1991 Donruss - Retail vs Factory Set and how to spot the difference

 Greetings fellow Yount-o-philes. 

Over the last couple year's the diligent members of the Trading Card Database have been adding all the minutia variations from the junk wax era.  I was combing through my collection and the TCDb to see if I could add any of the new variations and I was able to add about 10 cards not previously parsed out.

I've posted about the common Donruss variation with the missing period at the end of Donruss Inc at least with the 88 set.  Another variation that affects the 1990 and 1991 sets are that the borders between the retail (or rather pack distributed) cards and the one's put in the boxed factory set are different.  It may be hard to see at first and if you didn't have both side by side the very 90s design might fly right by you.  But on closer inspection the two border designs are almost completely different.

I have  maybe 50 1991 Yount Donruss cards (maybe more I didn't count them up) and after looking through all of them I was only able to find one factory set specimen.  Of course the factory sets were produced in significantly smaller numbers than the various pack out items, but even so that could me cards produced around 100,000 instead of 1 million.  

1991 Topps Stadium Club Variations

 

This morning there was a forum post over at the Trading Card Database discussing a variation in the 1991 Topps Stadium Club set.  It seems that most if not all of the cards have a one of these back variations.  While some members are working on putting a checklist together it's noted that cards fall into one of three catagories.  Some cards have and A or B by the Topps copyright on the bottom right of the card, or a C or D, or E or F.  Robin falls into the A or B category.  I don't think there's any rarity to either variation as I found an example of each is just a handful of cards.

If you're having trouble seeing the variations, you're not alone I had trouble with my old eyes as well.  Here's a close up of the two different variations.

On the Radar - 2021 Bowman - 1991 Buyback Autograph

 Robin has a surprise, or at least a surprise to me, card in the 2021 Bowman release.  He's featured in the buyback autographs.  And not only that but there are 50 copies to hunt!

2021 Bowman - 1991 Bowman Buyback Autographs #55 #/50

1991 Studio

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Leaf/Donruss

Set: Studio

Card Number: 80

Card Type: Base

In 1991 the trading card market was starting to get crowded.  Not as crowded as it would be come by the mid to late 90s and early 2000s, but the writing was on the wall and the race for innovation was on.  Fleer and Donruss were still playing catch up into the more premium card market that Upper Deck launched in 1989 and Topps countered with Stadium Club.  In 1991 Fleer would launch Ultra and Donruss gave us Studio.  Studio was meant to be a stately set.  A throwback to the cabinet cards of the turn of the century.  And Donruss did a pretty good job with this inaugural issue.  The magenta borders work well with the black and white photos and there is a nice write up on the back.  The 1992 issue was a step backward for the set and wasn't a great follow-up to this first set, but in 1993 Donruss really stepped up there game with a glossy finish and holofoil and never looked back putting out some pretty nice versions of this set.  In 1991 this was all you got.  Just a really nice base set, no foil or color parallels, absolutely no autographs or relics, just the standard puzzle piece insert for the black and white Rod Carew.

1991 Panini Stickers #166

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Baseball Stickers

Card Number: 166

Card Type: Base Sticker

COMC Black Friday Haul #43

After the past few posts with those flashy parallels and serial numbers it's time to get back to basics.  Kids nowadays thing of Panini as this big time card company but a couple decades ago Panini was know primarily for their sticker sets.  I mean they still do stickers.  Anyway, last year I made an effort to try and fill a few holes in my collection by picking up as many Panini and Topps stickers as I could find for a decent price.  One of those missing was this 1991 #166.  Nothing flashy here, but a nice action shot, 1990 base stats and some good advice from Panini on the back.

