'90s Junk Wax Nostalgia: 1991 Score The Franchise
Baseball is a game of patience and joy. It's about waiting for the big hit or the great defensive play. There's a subset that perfectly captures the joy, 'The Franchise' subset from 1991 Score.
According to Baseball Card Pedia: "[1991 Score] is best known for its massive size (the largest baseball card set released to date) and 11 subsets....An estimated 4 million copies of each card were printed." 1991 Score has 893 cards with The Franchise cards numbered 849-874.
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It's an easy subset to overlook because of the simplicity of its design - but it's also what makes it stand out. The cards feature player portraits where nearly everyone is smiling - even Barry Bonds! Benito Santiago exudes the joy of a little leaguer, even if he's being told to smile by the photographer. He's wearing his batting gloves, helmet, and the iconic Mimsbandz by James Mimz.
It's interesting; many of the players in the subset are photographed in their gear, like Craig Biggio wearing a catcher's helmet, chest protector, and glove. Many players have their fielding gloves featured - here's looking at you, Mizuno.
But what really stands out about the subset is the simple blue background contrasting with the black and white player photographs. The pictures are framed by a thin white border surrounded by the card's black border.
Posting a Ripken card from my collection every day until I forget. Day #229 1991 Score The Franchise. pic.twitter.com/UzUuqTI2Xy
— Joe Creager (@coachcreag) August 16, 2024
The cards have the effect of filling what one knows the colors to be. With Eric Davis' card, for example, one knows the colors for the Cincinnati Reds, but seeing his portrait in black and white sparks the imagination by mentally filling in his uniform's reds, greys, and whites.
It's also curious to see who was included in The Franchise subset. So many of the players in the subset are Hall of Famers. Even those that are not are some of the most beloved players in a team's history (Dykstra and Strawberry are featured as Phillies and Dodgers but are always remembered as Mets).
With its massive production, the subset is cheap. One recent eBay purchase showed the subset was bought for $5 with shipping. Individual cards sell for about $0.70 on COMC. Ken Griffey Jr.'s card is the most popular, with 76 graded cards sold at auction. Frank Thomas is the second-most popular, with 33 graded cards sold at auction.
Horacio is an avid sports card collector and writes about trending card auctions and news across several major hobby sites, including Sports Collectors Daily and Collectibles on SI.
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