, I'll admit, I have a problem. Yes, I even collect the Star Rookie checklists from 1989-1991 Upper Deck. I just love the logo so much and it's such a symbol of those awesome early Upper Deck sets so many of us ripped back in the day. I still need the 1991 Upper Deck Star Rookie and 1991 Top Prospects checklists, but I adore these two cards. You knew when you pulled a player with the Star Rookie logo, there was a chance you struck gold.

Some players from the 1989 set were instantly massive hits with the collecting community. Getting the iconic Ken Griffey Jr. card meant you were in elite company among friends, holding onto what would someday rank as a true Mt. Rushmore rookie card of the decade. Gary Sheffield, Dante Bichette, Sandy Alomar Jr., Gregg Jefferies, John Smoltz, and Randy Johnson also were featured in the set and created a buzz at various points during the decade.

And while the 1989 set is the gold standard for all early Upper Deck releases, I am a really big fan of the 1990 set and find myself particularly drawn to the Star Rookies from the 1990 subset. I remember at the time just how hot the 1990 Ben McDonald was and how we all heard about the Orioles logo variant, hoping to pull that tough error card from those silver and green foil packs. Greg Vaughn, Jose Offerman, Robin Ventura, Tino Martinez, Steve Avery, Sammy Sosa, Deion Sanders, Dean Palmer, Kevin Maas, Marquis Grissom, John Olerud, and Juan Gonzalez all were featured Star Rookies and had made their mark in the 90s in some form or another.

Again, two loaded Star Rookie sets to start off Upper Deck's remarkable run. I truly miss Upper Deck being a licensed product across all four major sports, as they truly made some of the most aesthetically pleasing cards ever created and were trailblazers in the card industry.

dylan1018 · 03-24-2023, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

1987 Topps has to be one of the most popular set designs of all-time. It took cues from the 1964 Topps set which also featured those classic wooden borders. Released perhaps at the peak of the 80s sportcards boom, 1987 Topps was an instant classic and featured some of the best rookie cards of that era. In particular, I'm rather fond of their Future Stars cards from this set which had, what is in my humble judgment, the best Future Stars logo they made for the subset. They only used this design for the 1987 and 1988 sets before bringing it back decades later as an homage to those popular 80s Topps sets, but nothing beats these beauties. I do hope to get the Pat Dodson and Tim Pyznarski cards someday to match the other four I have from the set. I will say, Topps did a good job of selecting players from this year's group. Bo Jackson is all-time, Palmeiro had an outstanding albeit tainted career, Magadan was a popular player on those Mets teams from the 80s and 90s, and B.J. Surhoff was an All-Star who accumulated a rather nice resume for himself.

I like seeing a Pat Dodson mention in here. He is the Superintendent over the school district where my kids go to school. I have met him a few times and he is a very nice guy.

3Bucks · 03-24-2023, 02:58 PM

Great thread, I had so many of these cards, and remember the guys who were the next big thing every year. Great middle school and early high school memories. Thanks for all the pics, I was wondering when the 1987 Topps Bo Jackson would show up!

A couple more in my collection that I recall who were going to be the guys to get rich on:

1989 Topps Future Star Gary Sheffield
1990 Topps #1 Pick Frank Thomas
1990 Juan Gonzalez Donruss RR
1991 Topps #1 Draft Pick 40th Anniversary Chipper Jones
1992 Topps Derek Jeter

And some of the ones that were my personal favorites, and ones that I actually pulled; 85 Topps USA McGwire, 83 Fleer Wade Boggs, 84 Fleer Darryl Strawberry.

88horsepower · 03-24-2023, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dylan1018

I like seeing a Pat Dodson mention in here. He is the Superintendent over the school district where my kids go to school. I have met him a few times and he is a very nice guy.

That's awesome to hear! Should you ever run into Pat, tell him he's getting some love over here!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3Bucks

Great thread, I had so many of these cards, and remember the guys who were the next big thing every year. Great middle school and early high school memories. Thanks for all the pics, I was wondering when the 1987 Topps Bo Jackson would show up!

