1994 Collector's Choice #466 Gold Signature

Card Review: 7.5  Usually I like the gold variation of Collector's Choice cards best.  With this particular set though it's my least favorite of the three variations.  Unlike the regular base card, and the Silver Signature copy, this gold variation lacks the light brown pinstripes on the front.  I'm sure with a little effort they could have figured out a way to include them.  Their omission makes the card feel a little bland.

While this card is somewhat ordinary, it's acquisition is anything but.  This marks the last "regular" card I need on my "Most Wanted List" from Wallach's actual playing career.  There are some oddball items that are at best quasi cards and some modern serial numbered type stuff, but with the acquisition of this card, I feel the collection is more or less complete.  As far as unique cards go anyways.  I'm still a solid 8-12 million away from actually having them all. 

Number of this card in my collection: 1

1992 Denver All-Time Records #18

Card Review: 9.9  This is near the top of my list for all-time favorite Wallach card.  According to the online databases, this card doesn't exists.  I didn't know it existed until recently, but here is, in all it's minor league glory.  I'm not sure if it's omission is due to the manufacturer or how it was distributed, or if it's just so obscure to be off their radar, but it's not listed.  For the most part, all those online list copy from each other, so if whoever actually does the cataloging misses a set, they're all going to miss it.

This set was issued at the last ever home game for the Denver Zephyrs in 1992.  The set featured players who held all-time records for the Denver Zephyrs/Bears.  The Zephyrs moved to New Orleans the following season (where they still remain today) as MLB added the expansion Colorado Rockies in Denver.

While this isn't a true minor league card as it was issued 12 years after Wallach made his MLB debut, it's as close as it gets.  It's a great action shot, probably the best fielding shot of Wallach ever captured on cardboard, has very little gloss on the front (none on the back), and what I find to be a very kitsch Remax sponsor logo all over it.  Everything about this card works for me.

Fun Facts:
*The stat on the back that Wallach was Denver's all-time record holder for was 16 game-winning RBI in a season.  In 1987 Wallach led the National League in the now defunct stat, also with 16
*in 1980 the Denver Bears were the AAA affliate of the Montreal Expos.
*Wallach led the 1980 American Association in Total Bases and was 2nd to teammate Randy Bass in Home Runs (37)
*in 134 games with Denver in 1980, Wallach batted .281 with 36 home runs, and 124 RBI
*The 1980 Denver Bears saw 24 future Major Leaguers play for them in 1980, including Tim Raines, Charlie Lea, and Bill Gullickson
*Managed by Bill Gardner, the Bears put together a record of 92-44.
*MiLB ranks the 1980 Denver Bears as the 34th best minor league team of all time, and likely would have ranked higher had they not been upset in the playoffs

Number of this card in my collection: 10

2003 Donruss Expos #29

Card Review: 8.9  This was no easy card to track down.  So elusive was this card, that until it arrived in the mail (after paying way too much $3/plus $3 shipping), I had never even seen it.  I had seen online pictures of a couple other cards from this set, but not the Wallach.  I was a little disappointed the card depicted him in this particular Expos uniform rather than the classic uniform, but I can't complain too much.

This was part of a 59 card set given away at an Expos game in 2003.  Given their attendance numbers back then, I can't imagine there are that many of these floating around today.  Though, I'll keep looking as it's certainly one I'd like to have more of.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2014 update: n/a

2015 update: n/a

2016 update: n/a

2017 update: n/a

2018 update: n/a

2019 update: n/a

2020 update: n/a

2021 update: n/a

2022 update: 2

2023 update: n/a

2024 update: n/a

2025 update: 3

 

1995 Topps Finest #62 Refractor

Card Review 2.4  I find this card to be every bit as bland as it's '95 Finest base card counterpart.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't think some of the Topps Refractors were cool, some of them are very cool (though I'll never stop believing they're unnecessary gimmicks).  This just isn't one of the "cool" ones.  In '95 Topps covered all of these cards with a protective film, that consumers were to peel off once they bought the cards.  Pretty much nobody did, so everyone ended up with black lettering on the front of their cards.  You can see where the film on this one has started to bubble around Wallach's shoulder and neck.  I suspect if I peeled it off the card would look nicer, but I'm not inclined to do so.

*Update* It is believed that there were 550 copies printed of each refractor

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2014 update: n/a

2015 update: n/a

2016 update: n/a

2017 update: n/a

2018 update: n/a

2019 update: n/a

2020 update: n/a

2021 update: n/a

2022 update: n/a

2023 update: 8

1990 U.S. Playing Cards #5D Silver Series

Card Review: 4.9  As an individual card this "Silver Series" is nearly impossible to distinguish from the standard '90 U.S. Playing card.  The only real discernible difference is the way the corners are cut.  This Silver Series card has sharply cut corners, while the standard card has more traditional rounded playing card corners.  I've posted a picture below for comparison.