1991 Panini Top 15 Baseball Canadian Sticker

Year: 1991

Manufacture: Panini

Set: Top 15 Canadian Stickers

Card Number: 56

Card Type: Base Sticker

Next up from my recent shipment from COMC from their Black Friday sale a very large Panini Sticker.  This is another card I didn't actually buy during the Black Friday sale, but rather I picked up this sticker and a couple others back in August.  These are called a couple different things.  The TCDB calls this set the Panini Canadian Top 15, and that makes sense as there is both English and French on the card, I don't believe there was an American equivalent.  There's a lot I like about this sticker.  First is almost baseball card size, so it's big.  Second, Panini using a great full color action shot of Robin.  And third, I like that big colorful 4.  I'm not positive so if I'm wrong I hope someone will correct me but with some minimal research I believe the #4 refers to Robin being in 4th place for Runs in 1990, and the 98 is the total number of runs, I assume RBIs, that Robin had.  The backs are pretty plain, but this after all is a sticker and the backs were meant to be thrown away.  And it was cheap so it's even better.  I'm slowly building and chipping away at my old Panini and Topps Sticker needs.  Anyone have any favorite baseball stickers?

1991 Milwaukee Brewers Police - Elm Grove PD

Year: 1991

Set: Milwaukee Brewers Police

Town/Police Dept: Elm Grove PD and Kanavas Landscape Mgmt. Inc.

Card Number: NNO

If your a Brewers collector there's nothing quite as iconic as the Police sets issued from 1982 to fairly recently.  The Milwaukee Police sets were given out at games as an SGA, but there were lots of smaller police departments that participated all over Wisconsin.  As a matter of fact from 1982 to 1993 Robin has over 600 different cards to chase!  And while the list here on the blog is pretty conprehensive it is by no means complete.  As a matter of fact this 1991 Elm Grove PD was not on the list.  1991 also marks the year that the sets went to the conventional trading card size.  And it makes storing these cards a lot easier.

1991 Topps Stand Ups Candy Dispenser

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Stand-ups

Card Number: 36

Type: Candy Dispenser

The most oddball of the oddballs picked up this Black Friday from COMC was this 1991 Topps Stand-ups candy dispenser.  It reminds us that Topps was first and foremost a candy company, at least they use to be.  These dispensers are only about 2 inches tall, it was a lot small that I expected.  You can still find boxes of these unopened.  They came in a blind bags, meaning you couldn't see what was inside.  I'm not sure what filled it up, I would assume a chalky sweet pill like a Pez, but I could be wrong, anybody remember?  My dispenser came empty, which is fine with me, I don't need 25+ year old candy.  There is also a clear plastic variation to hunt down.

1991 Miller High Life SGA

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: ?? Miller Beer maybe

Set: Miller High Life SGA

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Oddball, Base

Continuing with my COMC Black Friday haul a great oddball pick up.  Miller Brewing teamed up with the Brewers in 1990 and again in this 1991 set.  While the Standard Catalog doesn't state that this was a stadium giveaway, the 1990 set was and I would assume this set was also given away at a game.  I featured Robin's 1990 card back in 2017.  I have no idea what company actually produced this, but the quality and style are in line with the Brewers Police cards of the time.  Not a bad looking set with a nice clear photo on the front and full stats on the back.  The set has 32 cards and even has cards that feature manager Tom Trebelhorn and coaching staff.

1991 Milwaukee Brewers Hartford Police

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: ??

Set: Milwaukee Brewers Police

Police Set: Hartford PD, International Stamping and Local 152

Card Number: NNO

I have quite a few specialized saved searches on ebay.  One of them just happens to be Yount Police cards.  Most of the time when I get hits for it, it's overpriced Milwaukee Police sets from the late 80's, but every now and again I find exactly what I'm looking for.  If you're unfamiliar with the Brewers Police issues, basically the Brewers would have a stadium giveaway night and give out police sets.  But other cities and towns would also have giveaways.  I'm not sure how other towns did it, but my home town would have police officers hand out cards during our 4th of July celebration.  During the late 80's and early 90's there were close to 100 cities and towns participating.  A few year's ago Tony L from Off Hiatus Baseball Cards, a fellow Brewers collector and friend of the blog, shared a fairly comprehensive but admitted most likely not complete list of participating towns for each year.  Hartford was not on the list for the 1991 set, but was listed in the 1990 and 1992, so I can now confirm that Hartford also has a 1991 set.  

