What do you consider to be the junkiest year of the junk wax era?

[Super Mario]

What year do you guys think it turned around?

Probably the year before that.


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[smapdi]

I mean, 1988 Score isn't a bad design, but if I was starting a company in a competitive field and my product at the core is identical to all other offerings, I'd make sure the look really popped. The colored borders were a little different but on the whole it's just very blah.

1989 UD changed the game. They had the insight to raise the stakes with the design and the materials, and because of that were able to sell a product for twice as much as their competitors and sell a ton of it. So many things in the 80s were about taking the same old thing and revamping it with better design and production, and cards were no different. Once those doors were opened, the whole business changed, and the hobby right along with it. Within a couple years every other company was making a second or third brand of higher quality for higher prices and presumably higher profits and that continued right on to the present day. Along with that, Griffey in UD and others changed the hobby to be even more focused on rookies.

 

[WizardofOz1982]

I didn't mind them at the time, especially the multicolored border options, but in the big picture of card designs, they don't hold up well in my eyes. It's funny what people like and what they don't. I still maintain the idea that the more scarce something is, the more people will like it regardless of it's look. The scarce stuff always seems "new" because you just don't see it all the time, unlike like say 1988 Donruss, perhaps one of the worst designs ever (until 1995 Fleer came along and reset the bar to an amazing level of low!)?

1995 Fleer is amazingly bad. It took the 4 worst card designs ever and managed to merge them all into one set. Simply amazing.

 

[gt2590]

1991 in baseball was atrocious in every set except UD, which still wasn't that great...

 

[WizardofOz1982]

1991 in baseball was atrocious in every set except UD, which still wasn't that great...

1991 introduced Stadium Club which is still one of the best sets ever just on looks. I also like 1991 Ultra but I know a lot of people don't.

 

[Shaggy]

1991 introduced Stadium Club which is still one of the best sets ever just on looks. I also like 1991 Ultra but I know a lot of people don't.

I agree, I loved stadium club as it was glossy, the photos where great and the text had some texture to it. I also loved how they showed their rookie card on the back(if that was the year they did that, can't remember).

 

[WizardofOz1982]

I agree, I loved stadium club as it was glossy, the photos where great and the text had some texture to it. I also loved how they showed their rookie card on the back(if that was the year they did that, can't remember).

It was though it was their first Topps card for a lot of guys, not their actual RC. Maybe that was a preview of the future and Topps knew they'd have the only license.

 

[gt2590]

1991 introduced Stadium Club which is still one of the best sets ever just on looks. I also like 1991 Ultra but I know a lot of people don't.

Agreed on the Stadium Club but it’s the only set from that year I can recall that I liked.

And ‘91 Ultra was dreadful but rebounded well in ‘92…