A couple more in my collection that I recall who were going to be the guys to get rich on:

1989 Topps Future Star Gary Sheffield
1990 Topps #1 Pick Frank Thomas
1990 Juan Gonzalez Donruss RR
1991 Topps #1 Draft Pick 40th Anniversary Chipper Jones
1992 Topps Derek Jeter

And some of the ones that were my personal favorites, and ones that I actually pulled; 85 Topps USA McGwire, 83 Fleer Wade Boggs, 84 Fleer Darryl Strawberry.

Thanks, man! Yeah, some of those cards you mentioned I definitely have in my collection now and many of us thought those would make us rich when they first hit the scene. In fact, that 1990 Topps Frank Thomas was one I was certain would be a huge card years down the road. And, despite having a HOF career, the card still doesn't get enough recognition in my humble judgment. But, that's junk era cards in a nutshell. Even today, I adore that card.

golakers32 · 03-24-2023, 11:30 PM

Kudos on a fun thread. These cards are awesome.

quackhead · 03-25-2023, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

It's one of my favorites, and one I desperately wanted centered when I was a kid but could never find. Fortunately, I made right what was once a big gap in my collection and bought this PSA 10 back in 2017 for $73. I was all too happy to pay that price, even back in 2017 when it was still worth about that much.

That is sweet looking! Almost surreal. I remember having one back in the day that was probably an 8 in today's standards due to centering and thought that was the best the card was ever going to get for centering. Thanks for posting.

88horsepower · 03-25-2023, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quackhead

That is sweet looking! Almost surreal. I remember having one back in the day that was probably an 8 in today's standards due to centering and thought that was the best the card was ever going to get for centering. Thanks for posting.

Thank you! It's definitely a card that holds an extra special place in my collection. I adored this card as a kid, but like you and I both experienced, it was impossible to find perfectly centered. The one card from this set that I never can find perfectly centered, and it seems to be a weird outlier from the Rated Rookie set, is the Greg Gagne. It has a super low 10-rate in the PSA registry. Must have been something about the placement on the sheet that caused such an issue. Makes me wonder where some of the cards, including the Carter, are on the uncut sheets.

Quote:

Originally Posted by golakers32

Kudos on a fun thread. These cards are awesome.

Thanks! It's great to hear people are enjoying it!

88horsepower · 03-25-2023, 10:06 AM

Man, do I miss Toys R Us. I spent so much of my childhood going through their aisles picking out my favorite toys from Star Wars, Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., M.U.S.C.L.E., and Go-Bots. It was a special place and any time our parents brought us there, you just knew life was going to be great that day. For those of us in the card world back in the late 80s and early 90s, it was also a great place to pick up some truly awesome baseball cards sets, the best of which, in my opinion, are Toys R Us Rookies. Every year from 1987 to 1991, Toys R Us released a set that featured 33 of that season's rookies. These sets were absolutely loaded with great players and they also make for some of the toughest cards to sub to PSA from this era.

The 1987 set is especially challenging due to the black borders. All five sets from 1987 to 1991 were packaged in small, boxed sets with no cellophane wrapping keeping the cards from banging around in the boxes. Dings and edge issues are a frequent issue, but nothing compared to the issues on the surface. Because of the ultra-high glossy surface, little bubbles underneath the surface of the card are very frequent and make for a major obstacle for the would-be PSA submitter. Trust me, I would know. 1987's sets features some really big names like Barry Bonds, Will Clark, Jose Canseco, Bo Jackson, and Barry Larkin. It also has some great players who many of us collected from that period including; Wally Joyner, John Kruk, Kevin Mitchell, Todd Worrell, Cory Snyder, Pete Incaviglia, Danny Tartabull, Robby Thompson, Kal Daniels, Ruben Sierra and more.

