Ranking Baseball Cards: Stadium Club

 Beginning in 91 Topps upped their game and brought out a premium card to rival Upper Deck. Here is my ranking of it's 4 entries in the years I was collecting. 

4) 94 Stadium Club

Doesn't this one scream 90s to you?? This one was a break away from there previous designs and isn't bad, but all the ones that came prior were better. 

3) 93 Stadium Club

Fun fact. I never collected an entire set of these cards. Not because I didn't like them but that they were a little pricey to get. Some I got more than others, but never could get a complete set. 

2) 92 Stadium Club

As you can see, each design was slightly different from the one that came before it. It highlighted the photo more than the frame, which was fine by me. 

1) 91 Stadium Club

But it just so happens that the first set they ever came out with was the best! I have a lot more of the 91 and 92 cards than anything else. I remember when these came out and I was like "Why can't Topps cards look like this?" Really exquisite sets if you had them in your collection back in the day. 

Ranking Baseball Cards: Score

 Score it the stepchild of baseball cards. For the most part, they were ugly, cheap and no one ever wanted them. This was a hard list to put together only because there was so much ugly. They started in 88 during the craze and tried to find the laziest way to make cards without caring what they looked like. 

7) 91 Score

What a pick right? Sadly the designs on these cards are so ugly they distract from the photos taken within them.

6) 88 Score

Their first year making cards wasn't very impressive either. You can see why I ignored them for so long as a kid. 

5) 89 Score

As you see, they barely improved the next year. Though still ugly, it beats the previous two mentioned on this list. 

4) 92 Score

Mediocre was the goal with this company it appears. I remember the packs of cards always being super cheap and you could tell just by looking at them. Some real stinkers from this company.

3) 94 Score

They moved away from "ugly" and into "irrelevant. With a design so boring it's scream "playing it safe" on every card. 

2) 93 Score

Not a bad look. I can see what they were shooting for here but just didn't quite pull it off. It's like a girl you see a headshot of and think she's pretty only to meet her in person and realize, it was just a really nice pic and she's more middle of the road instead. 

1) 90 Score

Not really that it was a good looking set but it took risk and gave us classic cards like the one of Bo featured here. Believe it or not, out of all the years, this is the one I had the most of in my collection because I thought some of the cards looked unique and stood out. I never completed the set, but even today, I bet I could nab one for cheap online. 

Have a good weekend folks!

Ranking Baseball Cards: Leaf

Leaf was the Canadian version of Donruss that was just the same look with the name "LEAF" on the top. But beginning in 1990 they broke out on there own and began to shine!

5) 92 Leaf

Easily the worst of the bunch. Such a drab look. Their theme for the first few years was gray, but this one had no imagination in its design. 

4) 91 Leaf

Better than the 92 version but still a little lacking in character. I just wish there was a little more to it. 

3) 90 Leaf

This was the card that I first took notice of. I wouldn't collected the entire set in 1990 but back then these cards were hard to find in the states. They were easier to find in 91 because Leaf expanded to the US. But the 90s wee always hard to get and thanks to the Frank Thomas rookie card, the packs were expensive. (I have this card by the way, love me some Frank!)

2) 94 Leaf

Nice looking set. I love when the color on the card matches the team. Always a winning formula for me. 

1) 93 Leaf

A carbon copy of what Fleer Ultra was doing in the same year but with the Leaf stamp on the bottom. I'm not sure if I collected a set of them as I did the Fleer Ultra that same year. But they sure were pretty!

Ranking Baseball Cards: Upper Deck

 Today I'm going through Upper Deck. Which upped the game in the hobby the moment they came out. And really pushed the quality for cards across the market when they came out. They began in 1989, so again this will be a shorter list than before. 

6) 90 Upper Deck

Just blame "blah". As cards went in 1990, this is actually one of the best. But in the overall scheme of things, it ranks last on this list. 

5) 94 Upper Deck

Wow. How ugly. It's like the company as a whole took a giant step backwards in their look over the years. The only redeeming factor about these is the picture. Other than that, blah. 

4) 91 Upper Deck

Really nice looking set. And yes, that's Micheal Jordan. He never made it to the majors, this was his AA team but Upper Deck made cards for every year he was in the sport, because, HEY it's MJ! His cards were going to sell no matter what. 

3) 89 Upper Deck

The original set was always my Dad's favorite. I remember him seeing these cards for the first time after the 1990 version came out and he collected both sets. To him, this was the best looking one of the bunch. I almost agree. 

2) 92 Upper Deck

Though Upper Deck was always good quality, these shown to me like (almost) none of the others did. I also liked the matching color scheme on each card to its own team. Chic. 

1) 93 Upper Deck

Both nothing compares with the masterpiece that was 1992. On it. Again, the color scheme matching the teams colors is excellent. Plus giving the picture room to breath made this one an easy pick for my favorite. Not really sure why I didn't collect this set. It's beautiful! Even better than the Donruss set I was collecting that year. I missed out!

Ranking Baseball Cards: Bowman

This is a shorter list, because Bowman didn't really start making their own unique cards back in my day until 1989. 

6) 89 Bowman

Not a bad looking card. Plain, sure. But I like how they have the fake signature on the card. Only problem is, you may not be able to understand some of the names here and there. But overall, it works. 

5) 91 Bowman

Like the previous one I spoke about. Plain but not ugly. It's amazing that they beat out everyone else in style this year save Topps. 

4) 90 Bowman

I like the rainbow border. Cards look a little more exciting than the previous of former years. 

3) 93 Bowman

A little bit fancier but still these look plain. Which is why they all landed lower on the list. 

2) 92 Bowman

For me, this is where Bowman starting making its mark in the industry. I remember we all loved this set. Dad actually completed a full collection. But due to their being a lot more cards to collect, none of us ever gave the effort to complete one ourselves. I remember never hearing about Bowman until then and going back and looking at some of their former years. But nothing (at the time) compared to the beautiful look of these. 

1) 94 Bowman

Wow! 94 must have been a better year for baseball cards than I remembered! I love this look too! I still think I would choose both Fleer and Donruss over this design, yet once again, Bowman beats Topps for the year as well. 

Ranking Baseball Cards: Donruss

 This one is harder than I thought it would be. So many bad ones. But here goes. 

9) 88 Donruss

Horrible set. Vomit ugly. I hope they fired the person at Donruss who thought this was a good idea. 

8) 86 Donruss

What can I say? 1986 wasn't the best year for baseball card designs I suppose. 

7) 91 Donruss

As I look through these cards I wonder "Did anyone at Donruss even care??"

6) 90 Donruss

These were SO terrible. But thanks to all the other terrible designs, this nightmare actual moved up the list. 

5) 89 Donruss

A massive abomination that at least had a splash of color in them. All of these cards were paper thin and weren't worth the money it took to print. 

4) 87 Donruss

This isn't the best looking set, but it was in 1987. It also turned out to be one of the better sets during my time collecting. Who knew??

3) 92 Donruss

I remember liking this set when it came out. I don't think I got an entire set but maybe one of my brothers did. 

2) 93 Donruss

Beautiful set. I think by this time Donruss was finally realizing who making a good looking card brought up sales. 

1) 94 Donruss

Wow. If it wasn't for Fleer that year, I would've picked this over Topps as well! I didn't realize how Donruss was the crap of the industry until the 90s started picking up. This set look amazing!

Ranking Baseball Cards: Fleer

 Alright, time to tackle the Worst and Best of Fleer! We kick off discussing the worst of the bunch!

9) 91 Fleer

A complete eye sore to gaze upon. These of some of the ugliest cards I think they ever produced. All yellow and devoid of character. 

8) 89 Fleer

Another dreadful set. Nothing screams plain corporate than a dreary background that these were given. Horrible. 

7) 86 Fleer

I'll just say this, if Dad had bought us boxes of Fleer to open for Christmas, I don't think I would've been in the hobby. BO-RING.

6) 88 Fleer

Like I said in an earlier post, this may have been the best design in its year but that certainly doesn't mean it was the best overall. 

5) 93 Fleer

I remember getting these back in the day. Some of them came with gold borders which added to their value. But overall, they really didn't look that good. 

4) 87 Fleer

Decent looking set. Not bad. We're still at the "ho-hum" version of these cards in my opinion. Fleer, didn't have many "winners" in the time I was collecting.

3) 90 Fleer

This is a step above the rest thanks to the color pallets used around the borders but still is in the "medium" area. Not top tier. 

2) 94 Fleer

Here we go. Top tier card. Leagues above the rest  that were previously mentioned. This is a superb looking set. 

 

1) 92 Fleer

But it still doesn't beat my favorite set of them all. I STILL think this entire set was gorgeous, which is why it's still my #1 fav!