The rise of the modern baseball card collecting hobby began in the late 1980s and early 1990s as interest in sports memorabilia grew significantly. During this boom period, many new baseball card manufacturers entered the market seeking to capitalize on the surging popularity. One of the most prolific of these new companies was Fleer.
In 1991, Fleer released its flagship baseball card set that became known among collectors as the “91 Score” set. What made the 1991 Fleer baseball cards so notable and collectible to this day was the innovation they brought as well as the star players featured on the cards from that era of baseball history. Let’s take a deeper look back at the 1991 Fleer baseball card set known as 91 Score and what made it such an iconic release.
Fleer had produced baseball cards in the past but 1991 marked their most ambitious NFL set yet as they sought to breathe new life into the hobby. The 1988 Fleer set was the company’s last until 1991 when they reentered the baseball card market with the ambitious goal of competing head-on with industry giants Topps and Donruss. To do so, Fleer leveraged new photography, unique designs, and novel production techniques that appealed to collectors.
Chief among the innovations the 1991 Score set pioneered was the transition baseball cards away from the smaller 2.5×3.5 inch size that had been the standard for decades. Fleer’s 1991 cards featured significantly larger 3.5×5 inch dimensions that allowed for much more visual real estate and creative designs on each card. This new oversized card format set the trend that remains the industry standard to this day. Additionally, Fleer’s photography and digital imaging technology produced vivid, high-quality portraits of players with superior resolution compared to prior years.
The star power featured on the 1991 Fleer cards also greatly contributed to their enduring appeal among collectors even decades later. Major stars of the late 1980s and early 1990s like Ken Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan, Cal Ripken Jr., and Barry Bonds all had incredible rookie or early career cards included in the base set. Given these players went on to have Hall of Fame careers, their 1991 Score rookie cards now hold tremendous nostalgic and monetary value for collectors. Veterans like Wade Boggs, George Brett, Ozzie Smith and others were still in their primes and featured prominently as well.
Beyond the base set, Fleer outdid competitors with innovative insert sets within the 1991 Score release. Special subsets like Best of the Best featured career retrospective cards for legends like Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial. Ultra and Ultra Platinum paralleled featured specialty parallels/refractors before those technology terms existed. Incredibly rare 1-of-1 custom card designs created for individual players captured imagination. The insert sets helped prolong interest in the release and distinguished Score beyond other offerings that year.
Another area that propelled the 1991 Fleer release was the inclusion of premium, high-end parallels with even rarer print runs than typical “inserts” of the time. The Ultra Platinum Blue parallel featured a legendary refractor-like design available only one per case of cards. Originally it was believed only 10 of these were produced but in recent years a few more have surfaced. Regardless, they instantly became the holy grail for collectors. Similarly scarce parallels like Hologram and White Metal gave devoted pursuit for complete 1991 Score sets for years to follow.
While other companies had dabbled in oddball promotions, Fleer truly leaned into novelty with the 1991 Score release. Aside from the base cards and premium parallel inserts they also produced collectible ProSets that came in unique plastic containers and encapsulated 24 mini cards within. Additionally were oversized Giant cards measuring a massive 6×9 inches that brought players to a monumental scale. Both innovations blurred the lines between traditional cardboard collectibles and a new type of memorabilia.
When 1991 Fleer Score cards first hit the market, the retail price matched other releases of the time at around $1 per pack with 10 cards inside. Despite being priced competitively, initial print run sales seemed lackluster. Over the following years as the players featured grew into stars and collectors finally grasped the innovative technologies and production values within, demand for unopened 1991 Fleer wax packs skyrocketed. Today, a sealed box which originally retailed for $60 can fetch over $6,000 on the secondary market showing just how seminal this release has become.
In the decades since, the 1991 Fleer Score set has remained a true fan favorite and benchmark release that advanced the entire baseball card collecting hobby. To this day, individual cards from that serial-numbered 792-card base set still excite collectors. Finding a PSA 10 Griffey rookie or one of the impossibly rare refractors in pristine condition generates headlines. The photography, sizes, parallels and obsessive attention to detail set a new precedent that remains the aspiration for modern producers. Without question, the Fleer 1991 Score cards earned their place as one of the most cherished and valuable offerings from the golden era of the baseball card boom.
