1991 Classic/Best Gold Bonus

Set size: 20 cards

Front Design: The white-bordered cards have a dashed line leading from the Classic/Best logo in the upper left corner to the player's name, in gold foil at the bottom. In the bottom border is the team name and player's position.

Back Design: The backs have a thin black frame and the player's major league affiliate logo as a background. The top row has the card number (BC prefix), the player's name in a red oval, and position. Following are the player's biographical stats, prior professional statistics, and information on how the player was acquired. The bottom of the vertical cards have the Classic/Best logo, MLB logo, and minor league team logo.

Parallels and Similars: This set is in the same design as the regular 1991 Classic/Best set.

Distribution: Cards were inserted one per jumbo pack of the Classic/Best minor league full set.

Thoughts: In 1991, only a few sets had gold foil: Stadium Club was the first major issue full set, and the Desert Storm parallel of Topps' flagship issue had a gold foil stamp. 1991 Leaf had an insert with gold foil, and a few of the 1991 Bowman cards had a small gold foil stamp. So this set ranks up there with some of the more "innovative" issues of the year. There are some players in the set that became successful at the major league level, including Ivan Rodriguez, Jim Thome, and Arthur Rhodes. Mike Schmidt, hardly a minor leaguer, is card number 1 in the set.

Tales of the Unknown: 1991 Playball Ken Griffey Jr.

Set size: Beckett lists 50, but it looks like the set might go into the 60s. It also appears that while Playball may have manufactured 66 or more cards, those cards are most likely distributed between other players (see below).

Front Design: Designs through the set differ, though several use the design seen here: a full bleed color photo with a two-tone bar at the bottom listing the player and team. Most cards also have a matching bar across the top identifying this as a Playball set in varying sizes. The cards I found that number in the 60s are usually identified as promos and contain a colored border around the card.

Back Design: The backs are very plain, with Griffey's name, team, and the year of issue in large print. The MLB and Mariners logos fill the bottom half of the card.

Parallels and Similars: It seems that a glossy version of the set was released in limited numbers (15,000?) and serial numbered on the back; the glossies may be identified by a line of text in place of the card number. The glossies might also have a holofoil border, but my sample size is too small to determine if this is consistent throughout. The promos mentioned above are identified on the back with a line of text between the year and card number.

Distribution: Cards would have been released through hobby channels, most likely sold as complete player sets to dealers who would then sell the sets at shows and card shops. As mentioned above, the entire "set" containing several players appears to number around 66 (plus unnumbered promos). Identified players include Griffey, Don Mattingly, Will Clark, and Darryl Strawberry, and numbering is spotty at best. It is entirely possible only 40 regular cards, plus glossy and/or gold issues of 26 cards, were released. This could hint that two players were eliminated from the release for whatever reason - the Mattingly gold cards appear to be numbered 4 and 5, and the Griffey glossies seem to be numbered in the 60s.

Thoughts: This release is quite complicated for such a minor issue in the overproduction era. I may have to go through some even deeper research to fully determine what card numbers exist for what players, and in what format. If a bit more thought was put into the back of the card, Playball's issue could have been good competition for Star, if such a thing was necessary. The individual player set never really caught on, though I wonder if it might today - there seem to be more player collectors than set collectors, and a well-developed series of player issues might do well. It's already looking like some manufacturers are moving that way - after the success of sets featuring artists like KISS and Michael Jackson, Pete Rose has his own issue, and Leaf Metal sales might be driven almost entirely by the chase for an Ichiro autograph.

1991 Score American Flag

Card #737

1991 Homers Cookies Classics

Set size: 9 cards

Front Design: The white bordered cards contain a sepia photo of the player inside a bronze frame; a box in the lower left corner contains his name in white capital letters.

Back Design: The black-ink-on-white backs have the player's name, date of Hall of Fame induction, lifetime statistics, and a collection of career highlights. The complete checklist and Homers Classics logo appears at the bottom.

