It was bound to happen sooner or later. Major League players on actual playing cards. These were really popular in the early nineties. Then, after a few years, they seemed to disappear altogether.I'd certainly be interested in seeing current Major League players on playing cards. For that matter, I'd also be interested in old school players in the same format. I suppose this is one of those ideas that was keen in the nineties, but ultimately has no place in today's society.
I can chalk it up as an oddity of the time, but I have a feeling that somewhere, somehow these cards will be resurrected in the near future. There doesn't seem to be as many oddball releases currently. Everything seems to be based on an insert today. No originality. Even the cards that Topps bestowed on Pepsi in 2007 looked just like the flagship release.
As you can see in the example, Griffey Jr. was popular enough to warrant the jack of spades. A face card for a rookie seems unbelievable. Yet, there he is. This release had all the names of the day. It even had Greg Olson and Gregg Olson! Then you get into Jeff Brantley, Neal Heaton and Brook Jacoby. They don't exactly spark any memories for me, but I'm sure they do if they played on your team.
What early nineties set would be complete without Bob Welch? Well, it wouldn't be complete without the 27 game winner. A feat he never came remotely close to again. In fact, he never got past 17 wins before that. After that magical season, he only managed to hit 12 wins... once.
I keep getting beat up playing cards in trades. I think they are a unique product of the early nineties. I know that it's not an original idea, but it seemed to culminate around this period. There always seemed to be a steady stream of MLB playing cards around 1991. As time moves on, this may be the only card that really retains some value from 1990. Everything else was too mass produced to be worth anything but sentimental value. These cards were meant to be played. Maybe that will be the saving grace in the future.
7 comments:
There are semi-modern UNO decks available for many major league teams (the most obvious ones any way), and I remember seeing a National League UNO deck at Toys R Us last year around the holidays.
I love these cards. You can get caricature sets of many teams from here: http://www.baseballpilgrimages.com/pokercards.html
I think i posted my set of Indians cards on here before. If not, I know what my next TDTC post will be!
I wasn't aware of the UNO decks. I'll check them out.
I definitely had a few MLB card decks in the early 90s. I used to hope I was put on a King when I made the pros...
Great memory! Thanks for sharing!
i actually have some playing cards with baseball cards from the last 60's/early 70's.
I know they've been made periodically over the years, but I can never track down years except for the early nineties ones. Thanks for the heads up! I'll be on the lookout for late 60s/early 70s ezamples.
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