1993 Triple Play

For the second year in a row Donruss came up with a nice looking card for their Triple Play release. Is this day and age of hard to read player names that have been foil stamped on the cards, I like it that the name is plastered across the top in 30 point type.

For whatever reason, this set is not listed in my team set checklist book, so my attempt at putting one together may be inaccurate. (I've only got four of these cards, so I'll give it a shot....)

The 1993 Donruss Triple Play Detroit Tigers:

5 Cecil Fielder

44 Milt Cuyler

59 Travis Fryman

92 Mickey Tettleton

137 Rob Deer

176 Tony Phillips

191 Alan Trammell

224 Lou Whitaker

There were some sort of scratch off insert game cards. I kinda remember these, but not really all that much.

15 Cecil Fielder

Also a League Leaders insert card that I don't recall at all.

L5 Cecil Fielder

1993 Studio

It's not often I praise a Donruss release, but I will do so here. This is one of the nicest looking sets ever made. This was such a simple concept that it begs the question of why it was never done before. The only thing I don't like about this set is that I didn't collect the entire thing. Even the foil stamping looks elegant when used in this format. 

Of course it's a shame that they found the doofious (yeah, I made it up, so what?) picture of Kirk Gibson they could possibly dig up, but I still love them. I may have to hunt down a complete set on ebay after the holidays. These are that nice. (I just looked and you can find one for about $15-20. Not a bad deal at all for a set this awesome.)

The 1993 Studio Detroit Tigers:

26 Rob Deer

37 Cecil Fielder

76 Lou Whitaker

108 Travis Fryman

138 Mickey Tettleton

165 Kirk Gibson

213 Tony Phillips

Okay, I only have two beefs with this set. How the hell could they leave out Alan Trammell, yet include Jerald Clark and Orestes Destrade? How?

There is an insert card that I was never aware of at any time in life until fifteen seconds ago. 

Silhouettes #5 Travis Fryman

1993 Leaf

Another Donruss issue that looks like it borrowed heavily from '92 Fleer Ultra. Same old marble background corner and goil foil circle thingy. Pretty lackluster and unimaginative. Much like this paragraph. 

This is also another one of those sets where the backs of the cards look better than the fronts. At least in concept maybe. I mean, instead of just putting two different shots of the Ren Cen in the background, why not mix it up a little bit some other iconic Detroit landmarks like Motown Studios, the Windsor Tunnel, or even the downtown Borders on Woodward Ave.?

The 1993 Leaf Detroit Tigers:

16 Travis Fryman

38 Milt Cuyler

60 Dan Gladden

81 Mike Henneman

103 Bill Gullickson

110 Tettleton/Fryman

126 Tony Phillips

148 Lou Whitaker

191 Mike Munoz

213 Mickey Tettleton

246 Rob Deer

283 Cecil Fielder

314 Kirk Gibson

348 Bill Krueger

375 Scott Livingstone

401 Mike Moore

421 Alan Trammell

463 Chad Kreuter

484 David Wells

534 John Doherty

I have no way of verifying that this checklist card #110 is of Mickey Tettleton doing a flip over the railing while Travis Fryman watches from the dugout, but my theory is the only one I've ever heard, so I'm running with it. 

There were a few ho-hum insert cards. And by ho-hum I mean, "Oh really? Who gives a shit about a Greg Gohr insert card?"

Fasttrack #19 Travis Fryman

Gold All Stars #3 Cecil Fielder

Gold Rookies #6 Greg Gohr

1993 Donruss

I like this set although it kinda reminds me of '92 Fleer Ultra. I think it's the embossed look of the little diamond and bar on the front, I dunno. I do know however that this was Donruss best effort since '84. 

I love the pic of Shawn Hare with the bat back on his shoulder as the ball is about to whiz by him. I like what they did with the checklists too. A Fryman-Livingstone high five should be preserved for all of eternity. 

The 1993 Donruss Detroit Tigers:

13 Mickey Tettleton

41 Rico Brogna

71 Mark Carreon

77 Rich Rowland

99 Kevin Ritz

127 Travis Fryman

145 Kurt Knudsen

173 Milt Cuyler

203 John Kiely

231 Rob Deer

259 Mike Henneman

277 John Doherty

305 Shawn Hare

335 Dave Haas

391 Phil Clark

409 Scott Livingstone

437 Skeeter Barnes

467 Dan Gladden

495 Mark Leiter

523 Bill Gullickson

541 Cecil Fielder

569 Buddy Groom

599 Frank Tanana

605 Greg Gohr

627 Mike Munoz

655 Alan Trammell

673 Chad Kreuter

686 Lou Whitaker

701 Tony Phillips

772 Walt Terrell

There is also a card of Scott Aldred pictured as a Tiger but listed as a Rockie, #733.

They ran out the same looking Diamond Kings in '93 as they did in '92.

DK-15 Cecil Fielder

There were a few inserts, all of which featured Cecil Fielder.

Elite 34 Cecil Fielder

MVP 17 Cecil Fielder

Spirit of the Game 10 Cecil Fielder, Rob Deer, and Mickey Tettleton

I don't have a lot here. I really don't, and I've had two weeks to think about it. Beer is not even getting the juices flowing.