By request

 

A reader of this blog, Ben, was a co-worker of mine briefly, so brief that I don't really remember him working there. (Before anyone gets too offended, know that he worked in an office an hour away from me).

We correspond via email occasionally and he's a rabid set-builder, way more efficient than I am. Sometimes he suggests blog topics. I'm taking him up on this one -- because it's simple and easy.

So, let's rank the baseball card sets of dearly departed and missed Score!

Score is an easy card company to rank. It produced just 11 sets, from 1988-98, nice and tidy. I'm not counting any spin-offs or Pinnacle or what-not. I'm also not doing a lot of diving into what each set was all about, the checklist and the quality of the inserts and that kind of detail that will ruin the simple-and-easy part.

Mostly I'm rating these based on how they look and a few of my memories of collecting them. So here we go. In reverse order, of course.

11. 1997 Score

To me, this set is the antithesis of what a Score set is. There is zero color in the design. The names are a little difficult to read. The card backs are a monstrosity of facts and figures with none of the personality of the earlier Score sets. There is a lot of space for the photo, but except for a few stretching and bat rack pictures, Score doesn't do a lot with it.

10. 1998 Score

The late '90s Score sets are suffering in this ranking partly because I wasn't collecting then. I wasn't able to build a relationship with the set. I've found '98 Score a little confusing, mostly because I've been mixing up the main set with the Traded set for years. Also, like many late '90s sets, all the parallels get in the way of me enjoying the base cards.

The sideways name is tricky with the first name on the bottom -- intended for the card to be turned on its side to read, I guess. The design also interferes with the photo a bit. There are a lot of close-ups with this set, which for Score is ... weird.

 

9. 1992 Score

Veteran readers of this blog will know how much I despise this set. In fact, they're probably surprised it's not last. I am, too. I think I bumped it up a tad because it represents the colorful early days of Score. But about that color ... it's revolting. I do not enjoy the choices, the teal-and-orange combo on one card followed by a purple-and-green combo on the next. Just gross. I've also mentioned the pointlessness of the "color guard" on the left or right, which does nothing except confine the photo. Also the yellow backdrop on the back is almost as nauseating.

I've tried to off-load almost all of my '92 Score cards but somehow still have too many (I will note that '92 Score has some of the better subsets in Score's history).

 

8. 1989 Score

I like this set much more than I should because it's the first Score set I ever saw. I never saw 1988 Score for sale, although I'm sure that's for the same reason I never saw 1988 Donruss for sale -- I wasn't collecting in 1988.

But admittedly 1989 Score is a huge step down from the 1988 debut. The colored borders remain (with mostly the same color choices) but they are not as prominent. There are a significant number of too-dark photos.

But there are some very nice one-off cards in this set, similar to the '88 set.

7. 1995 Score

I think Score took some of the same drugs that Fleer took in 1995. But at least Score came up with a somewhat coherent design (in comparison anyway). The motorbike tire thread theme sure is odd and sure is espn2-ish, but if you can get past it, the cards are fun. Lots of cool photos.

A whole lot of green though.

6. 1990 Score

I look at 1990 Score as Score trying to get back to its roots after 1989. The thick borders are back. The color schemes are similar. (I really like how the colored border continues onto the card back).

The best part is Score added a team logo on the front for the first time. Unfortunately, it also added a yellow inner border on almost every card, which has kept me from ever being serious about collecting this set.

But that Bo Jackson card sure is a masterpiece.

5. 1994 Score

Like many Score sets, '94 hasn't aged well. But that isn't so much about the design but about how this is the first set with UV coating. Combine that with midnight blue borders and you get cards with borders like above. It's among the chippiest of sets ever made. You had to have taken these cards directly from the pack into binder pages and left them there forever to avoid them chipping.

However, I do adore the blue borders and the many interesting photos in this set. But like many sets from this time, I do not like shuffling '94 Score cards. And they stick like an mfer.

4. 1993 Score

This set is higher than a lot of collectors would rank it. I know. The sideways team name is annoying. The thin, type-written font is annoying. I still like it.

I like it because it's the most team-centric Score set out there. The design is colored team colors on the front and the back (it does make the backs a bit hard to read). The photos may not be the most interesting though. I think the arrival of Select pulled the more interesting photos away from flagship Score, a common phenomenon for premium sets of the '90s (see: Stadium Club).

3. 1996 Score

Probably the one Score set that paid the most attention to the photo on the card. There are many fun photos in this set. Even the ones that you wouldn't call "fun" are at least interesting. Score ditched the logo on the front with this set but I don't miss it because the rest of the card is interesting.

 

2. 1988 Score

Probably the consensus No. 1 Score set if you were to run a poll. I do like it a lot and I do think it's a better debut than 1989 Upper Deck. The rainbow of colors is fantastic, one of the best of its kind employed in a set. It does make the set somewhat disjointed but it doesn't bother me. The geometric shapes -- a Score staple -- are in peak form in this set (Rectangles! Stars! Triangles!). And the trademark Score simplicity couldn't be more simple.

This is the set that showed that every card could be action-oriented. It made the set exciting from the start. Looking back, it can get a little tedious, much like the other all-action, all-the-time sets that would follow in the '90s. But it was a worthy experiment and 1988 Score's legacy is firmly in place. Also, let's not forget the thorough, informative and interesting card backs. Score was bold and thoughtful, front and back, from the start.

1. 1991 Score

Nostalgia rules, my friends.

I rank this first because it's my favorite Score set. It's the set I bought the most of and the one set that brings me back to the early 1990s better than anything outside of "a tick tock, you don't stop-stop."

Score updated the border color schemes for this set, from basic red, blue and green to more "modern" teal and royal blue and black. And just to show that '92 Score was right around the corner, it threw in some purple with that teal for who knows why.

Still, I like it. I like it mostly for the massive number of subsets, none of which were lame, the varied number of subsets, and the gargantuan set size. To this day it's the largest set I've ever completed. This is also the first Score set that included horizontal player cards and, thanks to that, '91 contains some of the most memorable cards that Score has ever made.

And there you are, my ranking of the Score sets. But before I go, I should show one the most-often cited aspects of Score:

The backs for all of those cards.

This is a well-tread topic. Score was a popular discussion back in the early blog days and I've done more than my share of Score tributes. Like this, which covers similar territory, although back then I said '88 Score was my favorite).

Also the sentiment then holds true now. I miss you, Score. (No, Panini's attempts aren't cutting it).