Word: cards
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Donruss demonstrates once again that it doesn't appreciate the game or the tradition of baseball cards. Cards are such a part of the national pastime because they unify the romance and the science of baseball. A card's front should make the player a hero, and the back should provide all his statistics for those who read box scores every day. Donruss has fallen short on both sides this year...
...back, Donruss only traces a player's performance back to 1983. That's fine for Chris Bosio, Brewer's reliever, but it's unconscionable for Fred Lynn or Gary Carter (himself an avid card collector...
...front of the Fleer card isn't as good as it could have been. Fleer was the best overall card last year, but this year's design of scattered blue and red diagonal stripes behind the photo complicates a good idea. The photo itself fades out near the top, so that a player's head sticks out into the background. It's a creative variation on last year's Fleer design, and it could carry the card without the complication of the stripes...
Topps has the second-best set of cards this year, even though their backs are unimpressive and their photos often aren't as sharp as Fleer's. Topps' front is traditional enough to enlist my nostalgia, and though the overall effect is to make the card look like the cover of a cheap sports magazine, at least the player, and not the background, is the center of attention. They're not as good as last year's Topps, but all of this year's crop of cards is generally weaker...
Score, the new kids on the diamond, are the best this year. Their front design is plain, though the background color is either flourescent blue, green, purple, yellow, or red. Every card has a sharp action photo on the front and a color head photo on the back. The effect is amazing...