1993 Upper Deck

Something different today. With us being so close to Christmas, I want to highlight the first and only time I ever got a set of cards for Christmas.

That set was 1993 Upper Deck. I loved that set. Big colour photo on the front, another photo on the back and some stats. The 840 card set had some very nice pictures, some odd ones, and subsets as part of the base that would now have an insane numbering system.

I'm going to highlight my ten favourite cards in no particular order. Also, some oddities..

So the top ten:

#136 Rickey Henderson

It's almost impossible to not include this one. The best base stealer in baseball sliding into third.

I don't know what else to say about it.. Just a great card










#146 Ozzie Smith


Here we see the Wizard making a jumping throw to avoid the slide of Eric Karros. It almost looks like Smith is levitating.

In general, one of my favourite players.









#160 John Burkett

This one is a simple one for me.. I like cards showing a throwback uniform. The first time I saw this was in the 1991 Score set, but the first time I actually registered it as a throwback uniform was on a 1992 Upper Deck Mike Benjamin card.

I often wonder how different the landscape would be if New York never lost the Giants and Dodgers.

#199 Ron Karkovice

It just looks funny.. Karkovice talking on the phone mid-game, cup of water in hand.

#308 Andre Dawson

One of two cards he has in the set (#777 is him as a Boston Red Sox player)

I like the triple exposure trick here. Upper Deck had done this a few times in their sets and I loved each one.

#406 Kelly Gruber

Again, a player with two cards in the set. The other is him as an Angel, 807.

I like how it looks like he's telling the ump "Hold on one minute!! We're talking about something important here!! Serious stuff!"

#481 Les Grandes Etoiles

Part of the Series Two Teammates "insert" you have Marquis Grissom, Delino DeShields, Dennis Martinez, and Larry Walker in front of a red sunset.

One year before the strike killed the best team in history.. So much what if in this card.

#645 Phil Hiatt

Again, a triple exposure card. And Kauffman Stadium while it was Turfed.

#113 Mitch Williams

Before he went home to play with his cows, he was a pretty good closer for many seasons, even if he caused his managers to have ulcers.

I like this one because he almost looks like a Conehead in this photo.

#294 Casey Candaele

I think this one card made me a Candaele fan even though I never saw him play. Just the all-out effort to catch the ball and just coming up short.















Now.. Some oddball things I remember from the set:

Good ol' Rheal Cormier.. Good ol' Rheal Cormier from Moncton...
Now, today people can simply Google Moncton and find out it's in New Brunswick, on the East Coast of Canada.

In 1993, I guess the Upper Deck corporation didn't do much fact checking since they have it as Moncton British Columbia..

British Columbia, for those who may not know Canada, is on the West Coast of Canada.

OOPS

  

 Now these three have one thing in common... Let's see who can find it.


















Give up?? They're cards of players who were on one team for so long that it's odd to see them in a different uniform..
Mike Scioscia, a Dodger for so long suddenly a Padre. (though seeing him as an Angel manager isn't really that odd anymore.. Maybe if he went elsewhere from Angel land it would)
Paul Molitor left the Brewers to come to Toronto and win a World Series. I'm sure Brewer fans might look at the card above and remember how odd it looked to see Molly in something other than the Brew Crew's colours.
Dave Stieb as a White Sox player.. So much wrong with that. I can't even describe it.. About half the releases were as a Jay, the others as a White Sox. This was also his last card till 1996 when he made a brief return with the Jays...