One of the true crimes of 1990 was that Frank Thomas didn't get an Upper Deck card. The two early cards were Topps and Score. Those were followed by Leaf and Classic. Fleer missed out on the Thomas bonanza, but rectified that by including Frank in the update set.Donruss was the only other major company to miss out on Frank Thomas in 1990. Even Bowman had a nice rookie card of Big Frank. Upper Deck's rookie was expected in the update set. When it didn't happen, people started to question Upper Deck. How could they miss out on something this big?
Instead Upper Deck decided to give a card to Tom Drees in the base set. Tom made the majors in 1991 and was quickly gone after that season. I can understand why Tom Drees got a card. He threw three no-hitters in his 1989 minor league season. Upper Deck gambled and lost. They had a chance at redemption in the update set, but didn't bother. Even while Frank was earning his jump from AA to the majors that year, Upper Deck looked the other way.
Here is the Upper Deck High Numbers card that could have been, but never was.
Wow, I actually still like 90 & 91 Upper Deck. If that card existed I would have to own it! Great job.
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ReplyDelete(It is fun, though. Off the record, the Baines card is awesome! I may have to hire you.)