This was the kind an auction that I specifically set my eBay search for.  Not whole overpriced team sets, but just one single new Yount.  Robin did come teamed up with Don August in the auction and for a $1.05 delivered I couldn't pass it up.  I've updated the Brewers Police checklist page so Hartford is now in the 1991 sets and updated the Trading Card Database.

All About the Base - 1991 Topps

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Flagship

Card Number: 575

Card Type: Base

While I loved the 1990 Topps set, I'm very smitten with this set as well.  I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the color coordinated borders.  Maybe it's the 40th Anniversary logo or the fact that logo is watermarked on the back of the card.  Maybe it's the bubble gum pink backs. Maybe it's the nostalgia that this will be the last flagship set printed on this kind of card stock.  Either way we get a great Yount card featuring Robin swinging.  The font size for the career stats continues to get smaller and smaller.  

1991 Ballstreet Journal Full Panel Insert

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Ballstreet Journal

Card Number: 58

Card Type: Magazine Insert

Issue: #6, November 1991

The internet is pretty amazing.  Yes about half of it is filled with crap and advertising, but when you have a question the answer is usually out there to be found.  It's also a nice juxtaposition for the card featured today.  Because 25 plus years ago before the internet and at the height of the trading card junk wax/speculation era there were a lot of magazines that catered to the hobby.  There were magazine specifically for the speculators, which cards and products were hot, what rookies should you invest into send your kids to college?  And of course there were the price guides.  In 1991, I was still in high school and living overseas so I didn't have access to all the great publications that were being put out to help collector's.  But that's why the internet is so great, with a few key strokes not only did I find what issue of the Ballstreet Journal that this card came out of I found a few photos.  

With so many magazines competing with one another they tried to offer gimmicks to entice you into buying their issues and free cards was the main enticement.  From what I found each issue of Ballstreet Journal came with 10 of these insert cards that you could pull out and cut out the card.  Lucky for me I have an intact panel from the issue.  The other great thing about researching this card is I found something else to go after for my collection.  I also collect Frank Thomas cards and he just so happens to be featured on the issue that Robin's card is in.  

Another fun fact,  the back of the cards feature a trivia question about the feature player and the answer on Robin's card is wrong, Robin was still 18, not 19, when he broke into the majors.  The write up is also wrong with the same age mistake and the wrong year that Robin broke into the majors.  While Robin didn't get his first baseball card till 1975, he played his first major league game  April 5th, 1974.   

1991 Score

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Score

Set: Flagship Baseball

Card Number: 525

Man I opened a lot of 91 Score.  And when I mean a lot I mean I put together 2 or 3 sets and still have a 8000 count monster box full of dupes.  Yeah that's alot. Of course the big card in the set is Chipper Jones rookie card.  But when you want to talk about an overproduced this is a great set to bring to the table.  This would be Score's 4th year putting out a baseball set.  Overall the design is simple, but I do like cards with full career stats.  And of course you get a nice back photo as well.  91 Score was a monster set, beating Topps by over 100 cards!  And while the base cards are kind of meh.  There are couple sub-sets sprinkled in that are pretty cool like the K-Man, Rifleman, Master Blasters, No-Hit Club, the American Flag (Armed Forces Tribute) Card, the Bo Breaker, the Awards cards and my favorite the Dream Team cards.  There's also a nice Father/Son Griffey card in the set.  All of those sub-sets could easily have just been inserts if such an ideal had been widely accepted at the time.  

1991 Star Stellar #31

Card Manufacturer: Star

Card Set: Stellar

Year: 1991

Card Number: 31

Card Type: Base

It's been awhile since I posted one of Robin's Star cards.  Part of the Stellar set card #31 commemorates Robin's 3 All-Star appearances.  And that is about all I have to say.

