1990 Fleer Canadian Phillies

A reader in Canada recently emailed with a list of Phillies cards I might be interested in. He had a 1992 O-Pee-Chee Phillies card I needed and a set of 1990 Fleer Canadian Phillies. I sent him back a mess of Expos and Blue Jay cards.

As near as I can tell, 1990 was the only year that Fleer tried to break the handle that Topps (with O-Pee-Chee) and Donruss (with Leaf) had on the lucrative Canadian baseball card market. Although the cards were accurately described to me, I was still a bit disappointed in the Fleer Canadian cards.

Look as hard as you want, there's no French on the cards. Part of the charm of O-Pee-Chee cards to me, is that the English text on the back of the Topps design was translated into French. The only real difference between this card and the American printed card is in the copyright line on the back of the cards. The American cards say

FLEER CORP., PHILA. 19141 PRINTED IN USA

For all I know I already have some of these cards picked up in repacks.

The cards are also a bit darker than the American printed cards, but within the usual card-to-card variation you generally saw in those days.

I have the entire set of the American version except for one card.

At least I now have the Canadian version.