Random Cards of the Week

Card #13554
1988 Score #304 Paul O'Neill

This was Score's inaugural year. These early cards by Score are, I think, over-shadowed by 1989 Upper Deck but they did up the expected quality of a baseball card. They were printed on thicker white stock than Fleer or Donruss, and had generally better photography those and Topps. They were also the first regular issue cards to feature a color photo on the back. I always thought their card design was lacking.

Card #20149
1990 Star Reading Phillies #1 Sal Agostinelli

Star produced a lot of minor league sets in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The also produced some sets featuring major league players. They were cheaply made cards on thin white card stock. Sal was originally signed by the Cardinals in 1983 and spent the last few years of his 10-year minor league career in the Phillies system.

Card #1459
1998 Upper Deck 10th Anniversary Preview #31 Carlos Baerga

This was a 60-card set included as a 1:5 insert in 1998 Upper Deck. It's name pretty much describes it. The cards have design elements from the original 1989 Upper Deck with several 1990's developments such as Dufex printing and gold foil.

Card #21838
2000 Skybox Dominion #168 Doug Glanville

This was a 300-card set issued by Fleer/Skybox International. The glossy cards featured silver foil printing on the fronts (which were either horizontal or vertical). The card backs were all horizontal. There were a number of sets issued by Fleer/Skybox in 2000, either under the Fleer name or the Skybox name.

Card #873
1995 SP Silver #91 Curt Schilling

The silver parallel to the regular SP set, it featured holographic silver foil on the left edge instead of blue holographic foil. I managed to acquire the entire Phillies set on eBay last year. The silver parallels were inserted 1 per pack of SP. I like the back photo on this card. You don't see pitchers batting on baseball cards too often.

Card #15940
2003 Upper Deck Victory #53 Roberto Alomar

Upper Deck never seemed to know what to to with the Victory set. In 2003, it was a baseball card game. In my opinion, one of the least attractive cards ever issued. It also had rounded corners which I hate in a baseball card.

Card #2279
2003 Topps Gallery Originals Bat Relics #GO-AR Alex Rodriguez

These were randomly inserted into 2003 Topps Gallery at 1:15 packs. I bought this one on eBay for $4.83 in April 2004.

Card #1503
1999 Upper Deck #452 Carlton Loewer

Not one of my favorite Upper Deck issues. The black-lined silver foil along the edges always struck me as too heavy-handed. And for some reason, the blank box on the back below the player photo has always bothered me. How did a featureless white box end up as a design element?

Card #3678
2000 Black Diamond Reciprocal Cut #88 Rafael Palmeiro

Upper Deck produced the Black Diamond set in 1999 and 2000. This die-cut parallel was inserted at 1:7 in the 2000 set. It's an attractive card with a combination of silver gold and dufux foil on the front. I'm not sure which meaning of the work reciprocal they had in mind.

Card #1478
1999 Fleer Brilliants #26 Carlos Delgado

These were pretty pricey cards in 1999, $4.99 for a 5-card pack. I bought 4 packs. The cards are printed on heavy stock and have a shiny mirror finish in the fronts.  For some reason, I have many more of the blue parallel card than the regular card and for awhile I thought that the regular card was the parallel. The blue cards are nicer looking.