1994 Uni-President Lions Playing Cards

 

I recently acquired this set on eBay from a seller that had picked up a few baseball-related souvenirs on a trip to Taiwan back in the mid 1990s. All of the face cards feature photos of players from the 1994 Uni-President Lions team.  The box, and all card backs, feature artwork of Lions' pitcher Chang-Heng Hsieh. If there is any particular significance to the arrangement, it escapes me.

Inconsequential Variations (Part the First): 1990 CMC Pre-Rookie #441 Bill McGuire

     Welcome back, everyone, as it is time, once again, for the introductory installment of everyone's favorite recurring series where we explore the unknown depths of the obscure backwater that is inconsequential variations amongst baseball cards.

Non-eBay Card Shopping (w/Winfield mailday)

Sorry, I'm having Indian food tonight :/

       On any given day, one can visit a sports card trading message board (and I'd be willing to bet this occurs on all manner of collecting-based hobby forums, as well), someone is bemoaning the lack of an alternative to eBay.  Oh, feebay, why doest thou taxeth us so, stealing the very nickels and dimes upon which we hoped to build our dreams?  There's so much shill bidding!  There is no seller protection from scammers!  Why, oh, why can't there be any where else we can go?

1990 Columbus Clippers Team Issue Perforated Stadium Giveaway

      As a follow up to this post, I was finally able to acquire a copy of the full 1990 Columbus Clippers set that was given away at Cooper Stadium in 1990 as a single perforated sheet.  Sponsored by Kodak and the local Nickles Bakery, the set was topped with a team photo and included 25 cards.  At the bottom of the sheet are two coupons, one for a "free" watch (with 8 proofs of purchase from Kodak film) and one to save $20 on photofinishing with purchase of a 35mm Kodak camera.

     Here is the checklist, organized by uniform number (not necessarily how they are arranged in the uncut set):

NA Team Photo
2 Mark Wasinger
4 Jim Walewander
9 Oscar Azocar
13 Bob Davidson
14 Jim Leyritz
16 Dave Sax
18 Andy Stankiewicz
21 John Fishel
22 Stump Merrill MGR
23 Darrin Chapin
24 John Habyan
25 Dave Eiland
26 Jason Maas
27 Mark Leiter
28 Kevni Mmahat
29 Van Snider
30 Rich Monteleone
31 Hensley Meulens
34 Brian Dorsett
35 Steve Adkins
37 Kevin Maas
38 Rob Sepanek

40 Jimmy Jones
44 Clay Parker
NNO Clete Boyer / Stump Merrill / Ken Rowe / Trey Hillman / Mike Heifferon (Coaching Staff)

     Currently, this set is not cataloged by Beckett (though I did recently send them the set information), but is is cataloged by the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards.  I've also posted the checklist to SportsCardForum.com, Zistle.com and TradingCardDB.com.  The three copies I received from a seller on eBay all had a fairly significant bit of corner damage to the cards on the corners of the set when it was folded.  Most of that looks to be old wear, and not a result of shipping.  I guess people weren't so keen to take care of minor league sets of this nature as they might have been for the similar Lykes-sponsored Atlanta Braves sets that were issued in the 1990s.  As a result, finding copy of the set in mint condition is unlikely.

1994 Tucson Toros Jones Photo set confirmed

     Bit by bit, evidence of these sets continues to surface.  Above are photos from the previously unconfirmed 1994 Tucson Toros Jones Photo set.  Big thanks to Joshua Raisen who runs the wonderful Astroland website for this information.  He picked up this "pack" of 5 photos on eBay recently, complete with the vinyl envelope in which they were issued.

So far, the only known players are the following (updated as necessary):

John Hudek

Domingo Jean

Frank Kellner

Mark Petkovsek

Scooter Tucker

    As these were usually issued in bundles of five, I expect there are at least 15 more photos in the 1994 set.  Whenever more photos turn up, the list will be updated.

Hensley "Bam Bam" Meulens Want List

ヘンスリー・ミューレンス

    This will likely always be a very small, very obscure list.  Any help in tracking down these cards would be greatly appreciated.

1991 Carvel Yankees Juniors Team Photo

1992 Pinnacle/Score panel

2010 Upper Deck 1990 20th Anniversary Buy Back
     A few sets of these cards were apparently back-doored from Upper Deck, and have made their way into the secondary market.  So far, I only know of a single person who has them, but he hasn't sold any in awhile.  These are just 1990 Upper Deck cards with the same 20th Anniversary stamp that was used on the 1989 buy back cards in 2009.

2011-12 San Francisco Giants Team Issue photo card
     These are the cards that are only given away at Giants Fan Fest events at AT&T Park.  They are blank backed, feature black & white photography and are slightly taller than a standard baseball card.  They are most commonly found signed.  I would prefer a non-signed copy, but will take what I can get.  At the moment, I'm offering $25 shipped for this card (signed or unsigned).

2013 BBM Legendary Foreigners 2 Deep Impact Autographed  /48


2013 Leaf Pride of the Pinstripe /4


2016-2017 San Francisco Giants Team Issue photo card

     Only guessing at the existence of this card.  It would be 2.5"x4", black and white, blank-backed, and the player name and team banner would not extend beyond the logo circle.