1991 Donruss

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Flagship Baseball

Card Number: 272

Card Type: Base

How about we slow it way down and just back into the junk wax era?  1991 Donruss isn't my favorite, but it, in my opinion, was a vast improvement over the 1990 puke design.  Still about as basic as it gets, the borders do bring back memories of the late 80's -early 90's pop culture designs. Still not a bad looking card, the blue border goes well with the Brewer's team colors and we get a nice portrait of Robin hanging out.  The backs are still the same as they ever were.

Baseball Digest September 1991

Year: 1991

What: Baseball Digest, September 1991

I can still remember buying this magazine right off the rack.  It's a little dirty and the cover is scuffed up, but still a great reading copy.  

Baseball Digest is still around although it's bigger now and in full color, and  now only publishs 6 issues a year and digital content. It's also kind of pricey.  Anyways Robin was featured in this fall issue and gets a 3 page spread talking about his accomplishments and his run up to his 3000th hit.

1991 Fleer

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Flagship Baseball

Card Number: 601

Card Type: Base

If there is a set the exemplifies the overproduced junk wax era it might be 91 Fleer.  Arguably the pinnacle of the era it's a set that has a few lovers (if I remember right there was a whole blog dedicated to the set) and a ton of haters.  For me I'm probably in the hates column, mainly because along with 87 Topps, 90 Score, and 89 Donruss this is one of the most used sets for filler for repacks.  The only endearing part of the set was the Provision inserts that were randomly included in wax packs.  But I remember it being super easy to scan packs for inserts since the base stock was white, the cards were yellow and the provision cards were black.  

Anyway,  Robin actually has two variations in the set.  It's subtle and neither card is worth more than the other.  I've included both cards here for the post.  See if you can spot the variation..take your time.

Did you find it?  Yeah the tip of the bat is cut off in the lower version.  I'm assuming this is just a relic of multiple printings this set went through.  It's not a variation that's often listed and I would never have know about it had someone not tried to sell it as special on eBay.  If you have a bunch of Robin's 91 Fleers laying around flip though them and there's a good chance you have both variations. I did manage to get the variation in the checklist over at Tradingcarddatabase.com


That being said the overall design is pretty par for the course for Fleer.  Fleer wasn't know for it's bold designs.  This does mark the first year that Fleer added a photo to the back.  I'm not sure why Fleer only started Robin's stats in 1977 seems like there's room for a few more years on the back.

1991 Star Stellar #30

Year: 1991

Card Manufacturer: Star

Card Set: Stellar

Card Number: 30

Card Type: Base

I just realized as I look through my post queue that I really need to start scanning more pre 2000 cards to post about.

So I'll feature another one of Robin's cards from Star's Stellar issue.

Card 30 features Robin's World Series stats.  The Brewers went to the World Series in 1982 losing to the Cardinals in 7.  It's the closest the teams ever come to winning it all.  Of course the 1982 team was pretty awesome.

By even the standards of the day Star's card issues were pretty amateurish, but they did feature some of the best stars of the day and we get a bunch of cards that feature Robin. And if the back of the card is to be believe there are only 500 copies of this card.

1991 Star Stellar #33

Card Manufacturer: Star

Card Set: Stellar

Year: 1991

Card Number: 33

Card Type: Base

Time for another edition of Star Stellar.  Card #33 celebrates Robins 1989 MVP year.

The front of the cards shows a terribly cropped Robin warming up with a donut on his bat.

On the back we have the MVP voting and can see that Robin beat out Ruben Sierra by 28 points and the Iron Man by 40.

1991 Star Stellar #29

Card Manufacturer: Star

Card Set: Stellar

Year: 1991

Card Number: 29

Card Type: Base

 I think I've let enough time pass to post another one of these. I've been trying to space them out.

Another card from the Star Stellar set.  Each card in the set has a different themed back.  This one has Yount's Playoff and American League Championship stats on the back.