The 10 Worst Football Sets of the Junk Wax Era
Some sets from 1988 to 1994 not only had high production, but terrible designs.
Back in the late 1980s to early 1990s, the sports card market had multiple products from multiple manufacturers, with so much product on the shelves, it has since become known as the junk wax era.
While you won't find a lot of cards worth a lot of money from that era, you will find plenty of attractive sets with lots of notable players, many who are in the Hall of Fame.
But along with the attractive sets, there are plenty of disappointing sets in terms of card design. In some cases, the manufacturer tried to put too much on the card front or back, rather than keep it simple. In other cases, the manufacturer tried something that may have been interesting in theory, but ugly in practice.
Ryan Grim of The Sporting News ranked the 13 best and 11 worst baseball card sets from the junk wax era, based on his own thoughts plus input from other collectors.
I decided to rank the best and worst football card sets, going with the period from 1987 to 1994. I went an extra year beyond Grim's choices because it wasn't until 1989 when new companies produced football cards (after which the floodgates opened).
I didn't gather input from anybody else (but you are welcome to comment below with your own thoughts), so this is merely one person's opinion.
But here is what I consider to be the 10 worst junk wax era sets for football. I'll talk next week about the 10 best junk wax era sets.
With each set, I'll link to where you can find pictures of the cards.
10. 1994 Stadium Club
I'm not sure whose idea it was to use that size and style of lettering for positions, but it's distracting. On many of these cards, it's hard to read the names because of the choice to add shadowing on the lettering. And the card backs have way too many design elements. The borderless fronts are a nice touch, but Topps tried to do too much otherwise
You can find images of the set here.
9. 1989 Topps
This isn't a bad set, but it's rather boring. Perhaps that's because it pales in comparison to the inaugural releases of Pro Set and Score that year. Still, what's up with those bars about a third of the way down on the photo frame? Also, the bars sometimes match the colors of a player's team and sometimes they don't. Matching those bars to team colors would have at least shown a little effort.
You can find images of the set here.
8. 1994 Pinnacle
Having no borders on the card is always nice, because it allows for a bigger photo. The problem is all that gold on the bottom. I'm not sure why the company decided to put that gold triangle there. It cuts into the photo too much. Also, I'm not sure what's up with that effect on the back, in which they imposed a "translucent" football over a team photo.
You can find images of the set here.
7. 1993 Action Packed
Action Packed cards are ones that you either love or hate, all because of the embossed images that make them thicker than a typical card. The company did have a couple of well-designed sets, but the 1993 set isn't one of them. While a borderless photo is always good, did we really need to have the player's last name in big, blocky, gold foil on the front? Talk about a needless distraction.
You can find images of the set here.
6. 1993 Skybox Impact
Skybox tried to give some of its sets the feel of a poster. The first Impact set, released in 1992, did a pretty good job with this. But the 1993 set doesn't work, namely because the company name dominates the top of the card. I don't think anybody who buys a poster of a favorite player wants to have the manufacturer's name dominating the poster. The same is true for me when it comes to football cards.
You can find images of the set here.
5. 1991 Ultra
In ranking the worst baseball sets from the junk wax era, Ryan Grim wrote about the 1991 Ultra baseball set and how the company wasn't trying. The same thing applied to its football set, which looked exactly like the baseball set. It's not unusual for some companies to use a similar design for sets from one sport to the next. But when you roll out an uninspired design at a higher price point for a baseball set, then duplicate that for football, it only gets worse.
You can find images of the set here.
4. 1992 Score
I'm not sure why the company went with a large font type for player names and why it needed to use colors that didn't even matches those of the team. The card backs do have a bright spot, with a player photo framed by a goal post, but why did we need the team name split apart on the sides and turned sideways?
You can find images of the set here.
3. 1990 Topps
Topps briefly lost its NFL Properties license amid a reported attempt to produce a Bowman football set. That forced Topps to alter plans to put a football helmet in the corner with the team logo. Instead, we get a generic football. Also, the company name is too big, the framing doesn't add anything and I'm not sure what's the deal with those green blocks with white striping. If Topps wanted to simulate the look of a football field, it failed.
You can find images of the set here.
2. 1992 and 1993 GameDay
I put these two together because they belong together. The NFL was so enamored with the football card market, it produced its own set in 1992. But the biggest problem with its 1992 GameDay set is that the cards were oversized, which made it a hassle to store them. On top of that, the cards have a glossy finish on both sides, meaning they stick together if you leave them stacked for too long. The NFL turned the set over to Fleer in 1993, but the oversized, overly glossy cards remained and the only change was adding team colors to the borders. The set was gone after 1993 and I don't think any collector missed it.
You can find images of the set here.
1. 1991 Fleer
This is not only one of the worst football sets of the junk wax era -- it may be the worst sports card set of all time. Start with an ugly green border, then go to a player photo in which the background is removed. Then it appears Fleer attempted to replace the background with team colors, but in an awful shading. Finally, the backs have an oversized mug shot, often featuring players wearing helmets. The only saving graces are two insert sets, ProVisions and All Pros, but they aren't enough to save an abysmal overall product -- one that puts the junk in "junk wax era."
You can find some images of the cards here, though they are mixed in with other 1991 Fleer sets. I wonder if my search engine decided I didn't need to see too many of those ugly 1991 Fleer cards.