1992 Topps McDonald's Baseball's Best Obligatory Variation post

 I got a message over at the Trading Card Database this afternoon informing me that indexing the two variations of the 1992 Topps McDonald's Baseball's Best set had been complete and that it may effect my collection.  So I went to check it out and then went into the Yount collection to see if I had one or both variations.  For those who don't know the 1992 Topps McDonald's Baseball's Best set is a very handsome, almost before it's time small set of 44 cards.  Distributed in 5 card cello packs available with a meal purchase back in 1992 (or at least that's what the Standard Catalog told me).  I'm not entirely sure what's up with the one asterisk vs the two asterisk variations, but they can be found all over Topps products from around this time frame.  Might have to do with printing plates, printings, or something else.  Regardless the two variations, while small and easily overlooked, do exist.  As for rarity?  Who knows?  While digging though the 1992 cards I found I had more two asterisks than one asterisk, but I only found 4 and quite digging once I realized I had an example of each.  Also it appears the whole 44 card set has the variation.  Check out the images below.  The front of the card is unaffected.

1992 McDonald's Baseball's Best

Year: 1992

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: McDonald's Limited Edition Baseball's Best

Card Number: 17

Card Type: Oddball Food Issue

I love food issued cards, and these are pretty top of the line.  Back in 1992 if you bought stuff at McDonalds you got a little cellophane pack with 5 cards, eat enough and you could eventually pick up the whole set. I don't remember this promotion at all, although I most likely was still living overseas when it was going on.  The checklist really was a who's who of baseball's best at the time and if you collect a superstar from the early nineties he's probably got a card in this set.  1992 also marked a time when Topps was starting to use foil to make their cards pop and it's used in this set to highlight the limited edition and the players name and McDonald's logo.

A very nice looking card, but not overly rare, COMC has 7 with the lowest price being about 75 cents.  It's also nice that this was a fully licensed product so we get logos and Robin's full stats on the back.

1990 Score McDonalds

Year: 1990

Card Manufacturer: Score

Card Set: McDonald's Baseball

Card Number: 25

Card Type: Food Issue Premium

I'm a sucker for food issue cards.  The are my favorite oddball.  If your a Yount collector this is probably one of the toughest food issues to find.  Not impossible, just a little tougher to track down and due to it's scarcity it can get a little pricey (but not too bad around $10).  According to the write up over at Baseballcardpedia.com these cards were available from 11 McDonald's stores in rural Oregon and Idaho and only given out for 3 weeks.  Cards came as a give away from buying fries and a drink and you got 4 cards per pack.  The full set has 25 cards and you can see the full checklist at the above link.

Overall the card itself if pretty handsome in hand.  I like the color fade effect on the front of the card and there is a nice action shot of Robin on the front.  There is also a nice large head shot on the back and full stats and Score still managed to squeeze in a great write up.