30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Saturday, March 3, 2018

Sunshine On My Carpet

There's a girl in my 6th period class that always comes into my classroom with a smile.  Every single day.  She was the same way last year.  I'm truly envious.  It's like she sees rainbows and butterflies everywhere she walks.


This morning I got a taste of the joy she experiences when I sat down and busted open two boxes of 1991 Fleer baseball.  The yellow brightened up my day... and my family room.


I figured I'd share a little of that sunshine with all of you and show off some of my favorite cards from the break.  But before that, let's set the mood with a little John Denver and take a look at the box break numbers and what I can expect to pull from these two boxes.

Number of Packs:  72 (36 Packs per Box x 2 Boxes)
Expected Number of Cards: 1,008 (14 Cards x 72 Packs)
Number of Cards in the Set:  720
Expected Number of Stickers: 72 (1 Sticker x 72 Packs)


With perfect collation, I should have been able to build a complete base set with 200+ extras.  However I remember reading about one of you who busted three boxes and was still missing a handful of cards.


So it wasn't exactly holding my breathe and it's a good thing, because after sorting the first 100 cards, I was missing 40.

It's safe to say that the Cardboard Gods were telling me that it's not meant to be.  I sat there for a minute or two thinking about whether or not I should build the set, but I decided against it for these four reasons:

#1:  Best case scenario, I'll still need 200 cards.  That's a lot of cards.

#2:  With insane postal rates, it'd be cheaper to go out and buy a complete set.

#3:  I already have a lot on my plate.  I'm currently building over 20 baseball sets.

#4:  It's 1991 Fleer baseball.  I'll survive without a complete set.

With that being said, I decided to sort them into team stacks, which will eventually be shipped off in care packages.


Gotta spread some of that sunshine!

Okay... let's get to ten of my favorite base cards pulled in this morning's break:

1991 Fleer #118

The one thing all of my favorites have in common are the well cropped action shots.  Figured I'd kick things off with Pudge in his catcher's gear.

Here's a look at the back of his card:


I'm a big fan of the back design.  I think the only major flaw is that there wasn't enough room to fit Fisk's entire career statistics.  Oh well... you can't have it all.

Here are the best of the rest...




This box break reminded me of three reasons I truly enjoyed busting Fleer baseball as a kid:

#1:  The checklist is grouped by teams based on how they performed the year before.

#2:  I always looked forward to seeing who made it onto their annual Super Star Specials subset cards.


I wasn't fortunate enough to pull a Griffey base card, but was very happy to see him on this subset card with Bonds.  It was pretty cool following and watching both of these second generation guys terrorize pitchers throughout the 90's.

#3:  Fleer stickers rule.  Been a fan since the early 80's.


In addition to the 72 stickers, I also pulled nine Pro Vision inserts from the two wax boxes.  I pulled six different cards out of the twelve card set:


And I'll wrap things up with these two box bottom panels:


Are they oversized and difficult to store?  Yeah.  But the oddball fan inside of me  easily overlooks that issue and embraces them.

The 1991 Fleer box bottom set celebrates the seven official no-hitters thrown in 1990, plus the two unofficial no-hitters thrown by Andy Hawkins and Melido Perez.

From what I can gather, there are a total of four different box bottoms.  The third panel contains Nolan Ryan, Andy Hawkins, Terry Mulholland, and the New York Yankees logo, while the fourth one features a Pittsburgh Pirates logo and three double printed players:  Nolan Ryan, Dave Stewart, and Dave Stieb.

Well that's it for today.  Thanks again John for hooking me up with these two wax boxes.  It definitely helped brighten up this rainy day.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!

16 comments:

flywheels said...

Ah, I love how ugly the 1991 Fleer set is! 1991 was the 2nd year I was actively collecting cards so I bought up as many packs of that stuff as I could find and afford. Fleer will always hold a soft spot in my heart when it comes to baseball cards (shoot, trading cards in general - I LOVED their 90's Marvel stuff).

One thing I like looking for when opening older packs that I don't intend to set build are pitchers that are depicted batting. It's a small PC I have going, but one that doesn't get a lot of new cards each year.

Glad you had some fun with that today.

Jon said...

I don't remember these boxes having cards on the bottom! I may loathe the set, but now I really want to find some of those panels.

Nick Vossbrink said...