Parallels and Similars: none known

Distribution: One card was inserted into each box of Homers Cookies.

Thoughts: The set is very plain in its design, and looks like card layout was an afterthought. On the other hand, the checklist contains a good selection of Hall of Famers, and kids opening the cookies in 1991 would receive a little bit of baseball history with their sugar rush. At only 9 cards, it's an easy set to complete, but only if you have an emotional attachment to the cookies or like all nine players.

Additional Images: card back:

1991-92 Pro Cards Tomorrow's Heroes

Set size: 26 cards

Front Design: A player photo appears in a white diamond-shaped box, surrounded by small gray diamonds at the top and silver foil diamonds below over a pink background. The player's name, position, and team name appear in a red banner at the bottom while the ProCards logo is at the top.

Back Design: The backs contain the player's name and position in a red box at the top, followed by team details, vital statistics, and career minor league statistics.

Parallels and Similars: I'm not aware of any, though they may exist.

Distribution: Cards were sold in 12-card packs, and the set was fairly limited (Beckett reports 1009 cases).

Thoughts: Poor Chad Curtis needs some sunglasses after sitting in the clubhouse playing Super Mario Brothers for several hours. The use of foil is fairly new for baseball card sets at the time this card was released, though the design is fairly basic. It is much more attractive than the ProCards notebook set design. I suppose they wanted to go all-out for this limited edition set featuring the best of the minor leagues?

Thank you, Jason, for your help (see comments).

Additional Images: card back:

1991 Front Row Draft Picks

Set size: 50 cards

Front Design: A color photo sits inside a thin black border. The Front Row logo appears in the upper right, and a shadowed diamond identifies the player as a '91 Draft Pick. The player's name and position appear beneath the photo in the gray card border.

Back Design: The backs are a bit more attractive than the front. The player's full name is at the top left in a green box, while a second color photo is in the top right. The light-gray remainder of the backs contain vitals and high school/college statistics and a highlights paragraph.

Parallels and Similars: Gold and silver parallel sets exist.

Distribution: Cards were distributed in "complete" set form, containing cards 1-49, a serial-numbered certificate of authenticity (240,000 sets were produced), and a bonus card. The bonus card could be redeemed for card numbers 50-54 (51-54 were "update" cards) and one card from a separate bonus set.

Thoughts: The overall design quality of this set is on par with what a teenager could make in Microsoft Publisher in a few minutes. Front Row must have secured individual licenses with the players (as they did with Griffey Jr.). An unexpected bonus of this set may be the ability to see the players in amateur uniforms on high school or college fields.


Additional Images: card back

1991 Fleer Pro-Visions

Set size: 12+4 standard-sized cards

Front Design: These black-bordered cards feature artwork by Terry Smith. The player's strengths are accented in the artwork - McGwire above was known as a member of the Bash Brothers and this card shows him with larger-than-life arms. Jose Canseco's bat is being struck by lightning, while Dwight Gooden's glove is on fire. The art is surrounded by a black border; the player's name appears in yellow in the bottom border.

Back Design: The team-color coordinated, vertical backs contain the player's name and vital statistics, along with a lengthy biography relating to the art on the front. The card number and copyright information appears on the bottom.

Parallels and Similars: The Pro-Visions line continued for several years following this set, and look similar. The art was used in other baseball items, such as postcards issued by Barry Colla. An additional four-card set with F prefixed card numbers and white borders was released in factory sets.

Distribution: Black-bordered cards were randomly inserted in packs, with the white-bordered cards included with factory sets.

Thoughts: The Pro-Visions line is one of my favorite insert series, and I have complete sets from every baseball issue in my TCIC collection. Being issued in the height of overproduction, the cards are easy to pick up cheap, and the artwork is attractive and creative. There have been many full-issue sets that came after Pro-Visions that tried to copy its appeal and failed.

Additional Images: Card back: