Best Stadium Club set

 This was a hard one. I think all of these from 91-94 were gorgeous but if I had to go with one it's be 93. I collected them every year I believe (except 94) But the pictures were some of the best in the business. 

And even in later years they continued to churn out quality cards that I've seen and loved. 

This was fun. But now I'm done. Moving on to other topics!

Have a good weekend folks!

Best Triple Play Set

 I almost forgot about this one until the last minute but this was Donruss "bargain" cards, made and sold on the cheap. 

I collected a few of them back in 93 (which I almost picked as the winner) but getting a good look at 94 I think it's fair to say this set wins out. 

See what I mean? Why couldn't Score come up with something HALF as decent as this??

Best Score set

This was a hard one because Score was the WORST every year. 

94 was the only one I can say doesn't look hideous. It only DOESN'T look as bad as any of the other sets. 

Seriously, what was this company thinking? There was NO designs here to celebrate or appreciate. What a waste of cardboard!
 

Best Pinnacle Set

 I never collected Pinnacle ever but looking through the years when I was collecting, the only one that shines is the 94 set. Still, I don't think its the best of 94 but it's not too bad looking. 

If I had to pick one year though, it'd be this set. 

Best Upper Deck

 There were a lot of years people loved this publisher. But for me 1993 reigns supreme! I collected this set as well making me wonder if 1993 was the "biggest" year for baseball cards for me.

This slick design and great photos just sings to any collector. The 89-92 designs looked so similar that this is the one set that stood apart from all the others at the time.  

Best Leaf set

 Oh my lanta! 

When I was looking up these cards I couldn't believe I'd forgotten about this set!!! Just like Fleer Ultra, this set has many memories for me when I was collecting it. 

Such an amazing design! I collected Leaf in 91 and 92 but it was the 1993 set that takes the cake!

Best Donruss Studio

 Told you I'd come back to this. 

in 1991 these were THE nicest cards out on the market. When I first saw them, I fell in love with them. SO good looking!

So unique too. Really, if you have the time look up this set online. Some really great photos of each player. This was a small set to collect as well, which was good. Not many packs needed to complete a set!

Best Fleer Flair

 In it's rookie year (1993) Flair never got better! I collected a few of these cards but they were hard to get. The packs were expensive, you only got 5 cards and they were made of thick cardboard that took up your entire sleeve in your book. 

If I had the money I would've collected them all back in the day. I love the "all picture", no borders look with a portrait of the player off to the side. 

Best Fleer Ultra

 92 was a lovely design! I collected the entire set back in the day and LOVED the look of these cards. Looking at them today I remember the excitement I'd get opening a pack or looking through commons to complete my set. 

Good times!

Best Bowman Cards

 The 92 set was notoriously popular back in the day and I actually enjoyed them. I remember my dad collected an entite set back in the day that was mad expensive (back in the day) and is worth not much now. 

Bowman focused on a lot of rookies and prospects which was a boon for them when it came to giving collectors something different. 

Best Baseball Cards 1994

 Fleer wins the final year I collected cards. This was the set that ended it all....well the baseball strike ended it for me, but this was the last cards I ever collected. 

It's a nice set and over the 9 years I collected cards Fleer and Topps tied at 4 and Donruss only had 1. 

Next week I talk about the "best" from all the other publishers between 86-94. 

Have a good weekend folks!

Best Baseball Cards 1993

The only year Donruss won for me. (spoilers for 1994 I guess) And it wasn't by default. This truly is a beautiful set. Before doing this, I'd forgotten how wonderful this set looked. 

All this almost makes me miss collecting. Too bad Topps sucks as a company or I'd jumped back into it in a heartbeat!
 

Best Baseball Cards 1992

 I LOVED this Fleer set! I don't know why, but it's still one of the best looking sets from Fleer. The Update set sold for $400 at one point and I made the terrible mistake of holding on to my extra copy when I should've sold it but back then everyone thought there'd be $$$ the longer you kept it. 

They also had some artwork cards that were wonderful. Beautiful set!

Best Baseball Cards 1991

Topps. 

Though there was a MUCH nicer set that came out this year it wasn't Donruss, Fleer or Topps so I couldn't count it this year. I'll discuss that one in another post!

But a lot of people loved their 40th edition. I too bought not only the set but the "mini-set" with the special "gold" cards included. 

It was supposed to be a huge investment back in the day but the value has DROPPED over the years to UNDER retail price....retail prices from 1991 that is. 

Yikes. Boring set, but it wins the year because Donruss and Fleer were WORSE.  

Best Baseball Cards 1990

 Thank goodness for Fleer or this year would've been a complete bust. In what could be describe the ugliest year EVER (yes, even worse than 1988) this series, which would be mediocre any other year, SHINES in the year 1990. 

Way to go Fleer!

Best Baseball Cards 1989

 

Topps not only wins but this is one of the better designs for the publisher as a whole. I really loved this series. Good card design and pictures of all the players. 

Which is how I'm judging these each year. 

Best Baseball Cards 1988

 This was not a good year for baseball cards. None of them are that good so this one wins by default. I did get a complete set of this Topps set but it's got to be one of the worst in my collection. 

I should also mention I'm only judging between Topps, Fleer and Donruss through these years since they were around for each one. 

I'll go back through all the other publishers and give my "best of" later. 

Best Baseball Cards 1987

 Fleer won the year for me even though I bought Donruss that year. Looking back, it was a mistake. Fleer just made a prettier set is all there is to it. 

I had a bunch of these cards back in the day but never had a complete set. I regret that now.

Best Baseball Cards 1986

 Today I'd like to start a new series about the best baseball cards for each year that I collected them. Those dates would be from 1986-1994. 

My brother and i sat around on vacation making up this list and I had a grand time so I thought I'd make post about it!

Starting with 1986 it's my first and favorite set of all time!

The Topps set is classic for me. I spent hours fawning over each card in my set. I know recently they used the design for today's players and I'd love to get them all someday....just that's its extremely expensive to get and I couldn't justify spending that type of money right now. 

Happy Labor Day

 Or should we call it as it is? 

Happy Monday Off!

Neverending Story Novel Review

 I've been wanting to read the actual story ever since I'd heard the movie was based off it. 

The first half of the book is very similar to the movie and the movie was smart not to cover the 2nd half of the book, which is a mess. 

Basically Bastion (who's a fat kid) has all these weird one off "adventures" where he wishes something, it comes true. He deals with it and moves on to the next wish. 

None of it is intriguing and though Neverending Story II is loosely based off the 2nd half but Hollywood tried their best to shine up that turd. 

Overall, I wouldn't suggest people read it. Sadly the author's creativity ends midway through the book when he gives the childlike empress her name....Moon Child. 

After that, you can put down the book and stop reading.  

Remember when Music Videos were something to get excited about?

 Just thinking about this the other day but there was a time where you'd sit in front of the TV in hopes of seeing one of your favorite music videos on MTV.

Thanks to YouTube there's no need these days for it but still, it's interesting (just like songs on the radio) how that used to work. 

I even remember when "countdowns" to the newest video were a thing. They'd have a timer at the bottom of the screen and you'd check in every so often to see how much time was left. 

Crazy times!