Sunday, July 18, 2010

1988 Score Baseball

First, let me say that I recently found this blog, loved the idea and was happy to be given the opportunity to contribute. I have been collecting for over 25 years, and remember when a lot of the packs on this site were newly released. In February of this year I launched my own website www.SportsCardKids.com and in acquiring cards for the site managed to pick up various packs of "junk wax". I'm hoping to be able to contribute often to this blog, while taking a trip down memory lane as I bust each pack! Now on to the 1988 Score!


This was the first card set released by Score, and even at the time, was a rather forgettable set for me. The only real innovation it offered was the use of plastic packs, rather than the normal wax-sealed packs. While this was great for preserving the quality of the last card in the pack, it also made it nice and easy for pack searchers to see every card in the pack (although I don't know what in the heck they were looking for). Each pack contains 17 player cards and 1 Magic Motion Trivia card. Here's what my pack contained.

In '88 I would have been elated to pull an Ozzie Smith, as he was the center of all my collecting. Given that I now own at least 20 copies of this card, it's not quite the same feeling.

Really not much to say here.

Do you remember August 18, 1951? Me neither. According to the Magic Motion Trivia card, "Midget makes BB debut". 3' 7" Eddie Gaedel came to the plate for the St. Louis Browns wearing number 1/8 on his jersey and carrying a toy bat. Pitcher Bob Cain walked him on four pitches and Gaedel took his base. He was then replaced with a pinch runner to end his 1-at-bat career.

Lansford was a .290 lifetime hitter and was the starting 3rd baseman for the A's during their 3 consecutive World Series from '88-'90.

All 3 of these guys had long, and rather productive pitching careers. As a Cardinals fan, I remember Orosco facing St. Louis often when the Mets and Cards were in the old NL East.

And finally, the prized rookie of the pack ... Pete Stanicek! Playing in a total of 113 major league games, Stanicek finished his 2-year career following the 1988 season with a .243 career average.

I hope everyone enjoyed this oldie, and not so goodie, and be sure to check out my site, www.sportscardkids.com!

4 comments:

Jeremy said...

The Orosco card is cool. He looks like Gumby in his windup. Thanks for sharing this pack.

Matt Runyon said...

I like the early Score sets.

Jason Presley said...

This is still one of Score's best sets. Nearly every card had an action photo on front and they all had the head shots on the back so you could actually see what all the players looked like. They also had those great biographies on the back. No matter how obscure the player, as long as there was room on the card, they got the star treatment with regard to their bio.

And I really liked the trivia cards and they helped inject a piece of baseball history into every pack in a time when probably 90% of "collectors" couldn't have told you who Roger Maris was, much less Harvey Haddix or Bobby Thomson.

Community Gum said...

This set had a great traded set- Mark Grace, Craig Biggio and Roberto Alomar XRCs! The glossy versions are extra sweet!

-Andy