The 1988 set looks similar to the 1987 set except for the color scheme. One of the things I really like about each set is that they kept the design the same and only changed the color to differentiate it from other sets in the line. The 1988 set doesn't have the same star power as the 1987 set but it does feature our latest Hall of Famer, Fred McGriff. Additionally, Mark McGwire, Kevin Seitzer, and Matt Nokes, our three top vote-getters for AL Rookie of the Year, were in this set along with Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, Benito Santiago, Terry Steinbach, Randy Myers, David Cone, Devon White, Ken Caminiti, and B.J. Surhoff.

1989's set has a yellow/gold border and is probably the least star-heavy set of the group, but it does have some Hall of Fame power with Roberto Alomar as the first card in the set of 33. Both 1988 Rookie of the Year winners, Chris Sabo and Walt Weiss, are in this set. Two of the more desirable cards are Gary Sheffield and Gregg Jefferies, who are also in the 1990 set. Braves slugger Ron Gant, future Cy Young winner Jack McDowell, former Yankees Roberto Kelly and Jay Buhner, and 90s hit leader Mark Grace round out the lineup.

The 1990 set is a very desirable set among collectors. The red-bordered set is led by the one any only Ken Griffey Jr., who commands $150-$200 in Gem Mint condition. I've had the most luck subbing cards from this set for some reason and have more 10s from this set than perhaps any other. Jim Abbott, Tom Gordon, Ramon Martinez, Gregg Olson, Andy Benes, Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith, and Kenny Rogers are all in this set. You also get a pre-Albert "Joey" Belle card in this set, which is a neat oddity in that he changed his name to Albert just after this set hit the shelves. Todd Zeile, Greg Vaughn and Robin Ventura are in this set and are three players who also received cards in the 1991 set a year later.

Which brings us to the final set of the five I'm featuring here. The 1991 set is perhaps the toughest set of all five to get Gem grades on. Not only does it suffer from the same issues as the 1987 black-bordered set, but it has a wrinkle you need to keep in mind when subbing to PSA. The backs of these cards often feature micro-fractures on the surfaces that are hard to detect with the naked eye. In the process of manufacturing these cards, the high-gloss coating combined with the more traditional cardboard backing hasn't aged well and creates tiny creases and cracks on the backs that will instantly drop the grades to 6s or worse. In fact, if you look on the PSA Pop Report, you'll notice that it has the highest rate of PSA 6 or below grades of any set of the five mentioned, with a staggering 113 of the 412 total submitted earning grades of PSA 6 or below. The Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, is the top player in the set, along with fellow Hall of Famer Larry Walker. Expos teammates Delino DeShields and Marquis Grissom are also in the set, as are Carlos Baerga, Jose Offerman, Steve Avery, Travis Fryman, Sandy Alomar, Kevin Maas, and Ben McDonald.

ScooterD · 03-25-2023, 06:24 PM

Been sitting on these for 30+ years. Wanna have some fun?

NYRE2PECT · 03-26-2023, 07:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScooterD

Been sitting on these for 30+ years. Wanna have some fun?

That's awesome! Way back time machine is in full effect.

88horsepower · 03-26-2023, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScooterD

Been sitting on these for 30+ years. Wanna have some fun?

Oh, believe me, I know. I'll probably never open these, but they look cool displayed.

ScooterD · 03-26-2023, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

Oh, believe me, I know. I'll probably never open these, but they look cool displayed.

I had a few soda pops and opened mine last night. It was a ton of fun!!

For anyone who disparages Topps’/Fanatics’ current QC standards, you didn’t open these products. Three of the four sets were at least 75/25 L/R, and all cards had at least one VERY rough edge. It’s not a complaint at all - more of an homage to the OP for being able to find copies that could gem.

88horsepower · 03-26-2023, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScooterD

I had a few soda pops and opened mine last night. It was a ton of fun!!

For anyone who disparages Topps’/Fanatics’ current QC standards, you didn’t open these products. Three of the four sets were at least 75/25 L/R, and all cards had at least one VERY rough edge. It’s not a complaint at all - more of an homage to the OP for being able to find copies that could gem.

