1990 ProCards AAA Promos

     Yet again, my saved eBay search caught a Hensley Meulens card I did not even know existed. Undocumented by neither Beckett nor the Standard Catalog of Baseball cards, this promo set was probably issued sometime shortly after the 1990 Triple A All-Star game, but before the issue of the 1990 ProCards AAA set.  In an odd move, ProCards released their big 800 card, pack-issued set after the end of the 1990 season, so the back of the promo likely refers to the fact that the set would include all of the 1990 statistics on the card backs.  Below is the actual 1990 ProCards AAA All-Star card for Meulens:

      When I first saw the Meulens, I checked to see what else the seller had, and the biggest name that stood out was Juan Gonzalez.  I checked the listings over at JuanGone.com to see if any of the big guns had one, and sure enough, there were a couple listed, along with scans.  With confirmation that these cards were legitimate, I asked the seller who else he had and if he could remember how he got them.  He didn't remember where he got them (one story from the JuanGone forum was that the cards were given out at a minor league game), but the seller had the following twenty cards from this set:

Leo Gomez
Juan Gonzalez
Hensley Meulens
Brian Dorsett
Kevin Mmahat
Tim Naehring
Mike Cook
Dorn Taylor
Pete Filson
Tim McIntosh
Joe Redfield
Jose Offerman
Kevin Kennedy MGR
Dave Walsh
Erik Pappas
Jeff Small
Ken Hill
David Segui
Paul Faries
German Rivera

      The players were all in the 1990 ProCards Triple A All-Star set, so I listed them in the order they appeared in that set.  I got the Meulens for the minimum $0.99 bid (along with the Dorsett and Mmahat...not sure why I even bid on them, so they're up for trade if anyone wants them).  Three of the Gonzalez cards have sold for a wide range of prices; from $20 for a 2 card lot with another promo to a $111 Buy It Now to a $80 sale after 9 bids (there is mention on the JuanGone forum of one selling for $140 back in 2007).  Most of the rest of the list didn't sell the first time around and the 1990 AAA All-Star team wasn't exactly bursting with future major league talent.  However, now that it seems these are not quite as rare as was original thought, it is unlikely those upper limits will be reached again any time soon.

     I don't know if this list is complete, but they have been added to the Inventory Manager over at SportsCardForum and to TCDB.  I also caught a whiff of a possible 1991 ProCards Tomorrows Heroes promo set.  There is currently a Howard Battle listed on eBay (an unlikely subject for a promo), so I'll start digging for more.