Thats the standard card on the left, and the Silver Edition on the right.  When looking at a full deck of these cards, and I don't have any other cards from this deck/set, the other difference is much easier to see.  The edges of these cards are painted silver.  Even knowing it was there, I had to tilt this card in just the right light to see the silver paint.

Below are some pictures I lifted from an ebay listing.  I didn't take the pictures and don't have the cards, but they clearly show that when a complete deck of cards is stacked that the borders are silver.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

1992 Panini French #204

Card Review 6.6  This is the "French" (which I presume to mean Canadian) version of the '92 Panini sticker.  I like it slightly better than the English version.  The "Aujeu" on the back makes the difference for me.  Not that I care what it says, the lettering just fills the space nicely, and by comparison the English version looks a little bare.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

1994 Pinnacle #484 Artist's Proof

Card Review: 6.5  This is the 3rd variation of '94 Pinnacle.  I don't really know what the deal was with this one.  The "Museum Collection" are sort of cool, and drastically different. The only thing that makes this any different from the base card is the stamp above the name.  Was the "art" themed titles to these some sort of tie-in that I'm oblivious too?  I don't know.  There's just not much to get excited about here.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2014 update: n/a

2015 update: n/a

2016 update: n/a

2017 update: n/a

2018 update: n/a

2019 update: n/a

2020 update: 2

1993 Stadium Club #686 Members Only

Card Review: 8.0 This is the 3rd and final variation put out by Stadium Club in 1993.  One would have been fine, but given the over-production of the era, they had to find some way into duping people into buying obscene amounts of product.

I find the "Members Only" stamp to be a little odd, but I guess odd is better than stupid.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2014 update: 2

1994 Topps Spanish #143

Card Review: 7.1  Topps missed a fantastic opportunity with this card.  It's a Spanish language version of the '94 Topps base set.  For decades Topps put out French language set of the same design in Canada and called it O-Pee-Chee.  O-Pee-Chee is  cool to say, and looks funny on the cards in place of Topps.  Why didn't we get a Spanish name in place of Topps?  Here are some of the options they missed out on, any of which would have looked awesome.  As a disclaimer, I'm not fluent in Spanish, I can order a beer, and tell a cab driver where to take me, but that's about it.  So if some of these translations don't work, or worse yet are offensive, I apologize.

Spanish alternatives for "Topps"

"Alto"

"Toda"

"Mejor"

"Primero"

Any of those in the "Topps" font on the front and back of this card would have looked pretty cool.  It's too bad they opted not to do it.

Number of this card in my collection: 2

1987 Topps Stickers #80

Card Review:  3.1  This is more or less identical to the '87 O-Pee-Chee Stickers.  I prefer the OPC red back to the blue, even though I can't read any of the French on the OPC.  Once again that's Steve Buechele on the card with Wallach.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: 4
2014 update: n/a
2015 update: 5
2016 update: 6
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: n/a
2019 update: 5 (must have stuck one somewhere)

2020 update: 12

2021 update: 14

2022 update: n/a

2023 update: n/a

2024 update: 15

1992 Upper Deck #228 "Gold Hologram"

Card Review: 8.8 as far as I can tell this is the exact same card as the regular '92 Upper Deck, which upon further review deserves a higher rating than 8.8 (probably the best action shot ever put on a Wallach card).  But people keep listing these as the "Gold Hologram" version, and I'm a sucker, so I went ahead and bought one.

I'm not convinced that the gold hologram was intentional on the part of Upper Deck as some sort of rare short print chase card.  There's no denying it's a different color than the 109 '92 UD's I have (see below).  I haven't actually checked to see if any of them are gold now that I think about it, which probably would have been a good idea before dropping a dollar on this one.  In any event, it's gold, most are silver.  Maybe their supplier just sent some gold foil by mistake.  If any one knows for sure, feel free let me know in the comments.  For now it's getting listed as a unique card (I don't count "errors" as unique).

