Best on-card element, part 5

 

Lucky you, because I didn't go anywhere this week, I can publish the latest edition of my "best on-card element series" before I expected!

I hadn't planned to cover 1985-89 until after the new year, but nobody can plan anything anymore so I don't know why I'm bothering to semi-apologize for any delays or changes. Delays and changes are an everyday part of life now more than ever. You'll get it when I get to it! How about that?

 

I'm up to the back half of the '80s in determining the "best" or "most notable" design element of each major card set for each year. This might be the last one of these I do. The number of sets gets obnoxious in the '90s -- I may be willing to cover the first half of that decade, we'll see.

 

So without further adoing, here is the rundown for basically what was my favorite period in life -- and, no, it didn't have anything to do with 1987 Topps.

 

1985

 

1985 Donruss

 

Best on-card element: The first black borders for any baseball card set since 1971 Topps. No one had the guts to do what Topps did in '71 until 1985 Donruss took the plunge -- and realized that chipping was still a thing 14 years later. Interestingly, Topps also unveiled a black-border set in 1985 with its football set. It was the year of black borders!

Best on-card element runner-up: Donruss displayed team logos on its front for the first time in its history, joining the '80s trend started by Fleer.

Other notable on-card element: This is the first year that Donruss "enclosed" a player's five years of stats on the card back in a rounded rectangle.

 

 

1985 Fleer

 

Best on-card element: There is a sameness and simpleness to Fleer in the 1980s that makes it difficult to pinpoint what makes it different. Fleer manages to make its sets look nothing alike from year-to-year yet still have the same general, simplistic treatment. It was genius, really.

 

I guess I'd say this is an improved look on the '83 Fleer set. There are still gray borders, but Fleer jazzes it up with colored borders that match the team. And you know I love that.

 

 

1985 Topps

Best on-card element: Topps uses team logos on the front for the first time since 1960. Man, Fleer was really steering the card ship during this period.

Best on-card element runner-up: For the most part, this is the first year that Topps matched the colors it used in the design with the player's team colors. Topps slowly moved in this direction through the 1980s but didn't get it right for every team until 1985.

1986

1986 Donruss

Best on-card element: This is purely "most notable" for me because I have ragged on the look of '86 Donruss since the beginnings of this blog. The Max Headroom, seizure-inducing horizontal lines are very apparent.

1986 Fleer

Best on-card element: Blue borders. Up to this point, card manufacturers went with neutral-color borders -- white, black, gray. Then '86 Fleer came along and the flood gates opened. In five years time Fleer would think all-yellow borders was acceptable behavior.

 

1986 Sportflics

Best on-card design: I'm covering Sportflics only once because it's a one-trick-pony set. You know what you're getting every year and that's three images on a single card front that you can view one at a time ... if you tilt it just right.

1986 Topps

Best on-card element: My goodness, it's the monster team names on the black backdrop. As someone who used to live for night car trips so I could see the colorful lights against the black sky, this set appealed to me instantly.

Also, how giant are the team names?

Giant-er than the 1964 team names?

 

I think so.

1987

1987 Donruss

Best on-card element: Donruss and Fleer led a revolution in simple card designs in the '80s. I'm going with the random grouping of baseballs on the left and right borders. I don't even know what that is, but it's distinctive.

1987 Fleer

Best on-card element: Fleer goes with blue borders for a second straight year, but this time utilizes the gradient technique. I haven't researched this, but is this the first time a color gradient was used with baseball cards?

However, my best on-card element for '87 Fleer goes to the card back:

In '87, Fleer used some graphic elements for the first time, "He's Got The Stuff" for pitchers and "How's He Hitting 'Em" for hitters. With each, either the pitchers' repertoire was evaluated or batters' hitting zones were analyzed. It was an interesting approach, and nice to know that Fleer had realized you can't have a card back with 75 percent empty space.

1987 Topps

Best on-card element: Wood paneled borders for people who had missed it the first time.

I've always thought the wood borders of '87 were out-of-place with the time period. The '60s and '70s were the time period for wood-paneled rec rooms and such (see The Brady Bunch, or my childhood basement). But there's no doubt the design choice made an impact.

 

Also of note, although nothing that should be applauded: This is the first time Topps didn't feature positions on the front since 1972, and it would continue to do so until 1991.

 

1988

 1988 Donruss

 

Best on-card element: The "Tron" borders that make me like this set more and more and more.

 

1988 Fleer

 

Best on-card element: The most patriotic-looking set since the mid-1970s. Really, nothing innovative with most of these late '80s sets, but this was the last Fleer set I'd like the look of for quite awhile ('til 1994).

1988 Score

Best on-card element: As much as I enjoy the different bright colors that Score used in its debut (every color of the rainbow!), the best on-card element has got to be the information-packed backs:

There is so much to learn in a single card back AND Score gave you a full-color mug shot for the first time!

 

Best on-card element runner-up: Aside from the different-colored borders used, it's that virtually every card shows the player in action, and that was the first time that happened.

 

 

1988 Topps

Best on-card element: It's often overlooked, although not by me. I have enjoyed the 3-D overlap of the image with the lettering since I was a reader of Sports Illustrated and would see the effect on the cover all the time. After the technique fell out of favor for years, it's come back on baseball cards again, which made me hopeful for two years from now when Topps' 35-year design inserts would address 1988, but of course Topps had to go and lose its license.

1988 Topps Big

Best on-card element: I'm addressing this set just once, too. Topps Big was an interesting update of the 1955/56 Topps sets, using modern players and illustration. I remember buying some of these cards back then but I can't tell you where I found them or how they were packaged.

1989

 

1989 Bowman

Best on-card element: Bowman returned in 1989 with something no one had seen on cards before: an individual player's stats against every other team in the league. Fascinating. Bowman should have never gotten away from this.

 

1989 Donruss

 

Best on-card element: Another Donruss set that I like a lot more than I did then. Like 1988 Score, I enjoy the rainbow theme to the cards and, like 1987 Fleer, I appreciate the color gradient treatment, although this is more like moving through the color spectrum.

 

 

1989 Fleer

Best on-card element: Neither Fleer nor Donruss (or, for that matter Topps) was varying up the photos very much during this period, so that's why I'm stressing the design treatment so much. The most obvious one with '89 Fleer is the pinstripes. Also, Fleer sure did love gray in the 1980s.

 

 

1989 Score

Best runner-up: I don't know. I have nostalgic feelings for this set, but all I can pick out is the home plate drawing on the front.

1989 Topps

Best on-card element: The return of team names in script writing for the first time since 1978. ... I imagine there might be something more notable for this set, but I opened so much of it in 1989 that nothing about it seems special anymore.

1989 Upper Deck

 

Best on-card element: People make a lot of noise over 1989 Upper Deck's photos on the front and the card stock and the hologram thingies on the back. I think all of it is overblown. The best element for me are the color action shots and candid shots on the back. Sure, the stats are sacrificed, but it was completely new and interesting. 

And that's all I've got.

If this is the end of the series, thanks for reading along. If it's not, well, I guess I'll see you in a week or two or three with 1990-94 or 1990-93 or whatever.

Who knows. Just expect delays and changes.