Turning Over an Old Leaf

Let's open a box of 1993 Leaf baseball. Everyone loves 1993 Leaf, right?

This was a set you couldn't get enough of as a kid - or an adult. So it was an easy decision for me to add a box of series 1 to my Kruk cards cart for just $8.99.

must scan the back of 1993 Leaf

I have the full set of 1993-94 Leaf hockey, and if Kruk had offered me store credit instead of a refund I would have asked them for a box of series 2 so I could complete the baseball set.*

*TCDB has informed me that there is an update set in addition to Series 1 and 2. Drat.

Series 1 consists of just 220 cards. I should have no problem completing at least one set (and possibly two) out of these 36 packs of 14 cards.

Here are the first two packs. The cards stick together, which should have been expected. They're also packed out upside down and backwards, which was not expected and is more than a little annoying. (That means the cards will not lay flat in the same direction when sorted.)

It's a little tedious to unstick each card, but there hasn't been any paper loss yet. Btw, here's a closer look at that Eddie Murray insert:

Here's a pack with three checklists. Yay. 

The sight of the Gateway Arch peeking out of this pile is reminding me to scan the back of these beauties. There are two backgrounds for every team in Series 1. Here they are, starting with the National League East:

Leaf wisely chose a Liberty Bell background for Juan Bell. The expansion Marlins did not appear in Series 1.

Here's a look at the West. Lots of star power here. The Golden Gate Bridge looks pretty. Like the Marlins, the expansion Colorado Rockies did not appear in Series 1.

And here's the rest. Wait..where are the Cincinnati Reds? There are none in Series 1. Not sure why; they're obviously not an expansion team. Did Leaf forget they exist?

Now let's look at the American League, starting with the East. (I apologize for my clear East Coast bias.)

Here's the American League West:

I still have trouble remembering the Brewers were an A.L. team. Mike Bordick is shading his eyes from the sun..setting behind him.

And finally we have the rest of the American League..

I tried to choose cards that allowed you to see a little more of the background (which is why I scanned Dan Pasqua and not Frank Thomas) though that wasn't always possible.


Hold on..we're missing two teams. Where are the Mariners and Angels? They're not in Series 1, either. What the Fork? Isn't it a rule that every team has to have a card in every set? I would be very disappointed if I were a fan of one of the three omitted teams.


Here are some card fronts, if you're into that sort of thing:

There were six inserts in the box: two Frank Thomas, two Gold Leaf Rookies, and two Heading for the Hall cards of players who did in fact make it to the Hall.

Perhaps the most interesting card I pulled is this Curt Schilling. 

What's interesting about it, you ask?

There's no logo on the back. (I also pulled an Ivan Rodriguez with a partially-missing logo)


Now that I've finished ripping, sorting, and scanning I can tell you that the collation was terrible. I did not complete two 220-card sets. In fact, I did not complete one set. 23 cards did not appear in the box at all, while two cards appeared seven times:

Anyone want to start a Danny Tartabull or Derrick May PC?

Overall, this was a fun and affordable box break.. but I'm disappointed in the collation and the fact that not every MLB team was represented. I doubt I'll discuss the box of 1988 Panini Baseball stickers (unless there's a lot of interest in that box break) so this will likely conclude my Kruk Cards order. Even though I've got lots of new cards for my collection (and even more for my trade stack) I don't think I'll spend another $100 on nostalgia next year.

Speaking of which, Night Owl's blog bat around topic is tempting me to reminisce about other sets that I enjoyed from ages 10-30...  


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