Sunday, March 12, 2023

Completed Set: 1988 Score Baseball

1988 was one of those memorable years in the baseball card world. The hobby was booming. Rookie cards were all the rage. Topps, Fleer, and Donruss were churning out cards by the million. There was probably at least one retail source nearby that you referred to as a "local card shop". Baseball card shows were being held at hotels, VFW halls, firehouses, and shopping centers on a weekly basis. And on top of all that (or maybe as a result), a new trading card company jumped into the game.
 

 
 
A year before Bowman's resurrection and Upper Deck's inaugural release, and three whole years before other premium brands like Stadium Club and Ultra appeared, it was Score who stepped up to the plate. 
 
Here's how you would have found their cards on store shelves back in 1988:
 
 
 
 
That purple Don Mattingly card on the box top is the first card in the set. But it only tells part of the color story. Score used six different colors for their card borders in this set, which, if displayed in 9-pocket pages, makes for a very colorful binder.
 
The colors weren't randomly assorted, however. Neither were they designated by team. Instead, Score decided to make things nice and numerical.
 
Each color was assigned to 110 cards, consecutively. And because there were six different colors used, that makes a complete set of 660 cards. Here's the rundown:
 
1–110 = purple
111220 = blue
221330 = red
331440 = green
441550 = yellow
551660 = orange

Interestingly, that same color progression appeared in packs. You'd get roughly three cards of each color, also consecutively. So for example, the pack might have started off with three purple cards in a row, then three blues, three reds, three greens, three yellows, and two oranges for a total of 17 cards. This might seem like a good idea for distribution, but it actually led to some pretty crummy collation issues. If you tried to put a set together the old-fashioned way—buying a box, opening all the packs, and then sorting the cards by number—it was a killer. You'd get lots of duplicates across those packs, and even some repeated trios. (How do I know this? Personal experience. I'll leave it at that.)

The player images on the cards also show evidence of repetition, as you'll see next. I wonder if Score's executives had a conversation with their photographers that went something like this:
 
Executives: You know what, guys? It would be really cool if you could take some photos that show hitters at the moment they're making contact with the ball.
 
 


Photographers: Done.
 
Executives: And maybe you could do the same thing for pitchers, just as they're releasing the ball.
 



Photographers: Done.
 
Executives: Ooh! And pitchers throwing the ball right into your living room.
 
 

 
Photographers: Done.

Executives: And we've got to have some photos that show hitters taking a really big cut at the ball.
 


 
Photographers: Done.
 
Flip through the entire 660-card set and you'll see many more examples like the ones above. Too many. 
 
There were also some unfortunate runs that showed practically the same image, card after card. For example, #516 through #523 are all pitchers, all captured at some point in their throwing motion. So there were some growing pains with photography in this inaugural set. Along with the photo repetition, there were also some niggling typos and name misspellings throughout the set. It's to be expected, I suppose.
 
However, Score did pay attention to some of the finer details, and they definitely deserve credit for that. For instance, relief pitchers received an "RP" designation on the front of the card, instead of just a "P" for pitcher. That's pretty cool. Check out these three RP studs.
 
 



Outfielder designations also varied. Some players received the standard “OF”, but other outfielders who were more established at a specific position were noted. Have a look at these three guys, for example.

 
 
 

So it's not all negative, by any means. In fact, I think Score had a very good debut. The card design is clean. The images are crisp. That very thin white border that's inside the photo frame is a classy design touch. Most of the time the players were framed very well inside those borders, and there are plenty of good action shots that don't follow the templates shown above. Take these, for example.

 

 



And Score did capture some star players of the day doing things they were known for. 

 



Then we get to the back of each card. It's where Score really shines.



 
Not only do you have a full-color headshot (a step above Fleer's card backs of the '80s), but look at all that descriptive text! Right from the start, the copywriters at Score were masters at cramming in a lot of player information. It's often interesting information as well.
 
