The 1988 Score major league baseball card set was unique in many ways. Score made major design changes from previous years and included several innovative card insert sets that brought new excitement for collectors. The 1988 Score set marked the beginning of an era that saw the company push creative boundaries and experiment with different card designs, photography and memorable promotional inserts.
Most notably, the base card design of players’ photographs was completely overhauled from previous Score iterations. Gone was the classic solid color background common to 1980s cards. In their place, Score introduced what they called “action photography” – intricate camera pans of players mid-swing or mid-throw that allowed for dynamic backgrounds incorporating elements of the stadium or field. This gave each card a true sense of capturing the player in action. Score also modernized the layout, opting for cleaner sans-serif fonts and removing unnecessary ornamentation from the borders. The new base design had a very modern and almost artsy feel that set it apart from competitors’ offerings that year like Topps, Donruss and Fleer.
The action photography concept opened up creative possibilities. For example, the Robb Nen rookie card has an incredible shot of him releasing a pitch with Oracle Park visible behind him in crisp focus. Likewise, the rookie card of Kevin Maas shows him in the middle of a mighty home run swing with the original Yankee Stadium visible behind him in the background. Certain players, like Ozzie Smith, had cards featuring close-up portraits without any background elements. But for the most part, Score delivered on their promise of dynamic photography that brought each player’s action to vivid life.
In total, the 1988 Score base set included 792 cards consisting of all major and many minor league players. Rated rookie cards, which were just emerging as a collector favorite in the late 80s, were identified with a small “Rookie” symbol below the player’s name. The standard cardboard size of 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches allowed for the large photos while still fitting in packs, boxes and binders. As with other 1980s sets, the front featured just the player photo while crucial stats like team, position and batting or pitching averages were listed on the back.
Score also launched several memorable specialty insert sets within 1988 packs and boxes that offered creative spins beyond the base cards. For example, the “All-Stars” inserts spotlighted 32 star players in bright yellow-bordered cards with dynamic action photos. The “Diamond Kings” inserts were limited to 12 future Hall of Famers like Mike Schmidt and Reggie Jackson in eye-catching design featuring their silhouette posed as a king would be.
Going beyond just baseball, Score also produced fun crossover promotions featuring NBA stars like Larry Bird and Michael Jordan alongside baseball players in select “Touchdown” and “slam Dunk” parallel sets with gridiron and hardwood-inspired backgrounds on the cards. These provided a unique crossover collector experience well before such joint promos became commonplace.
While reproduction technology of the time could not support today’s extensive parallel and short-printed variation cards, Score still found creative ways to boost interest. Their “Photo Variations” inserted parallel photo swapped versions of stars like Kirby Puckett and Roger Clemens into random packs. More hits could also be found through promotions like the ultra-rare Mike Schmidt card signed by the player himself inserted in 1-in-72,000 packs as the set’s biggest chase card.
When it came to organization and checklists, Score also led the way. Rather than the basic alphabetical player lists common in the 1980s, Score published the first comprehensive checklists that organized and numbered each base card along with all variants and inserts so collectors knew precisely what to find. The checklists were themselves works of art, printing artistic renditions of each statistical and biographical entry rather than plain text. This set a new standard that helped turn card collecting from a casual pastime to an appreciating hobby.
Outside of the cards themselves, Score’s innovative marketing helped 1988 become their most successful and collecting year ever up to that point. Televised commercials aired frequently on sports networks alongside print ads spreading across hobby shop shelves, magazines and comic book covers. Score’s public relations efforts resulted in wider mainstream coverage that introduced new fans of all ages to the emerging pleasure and competitive challenge of building full sets.
In retrospect, the 1988 Score baseball cards truly marked both the artistic high point and beginning of a golden age for the company that would endure through the booming 1990s. Their boundary pushing photography, creative inserts and meticulous checklists set a precedent that made Score a leader despite competition from established giants like Topps. Today, 1988 Score cards remain a fan favorite for their fresh modern design executed before retro nostalgia became commonplace. For both aesthetic beauty and historical significance, the 1988 Score set was truly ahead of its time and represents one of the most fondly remembered releases from the 1980s trading card boom.
