1991 Checklist

1991

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YEAR	BRAND	CARD NUMBER	NOTES
91	Arena Holograms	3	Comes in both gold and silver versions. *Update 10.22.07: See new entry found in the Non-Card section of this page.
91	Arena Holograms Certified Autograph Without "35" Notation	3	Frank's first ever certified autograph on a baseball card. Note: Despite printed production figures stating "1 of 2,500 Signatures" as it appears below Frank's picture on the card back - he only signed half that amount: 1,250.
91	Arena Holograms Certified Autograph With "35" Notation	3	Not entirely sure which version is more "rare". But it does seem that most (but not all) of the early portion of the 1,250 autographs contains the now familiar "35" under Frank's sig, while the latter portion (higher numbers) do not. The questions are: When did he stop adding his playing number? And how many did he sign with and without the '35'. (And remember: He didn't add the numbers to the card bottoms - that was done by Arena Holograms afterwards) I own #739, and I've seen #'s 724, 1083 and 1227 without the '35', suggesting that the 'withouts' are somewhat less abundant. It's likely he grew tired during signing session. And based on my observations - the majority of "without 35s" seem to start in the 700's. I also own five of the early versions, numbered from 74-250, and they all have the '35' under the auto. But I'm not sure it can be accurately categorized unless someone makes a factual, and confirmable, database. ~~Let's just say that two versions exist and leave it at that.~~
91	Arena Holograms Certified Autograph With "35" Notation Not Individually Numbered	3	*Updated 10.30.07 - 'GoFrankGo' (eBay ID) discovered two more variants from this, Frank's earliest certified autograph baseball card. I believe we're seeing the 'overage' or 'extras' that were provided to Arena Holograms by Big Frank. What the final total number was is unclear and likely to remain so since I seriously doubt either Frank himself or the former Arena Holograms personnel could possible recall after so many years. But I suspect it's not much since Arena chose a number halfway from the published number seen on the card backs (2,500).
91	Arena Holograms Certified Autograph Without "35" Notation Not Individually Numbered	3	Okay guys, this is it. <laughing> We're now at the point where I leave this to other specialists. I'm NOT going to try and figure out if there are more "Silver Backs" or more "Gold Backs" out there. I said before that it would take a massive effort on someone's part to attempt ID'ing, cataloging, and archiving every known example in order to extrapolate some idea of the breakdown. I won't do it. You hear me? I won't. <laughing> ;-D So good luck - as far as I'm concerned - there are FOUR variations and that's it.
91	Bazooka (Topps)	7	Issued as a complete set in box form.
91	Bleachers Promo	NNO	Card front shows Griffey Jr., Frank is on the back holding a Bleachers T-Shirt.
91	Bleachers 23K	1	Auburn Tigers uniform. 1 of 3 matching serial number sets. #'d to 10,000. These were all sold as a set, but are often found sold as singles.
91	Bleachers 23K	2	Birmingham Barons uniform. 2 of 3 matched serial number sets.
91	Bleachers 23K	3	Sarasota Sox uniform. 3 of 3 matched serial number sets.
91	Bleachers 23K Uncut Strip	NNO	Individually numbered to 5,000 uncut strips.
91	Bowman	366	x
91	Classic I	T32	Issued in box form.
91	Classic II	T28	Issued in box form.
91	Classic Game	181	Issued as part of a board game.
91	Cracker Jack, Series 2	20	Issued inside Cracker Jack snack boxes. Printed by Topps. *Full uncut sheet available. See listing below in "Non-Card Notables".
91	Donruss	477	Regular pack version. Card front border has three orange bars on the left hand side and three purple bars on the right hand side of the frame.
91	Donruss	477	Factory Box version. Has five purple bars on the left and three red/two white bars on the right. Also noted for having a period after the copyright symbol.
91	Fleer	138	x
91	Jimmy Dean	9	Issued inside packages of Jimmy Dean Sausage products. *Full uncut sheet available via mail order. See listing below in "Non-Card Notables".
91	Kodak	35	Issued at Comiskey Park as a Fan Appreciation Day Giveaway in a cellophane pack of 28 cards.
91	Kodak Rookies	NNO	Frank with other young CWS Rookies: McDowell, Ventura, and A.Fernandez.
91	Leaf	281	x
91	O-Pee-Chee	79	O-Pee-Chee is a Canadian company with a long-standing relationship with the U.S. Topps Trading Cards. And until the early-90's simply reprinted the Topps U.S. cards with the addition of French text found on the card backs.
91	O-Pee-Chee Premier	121	OPC's upgraded baseball card line, independent from the US Topps card designs.
91	Score	840	Uncorrected Error (UER). 1989 Sarasota Sox stats on back showing 15 Games, but 188 AB. And if you wanted to be technical - he played 17 Games with Sarasota, which means the first part of the listing is also another UER.
91	Score Franchise	874	x
91	Score Hot Rookies	4	Part of a cellophaned 10-card extra inserted in 1991 Score 100-card blister packs.
91	Score 100 Hot Rookies	78	xIssued as a complete set in a retail blister package with a collectible book. *Note the book itself has Frank's card on the cover and also inside the book pages.
91	Stadium Club	57	'C' sheet variation. Topps commonly uses letter codes to identify which part of the print run a card comes from. In this case Frank's card number 57 was run on two different sheets - 'C' and 'D'. You can see the difference on the card backs - look at the copyright line.
91	Stadium Club	57	'D' sheet variation.
91	Studio	40	x
91	Topps	79	x
91	Topps Debut '90	153	Issued as a complete set in box form.
91	Topps Desert Shield	79	Specially stamped '91 Topps cards sent to US troops in Saudi Arabia prior to the first Gulf War. According to some sources, a bulk of the cards were intercepted by stateside supply personnel and kept for profit. I hope that's not true, but it would explain why there are Mint and Gem Mint examples possible today. It's rarity (Topps records indicate approx. 6,800 complete sets were possible based on the print run) and popularity produced at least two well-known counterfeits, so caution is advised before purchasing. I would recommend purchasing only those cards graded & authenticated by PSA, ~~SCD~~* or BGS. *In 2005 Sports Colletor's Digest sold their interest in the grading company they created and the new owners (who have kept the SCD initials) have been caught certifying trimmed and fake cards.
91	Topps Magazine	48	Issued as part of a 6-card perforated sheet inserted inside the magazine - Spring 1991 Issue, Volume #6. Steroid Bonds and Bobby Bonilla on the cover.
91	Topps Micro	48	Bizarre "mini" cards issued in complete box form.
91	Topps Rookies	28	Issued in complete box form.
91	Topps Tiffany	79	Glossy upgrade version, issued in box form.
91	Toys 'R' Us Rookies	27	Issued as a complete set in box form.
91	Tuff Stuff Jr.	11	Issued as part of a 6-card perforated sheet inserted into the magazine.
91	Ultra	85	x
91	Upper Deck	246	Two variations noted. UD accidentally used 'hockey' holograms for their baseball issue.
91	Upper Deck	246	Variant hockey holo has cross hockey sticks and use of "90-91" repeated in the hologram.

