Blog Bat Around: Junk Wax Cardboard Treasures

Recently, the Collective Mind published its take on a Blog Bat Around that's been making the rounds on the interwebs (other folks that have chimed in include Dime Box Nick who started it, plus Night Owl, and Fuji).  That's a veritable "who's who" among baseball card bloggers!

The basic idea of the Blog Bat Around is to discuss and/or rank your favorite (or least favorite) sets from the "junk wax" era of cards.  For argument's sake, I will define the "junk wax" era as the years from 1987 - 1994.  I wasn't collecting cards prior to 1987 so none of those sets will qualify and by the time 1995 rolled around companies were advertising inserts in every pack and all sorts of other nonsense that spoke more to the "collectible" aspect of cards and less to the "you'll find tons of packs of this crap in every grocery store for two years straight" of the early 90s!

With the sheer amount of junk wax sets out there, I decided to put my own spin on the Blog Bat Around concept and go with my favorite set from each of the junk wax years.

1987:  

My pick:  Topps

Yes, the wood grain borders have been beaten to death with all of Topps' reprints of recent years, but there is a reason why the set design is used over and over - it's that good!  Couple that with the fact that Barry Larkin's rookie card resides in the '87 Topps set and you've got yourself a winner on your hands.

1988:

My pick:  Topps

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think 1988 is the worst year of junk wax set designs.  The competition is between Topps, Donruss (hideous design in '88), and Score (super boring).  Topps is simply the least worst of the three.

1989:

My pick:  Topps

For as bad as 1988 was, 1989 was the complete opposite.  I'm sure many folks would pick Upper Deck, but both Score and Donruss had good showings.  However, I still give the nod to Topps since the 1989 design has withstood the test of time!

1990:

My pick:  Topps

The 1990 Fleer set was in consideration here, but I can't turn my back on 1990 Topps!  Bright colors, some interesting photographs, and another classic design takes the cake.

1991: 

My pick:  Score

The first "upset" on my list.  I LOVE the 1991 Topps set and it deserves the praise that it gets but if I have to pick my single favorite set from '91, the set that springs to mind is Score!  The 1991 Score set is chock-full of fun subsets (plus plenty of love for the recent World Champion Cincinnati Reds)!

1992:  

My pick:  Upper Deck

Upper Deck finally breaks through with the best set of the year, narrowly edging out Topps.  The '92 Upper Deck set was the first set for which I ever opened up a full box of cards (thanks to my grandfather, who got me a box as a Christmas gift).  That alone makes this set special, but luckily the set design itself is top-notch (and the photographs on the back are just as good, if not better, than the images on the front of the cards).  

1993:

My pick:  Upper Deck

Upper Deck goes back-to-back, once again narrowly edging out Topps for the title.  The '93 Upper Deck is basically what Stadium Club wants to be (minus the white borders).  So many wonderful photographs throughout the set, every time I look through my 1993 Upper Deck binder I think I discover something else new or cool!

1994:

My pick:  1994 Fleer

1994 is probably the second worst year in terms of the junk wax era, but I do enjoy the '94 Fleer set quite a bit.  The large team logos and the minimal usage of gold foil works for me, plus there are plenty of interesting photos spread throughout the set.  

And there you have it, the definitive list of the best of the junk wax era.  I should note that I tried to only consider the "main" sets for each brand (I ignored sets like Stadium Club or Ultra for the purposes of today's list).  Of course, I've love to hear your thoughts so either chime in using the comment section or write your own blog post and then provide the link so I can check it out!