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2014 update: 2
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: 3
2018 update: n/a
2019 update: 7

2020 update: n/a

2021 update: n/a

2022 update: n/a

2023 update: 8

Silver: Left

Gold: Right

1990 Panini #285

Card Review: 7.0  A much better than normal effort from Panini.  It's quite a bit larger than normal Panini stickers, I'd say about 66% the size of a regular card.  The color stripe at the bottom is a bit dated, but it's far from obnoxious.  I don't remember seeing any Panini stickers in 1990, but they must have been out there.  All in all, I really like this as far as stickers go.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2014 update: 3
2015 update: n/a

2016 update: 5 

2017 update: n/a

2018 update: n/a

2019 update: n/a

2020 update: 7

2021 update: 8

2022 update: n/a

2023 update: 15

1991 Topps Micro #220

 

Card Review: 2.1  This card is even smaller than the Cracker Jack version.  There is no shortage of variations for the '91 Topps card.  The base, Tiffany, OPC, Desert Storm, cracker jack and this one.  Not sure we really needed two tiny editions.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: 3
2014 update: 5
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: n/a
2019 update: 6

1995 Topps Finest #62

Card Review: 2.4  This card kind of epitomizes everything that went wrong with baseball cards.  Over priced, over produced, over slicked, and just phony.  Did Topps really think that collector's would sit around peeling the completely unnecessary protective coating off the front of these cards.  Some disgusting comic book guy peeling away saying; "Gee, I'm sure glad this coating was here to keep the card from getting dirty in it's vacuum sealed pack."  No, it was just another dirty ploy to drive up the prices.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: 7
2015 update: 10
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: 13
2019 update: n/a
2020 update: 15

2021 update: n/a

2022 update: 17

2023 update: n/a

2024 update: 19

2025 update: n/a

2026 update: 20

1994 Score Gold Rush #446

Card Review: 5.1  I like '94 score.  The design just doesn't lend itself well to these gold parallels well.  I don't believe there was a diamond set done in '94, that would probably have looked pretty good.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2014 update: 2 
2015 update: 4 
2016 update: 5
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: n/a
2019 update: 8

2020 update: n/a

2021 update: n/a

2022 update: 10

2023 update: n/a

2024 update: 11

1994 Topps Finest #61

Card Review: 4.5  This card didn't scan anywhere near as well as it's refractor counter-part did.  I'm just not wild about these Topps Finest cards.  They feel less like a baseball card, and more like some sort of lame toy you'd buy packaged with a pin or some other gimmick.

Number of this card in my collection: 1

2013 update: 2
2014 update: 4
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: 5

1995 Fleer Ultra #401 Gold Medallion

Card Review: 6.1  I slightly prefer this to the standard '95 Fleer Ultra.  There really isn't all that much difference.  It doesn't show, but in right light the center of the "Medallion" in the upper left gives off a sort of prism effect.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: 5
2014 update: n/a
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: 6
2017 update: n/a

2018 update: n/a

2019 update: n/a

2020 update: n/a

2021 update: n/a

2022 update: n/a

2023 update: n/a

2024 update: 7

1995 Score Platinum Diamond Silver Team

Card Review: 7.4  This is the 3rd variation of '95 Score I've come across.  One would have been enough.  I'm not sure if these were sold as team sets, complete sets, or randomly stuck in packs.  At first I assumed they were inserted into packs, but there are a lot of team sets for sale on ebay, so that gives me some pause.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2013 update: n/a
2014 update: n/a
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: 2

1993 LAPD D.A.R.E. #25

 Card Review: 0.8  This 1993 LAPD card is more or less the same design as the LAPD Card from '94.  I'm probably being way too hard on this set with such a low grade.  I just feel that if you're going to make a card, even a promotional one, that you pony up for at least some half-way decent card stock and maybe take more than 45 seconds or so to come up with a design.  That said, the design isn't horrible, it's a clean, nice enough look, the card itself is just far too flimsy.

Number of this card in my collection: 1
2014 update: 3
2015 update: n/a
2016 update: n/a
2017 update: n/a
2018 update: 4

1994 Fleer Ultra #220

Card Review: 8.3  The photo quality is pretty nice on the front of this card, but I'm just not wild about this Ultra set.  The backs feel generic, and ultimately it's not much different than 50+ plus other sets from the mid 90's.  The idea of the gold strip carrying over from the front to the back is kind of novel, but for reason I just don't like it.  I give them credit for trying, and definitely would have supported the idea when brainstorming design ideas, but in application, it just doesn't work.  Maybe it needed to carry all four edges, but full bleed photos were all the rage then.

Number of this card in my collection: 4
2013 update: 23
2014 update: 29
2015 update: 33
2016 update: 34
2017 update: 35
2018 update: 36
2019 update: 41
2020 update: 42

2021 update: n/a

2022 update: 44

2023 update: 46

2024 update: 48

2025 update: 49

2026 update: 50