Nice! Yeah, quality control was not great on these sets, which truly does speak to how hard it is to get 10s on them. It's one of the reasons I haven't dared try to open all of those sets in the pictures I showed. It wouldn't shock me if I went through all of them only to find maybe a handful that looked good enough to send in, but probably wouldn't get higher than a PSA 9. I feel fortunate to have the Gem Mint ones I purchased throughout the years and those I've been lucky enough to earn 10s on through subbing to PSA. It's tough!

88horsepower · 03-27-2023, 09:44 AM

I was doing some light reading about Vince Coleman this past week and it really had me thinking about how underused the stolen base is these days. Coleman stole a staggering 752 bases for his career, which places him 6th all-time in baseball history. Coleman also led the National League in stolen bases six consecutive times from 1985-1990 - all while playing for the Cardinals. These days the stolen base just doesn't seem to be a part of the game all that much. Jn 2022, the league leader in stolen bases was Miami's Jon Berti, who stole a paltry 41 bases. Coleman stole 41 or more bases eight times in his 13-year career.

I subbed his first ever minor league card from 1984 Louisville and scored a PSA 10. I can't tell you how pumped I was getting this one back from PSA a few months ago.

Not to be outdone, but right around the same time I scored the PSA 10 on his minor league debut, I was able to capture his best card - a 1985 Topps Traded Tiffany XRC which is extremely low pop with just three in existence.

rfgilles · 03-27-2023, 11:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

I was doing some light reading about Vince Coleman this past week and it really had me thinking about how underused the stolen base is these days. Coleman stole a staggering 752 bases for his career, which places him 6th all-time in baseball history. Coleman also led the National League in stolen bases six consecutive times from 1985-1990 - all while playing for the Cardinals. These days the stolen base just doesn't seem to be a part of the game all that much. Jn 2022, the league leader in stolen bases was Miami's Jon Berti, who stole a paltry 41 bases. Coleman stole 41 or more bases eight times in his 13-year career.

I subbed his first ever minor league card from 1984 Louisville and scored a PSA 10. I can't tell you how pumped I was getting this one back from PSA a few months ago.

Not to be outdone, but right around the same time I scored the PSA 10 on his minor league debut, I was able to capture his best card - a 1985 Topps Traded Tiffany XRC which is extremely low pop with just three in existence.

That 85' is such a great and appropriate image for him.

88horsepower · 03-27-2023, 03:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rfgilles

That 85' is such a great and appropriate image for him.

Yes, I totally agree. I dig that about the 1985 TT card for Coleman as well as many of Kenny Lofton and Rickey Henderson's cards. It seems only appropriate to give some of the speedsters a card where they are about to steal a bag.

88horsepower · 03-28-2023, 09:12 AM

I don't know about you guys, but I miss Upper Deck making professionally licensed cards across all major sports. They just did it so well and made some of the greatest cards in the history of the hobby. 1993 marks the first year they made a super glossy set which doesn't bode well for those of us that like to sub cards. The glossy surfaces on the fronts and backs make for lots of surface-related issues and many of the unopened packs and factory sets are now bricked together, making gem mint copies from this set much harder to come by. This is especially true for the Series I Star Rookies that also have these gorgeous but rather fragile black borders. Every single imperfection sticks out like a sore thumb, so when you see even so much as a PSA 9 from this set, it's a good find. I was lucky enough to get a few 10s from the Series I Star Rookie subset and have those on display here. I have to say, despite the fact that he wasn't a big star, I have a soft spot for that Nigel Wilson card and hope to get a David Nied (Rockies) card to match it.

NYRE2PECT · 03-28-2023, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rfgilles

That 85' is such a great and appropriate image for him.

I had pages, and pages, and pages, and pages of '85 everything....love the Vince Coleman TT card.

rfgilles · 03-28-2023, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NYRE2PECT

I had pages, and pages, and pages, and pages of '85 everything....love the Vince Coleman TT card.

85' Topps was the first box I ever bought with my paper route money. I have a soft spot in my heart for that set.

rfgilles · 03-28-2023, 10:30 AM

88horsepower thanks for starting this thread. Thoroughly enjoy your posts.

