I remember seeing minor league trading cards in the 80's, but outside of a few singles in dealers' display cases... I didn't really have access to any for many years.
Then in the early 90's... ProCards, CMC, and Best issued minor league baseball cards that were distributed in wax packs and the floodgates were opened. I divvied up my pocket change and purchased as many of these packs as I could afford looking for Ben McDonalds and Jeff Bagwells.
Unfortunately these products never really panned out, however that doesn't make them less cool. I've recently been craving minor league cards from the 80's and 90's and thanks to overproduction... many are very affordable.
1990 Best #1
I picked up this card of The Big Hurt for 75¢ on Sportlots. It's not his first minor league issue, but at least it's from his rookie year.
1983 Lynchburg Mets TCMA #10
This card was a little more expensive. I picked up the entire 23 card team set for $17 (+ $3 shipping) back in October. This set features the first cards of both Gooden and Lenny Dykstra. I had seen this card in a mid 80's issue of Baseball Cards Magazine and have wanted a copy every since.
And finally my most recent minor league purchase...
1994 Fleer ProCards #633
Wrapping things up is a card I've wanted for two decades. Jordan was at best a baseball novelty item, but his popularity among sports fans made this card a pretty popular novelty item. You can typically find these for a couple of bucks, while complete sets fall in the $5 to $10 range.
I'm in the process of picking up a few other cheap minor league cards of notable guys from the 80's and 90's. I'd love to add a 1983 Fritsch Visalia Oaks Kirby Puckett or a 1986 ProCards Pittsfield Cubs Greg Maddux, but I'm thinking a 1991 ProCards Chipper Jones is a little more realistic.
What about you guys...
Anyone collect or used to collect minor league cards?
Happy Wednesday and sayonara!
17 comments:
I absolutely loved minor league cards in the 80s-early 90s. These days, I still love the team sets, but am sort of annoyed that the only pack issued option is Topps, thanks to shortsighted licensing policies by MLB. To me, somehow "Topps" just seems to be the wrong logo to appear on minor league cards. Players for decades said they new they had "made it" when they got their first Topps card in a major league uniform. Now their first Topps card was probably something in a Bowman set, and then they got their first minor league Topps card in Single-A ball. The mystique is sort of gone of a player's first Topps card, when it's not REALLY his first major league card. And I heavily disapproved when companies started to add all the usual gimmicks to minor league sets like autographs and memorabilia. It took something that was a fun and relatively cheap way to prospect and learn about the future stars of the game to just another high dollar speculation wild goose chase. I wasn't really even a fan when Upper Deck and Fleer tried to introduce more high quality cards. To me, minor league cards should be more in line with the teams and players they represent.
I loved the sets from Best, Classic Best, Impel/Skybox, ProCards, CMC, TCMA and the Star Company. From about 1988-1993, there was a heck of a consolidation as companies merged and got bought out once Upper Deck, Fleer and Skybox entered the market.
A few years back, I snagged one of those big 100 set lots for around $30 (back when shipping was cheaper) and had a blast shuffling thru them. I even managed to snag a couple of minor league lots loaded with TCMA and Cramer cards from the mid 1970s to late 1980s. Pretty much all the big minor league TCMA stars were missing, but it was the first time I got to see lots of those sets and get a better appreciation for how many years some players would spend in the minors.
Considering who I collect, a good percentage of those player collections are made up of minor league cards.
Very nice pickups. I think a few people have sent me some old MiLB cards of Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Derek Jeter. They're quite something.
I'm sure you know that I love prospects so I do collect minor league cards (LUIIIISSSSSSSSSSS!). Although the scary thing is that mainstream prospects sets are overproduced again. I have a post planned on this subject but we had 23 different prospect-centered products hit the market in 2013 (and that's not including the cards issued by MiLB teams/leagues) and I'm pretty sure it's been sort of the same since. Whats astonishing is that that happened now (after Tri-Star, Upper Deck and Just Minors left the scene).
I love them too-many Cardinals' lots include some minor league issues but rarely the ones from the late 70s. beautiful cards in their simplicity.
I have picked up the occasional minor league card of a player I collect, like Griffey, but I don't normally pay any attention to those types of sets.
I like minor league cards. Like Zippy with the Yankees I try to pick up as many Pirate minor league cards as I can. Best cards were awesome when I was young. Fond memories of receiving those as a gift.
I loved the minor league sets that were sold by pack in the 1990's, and I would buy a ton of Pro Debut if it were cheaper. I also buy minor league team sets, but that's more of a "strategic purchase" affair, otherwise I'd really be swimming in cards.
I pick them up here android there.
Great point. I totally associate minor league cards with plain and simple. Keep the gimmicks for the MLB stuff. Although I must admit, I've considered busting a box of Topps Debut in the past.
100 sets for $30? That's awesome! I'd be all over that deal. Very cool.
As a prospector, I'm curious. Do you prefer minor league team sets or stuff like Bowman?
Yeah... 70's minor league sets don't pop up on my radar very often. Can't remember the last time I saw one of those at a card show.
Griffey is definitely high up on my wantlist. I'm always wary of counterfeits, so I'll eventually grab one of his graded minor league issues. Lol... the key word is eventually.
Yeah. I loved busting packs of Best. I'm trying to find a cheap box to bust on eBay to relive old memories.
Yeah... I'd like to bust a box of Pro Debut myself. I wouldn't know any of the players, but I'd love to pull a mascot card and maybe, just maybe it'd encourage me to track some of the A's and Padres prospects.
Did you ever pick them up back in the 70's? Gotta imagine those would be worth some big $$$, since I don't see them very often.
I love collecting minor league cards. So many great players around the minors who are fun to collect even though they had little to no impact on the big leagues. I have actually been working on trying to add some hard to find cards from the 60s and 70s of minor league players from the Carolina League. I have picked up a few, but have not posted any yet. I am really dying to get my hands on a Bert Barth. Long story, but a cool one.
Best of luck on those 60's and 70's minor league cards. I'll have to look up Bert Barth. I'm not familiar with the story.
Personally I like both. Both have their charms and their faults.
The Minor League Team Sets have a sense of exclusivity and rarity to them since you/someone actually have/has to haul your/their behind to stadiums to acquire them (usually). But that also makes it tougher to track them down (especially older ones).
The Bowman/mainstream products can be more readily available online (I dare say only online) and offer more (namely autographs and the dreaded parallels) but they're cards that everybody else probably has too.
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