The 1991 Score baseball card set was the 26th annual card collection created by Score Board, Inc. and was issued in February 1991. It featured over 700 cards of current major and minor league players along with managers, coaches and retired stars. Some key things to know about the 1991 Score baseball card series 1 include:
The design of the 1991 Score set featured a clean white border around each player photo with their team logo, name, position and batting stats printed below. Card stock was thinner than previous years but photos and details remained crisp and colorful. The backs provided career stats and a brief bio. Rated a 7 out of 10 for aesthetic appeal by collectors, it was one of the simpler designs of the early 1990s but still featured bright vibrant photos.
Rookie cards in the 1991 Score set included future hall of famers Craig Biggio, Billy Wagner, and Mike Piazza. Other notable rookies were David Wells, Chad Curtis, Jeff Conine, and Darren Daulton. Biggio’s card would go on to become one of the most valuable from the set. In a PSA 10 graded gem mint condition, it can fetch over $1,000 today due to his successful 21-year career spent entirely with the Houston Astros.
Top prospects making their Score card debuts included future all-stars Derek Jeter, David Cone, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, and Bret Saberhagen. Jeter’s rookie card ended up being one of the more sought after non-rookie issues from the set among Yankees collectors. 1991 also saw the debut Score cards of young stars Gary Sheffield, Moises Alou, and Trevor Hoffman who were all early in their all-star caliber careers.
Veteran stars featured prominently in the 1991 Score set included Nolan Ryan (in his final MLB season), George Brett, Wade Boggs, Orel Hershiser, Kirby Puckett, and Rickey Henderson, who set the new career stolen base record that year. The cards captured all these greats in their statistical prime or at the tail end of Hall of Fame careers. Andre Dawson won the NL MVP award in 1987 and his card featured him with the Chicago Cubs where he finished his playing days.
Rare variants and chase cards in the 1991 Score base set included the #1 Ken Griffey Jr card which was one of the most sought after common cards. The #1 Alex Cole card also gained popularity due to the rarity of a player with card #1 who never made the majors. Insert sets within Score in 1991 included Coach, World Series Heroes, Traded, and Leaders cards that added to the collecting and trading appeal.
Card production and distribution of Score in the early 90s was much larger than the brand’s initial runs in the 1960s and 70s before the sports card boom. Factories still could not keep up with rising demand. Errors, miscuts, and missing stadium photos led to short prints and variants which collectors eagerly pursued. The sheer number of cards released also meant that commons from the 1991 Score set retained value better than years past.
In terms of secondary market prices in the early 1990s, rookie cards of Biggio, Piazza and Wagner commanded $5-10 in Near Mint condition right after release. Commons of star players like Griffey, Thomas and Glavine could be had for a quarter. By the late 90s, after renewed collector interest, unopened Series 1 boxes were reaching $70-100 on the secondary marketplace. Today in pristine conditioned, vintage Score rookie and star cards from 1991 have increased exponentially with Piazza topping $1,000 and Biggio over $2,000 due to their all-time great careers.
The 1991 Score baseball card set went on to become one of the most collected issues of the entire Score brand run. Its array of future Hall of Famers, budding young stars, and unique parallels produced a variety of valuable rookie and star cards that stand the test of time for collectors and investors even 30 years later. While the design was not the flashiest of its era, the 1991 Score cards succeeded in capturing another fascinating year in baseball history through memorable photos and highlighting the sport’s brightest talents on the verge of superstardom.