YEAR	BRAND		NOTES
91	Arena Holograms 'The Big Hurt' Hologram	#'d to 25,000	Individually numbered to 25,000. While this early production does not carry either the MLB™ or MLBPA™ logos - it seems to have passed the 'DNLR' (does not look right) test of many longtime collectors. So for now I'm categorizing them in the Non-Card section. I'm still trying to learn more about this issue.
91	Arena Holograms 'The Big Hurt' Hologram Prototype	See entry explanation	I only recently learned from a longtime collector that there was in fact a Promo issued for this product line. Based on the scan I was provided - it's possible that all the Promos were individually numbered. How many? Unknown. But the scan showed this: "No 163" on the back of the card. In addition to the words "Prototype" found on the back , you can identify whether or not you have the promo by the use of an additional diamond-shaped silver hologram found below the normal square Arena logo hologram.
91	Cracker Jack, Series 2 Topps Uncut Sheet	n/a	Full uncut sheet. Not clear how or why this found its way into the marketplace, but it's a neat collectible.
91	Jimmy Dean Uncut Sheet	NNO	Available as a mail-in redemption offer.
91	King-B Beef Jerky Disc	NNO	Issued in small chewing tobacco-like tins with shredded beef jerky substituting for the tobacco. *Note: King-B would continue to issue these discs into their shredded beef jerky product until 2001. It was around this time that many MLB players opted to join the "Anti-Spit Tobacco" campaign. If not literally preventing tobacco use by young players, at least by virtue of pulling support for King-B, they stopped a "gateway" to the real stuff. Or so the theory goes.
91	Red Foley Stickers & Album/Book	NNO	Sticker book intended for children. Came with several sheets of stickers inserted into a softcover book. The idea was to peel off the stickers and paste them into their empty positions in the book. Sellers often cut apart the stickers and sell them individually. But the books themselves should be considered collectible since they have great images of Frank included. Note that the stickers are diminutive, about the size of large postage stamps.
91	Topps Triple Headers Chicago White Sox. With Carlton Fisk and Harold Baines.	NNO	Unusual test product from Topps. Basically a ping-pong ball imprinted with the faces of three stars from each MLB team. Distribution was only moderately limited, as the test area included both the east and west coast, thus explaining the reasonable secondary market prices. Included with the ball was a small packet of candy pellets, similar in texture to a Certs breathmint. Note: Candy package is difficult to obtain as most collectors threw it away to prevent both pest infestation and contamination by rot. They didn't have to worry - the candy was/is so desiccated that it didn't break down. I have a complete box and that candy, yikes, 15 years later and still as hard as little granite rocks! <lol>
91	Score 100 Hot Rookies Book	n/a	Issued in a retail blister package with 3 cellophane packs of 1991 Score Hot Rookie cards. Noteworthy because Frank's card is featured on the cover and an interior page.
91	Score Major League Collector Pins by ACE	17	These 1991 Score cards can be found on two known types of ACE blister packages with two, possibly three, different types of pins. Packages can be found in red or blue cardboard backings. Further clarification will be produced if demand for more information is required. (too hard to dig up all my copies which are spread across several boxes in several locations) <g>
91	Various Unlicensed Cards	n/a	Includes various "magazine inserts" like American Sports, Ballstreet, Broder, Legends, and Sports Educational. These were end-runs around the licensing issue and have almost no value. Mostly I collect them to see the pictures of the Hurt when he was young. Then there are those plain ol' fake cards like: Bash II, and the various fake 1991 Star "Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Nova, etc, etc" issues.