Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyo
Fun thread.....
I vote for a shift in card style which occurred "mostly" around the 89 ud as noted .
I seem to recall that 89 ud was the first pack of cards I ever saw that cost $1. That felt like a threshold to me even back then. Also, it was close to the first set with multi colored photos on the back. Someone mentioned 88 score which I do believe had full colored photos on the back, and I did like those cards as well,
but to me something about the 89ud combination of $1 per pack, multicolored photos, and the cardstock didn't feel like classic "baseball card" cardstock. It ushered in the 90's and "shiny stuff"
A small handful of sets held onto the relatively drab back design in the early 90's, but I definitely feel like early 90's when multicolored backs and improved cardstock became the norm it truly ushered in "modern" and left "vintage" in the rearview.
It's hard to believe that was 30 years ago
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I like both the early Score and UD issues. Upper Deck was a little more premium with the hologram, but 1988 Score had full color back photos as well and I think was the first to do so (1971 Topps was the first mainstream set with a back photo at all that I can think of). Sportflics deserves a mention in this process of quality upgrading (I think they had color backs too), as do the Mothers cookies sets, but Score brought a much more premium 'base card' first in 1988, and then Upper Deck refined it in 1989 and upped the cost significantly. The common narrative that Upper Deck came in and trounced the Fleer/Donruss/Topps sets is really leaving a lot out and ignoring the other top manufacturer. Score was quite popular in 1988 and had an outlandish print run similar to the others.
What surprises me is that Fleer did not step up the quality of their base set until 1992 (Ultra in 1991), Donruss until 1992 (Leaf in 1991 I think was their first premium line), Topps until 1993 (first premium release was 91 Stadium Club, going off memory again). All 3 of the "veteran" mainstream makers completely ignored the superior quality of their upstart competitors that performed well until 1991, 3 full years before choosing to compete in the emerging "quality" market.
Stadium Clubs are my personal favorite of the early "premium" sets.