DioBrando · 03-28-2023, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 88horsepower

I was doing some light reading about Vince Coleman this past week and it really had me thinking about how underused the stolen base is these days. Coleman stole a staggering 752 bases for his career, which places him 6th all-time in baseball history. Coleman also led the National League in stolen bases six consecutive times from 1985-1990 - all while playing for the Cardinals. These days the stolen base just doesn't seem to be a part of the game all that much. Jn 2022, the league leader in stolen bases was Miami's Jon Berti, who stole a paltry 41 bases. Coleman stole 41 or more bases eight times in his 13-year career.

I subbed his first ever minor league card from 1984 Louisville and scored a PSA 10. I can't tell you how pumped I was getting this one back from PSA a few months ago.

Not to be outdone, but right around the same time I scored the PSA 10 on his minor league debut, I was able to capture his best card - a 1985 Topps Traded Tiffany XRC which is extremely low pop with just three in existence.

Very cool and I didn't know the 85 tiffany had that low a pop. Been meaning to pick up a regular 85. Growing up in St Louis in the 80's, the 85 Vince was big card

awz50 · 03-28-2023, 10:59 AM

That upper deck jt snow is fun

03-23-2023, 09:43 AM	#102
DioBrando Member Join Date: Feb 2018 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 2,588	Dug this out for this thread. I started collecting in 87/88 and Jim was supposed to be a big thing for the Cardinals. Their 1st round pick in 83. If I remember correctly, injuries hit him pretty hard, he hung around as a utility guy for a while Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk __________________ 1312 no gods, no masters

03-24-2023, 02:58 PM	#106
3Bucks Member Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: The Badger State Posts: 2,453	Great thread, I had so many of these cards, and remember the guys who were the next big thing every year. Great middle school and early high school memories. Thanks for all the pics, I was wondering when the 1987 Topps Bo Jackson would show up! A couple more in my collection that I recall who were going to be the guys to get rich on: 1989 Topps Future Star Gary Sheffield 1990 Topps #1 Pick Frank Thomas 1990 Juan Gonzalez Donruss RR 1991 Topps #1 Draft Pick 40th Anniversary Chipper Jones 1992 Topps Derek Jeter And some of the ones that were my personal favorites, and ones that I actually pulled; 85 Topps USA McGwire, 83 Fleer Wade Boggs, 84 Fleer Darryl Strawberry. __________________ RESIDENT MILWAUKEE BUCKS COLLECTOR FEAR THE DEER!! https://www.flickr.com/photos/187518172@N07/albums/with/72157713599227276

03-28-2023, 10:30 AM	#123
rfgilles Member Join Date: Sep 2019 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 4,268	88horsepower thanks for starting this thread. Thoroughly enjoy your posts. __________________ BO Resident TAG Grading shill

03-28-2023, 10:59 AM	#125
awz50 Member Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: New Hampshire>>>Arizona>>>>Florida Posts: 33,274 awz50	That upper deck jt snow is fun __________________ Collecting Baseball Hof Autographs 248/351 Blowouts Official Red Sox face of the franchise Eduardo Rodriguez Super Collector

03-23-2023, 09:14 AM	#101
88horsepower Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Somewhere In Time Posts: 23,657	I was thinking about Lance Johnson earlier and looked at his numbers. From 1991-1996 the dude averaged 14 triples a year and led the league five out of those six seasons. His career best was a staggering 21 triples in 1996 when he was an All-Star for the New York Mets. Unreal numbers for the modern era.

