Random Wax: 1992 Upper Deck Baseball

 

1992 Upper Deck:  David Justice was key to the Atlanta Braves' 1995 World Series run.  He had 1 home run with 6 runs batted in the playoffs and sported a .411 on base percentage.  His biggest hit was his lone post season home run that put the Braves ahead 1-0 in game 6 of the World Series.  Tom Glavine went 8 scoreless innings and Mark Wohlers closed it out for the win.

Kevin Brown won a Championship with the 1997 Florida Marlins and also won 2X ERA titles in his career.  He had 211 wins to go along with a 3.28 career ERA.

We loved the photos on the back of Upper Deck cards.

Another great photo on the back and Dickie Thon looking like a magazine cover model on his card.  Thon led the league in WAR in 1983 with 7.4.  He batted .286 with 20 home runs, 74 RBIs, 9 triples and 34 stolen bases.

Horizontal goodness.  Andy Benes led the league in strikeouts and losses in the same season once.

Great hologram cards.  Todd Stottlemyre won 2 Championships with the Blue in the early 90s.

Scott Erickson won 20 games and a World Championship with the Twins in 1991 in only his second season.  Fun pack of cards.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
2 – Team Checklist

Random Wax: 2021-2022 Upper Deck Hockey

21-22 Upper Deck:  NHL opening night is tonight!  A member of the 2018-2019 All-Rookie Team, Brady Tkachuk is found on this Hundo P insert.  Hundo P is slang for 100 percent.

These cards are pretty nice looking including these horizontal offerings.  No outstanding photos on the three horizontal cards but they are still appreciated.

Duncan Keith is a 2X Cup Winner, 2X Norris, and 3X All-Star.

Photos feel a little stale.  I do think it's harder in hockey to get quality action photos, but Upper Deck usually seems up to the task.

Lots of empty seats as these photos would have been taken during the 2020-2021 covid affected season.

Goalie love!  Jordan Binnington was outstanding for the Blues in the 2019 Playoffs as St. Louis won their first Stanley Cup.  He was called up in January of that year to lead the team's turnaround.  In the playoffs he won 16 straight games, a rookie record.  Without him we wouldn't have gotten a Blues championship parade and the best rendition of Gloria ever from a drunk Brett Hull.

Vrana won a Cup with the Washington Capitals in 2018.

Karlsson won a cup with the Vegas Knights in '23.  Good looking backs for these cards as well.  Enjoy the start of hockey!

BREAKDOWN:

26 – Total Cards

1 – Hundo P

1 - Checklist

Random Wax: 1992 Upper Deck Football

1992 UD:  Joe Montana was just amazing.  Four Super Bowl wins never throwing an interception in those games.  MVP in 3 of those games and you can tack on 2 regular season MVPs for good measure amongst all the accolades he's gotten in his career.  Just crazy great and would have been so much fun to watch in today's game.

Kosar and Lathon went to 1X Pro Bowl while Ken O'Brien went to 2.

Greatness.  He was MVP in '89 and '90.

Subsets/inserts included Rookie Force, FaniMation and NFL Scrapbook.  All are good and a nice pull in each.  That's animated Deion by the way. Maybe that should be more obvious.

Just a big fan of this design.  Upper Deck killed it with their early football designs.

Not sure why Joe Montanta got scanned twice but dang it, he deserves it.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 - Fanimation
1 – Rookie Force
1 – NFL Scrapbook

Random Wax: 1990 Upper Deck Baseball

1990 UD:  Will Clark was a great hitter averaging .303 for his 15-year career.  He also batted .333 in 31 games with San Francisco, Texas and St. Louis.  Clark's first hit, in his first at bat, was a home run off Nolan Ryan in 1986.

Willie McGee, a switch hitter, had more hits than Clark in his 18-year career while hitting .295 in his career.  He also won an MVP and 2X batting titles.  Like many I've always been a fan of this set.

In 1991, Clark would set a career high in runs batted in with 116 and would lead the league with a .536 slugging percentage.

The backs really are nice even if we don't get career stats.

1985 was Willie McGee's MVP season.

My Team Hologram insert which is too cool.

I'm a big Robin Yount fan and I'm a big Upper Deck Checklist card fan with that art.  Yount was a 2X MVP who had 3,142 hits in his 20-year career.

BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – Team Checklist
1 – Team Hologram

Random Wax: 1992 Upper Deck Football

1992 UD:   Eric Bieniemy didn't make a big impact in the NFL, but I really like this photo.

Eugene Robinson was an excellent player, but I can't not think about his short time as a Falcon.  The night prior to Atlanta's Super Bowl game with Denver, and shortly after receiving the Bart Starr Award for high moral character, he was arrested for solicitation.

These backs were so good.

My two Star Rookie cards and the Star Rookie Checklist I pulled.

Star Rookie Checklist.  As always, I enjoy the art Upper Deck gave us in their sets.

My team MVP Checklist pull.  I always liked Reggie Cobb who had one season with 1000+ rushing yards in Tampa Bay.  

More art on this Checklist card.  Great set with good photos and a great design.

BREAKDOWN:

15 – Total Cards

2 – Star Rookie

1 - Checklist

1 – Team MVP Checklist

1 – Team Checklist

1 – Star Rookie Checklist

Random Wax: 1992 Upper Deck Baseball

1992 Upper Deck:   We get Ken Griffey Jr on this good-looking Diamond Skills card.  His skill seems to be "Most Exciting Player" which I doubt most would have argued back in the day.  MVP, 7X Silver Slugger, 10X Gold Glove, 13X All-Star.

I do like this design.  The team specific fonts make up for not having the team logo.  It does feel like they could have added something else in the corner with the team name but no complaints here.  Jack Clark hit .304 with a .407 OBP and 1 homer and 8 runs batted in with the 1985 Cardinals during their run to the World Series.

Greg Vaughn on this Brewers team checklist card.  Love the art.

We love the backs of these Upper Deck cards where we get a different photo.

My Star Rookie pull.  Castillo only played two seasons in the majors.

A nice-looking horizontal Mike Greenwell card.  He hit .303 for his career but retired at age 32 due to nagging injuries.  

 BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – Star Rookie
1 – Diamond Skills
1 – Team Checklist

1991-1992 Upper Deck Hockey

 91-92 UD:  Brett Hull is a St. Louis legend.  Oh sure, he was a great hockey player.  But his drunk rendition of the Blues' anthem, Gloria when the Blues won the title in 2019 is legendary.  And Upper Deck did really well with this photo.

I'm not the biggest hockey guy and didn't remember this set or design.  I do like the design overall though I'd always be happier with a team logo.  Adam Oates is another Hall of Fame player who played with the Blues.  That Palffy is a 1991 Draft Choice.

Nice photo on the back of this card that has a photobomb from Brett Hull.

The backs are nice and similar from Upper Deck sets across football and basketball.  That Ellet photo is awkward looking.

I love Upper Deck Team Checklists from this era, and we get Tomas Sandstrom on this nice Kings checklist card.

 BREAKDOWN:
15 – Total Cards
1 – Team Checklist
1 – 1991 Draft Choice