The 1992 Fleer Ultra baseball card set was the first in a new ultra premium flagship baseball card line from Fleer Corporation. Looking to compete with Topps and Score, Fleer invested heavily in the brand new Ultra line which featured state-of-the-art photography, bright vivid color printing, and higher quality card stock intended to feel more substantial than a standard card. Series 1 was released to hobby shops and mass retail in early 1992 featuring currently active major league players from the 1991 season.
The set totaled 330 total cards and had a distinctive border design around each photo that was intended to make the cards look more like works of art than simple sports memorabilia. The borders were thin metallic gold lines that wrapped around impressive high resolution action photos of the players. Inside the borders was a white backdrop that made the colorful team uniforms and intricate player poses really pop off the card. At the bottom was standard trading card information like the player name, team, and stats. The front captured the eye with its elegant simplicity and photographic quality that far surpassed any other contemporary card set.
On the back of each card, stats from the 1991 season were provided along with a brief career recap. Unlike some other brands that crammed a lot of very small text onto the back, Fleer Ultra went with a clean large font size that was easy to read. Occupying most of the backspace was another high quality action photo of the player often doing something different than their front photo. This dual photo approach gave collectors more for their money and showed different aspects of the player. At the very bottom was the Fleer Ultra logo and copyright information.
Some of the biggest star rookies featured in the 1992 Fleer Ultra Series 1 included Mariano Duncan, Jeff Juden, Moises Alou, Mark Griffin, and Scott Bailes. Superstar veterans like Nolan Ryan, Cal Ripken Jr., Kirby Puckett, Wade Boggs, and Ozzie Smith anchored the set as well. Short prints and special parallels added to the rarity and collector demand. The “Ultra Stars” subset highlighted 23 of the game’s top talents like Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens, and Frank Thomas.
The physical quality of the 1992 Fleer Ultra cards far surpassed anything else on the market. Using a thicker sturdier stock meant the cards had a nice heft in the hand that conveyed an upscale premium feel. The smooth finish was designed not to scratch or scuff easily like cheaper stocks. Even years later the photography maintains its superb clarity and color fidelity. This was a true high end experience for collectors looking for an alternative to Topps flagship. While carrying a significantly higher initial print run than later years, the 1992 Fleer Ultra rookies and stars are still popular with collectors today.
Additional value was added through parallel and short print versions inserted randomly in packs. The gold parallel featured the same 330 card checklist but with gold foil stamping instead of the standard design. Numbered to only 50 copies each, these ultra-short print gold parallels quickly became the Holy Grails for completionists. Also present were hologram parallels which interchanged between three different designs on the front. Another rare parallel was “Ultra Foil” which featured intricate multi-color foil layers on the front image area.
Though not truly rare themselves, the “Preview” parallel introduced collectors to the concept of pre-production sneak peek cards. Numbered to 999 copies, these provided a first look at the finalized designs before the true run was printed. The 1990 Ken Griffey Jr was one of the most desired Preview cards ever. Another special parallel was called “Black Gold” which had a distinctive charcoal colored tint to the photography and gold ink stamping.
To highlight the true stars of the game, Fleer created the “Ultra Stars” subset within the base 1992 Fleer Ultra set. Featuring 23 of the top players, these had completely different fronts devoted entirely to a giant close-up headshot of the featured player. The backs contained the same statistical and biographical information as the base cards. Superstars in the Ultra Stars checklist included Barry Bonds, Cal Ripken Jr., Joe Carter, Wade Boggs, and Ozzie Smith.
Upon its initial release, the 1992 Fleer Ultra set was met with widespread acclaim for taking baseball cards to an entirely new premium level. Though carrying a higher initial MSRP than other brands, packs and boxes flew off the shelves. Helping drive early collector and player demand were aggressive nationwide TV and print campaigns by Fleer portraying Ultra as the true artwork of the game. For many it still remains the high water mark that all other ultra modern sets are judged against. Over 25 years later, 1992 Fleer Ultra Series 1 cards remain a staple in the collections of set builders and investors alike.
