1991 Upper Deck Baseball

Okay, the Collective Troll is back for more pack ripping fun! My first offering of the weekend is the closest thing I have to a decent pack out of my junk wax pile. In fact I had seen these being sold for big bucks not too long ago. This is the set with Michael Jordan’s first baseball card which people went nuts over. I do have a copy and it is for trade, hint hint. This set also had a pretty decent crop of rookies in it. It has Chipper Jones, Jim Thome and Pedro Martinez and probably more that I am forgetting. It also has the Baseball Heroes subset. I THINK that was the first year for their awesome Baseball Heroes series. With this pack I also had a shot to pull an autographed and serial numbered card of Nolan Ryan, Harmon Killebrew, Gaylord Perry and Fergie Jenkins. These were super limited edition and numbered to 3000. Oh how things have changed… So anyway, I am talking about 1991 Upper Deck Baseball. A 15 card foil pack featuring licensed cards from MLB. The front offers that I will receive “One 3-D team logo hologram per pack. 15 baseball cards per pack. Random sequencing and a tamper proof pack.” Sweet. With my fingers tightly crossed with thoughts of pulling a Harmon Killebrew autograph I tore into the foil pack. This is part of the group break, so I wouldn’t get to keep the Killer auto for myself, but it sure would be sweet to pull one. Anyway, here is what I (we) got. First card up is #678 of Angels second baseman Johnny Ray. A quick flip shows a decent action shot on the back, I like. Ray is turning two on Brian McCrae. That is neat because at one time Ray and Brian McCrae both lived in my home town. Some call it Pirate City, the Friendly City or Bacon Towne, but it is officially called Bradenton, Florida. Represent!
With 15 cards to post I think I will keep card descriptions to a minimum from here on in… Card #615 of Reds pitcher Scott “Who?” Scudder. Card #581 of Blue Jays closer and 2 time World Champion Duane Ward. The 4th pitcher in a row that I pulled is card #503 of Royals pitcher Luis Aquino. Finally a non pitcher! Card #492 of Texas Rangers catcher Geno Petralli. Everything I have read about this guy makes him a Nitty Gritty All Star in my book. This is also the coolest looking card in the pack so far. The card looks like it is supposed to be orientated vertically, but I think it looks better horizontally showing the hard working backstop chasing down a fly ball into the stands. Next is card #432 of Twins outfielder Pedro Munoz. Card #400 is a checklist. Blah. #281 is White Sox pitcher Eric King. The righty from Oxnard was coming off a great year with the Sox where he went 12-4 in 25 starts. I think everyone will just remember King as the dude who dealt Ken Griffey Jr.’s first MLB homerun. Next is #112 of Reds second baseman Mariano Duncan. Duncan hit .306 and led the NL with 11 triples in 1990. Next came the promised 3D hologram sticker. This one is of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Next is card #347 of the 1991 AL MVP Cal Ripken. I love pulling cards of the Iron Man and I like the action shot on the back. #84 of Bucs first baseman Orlando Merced came next getting his home run trot on. #82 is a checklist for the 24 different Atlanta Braves card in the set. It has a Wells painting of Ron Gant on the front. Card #245 of the Dodgers newly acquired right fielder is next. Daryl Strawberry was an All Star for the last time his first season in Los Angeles. He hit 28 homers and drove in 99 runs in ’91, but that was the extent of his production in California. He was released by the Dodgers in ’94, picked up by the Giants and released a year later. He went to the St. Paul Saints from there and got back on track a little bit and signed on as the New York Yankees left handed designated hitter and won a couple of World Championships with them. I think I liked it better when card companies used press conference photos to try and get new players in their new uniform rather than photoshopping year old pictures with the new team's colors. The last card in the pack is #163 of Red Sox outfielder Tom Brunansky. I wonder if Brunansky could look less enthused on the front of the card. The back has a nice action shot though. I like Bruno as part of the ’87 Twins, but I bet the Red Sox weren’t happy trading TB straight up for Lee Smith in 1990 as he saved 40+ games the next 4 years. Okay, that is what I got. No Hall of Fame autographs, no Chipper rookies, no Michael Jordan or Jim Thome cards. Oh well. It was still a good rip. Many more to come. Unfortunately that was my only pack of ’91 Upper Deck. Thanks for reading. I love this hobby! Go Rays! Troll out.