03-24-2023, 09:20 AM	#104
88horsepower Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Somewhere In Time Posts: 23,657	Ok, I'll admit, I have a problem. Yes, I even collect the Star Rookie checklists from 1989-1991 Upper Deck. I just love the logo so much and it's such a symbol of those awesome early Upper Deck sets so many of us ripped back in the day. I still need the 1991 Upper Deck Star Rookie and 1991 Top Prospects checklists, but I adore these two cards. You knew when you pulled a player with the Star Rookie logo, there was a chance you struck gold. Some players from the 1989 set were instantly massive hits with the collecting community. Getting the iconic Ken Griffey Jr. card meant you were in elite company among friends, holding onto what would someday rank as a true Mt. Rushmore rookie card of the decade. Gary Sheffield, Dante Bichette, Sandy Alomar Jr., Gregg Jefferies, John Smoltz, and Randy Johnson also were featured in the set and created a buzz at various points during the decade. And while the 1989 set is the gold standard for all early Upper Deck releases, I am a really big fan of the 1990 set and find myself particularly drawn to the Star Rookies from the 1990 subset. I remember at the time just how hot the 1990 Ben McDonald was and how we all heard about the Orioles logo variant, hoping to pull that tough error card from those silver and green foil packs. Greg Vaughn, Jose Offerman, Robin Ventura, Tino Martinez, Steve Avery, Sammy Sosa, Deion Sanders, Dean Palmer, Kevin Maas, Marquis Grissom, John Olerud, and Juan Gonzalez all were featured Star Rookies and had made their mark in the 90s in some form or another. Again, two loaded Star Rookie sets to start off Upper Deck's remarkable run. I truly miss Upper Deck being a licensed product across all four major sports, as they truly made some of the most aesthetically pleasing cards ever created and were trailblazers in the card industry.

03-24-2023, 11:30 PM	#108
golakers32 Member Join Date: Feb 2021 Posts: 325	Kudos on a fun thread. These cards are awesome.

03-25-2023, 10:06 AM	#111
88horsepower Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Somewhere In Time Posts: 23,657	Man, do I miss Toys R Us. I spent so much of my childhood going through their aisles picking out my favorite toys from Star Wars, Transformers, G.I. Joe, M.A.S.K., M.U.S.C.L.E., and Go-Bots. It was a special place and any time our parents brought us there, you just knew life was going to be great that day. For those of us in the card world back in the late 80s and early 90s, it was also a great place to pick up some truly awesome baseball cards sets, the best of which, in my opinion, are Toys R Us Rookies. Every year from 1987 to 1991, Toys R Us released a set that featured 33 of that season's rookies. These sets were absolutely loaded with great players and they also make for some of the toughest cards to sub to PSA from this era. The 1987 set is especially challenging due to the black borders. All five sets from 1987 to 1991 were packaged in small, boxed sets with no cellophane wrapping keeping the cards from banging around in the boxes. Dings and edge issues are a frequent issue, but nothing compared to the issues on the surface. Because of the ultra-high glossy surface, little bubbles underneath the surface of the card are very frequent and make for a major obstacle for the would-be PSA submitter. Trust me, I would know. 1987's sets features some really big names like Barry Bonds, Will Clark, Jose Canseco, Bo Jackson, and Barry Larkin. It also has some great players who many of us collected from that period including; Wally Joyner, John Kruk, Kevin Mitchell, Todd Worrell, Cory Snyder, Pete Incaviglia, Danny Tartabull, Robby Thompson, Kal Daniels, Ruben Sierra and more. The 1988 set looks similar to the 1987 set except for the color scheme. One of the things I really like about each set is that they kept the design the same and only changed the color to differentiate it from other sets in the line. The 1988 set doesn't have the same star power as the 1987 set but it does feature our latest Hall of Famer, Fred McGriff. Additionally, Mark McGwire, Kevin Seitzer, and Matt Nokes, our three top vote-getters for AL Rookie of the Year, were in this set along with Mike Greenwell, Ellis Burks, Benito Santiago, Terry Steinbach, Randy Myers, David Cone, Devon White, Ken Caminiti, and B.J. Surhoff. 1989's set has a yellow/gold border and is probably the least star-heavy set of the group, but it does have some Hall of Fame power with Roberto Alomar as the first card in the set of 33. Both 1988 Rookie of the Year winners, Chris Sabo and Walt Weiss, are in this set. Two of the more desirable cards are Gary Sheffield and Gregg Jefferies, who are also in the 1990 set. Braves slugger Ron Gant, future Cy Young winner Jack McDowell, former Yankees Roberto Kelly and Jay Buhner, and 90s hit leader Mark Grace round out the lineup. The 1990 set is a very desirable set among collectors. The red-bordered set is led by the one any only Ken Griffey Jr., who commands $150-$200 in Gem Mint condition. I've had the most luck subbing cards from this set for some reason and have more 10s from this set than perhaps any other. Jim Abbott, Tom Gordon, Ramon Martinez, Gregg Olson, Andy Benes, Jerome Walton, Dwight Smith, and Kenny Rogers are all in this set. You also get a pre-Albert "Joey" Belle card in this set, which is a neat oddity in that he changed his name to Albert just after this set hit the shelves. Todd Zeile, Greg Vaughn and Robin Ventura are in this set and are three players who also received cards in the 1991 set a year later. Which brings us to the final set of the five I'm featuring here. The 1991 set is perhaps the toughest set of all five to get Gem grades on. Not only does it suffer from the same issues as the 1987 black-bordered set, but it has a wrinkle you need to keep in mind when subbing to PSA. The backs of these cards often feature micro-fractures on the surfaces that are hard to detect with the naked eye. In the process of manufacturing these cards, the high-gloss coating combined with the more traditional cardboard backing hasn't aged well and creates tiny creases and cracks on the backs that will instantly drop the grades to 6s or worse. In fact, if you look on the PSA Pop Report, you'll notice that it has the highest rate of PSA 6 or below grades of any set of the five mentioned, with a staggering 113 of the 412 total submitted earning grades of PSA 6 or below. The Big Hurt, Frank Thomas, is the top player in the set, along with fellow Hall of Famer Larry Walker. Expos teammates Delino DeShields and Marquis Grissom are also in the set, as are Carlos Baerga, Jose Offerman, Steve Avery, Travis Fryman, Sandy Alomar, Kevin Maas, and Ben McDonald.

