After checking out Series 1 a while ago, what does Series 2 have to offer up? Well, obviously more of the same. Of course there’s one great card in here that makes a box like this a little more expensive than the Series 1 box… Derek Jeter’s “Top Prospect” card. But there’s more than that when you look beyond the Jeter card. I mean, we can’t all be Jeter right? But there’s still some interesting stuff in there.
Upper Deck art is also in this part of the set too. I always like those cards in any set they were in. I think it’s a great way to do a checklist whether team or just a set checklist. We’ll also find some different inserts and subsets from Series 1.
For a look back at Series One you can check out these posts: ’93 Til Infinity, Picture Day, Lurking Oddities and Finding Themes.
The Cream… Rising to the Top
As always I start with some of the great players in the set and talk about the design. It’s the same design as Series 1 though so I think that part is covered… me likey!
Hall of Famers are always great to get in a set from the early 90’s. And while Will The Thrill isn’t in Cooperstown, he certainly was one of my favorites from back then. That dude always looked so serious back in in the day (Why so serious?). I think that Clark is going to be a great one to try for a TTM next season.
The Cream… In Pictures
These are some of my favorite pictures in the set. Yeah, the Nen is a posed picture, but I like it. I like the perspective used and the way the grip on the ball is highlighted. It’s a good angle too as it makes him look big.
The Bielecki is a great landscape card. I love the part of his pitching motion they got him in. It makes you realize how flexible these guys are and how much balance they have to have to pull things off. His hand is almost to the ground and his leg, back and head are almost in a straight line. I couldn’t get close to that even if you tried to force me into that position.
As for the Mayne card, I think I just like catcher cards. It’s a great action card of what looks like part of a run down. I think a run down is pretty rare for a card.
Top Prospects
As I mentioned earlier, the Jeter is the one everyone is looking for in this set. I always love looking at cards like this and seeing how young and how, well, little they look. A lot of times they are just kids in these cards.
How ’bout Manny being Manny huh?! I really like that card a lot. The red gloves and all the Indians gear is great. Then Carlos rockin’ the multiple bats is also pretty fierce.
These guys might be on the lesser side of the “Top Prospects” spectrum, but all have something special about them (either the person or the card). First, Dmitri is a fellow card collector as you might know. So he automatically gets a boost in my book. And the card of Charles Johnson is of him signing autographs so I will always dig that.
Even though Cliff Floyd is in an Expos jersey, I like this one. As a Met fan, Cliff is a special guy for us. He was part of the club at an important time. I’ve always heard he’s a really good guy. But what’s special about that too is that David Wright really credits him with helping him be the player and man that he is. To me that’s a little Mets’ heritage right there.
Bringing in a Sub
The subsets in Series 2 might not be as fun as Series 1, but they work. The Award Winners subset is pretty utilitarian. But that Eck card is pretty great, as is his mustache.
How little/young does Chhipper look? Geez!
That’s Artwork!
I’m going to start with Dutch. That is a pretty plain card but it would have been great to have had him sign that TTM when he was around. I’m sure someone out there did it. There’s just a lot of great space for a signature on that one.
What I like about Juan Gone’s card is the flag. I know that’s the Texas state flag, but it’s also got a little bit of a Puerto Rico flag feel too. Given that Juan is Puerto Rican I think that’s pretty cool. I doubt that was intentional though.
My favorite of this bunch is the Travis Fryman card. That tiger reminds me of high school. In 10th grade (I think) we had a teacher that wore these amazing old Hawaiian shirts all the time. And they were old too, with big collars and all that. But the best part was that they usually had something on the back. There was one that I remembered with a tiger jumping out of the back of the shirt at you. If he turned around to write on the board (which he rarely did) you’d catch a glimpse… and usually giggle.
Insert Sub-Title Here
These are two insert sets that came out of the hobby box. I find the Future Heroes one puzzling. Kirby Pucket has been a hero for several years at this point… Junior too. I’m not sure why we needed the “Future” part.
I think I’m going to try to get that Mattingly signed during Spring Training via TTM. It’s not a guarantee he signs, but it would be a good one to get signed. And congrats to Pendleton for getting into the Braves HOF.
This was definitely a fun box to open. There’s always a lot of good pictures and some fun cards to try to find in the packs.