1991 Topps

Here's a pack of 1991 Topps that I got from a blister repack. This set marked the end of wax wrappers (and the stains that come with them) but still contained the consistently hard, tasteless "1 STICK BUBBLE GUM". This particular piece of gum was broken up into chunks and was completely white, so I dumped it quickly before I got some kind of 17-year old foodborne disease. This was a major step up from the dreadful 1990 set, both in terms of look and photography. Some Topps exec probably started taking Upper Deck's entry into cards seriously by this point and decided to give Topps a makeover, while still keeping things on a Topps-style budget. There was also a chance to win "vintage cards", but I never knew anyone who actually got one.

159 - Joe Boever

210 - Lance Parrish (324 career HRs and 7 all-star selections. Not a bad career for Mr. Parrish.)
9 - Darrin Fletcher
438 - Vicente Palacios
288 - Derrick May (May was a big-time prospect that didn't live up to his billing... not that I minded, him being a Cub and all.)
132 - Jamie Quirk (3 stints with the Royals, 1 with the Brewers, 1 with the Cardinals, 1 with the White Sox, 1 with the Yankees, 2 with the A's and 1 with the Orioles. Ah, the life of a backup catcher.)

720 - Cecil Fielder (1991 Topps also reintroduced the horizontal action shot. I loved this. Here's Fielder in his first monster season.)

500 - Will Clark (His middle name is Nuschler. I used to call him The Nusch - think Ted Nugent here - to my Giants-loving friend, who hated it. He'd then make fun of how ugly Willie McGee is and it would go on and on...)
- Instant Win Game card (I didn't win.)
220 - Tim Wallach (Wallach sounds like some kind of fish, like a wall-eyed wallach or something.)
96 - Trevor Wilson

97 - Brady Anderson (This is before Brady had the sideburns that drove women SportsCenter anchors wild.)

672 - Shane Mack (The picture says it all.)

535 - Ruben Sierra (Sierra had an amazing 1989 season. Check it out. He led the league in triples, RBI and slugging percentage, played in all 162 games and scored 101 runs. He was barely edged out by Yount for MVP.)
472 - Kirt Manwaring (I'm pretty sure I have a closet full of Kirt Manwaring cards for some reason.)
522 - Stan Belinda