The 1989 Fleer baseball card set was issued during Barry Bonds’ breakout campaign and Nolan Ryan’s continued assault on MLB’s record books. The design featured players in action shots on a white background with team logos and player attributes listed below. Fleer released 792 total cards in the base set checklist.
The biggest star on the checklist was Bonds, who won the NL MVP award in 1989 after hitting .306 with 34 home runs and 104 RBI for the Pittsburgh Pirates. His Fleer card shows him swinging for the fences. Ryan continued adding to his record strikeout total, fanning over 300 batters for the Texas Rangers at age 42. His card captured him unleashing a 100 mph fastball.
Other top names included Rickey Henderson, who led the AL with 65 stolen bases for the Oakland A’s, and Roger Clemens, who went 21-6 with an AL-best 2.40 ERA and held batters to a .191 average for the Boston Red Sox. Clemens’ dominant season earned him his second career Cy Young Award. Ken Griffey Jr. also appeared in his first Fleer set as a 19-year old phenom for the Seattle Mariners.
Among the retired legends on the checklist were Hank Aaron in an Atlanta Braves cap and Mickey Mantle sporting pinstripes for the Yankees. Fans could also find cards of future Hall of Famers Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, and Jim Rice in their 1989 uniforms. A few stars missed the checklist due to holdouts, like Dwight Gooden of the Mets and Walt Weiss of the Athletics.
Rookies included future active career hits leader Ichiro Suzuki, who made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2001 after nine seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball. Other young prospects like Gregg Jefferies, Gary Sheffield, and Ben McDonald also had their first Fleer cards issued. Veterans like Barry Larkin, Jack Morris, and Bobby Thigpen provided stability on the checklist as well.
The base Fleer set included all 28 teams from that season. Notable inclusions were the Montreal Expos, who finished with the best record in the NL at 94-68 led by Tim Raines, but lost to the San Francisco Giants in the NLCS. The Baltimore Orioles also made the checklist after a wire-to-wire AL East division title led by Cal Ripken Jr.
In addition to the base set, Fleer released numerous insert cards highlighting top performances. The “Year in Review” subset featured 18 cards recapping the 1988 season. A “Diamond Kings” set highlighted the past and present stars of each franchise. Fleer also started an “All-Time Heroes” subset paying tribute to legends from decades past like Mel Ott, Urban Shocker, and Lou Gehrig.
While not as coveted by collectors as the flagship Topps and Donruss sets of the time, the 1989 Fleer checklist provided a fun and affordable way for fans to build their collections with the game’s biggest stars and rising young talent. The set endures as a time capsule remembering one of baseball’s most memorable individual seasons from Barry Bonds.
The 1989 Fleer baseball card checklist showcased the best players through the late 80s in classic action shot card designs. Fans could find stars, rookies, and legends from every MLB franchise in the affordable and accessible 792 card base set. Supplemental inserts added more value recounting past achievements and individual excellence from the diamond kings of baseball’s golden era.
