Backside Appreciation Part 8

Yesterday, I showed a couple of cards that arrived from JediJeff of 2x3 Heroes. Today, I'm flipping one of them over to appreciate its backside.

In 1988, Score debuted with full color head shots on the backs of their cards. The next year, Upper Deck had larger photos on the back, taking up about half of the space. In 1991, Fleer joined the backside game when they introduced Fleer Ultra, which had a head shot and two smaller action shots.

Fleer Ultra's sophomore release toned it back a bit with just one action shot and a head shot. Well, not necessarily a posed head shot as you can see above on Hector Villanueva's card. The cards I have seen include a chest-up shot, but some were posed while others were candid.

I don't know exactly what's going on in that photo, but to me, it looks like Villanueva is mid-yawn. He could be talking but whatever he's doing, it is not flattering. I mentioned yesterday that in 1991, Villanueva ranked second of five Cubs catchers in games played. You can see on the back of the card that he played in 71 games. And that's the best shot Fleer could find?

I've seen a couple episodes of a Fox show called Enlisted and that photo reminds me of one the characters, Chubowski.

The front of the card isn't too shabby with a pseudo-action shot. We've also got a camera shy umpire and a cross armed Cub in the background.

PWE from 2x3 Heroes

I feel like I type that post heading often enough that it should start auto-filling. Later this week, I'll be driving out to Minnesota and back. I was debating on whether or not I should take a break from posts for a few days while I prep for the trip and just post my team set on Saturday and Pro Debut on Sunday.

But thanks to Jenerous JediJeff's most recent PWE, I'm going to squeeze three posts out of it to help bridge that gap. Three posts from six cards in a PWE? Challenge accepted!

1981 Donruss #483 Ivan DeJesus

This Ivan DeJesus card was a collection upgrade. The one I already had was rectangular, but was cropped all cockeyed like. I may have to send that one to Jeff for his mis-cut collection.

1992 Fleer Ultra #477 Hector Villanueva

Hecor Villanueva was one of five Cubs catchers in 1991 and logged more time behind the plate than both Damon Berryhill and Joe Girardi. He had careers highs in batting average (.276), home runs (13) and RBIs (32) that season. Sadly, Cubs fans would probably take those numbers this year from that position.

1992 Topps Gold Winner #509 Doug Dascenzo

I had the base card. And I had the regular Gold card. And now, I have the Winner variation as well. Nice! I'd be surprised if there were many other Cubs Dascenzo cards I didn't have. If he had played in this era, he would probably be a guy I'd chase parallels of on the cheap.

1993 Leaf #224 Ryne Sandberg

This sweet Ryne Sandberg card must have been a duplicate for Jeff's double play collection but I will gladly add it to mine. As of now, my Ryne Sandberg collection has not been integrated as part of my Cubs collection so a lot of my team sets are missing Ryno. I have the cards and I don't know that I need second copies of Sandberg base cards but...is this how hoarders start?

2014 Bowman 1989 Bowman is Back
Silver Diamond Refractor
#89BIB-KB Kris Bryant

Is that really what this card is called? What a mouthful! This is a card I didn't think I would own for quite a while and marks Kris Bryant's entry into my collection. I passed on one at the card show last month because it was in one of those protective cases that cost more than what I was willing to shell out for the card itself, under a glass case surrounded by relics and autographs. It was unmarked but what's the old saying? If you have to ask, you can't afford it. I may have been able to but if I don't see prices, I keep on walking.

One of these cards will show up later week in a Backside Appreciation post. The sixth and final card belongs in the Ivy Collection and will get its own post Friday.

Thanks for the collection injection, Jeff!

Five More 1991 Topps Desert Shield

Sorry about the missing posts the last two days. I neglected to hit "Publish" and have been away from the computer to check. Oh well. This post was meant for Thursday.

With the end of the year coming up, I need to make some headway on some of my Resolutions from the beginning of the year. I'm not doing very well...

A quick eBay search a week or two ago brought up a seller who was breaking his 1991 Topps Desert Shield set up. The seller must have put in a lot of time and effort into this set and all of his cards seemed to be in great shape, including centering. He had a bunch of Cubs listed, seven of which I needed. I lost out on two of them to higher bidders but if you read the title, you'll know I came away with five, all for the minimum bid.

I don't think I'll complete this set by the end of the year with a few big names left out there, but I'm really glad to knock these two out for quite a bit less than what I thought I would pay. Especially for their condition.

These other three put me over the half way hump as I now have 18 of the 32 cards from the set (not including the Keith Comstock error).

I was a little concerned when I started to scan the cards as I noticed something about the backs. On some, the Topps 40th Anniversary logo is faded into the background and others were much bolder. I know there have been forgeries for this set, but I thought it had more to do with the foil stamping on the front. But after looking at a bunch of other cards from the 1991 set and getting an opinion from someone who is collecting the set, I'm more comfortable with the purchase. This seems to be a pretty common thing within this set. Hopefully...