I loved the 91 Fleer No Hitter box bottoms. I was on good terms with the checkers at my local grocery store and was able to get empty boxes from them. Were they beat up from sitting next to the checkout lane for a few days? Yes. But I didn't care.

Hackenbush said...

Not in my collecting wheelhouse but I have nothing against them. They do have a style all their own. Good choice leading with the Fisk. And I do like those Pro Vision cards.

Brian said...

I think 91 Fleer might have fared much better if the borders were less intense - as you've shown, they did have some great action shots. Context was big too, they had to compete with the debut of Stadium Club, another good year of Upper Deck, and a really strong offering from flagship Topps. Even '91 Score was pretty good, their decision to vary the border colors could have helped Fleer too.

night owl said...

I AM BLIND!

Collecting Cutch said...

For all the hate 1991 Fleet gets I am actually trying to get the Pirates team set autographed IP or TTM. I've got all the big names done (Van Slyke, Smiley, Bonilla, Drabek, Lind) except Bonds. There's a few of the minor guys that are tough to get.

Bulldog said...

For some reason I've always been a fan of this set even with all that yellow! While yellow will turn most off I still think the photos were a plus here. Those pro vision cards are great as well. Thanks for the post and great memories.

Chris said...

It's so nice to hear that there are kids in this world who have such a sunny attitude every day. I envy positive people myself.

I gotta say, this is probably my least favorite set of all-time. But the Pro Vision inserts are awesome, and it sounds like you had fun breaking these open so don't listen to skeptics like me and Night Owl. Enjoy those bright yellow beasts!

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

just drop me an email with the missing cards. I'm pretty sure I've got about 2000 of them in Florida.

Man said...

then there is the large print/small print variations-more rainy days needed here for sure

Nick said...

My favorite part of those boxes probably would've been the box bottoms, because for some reason I get an ungodly thrill out of finding box bottoms.

GCA said...

Best Pro-Visions ever...

If John doesn't cure your missing list, let me know, I've at least got most of the major stars available.

Matt said...

I thought it was sunshine on my shoulder. :)

Twitch said...

I guess absence makes the heart grow fonder, because I haven't seen this set in a few years, and it looks way nicer than I remember, and the Pro Vision inserts are just straight 🔥🔥.

Fuji said...

Colbey Hopper - I loved their Marvel stuff too. If you know of any pitchers who are batting in this set... send me their numbers and I'll PWE them out to you.

Jon - I don't recall seeing these before either. But that's not surprising... back in 1992 I was spending all of my money on Upper Deck, Ultra, and Leaf packs.

Nick Vossbrink - Nice. These boxes were in really great condition, but the bottoms were still creased. Can't imagine too many perfect 1991 Fleer box bottoms floating around out there.

Hackenbush - Glad someone else appreciates that Fisk. It might be my favorite card in the set.

Brian - You're right. 1991 was a great year for baseball cards. All three of the ones you mentioned are awesome. Not as big on Score though.

night owl - I probably should have warned my readers to not stare at the sunshine too long.

Collecting Cutch - I was going to mention how great this set would look signed by players in black Sharpie. Best of luck on completing this project.

Bulldog - I can't say I was always a fan... but this set has slowly grown on me. And yeah... those Pro Vision inserts are pretty awesome.

Chris - Me too. I've actually thanked her on more than one occasion for cheering me up with just that positive attitude. As for the set design, I understand the hate. You're not alone. I've read at least two posts about the bright yellow eye sores. But I've gotta admit... the break was a lot of fun (just wish the collation was better) and the design has slowly grown on me the past few years.

John Miller - Thanks for the offer. Can't allow you to spend $15 on shipping on $2 worth of cards. The box break alone was more than enough. It truly brightened my morning. Plus I was able to walk away with a stack of stickers, 1/2 a set of Pro Visions, and about 60 different Athletics, Padres, and Expos for my collection. I'd call that a success. The rest of the cards will be shipped off to fellow bloggers. Thanks again for these boxes.

B Man - Wait. Seriously? Didn't know about those. I'd better do more research.

Nick - Me too. My box bottom collection is slowly growing.

GCA - Thanks for the offer. But like I told John... it's not worth it for me to attempt to build this set. I pulled out my A's, Padres, and Expos... along with 6 of the Pro Visions, and the stickers. The rest will be shipped off to fellow bloggers in care packages.

Sport Card Collectors - Not on Saturday.

Twitch - Yeah... like GCA said... I think it was the best run of Pro Visions ever.