03-25-2023, 06:24 PM	#112
ScooterD Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Naples, FL Posts: 5,304	Been sitting on these for 30+ years. Wanna have some fun?

03-27-2023, 09:44 AM	#117
88horsepower Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Somewhere In Time Posts: 23,657	I was doing some light reading about Vince Coleman this past week and it really had me thinking about how underused the stolen base is these days. Coleman stole a staggering 752 bases for his career, which places him 6th all-time in baseball history. Coleman also led the National League in stolen bases six consecutive times from 1985-1990 - all while playing for the Cardinals. These days the stolen base just doesn't seem to be a part of the game all that much. Jn 2022, the league leader in stolen bases was Miami's Jon Berti, who stole a paltry 41 bases. Coleman stole 41 or more bases eight times in his 13-year career. I subbed his first ever minor league card from 1984 Louisville and scored a PSA 10. I can't tell you how pumped I was getting this one back from PSA a few months ago. Not to be outdone, but right around the same time I scored the PSA 10 on his minor league debut, I was able to capture his best card - a 1985 Topps Traded Tiffany XRC which is extremely low pop with just three in existence.

03-28-2023, 09:12 AM	#120
88horsepower Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Somewhere In Time Posts: 23,657	I don't know about you guys, but I miss Upper Deck making professionally licensed cards across all major sports. They just did it so well and made some of the greatest cards in the history of the hobby. 1993 marks the first year they made a super glossy set which doesn't bode well for those of us that like to sub cards. The glossy surfaces on the fronts and backs make for lots of surface-related issues and many of the unopened packs and factory sets are now bricked together, making gem mint copies from this set much harder to come by. This is especially true for the Series I Star Rookies that also have these gorgeous but rather fragile black borders. Every single imperfection sticks out like a sore thumb, so when you see even so much as a PSA 9 from this set, it's a good find. I was lucky enough to get a few 10s from the Series I Star Rookie subset and have those on display here. I have to say, despite the fact that he wasn't a big star, I have a soft spot for that Nigel Wilson card and hope to get a David Nied (Rockies) card to match it.