Trade with John

John contacted me via email wanting to trade some Phillies. He's got a Phillies want list posted here. I sent him some 2006 and 2008 Phillies for some early 1990s vintage Phillies. Here's what I got:

1992 Ruben Amaro Stadium Club #8701992 was Ruben's 2nd year in the majors and his first with the Phillies. This is a rookie card. He played for the Phillies in 1992-1993 and again in 1996-1998. His father, Ruben Sr., played for the Phillies in the 1960s. Today Ruben is the Phillies General Manager. This is a great card if you like Phillies red (which I do).

1993 Mariano Duncan Topps Gold #371
Duncan played for the Phillies from 1992 through 1994 and was a big part of the 1993 team which went to the World Series. Topps pioneered the use of gold foil on a base set with the 1991 Stadium Club set. In 1992, Topps introduced Topps Gold as an insert set. In 1993, Topps Gold cards were inserted 1 per wax pack.

1993 Kyle Abbott Topps Gold 317
This was the second year that the Topps base set was printed on white card stock. In 1993, Topps radically changed the design of the backs of the cards, putting in a color photo and printing the backs in a vertical orientation. In 1993, these card backs were quite innovative for Topps and I always liked them.

1993 Mickey Morandini Topps Gold #263
I like this card because it shows Morandini in a blue cap. This photo would have been at a Phillies home game in 1992. If I remember correctly, the Phillies introduced the blue caps for Sunday home games. This experiment didn't last long. The Phillies, who weren't very good in 1992, lost a bunch of games wearing the blue caps and the players and fans started thinking they were bad luck.

1994 Kevin Stocker Donruss #245
Donruss started using gold foil in their regular issue base set in 1994. They also had a Special Edition parallel set (one per pack) which featured gold foil on the entire box with the logo and the background of the player's name.

1994 Danny Jackson Topps Gold #199
Danny looks like he's pitching in front of a green screen but it's just the outfield wall of Vet Stadium. This would be the last year for Topps Gold until 2001. In 1995, Topps started with gold foil on its regular issue cards. In 2001, Topps would introduce gold foil borders as limited edition (and serial numbered) cards.