A Krafty Pickup

I was recently at my LCS as was searching through a box he had that contained small box sets from the 80s and 90s.  I saw a few Topps Traded sets, some of the Fleer and Topps box sets that came out during the same time period and a few other random things.  The box said 3 for $10 and I had a few minutes to kill so I decided to take a look.  I wasn't sure which of the Fleer box sets I have (reminder to self - need to make a list) but I saw 4 boxes that I was sure I didn't have as I have never seen them packaged this way before.  I will share 2 today and 2 soon.

 These are the front and back of 2 boxes that contain the 1993 Kraft Singles set.  These two boxes each contain 15 different player pop-up action cards, one box is of National League players, the other American League players.  These cards were licensed by the MLB Players Association but not MLB so we get some nice airbrushed photos.  None of these cards have been popped and I don't plan to at this point but the design is pretty nice on both sides of the cards so I thought I would share them all with you.

 I'll start with the American League, as you can see Kraft has nice bold numbers on the front to 30 starting with the AL players.  If you pull the tab, the picture on the front pops up as it is perforated.  The front size shows nice full body action photos that I assume will look good popped up.  Flip over the back and you can see that Kraft did not skimp, each player has another full body spot with the same blue/white background.  The player names are easy to read and you get the team stated on both sides and the position on the front. I assume the position on the portion that pops up is so that you can set them up in defensive positions.

This first group has a nice collection of players with 2 HOFers, 1 who should be in the HOF, an All Star catcher and a Fan Favorite inspirational pitcher. Even with the airbrushing, these are great looking cards.

 Here are cards 6-10 in the set, again great players but I am surprised to see 3 first basemen.  I like how the 4 position players have one photo featuring them at bat and one of them either in the field or on the bases.  Again, this group has 2 HOFers and 1 who should be in the HOF.  While Fielder and Mattingly are not HOF worthy, they are both great players belonging in a set like this.

The AL set finishes off this portion of the set with a bang - 4 HOFers!  My first thought questioned the inclusion of Ventura as I assumed that George Brett was manning the hot corner but upon further review, it looks like Brett is listed as the 4th first baseball.  Outside of the logic of 4 1B, I really like the player selection on the AL side.

Let's see how the NL does:

 This first group of 5 doesn't contain any HOFers but these guys were all stars in their day.  My favorite, of course, is Will the Thrill Clark although the front picture seems like he just popped a ball up.

 The HOF pace picks up with 3 in this grouping.  I love the picture of Delino DeShields casually fielding a ball, looks like it was some sort of pop up or maybe he is just playing catch.  The AL cards were primarily blue while these are green - I think both work just fine.

Finishing off the NL set is a group with just 1 HOFer but I would characterize 2 as should be in Gary Sheffield and Lee Smith.  I am still pretty happy I was able to get an autographed ball from Smith and a chance to chat with him a bit at Spring Training this year.

I will share my other set - a 1994 Kraft set in an upcoming post.  I am really happy with this pick up.