1990s Inserts from Brady

It was hard not diving into the priority box of Cardinals Brady sent last week right away, but I had house guests until Saturday morning.  Once the house was back in order I had some time on Saturday evening to starting sorting through the 5 boxes.  My first step was to separate the base cards from the inserts.  Then each stack was sorted by year.  The stack was about 2:1 base to inserts, but that was way more than what I expected.  Lots of cards I have never seen before ranging from 1992-now.  I will break down the highlights by each decade.  First up are the 1990s.

 

Topps did not go crazy in the early 1990s with regards to inserts.  I believe 1992 was the first year for the Gold cards, although they were not numbered.  A closer look shows these 3 are the Winner variation.  The Brian Jordan Phenom card is one I have never seen before.  It was inserted in the Donruss The Rookies set.

1993 was also a slow year for Topps insert wise also.  Brady sent a big stack of Gold cards, but Sean Lowe was the only one I needed.  It did however finish my team set.

Score decided to follow Topps lead by producing Gold parallels for the 1994 base set.  Unlike Topps, the foil covers the entire card, not just the name plate.  The Pinnacle Tribute is another card I have never seen.  It highlights Mark Whiten's 4 home run game.  Upper Deck started the die cut parallel craze with its SP brand.

 

More Score Gold Rush cards from 1995.  Ultra also has a gold parallel.  They even use the Gold Medallion cards for inserts like the Pagnozzi card.  The Pinnacle Museum cards is my favorite of the 1995 inserts.  The cards look much sharper in person.

1996 Collector's Choice had a gold signature parallel, but these 5 are all silver signatures.  I think Brady was a closet Bernand Gilkey super collector.  I bet every type of parallel I received had a Gilkey in it.

The 1997 Bowman International cards do not scan well, but I like the concept of the players national flag in the background.  1997 Leaf went a little crazy with parallels.  You can have a wood, plastic, die cut, axis die cut, and the list goes on.  The Todd Stottlemyre is an X-Axis die cut.

 There was not a huge number of 1998 inserts in the boxes.  This Auroa Pennant Fever McGwire was the only one I needed.  Pacific always did well with the looks of their inserts.

There was a ton of 1999 inserts, most featuring either JD Drew or Mark McGwire.  Mac was fresh off the historic 1998 home run chase, while Drew was the hot rookie on the Cardinals.  After he was traded to the Braves, he never seemed to stay with a team for more than 2-3 years.  Adam Wainwright has remained a Cardinals since the trade.  I am not a huge fan of either SPx card, but love the Fleer Brillants Blue.  It is another card that looks much better in person.

Upper Deck must have produced over a 1000 different McGwire cards in 1999.  The top 2 are from Challengers for 70 subset, bottom left is a HoloGrfx Ausome insert, and the bottom right is an Ovation subset card.  Pacific did not produce quite as many Macs as UD, but still had their fair share.  This Seismic Force card also has a portrait variation. 

Lots of great cards came from the 1990s, but the number of inserts produced can be overwhelming.  In a way it is nice to have only 1 company right now, but I do miss the innovation the other companies brought.  Thanks for the trip down memory lane Brady!