Here's the text from Bo Jackson's card, in larger print:
 
Bo, who has awesome power, a fantastic arm, and blazing speed, sizzled at the start of 1987, his first full season in pro baseball, and gave fans a hint of his immense talent.
 
That would be plenty of content for most card backs of the day. But for Score? Not even close. It continues.
 
In a three-game series against the Yankees, he got on base 10 of 14 plate appearances. In a game against the Tigers, he hit a three-run homer and a grand slam (his bat broke but the ball still went 410 feet). In a game against the Twins, he hit the longest home run of the season in the Metrodome, a 466 footer. Bo topped off the year by playing with the Raiders as a “hobby” in the off-season. “Bo has more natural ability than anyone I’ve ever seen,” said hitting coach Hal McRae.
 
The awesomeness of Bo was made quite clear. But wait, there’s an ENTIRE SECOND PARAGRAPH.
 
Bo played only 79 college games at Auburn, where he was the 1985 Heisman Trophy winner as a tailback and the NFL’s no. 1 draft pick. In a surprise move, he signed with the Royals in ’86 to play baseball rather than football. After a slow start in the Double-A Southern League, Bo batted .388 in his last 40 games. Brought up to the Royals in September with only 53 pro games behind him, he awed everyone with his prodigious power and blinding speed (3.7 seconds from home to first, the fastest time in baseball). “Bo has so much ability, it’s downright scary,” said teammate Frank White. “You don’t see that combination of speed and power in many human beings.”
 
And it wasn't only phenoms like Bo Jackson who received detailed write-ups like that. Just about everyone did.
 
Score also dipped their toes into the "rookie craze" waters, devoting space toward the end of the set for 25 consecutive rookie prospects on a modified card design. Here are the three biggest prospects of the group.
 



If you were a kid who had a penchant for organization, you would have loved having all your rookie prospects lined up one after another in your binder.

As for subsets, Score had just a few of those.

Reggie Jackson had just finished his stellar career, and Score produced a few tribute cards. There were five in all, each card documenting one of his MLB stops: A's, Orioles, Yankees, Angels, and A's again.  
 
 

 
 
Then there were a few combination cards that featured stars of the day.  
 
 
 
 

And finally, a few cards at the very end of the set documented highlights from the 1987 season.

 

 
Score did take note of how popular subsets were, however, and added even more in years to come. (Remember the Dream Team, bighead cartoon all-stars, K-Man, and No-Hit Club subsets to name a few?)

In every pack you'd also get one of 56 different "great moments in baseball" mini lenticular cards. Fans of Sportflics will have been familiar with the look of these.
 
 

 
The great moments range from the previous year all the way back to 1920.
 
Interestingly, however, there are no checklist cards or team leader cards in this set. 
 
Just as interestingly, card #439 of Jeff Robinson seems to be the only posed shot in the entire set. That's it. No headshots. No batting poses. No fielding poses. Just one pitcher's pose. I guess Score was early on the whole "ACTION SHOTS ONLY!" idea.
 

 
 
 
So that's 1988 Score. Overall, it was a pretty solid introduction. Crisp photos, eye-catching colors, great write-ups on the backs. And it's still affordable 35 years later. I have some really good memories of collecting cards from this set with my stepbrother when we were kids, and of the excitement that came along with a new card company. I'm happy to have finally completed it.

What are your thoughts on Score's first attempt at baseball cards? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

28 comments:

  1. It's a very well done set. The backs are particularly great. The repetition of the photos can be a bit of a letdown but taking each one by itself they are more impressive. Although I don't collect baseball normally even I have some cards from this set.

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    1. For the historic nature of this set and the era in which it was produced, I think you've made a good decision to have some of the cards in your collection. Thanks for reading, Billy!

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  2. Despite the overproduction of this set, it is a great set. I believe a few years ago I purchased a Tactory set box as well. Much better than first year Donruss and Fleer.

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    1. Agreed, TwinKiller. For a debut set, Score did an excellent job.

