1993 Score Select

This is another one of those stupid Score sets that was absolute crap and everybody knew it when it came out. For starters, just what in the hell was "Select" about it? There were 405 base cards, 162 insert cards, and 150 Traded cards. By my rough count that's over 700 cards. Not very "Select" in my book. That ratio of base cards to insert cards is something Topps would be very proud of. 

The 1993 Score Select Detroit Tigers:

20 Cecil Fielder

44 Travis Fryman

60 Mickey Tettleton

85 Bill Gullickson

112 Lou Whitaker

138 Mike Henneman

166 Milt Cuyler

186 Rob Deer

218 Tony Phillips

230 Alan Trammell

244 Dan Gladden

298 John Doherty

306 Kurt Knudsen

320 Scott Livingstone

335 Phil Clark

398 Frank Tanana

There was an update set, and it's a shame I don't have any of these because these were three of my favorite Tigers from that era of crappiness.

1993 Score Select Rookie & Traded: 

80T Chris Gomez

92T Eric Davis

113T David Wells

Now for the insert cards. I think the card pictured above speaks volumes about the overabundance of insert cards. Tony Phillips. This may be the card where the ship sailed on insert cards being "special." 

1993 Select Chase Stars

13 Cecil Fielder

1993 Select Stat Leaders

27 Cecil Fielder

31 Cecil Fielder

37 Tony Phillips

I guess it could have been worse. They could have put Cecil Fielder on another insert card instead of TP.

You know the worst part about this set. They don't really look all that bad. This could have been one of Score's nicer sets. 

1993 Pinnacle

Everything I said about 1992 Pinnacle applies here. All of it. 

Except.....

Just this week there was a discussion about the quality of Jack Morris' bad 'stache in the Detroit Tigers Forum at Worldcrossing.com (see sidebar). I think this pretty much ends all discussion. At least now I can see what exactly he was trying to cover....

The 1993 Pinnacle Detroit Tigers:

26 Cecil Fielder

52 Mickey Tettleton

79 Travis Fryman

106 Scott Livingstone

114 David Wells

193 Milt Cuyler

202 Mike Moore

240 Rico Brogna

264 Rich Rowland

287 Phil Clark

333 Dan Gladden

352 BIll Gullickson

353 Alan Trammell

385 Mike Henneman

406 Tony Phillips

407 John Doherty

429 Eric Davis

472 Jack Morris Now & Then

509 Lou Whitaker

547 Bill Krueger

615 Greg Gohr

There were a slew of insert sets. The only one I have is not even listed in the checklist book I am using, so I don't know much about it.

Cooperstown Card

28 Cecil Fielder

Slugfest

3 Cecil Fielder

30 Travis Fryman

Team 2001

10 Travis Fryman

1993 Score

Now that the holiday season is over and most of the resolutions have been broken (I'm not buying any packs or boxes of 2009 cards, but that's for another entry...) it's time to get back to blogging about Detroit Tigers baseball cards!!!

Which makes it such a shame that 1993 Score is where I left off. They went from the one end of the spectrum to the other with this design. I prefer the cleaner more visually appealing look of this more than any other Score set, but then they went and screwed it up by squishing the letters on the players' names to where they are almost illegible. I have to hold one of these right in front of my face to read the player name. Maybe they were just getting us ready for Topps use of goil foil.

The 1993 Score Detroit Tigers:

11 Travis Fryman

31 Cecil Fielder

60 Mickey Tettleton

82 Milt Cuyler

114 Rico Brogna

166 Mike Henneman

196 Scott Livingstone

207 Dan Gladden

215 David Haas

228 Mike Munoz

264 Kurt Knudsen

283 Rich Rowland

313 Alan Trammell

353 John Doherty

366 Mark Carreon

442 Gary Pettis

596 Lou Whitaker

614 Tony Phillips

636 Rob Deer

643 Bill Gullickson

652 Frank Tanana

Score really scaled down the operation in 1993, only releasing a few insert sets.

Boys Of Summer

17 Rico Brogna

30 Rich Rowland

Franchise

6 Cecil Fielder

They didn't even bother with an update set, so neither will I!

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.