Baseball Card Evolution - 1993

Check my Theory of Baseball Card Evolution so you know what I'm talking about.

Bowman - Stage 4

Donruss - Stage 3

Fleer - Stage 3

Score - Stage 3

Topps - Stage 3

Upper Deck - Stage 4

This last card reminded me of this.

1994 Bowman - Ryan Klesko

A quick break from all the evolution posts.

I always like when the photo on the back of the card is a continuation of the play on the front. Take this Ryan Klesko card for example.

That's Darrin Fletcher of the Expos getting the worst of a collision with Ryan Klesko. Klesko's batting helmet is flying. Someday I'm going to do a post just featuring flying hats and helmets.

In this case, the front photo is actually a continuation of the play from the back.

Klesko gets it in the kisser which is what knocked his helmet off. You can clearly see that Fletcher has the ball in his right hand. I wonder if he managed to get the tag. I'd guess not since he's falling away from Klesko on the front photo. We can't see where the plate is, so it's tough to call from just these two photos.

Of course, today, I think this situation would be against the rules. Maybe that's another post, great plate collisions. We won't be seeing any more cards featuring such a thing.

Card Evolution - 1992

Here's how cards from 1992 stack up on the evolutionary scale.

Bowman - Stage 4

Donruss - Stage 3

Fleer - Stage 3

Score - Stage 3

Topps - Stage 3

Upper Deck - Stage 3

Card Evolution 1991

Here are the 1991 versions of the six brands I tracked through the 1990s and how they stack up on the evolutionary scale.

Bowman - Stage 1

Donruss - Stage 2

 Fleer - Stage 3

Score - Stage 3

Topps - Stage 2

Upper Deck - Stage 3

Card Evolution 1990

It occurred to me while I was doing my series on card brand evolution in the 1990s, that I could have approached it in a different way by showing in each post, a card from each year from the 5 brands. So if you can stand to see some more 1990s cards, I'm going to do that. I'll try to pick a card of the same player from each brand if I can. Let's see how 1990 cards fall on the evolutionary scale.

Bowman - Stage 1

Donruss - Stage 2

Fleer - Stage 2

Score - Stage 3

Topps - Stage 1

Upper Deck - Stage 3