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  3. Score did produce a very nice inaugural set, better than the Donruss product and almost as attractive as the Fleer set. In the 11 years of Score, I think other than the bland 1989, the ugly 1991, and the brick-prone 1994, they put out some nice sets of baseball cards. Even there other issues such as Pinnacle and Select were attractive sets. During their years of production, I think overall, Score/Pinnacle were one of the better card products.

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    1. Hey sandyrusty! Good to see you here. And I agree. Pinnacle and Select put out some nice products back in the '90s. (And coins too, hahah.)

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  4. I enjoyed early Score, especially the border colours and backs. 1991 Score was one of the first sets that I decided to collect. I had regrets midway through series 1 due to not really liking the look of the card and naively thinking I'd not bother with series 2. But I was already in too deep with series 1 and had to got all the way including the traded set.

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    1. I think many of us collectors know exactly what you mean there, Derek ;-)

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  5. Wow I've never really given this set much thought, but it had some great features!

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  6. My set's been complete for a few years, how did I miss the Robinson card? ... There were a lot of odes to '88 Score back in my blog early days, there was even a blog devoted to the set. Several folks have said '88 Score's debut is better than '89 Upper Deck's debut and I'm inclined to agree, despite the sameness of Score's set.

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    1. You know what? I've never thought to directly compare '88 Score and '89 Upper Deck like that. I might lean toward Upper Deck as having the better debut (hologram security feature, big color photos on the back, foil wrappers, overall hobby buzz). However, Score holds its own without a doubt. And they were a year earlier. Definitely an important set for a baseball collector to own.

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  7. I'm hoping to one day pick up a factory set and slide it into a binder. I really like the colorful borders... but like you mentioned... the card backs are what really shines. I only discovered recently that Score & Sportflics were essentially the same company... that eventually went on to become Pinnacle.

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    1. Score and Sportflics were essentially the same company? That's news to me, Fuji! Pretty cool piece of historical information there.

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  8. I noticed the sameness of the photos the other day as I was going through my boxes of cards to inventory them on TCDB. Otherwise, it was a solid set that always seemed to be popular from 1988 through the early 90s. They had some deal where if you requested it, they would send a checklist in the mail (which I have one - I should probably scan it for TCDB).

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    1. I knew I should have checked first. The checklist thru the mail had to have been for another set, not this one. I checked where I thought it was and it's a photocopy from SCD, not a mailed item. I know I have one for some set - and it was either Score or Sportfilcs.

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    2. You had me intrigued there, Dan! Glad you found the proper set to link the checklist to. And thanks for stopping by!

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  9. This was the first "action shots only" set, which was a pretty big deal at the time.

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    1. Sure was a departure from all the poses and headshots that were prevalent in baseball card sets at the time. The Jeff Robinson card really stands out as a result.

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  10. As someone who prefers action shots, I liked this set quite a bit. The similar shots don't bother me in the least, and to me they look even better when grouped together like you've done here.

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    1. Maybe one day a company will put out a set where all the action shots are grouped together like that. (Cards 1-50, pitchers following through; cards 51-100, hitters following through, cards 101-150, middle infielders turning a double play, and so on.)

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  11. I have a fondness for the initial Score release. In the pre-internet times when I was still looking at the box scores in the morning paper, I think I learned more about players from the write-ups on the back than any other time in my young baseball fandom.

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    1. Absolutely, Matt! And I'd bet a good amount of that information from the write-ups is still in your mind as a result of those impressionable times.

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  12. I remember collecting that set back in the day. Actually, not quite in the day. I remember in 1989 or 1990 going into a card shop that was having a kind of clearance sale of unsold wax boxes and picking up a 1988 Score box for maybe 10$ or so which was a good deal. I never finished the set but had a good start on it.

    Very interesting that Robinson was the only posed shot!

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    1. I'd pay $10 for a wax box right now, even though I've finished the set ;-)

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  13. This is one more posed shot, Vincente Palacios #643 looks like a posed shot to me.

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