Around nine months ago, I wrote a post covering sets for which I own just one card.
I covered sets from the 1930s through the 1980s. My plan for the following post was to cover all the sets to the present but I hit a wall when I reached the 1990s.
I should have known: the 1990s is a minefield, a time suck, a mind-fk, you can get in but getting out? Good luck.
There were so many sets issued, so many little, tiny sets issued, that I had to stop five years into the decade, forget about the rest of the years until 2024. And I wasn't as thorough as I was in the first post. I just glazed over a number of sets because who can possibly concentrate on all that?
So I just have samples of sets for which I have just one card for years 1990-94. And I'm not covering all of the examples either, just a few to give you an idea of HOW MANY SETS.
Receiving the 1990 Fleer Canadian Jose Vizcaino card above, from reader Grant sparked the return to this topic. After looking through all my '90 Fleer dupes, this is the only Canadian version I own.
Here are some other "one-and-onlys" from the '90s.
Orel Hershiser, 1990 Wonder Bread Stars
One of my favorite Hershiser oddball cards, he displayed the golly-gee look better than anyone, and the generic hat an uniform helps things along. This is a 20-card set and you can get the whole thing for $15 so there's no good reason I have just one.
Kal Daniels, 1991 Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds, Autograph Series II
Another red-bordered, non-licensed, food-issued delight. The first Jumbo California Sunflower Seeds -- that's a bigger mouthful than a mouthful of sunflower seeds -- arrived in 1990, that's why this one is Autograph Series II.
Eric Karros, 1992 Jimmy Dean Rookie Stars
This is one of three Jimmy Dean sets from 1992 -- that's the overproduction era in a single example, a sausage company issued three card set. Granted, none of them are large. This one is just nine cards. Not a lot to look at either, which is why I have just one.
Darryl Strawberry, 1993 Upper Deck Denny's Grand Slam Holograms
Food-Issue cards went upscale in the early '90s. In the tradition of Kellogg's 3-D cards of the '70s, Denny's went full-in on holograms during the '90s. This is a 28-card set. Quite nice, if you like that kind of thing. Not difficult to find either.
Tom Candiotti, 1993 Topps/Coca-Cola Commanders Of The Hill
A 30-card set of just pitchers that was issued on military bases. Five-card packs could be purchased for 25 cents with the purchase of a fountain drink at Army & Air Force exchange restaurants or snack bars.
Pedro Martinez, 1993 Score Proctor & Gamble
First things first, my copy of this card is in rough shape, the cards in this set are not rounded, they actually have corners! I am remedying that. Secondly, this set seems a little big elusive for a random nine-card set of young hopefuls of the time. Martinez is the only HOFer in the set. Ryan Klesko is the big name after that.
Mike Piazza, 1993 Pinnacle Home Run Club
What a sharp card, maybe one of my favorites from the '90s. This was a 48-card boxed set, with each card printed to 200,000 copies 😝.
Orel Hershiser, 1993 Kraft Singles Superstars
Much like 1991 Donruss, the first half of this set is blue and the second half is green. It's just 30 cards, the big feature is if you pull the tab up top, you can make your superstar stand-up. I have two of this card, one as a regular card and one with Orel standing up in my card room.
Omar Daal, 1994 Mother's Cookies
My completion rate for Dodgers Mother's Cookies sets are all over the place. For some I have the complete set, others I have maybe seven cards and for 1994 I have one.
Orel Hershiser, 1994 U.S. Department of Transportation
If you hear someone giving the overproduction era a hard time (I've been known to do that), tell them that how can something be bad when even the U.S. Department of Transportation was issuing cards? The back of Hershiser's card contains a lecture on making sure everyone in the car is wearing a seat belt.
Starting with Hershier and ending with Hershiser. I bet I have more one-off cards of him than anyone except Mike Piazza.
All right, maybe that wasn't as exciting as the first episode and the really old cards, but that's still some cool stuff there. Not bad, '90s!
Maybe ... maybe ... I'll do the back half of the 1990s someday.
Comments
Agreed on 1990 cards. I think there's a post on this blog from long ago in which I rant about how 1990 was the worst year of the junk wax/overproduction year as far as well-designed sets.
Did you ever pick up the 1992 Ziploc set. It has a Pee Wee Reese card as an LA dodger. Small set.
I'd love to one day own a run of Mother's Cookies A's cards. Starting with the 80's though.
Also, I don't think the '90 Fleer Canadian issue is terribly uncommon so I would imagine that now that they are on your radar, you can find them easily, especially given your location. A fun(?) fact is that Canada made the only version of a corrected #629 Jose Canseco UER.