The 1991 Score Baseball set is — large! It was split into two releases, with Series 1 containing 442 cards and Series 2 containing 451 cards for 893 in all. That also doesn’t include the third release, Score Rookie & Traded, which was another 110 cards albeit numbered differently.
The massive base set is all that Series 1 has going for it. There were no inserts to chase down at all. There were, however, some really fun subsets. Included in the checklist are AL All-Stars, First Draft Picks, Highlights, Master Blaster, Rifleman, and Rookie Prospect subsets.
Series 1 does feature a Hall of Fame Rookie Card in Mike Mussina.
1991 Score Series 1 Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 16
Packs per box: 36
Price paid: $5
Shop for 1991 Score Series 1 Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Ellis Burks, Wade Boggs & a Magic Motion Trivia card (one in each pack)
The trivia cards had a ton of info on the backs!
Pack 2:
Roberto Alomar, Jack McDowell, Ken Caminiti RM, Bo Jackson HL & Bo RM
Pack 3:
Brian McRae RC & Magic Motion Trivia
Pack 4:
Alan Trammell & Jeromy Burnitz DP
Burnitz was selected 17th overall by the Mets in the 1990 draft.
Pack 5:
Omar Vizquel, Tony Fernandez & Jamie Moyer
Pack 6:
John Smoltz, Carlton Fisk HL, Mark Langston, Nolan Ryan HL & Langston RM
Pack 7:
Jose Canseco & George Brett
How much better would the Brett card look with the royal blue team color match border?
Pack 8:
Chuck Finley, Jim Abbott & Eric Davis
Pack 9:
Steve Finley & Carlton Fisk
Pack 10:
Randy Johnson & Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd
“Oil Can” was known to pitch in some local Boston men’s leagues well into his 50s.
Pack 11:
Dave Winfield & Steve Finley
Pack 12:
Bo Jackson HL, Bo RM, Nolan Ryan HL, Craig Biggio & Carlos Baerga
Pack 13:
Howard Johnson, Nolan Ryan, Jose Canseco, Rickey Henderson AS, Ozzie Guillen AS & Bobby Thigpen AS
The super fun All-Star cards landed in bunches!
Pack 14:
Will Clark, Lenny Dykstra, Bert Blyleven, Terry Pendleton & John Smoltz
Pack 15:
Ellis Burks, George Brett, Wade Boggs & Marquis Grissom
Pack 16:
John Kruk, Ryne Sandberg, Cecil Fielder, Paul O’Neill, Mark McGwire, Mark Langston RM & Carlton Fisk HL
Fisk won AL Rookie of the Year as well as a Gold Glove in his first full season in the bigs in 1972. He finished fourth in the AL MVP voting.
Pack 17:
Matt Williams, Wade Boggs, Fred McGriff MB, Bobby Bonilla MB & Ken Caminiti
Pack 18:
Jamie Moyer, Tom Glavine & Rafael Palmeiro
Pack 19:
Dave Stewart & Jack McDowell
“Black Jack” won the 1993 AL Cy Young award after he went 22-10 with a 3.37 ERA.
Pack 20:
Greg Maddux, Lou Whitaker, Cecil Fielder, Ken Griffey, Jr. AS, Wade Boggs AS, Jose Canseco AS & Cecil Fielder AS
Pack 21:
Mark Langston & Howard Johnson
Pack 22:
Mike “Gator” Greenwell, Carlton Fisk, Ramon Martinez & Jay Buhner
Overshadowed by his brother Pedro, Ramon Martinez was no slouch on the mound either. In 1990 he was runner-up for the NL Cy Young award and 16th in MVP voting after he went 20-6 with a 2.92 ERA. He also threw 12 complete games that season.
Pack 23:
Paul O’Neill & Mark McGwire
Pack 24:
Sandy Alomar, Jr. AS, Julio Franco AS, Rickey Henderson AS & Ozzie Guillen AS
Pack 25:
Matt Williams, Sammy Sosa, Lee Smith, Edgar Martinez & Ken Caminiti
This Matt Williams card has always been a fun one. It looks like it’s from an old timer’s game.
Pack 26:
Rondell White DP & Dwight “Dewey” Evans
Pack 27:
Nolan Ryan & Kenny Rogers
Pack 28:
Keith Hernandez & Larry Walker
Many believe Hernandez should be in the Hall of Fame. His 11 Gold Gloves and .296 career batting average are pretty convincing.
Pack 29:
Terry Pendleton, Lee Smith, Lenny Dykstra, Bert Blyleven, and the four same All-Star cards from Pack 24
Pack 30:
Cecil Fielder, Jose Canseco, Mark Langston & Omar Vizquel
Pack 31:
Tim Raines, Ken Caminiti RM, Benny Santiago RM & Robin Ventura
Benito “Benny” Santiago won three straight Gold Gloves between 1988 and 1990.
Pack 32:
Bret Saberhagen & John Smoltz
Pack 33:
Joe Carter, Dave Stewart, Fred McGriff MB & Bobby Thigpen AS
Pack 34:
A couple of Expos: Rondell White DP & Larry Walker
White was drafted in the first out of high school in 1990 with the 24th pick.
Pack 35:
Dave Justice, Bo Jackson HL, Bo Jackson RM & Nolan Ryan HL
Pack 36:
Rafael Palmeiro, Carlos Baerga, Harold Baines & Tom Glavine
Lastly, the Glavine card back. Score did some good work on these, including full career stat lines and as much bio information as they could possibly fit.
This box was a LCS markdown grab and I couldn’t pass it up for just $5. Though, if he had another one I might be able to fight the urge to rip another. This was a fun, nostalgic rip, but not necessarily something I need to do again.
The subset cards were, by far, the highlight of this one. The All-Star cards are a favorite of mine, and the Rifleman and Master Blaster subsets are just too ’90s to not be cool.
These boxes should be readily available, and can typically be found at the junk wax tables at shows or in the old-school card shops.
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Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.