Note: I can't find the piece of paper that has my ordered list of remaining Countdown sets. I've decided to wing it, but I must warn you: there will be no set number 12. This will be corrected in later versions of this countdown.
When I say '1994 Fleer,' what is the first thing that comes to mind? The Update A-Rod rookie? The elegant design? How about the ridiculous amount of insert cards? Or is it so overwhelming a set that you're blinded by a swirl of all of the above? If your answer hovers somewhere around that last option, don't worry, you're not alone.
Following the logical design arc from the year before, 1994 Fleer not only boasts the best-looking front and back tandem of the company's decade, but considering the hodgepodge puke they released in 1995, the clean, almost flawless '94 seems like the end of an era.
Sure, the set's epically minimal design does sort of predict that 1995's design could possibly be the worst, most seizure-enducing stationary-subject product ever created by human hands (taking cues from the basic card backs of 1993 Score, the Fleer back-of-card used two lightly translucent boxes, set askew to suggest a very pleasant Frank Lloyd Wright sensibility), but the jump from a practically graphic-free layout to an overloaded frame the very next year is cause for alarm.
But enough about the design. This is clearly one of, if not the best Fleer checklist of the early decade. Following the new company tradition of an expansive set, each team had at least 20 players represented (the last 660-card Fleer checklist was released in 1990; subsequent sets from 1991 - 1994 consisted of 720 base cards. 1995's checklist dipped down to 600). Add in an Update checklist of 210 cards, not to mention a boatload of inserts--and by the way, this set should really be considered the epitome of the decade's insert mania--and you've got yourself a true 'master set.'
1994 Fleer and Update make nice additions to any collection, to put it mildly.And before I wrap this up, a quick note about Alex Rodriguez. I find it interesting that the two companies to produce his rookie in 1994 were Fleer and Upper Deck. Upper Deck now owns Fleer and Rodriguez himself is a Topps spokesman (Upper Deck's chief rival). It leaves the unanswered question of whether the hobby would have progressed differently had Topps, Donruss and Score produced Rodriguez rookies as well.
Lưu trữ Blog
-
▼
2008
(1047)
-
▼
tháng 4
(94)
- 1990 - 1994 Countdown: #7. 1994 Score
- White lined sphinx video
- Altered photos
- Porch record for sphinx moths
- New sightings on the porch
- How Much Is My Card Worth?
- 1990 - 1994 Countdown: #8. 1990 Donruss
- Link of the Day
- Beach walls
- Punk Baseball Cards!
- Glacier Country
- Baseball Card Game: Casting Agent
- 1990 - 1994 Countdown: #9. 1992 Topps
- A few last odds and ends
- Desert mysteries
- Jonquil Jog 5k
- Generosity, Non-Violence & Non-Cooperation
- Gorilla Round Up
- Playlist - 26th April 2008 - Baked Goods
- ET's eat cheeseweed?
- More mantids hatching
- Beleaguered in Bombay
- Desert bees and wasps
- Kakapos: Pictures of Chicks
- Examiner.com & Some Other New Stuff
- Illuminated
- More from the desert
- Lizards from our desert trip
- Three Gorges Dam - 3D model for Google Earth
- eBay sues Craigslist... no really
- Drawing for a children's playroom
- $720 for 720 Mountain Gorillas - Update
- Mantis Hatch
- BREAKING NEWS: Mantids Hatching Now
- Komodo Dragon bites like a pussy cat
- Melbourne Art Festival
- Mantis Monday for 4-21-08
- Aphids and syrphid flies
- Desert isopod
- Nalgene Bottles, Bisphenol A and REI
- Thomas B Hildebrandt clarifies Northern White Rhin...
- Siberia Valley
- Home With Maya - 2 Weeks In
- TV: Silverback Titus to star in PBS Nature specia...
- Not one...not two....
- Desert walking stick
- Playlist - 19th April 2008
- Vanishing Land
- Two more Kakapo chicks! We're at 92 Kakapos!
- Cloning of Northern White Rhino seen as last hope ...
- Some beetles from last week
- Beach Dock
- Review of 'The Last Real Season' by Mike Shropshire
- More desert mantids
- Gravel-hoppers
- 1990 - 1994 Countdown: #10. 1991 OPC Premier
- I was on the longest streak. The streak was shooti...
- The dreaded bottle
- Florida Tree
- Steve on Resonance FM
- Name that monster
- Balloon buddy
- 1990 - 1994 Countdown: #11. 1991 Studio
- Playlist - 12th April 2008 - Funkology
- Seamour comic 59
- Dialogue
- 1990 - 1994 Countdown: #12. 1992 Pinnacle
- Bunjeeee!
- Life
- Streetlife
- Some Thoughts on Card Trade
- Lake Morton
- Desert greetings
- 1990 - 1994 Countdown: #20. 1992 Topps Kids
- Maya's Birthday Box o' Beer
- An illustration for Oskar
- An American Scene
- Maya's First Night at Home
- Jumping Spider
- Blue pollen
- Playlist - 5th April 2008
- Maya's First Day Home
- The grass tree
- Twizel
- Funnel Web Fright
- A Morning at Elephant Junction
- A Baby Story...
- cuckoo-o-tron
- 24 hours in...
- Walk
- Who is Maya Named For?
- Introducing... Maya Simone Saxe!
- 1990 - 1994 Countdown: #13. 1994 Fleer
- Dub Review - April 2008
-
▼
tháng 4
(94)