Barry Larkin Collection 1,068: 1988 Score - #72 - Promo

Barry Larkin

Year:  1988

Brand:  Score

Card number:  72 (Promo)

Every player collector out there will probably tell you that their personal player of choice has a few difficult cards to find.  For Barry Larkin collectors, one such tricky card to find is the 1988 Score promo card.  The reasons why this card is so difficult to track down include the fact that it was a promo card that as sent out to dealers only but also because at first glance it looks like your average, run-of-the-mill 1988 Score card.  It's only when you compare it to Barry's actual 1988 Score card that you realize the bright green border is a giveaway (Barry's regular card has a purple border instead)!  Another less obvious giveaway is the 1987 stat line on the back of the card - notice all the zeros for Barry's 1987 season that hadn't occurred yet!

According to the checklist on Trading Card Database, there were eight different players featured in the promotional "set."  The full checklist:

1. Don Mattingly

6.  Kevin Seitzer

30.  Mark Langston

48.  Tony Pena

71.  Keith Moreland

72.  Barry Larkin

121.  Dennis Boyd

145.  Denny Walling

A quick look at the eight names and you can imagine that plenty of dealers might have simply thrown away their Score promo cards.  In fact, other than Mattingly and Larkin, the list is mostly a collection of "who?" and "why?" type players.  

As it stands, the 1988 Score promo card was the last Barry Larkin card that I needed from 1988!  As far as I am concerned, I now own all of Barry's baseball cards from 1986 through 1988 and I'm only six cards away from completing his run of 1989 cards!  Once again, a player collector's work is never done...it's simply on to the next difficult card to track down.