Back in the 90's, when it came to football cards I wasn't very interested unless it said Topps. Fleer and Upper Deck had just joined the game and I'm pretty sure I just laughed at Stars and Stripes. I'm not sure this set was on anyone's radar back in the early 90's. I remember seeing the 1990 version of this set in stores and didn't think anything of it, but I don't remember seeing the 1991 release back then. So when I found this set in a lot with other cards, I put a bid in and took it home.
1991 Stars and Stripes stayed with its patriotic theme in this 140 card set. Packed with candy sticks, the set was produced by the Asher Candy Company.
Well, actually it was made by Fleer.
Turns out Fleer bought the company in 1989 (from Leaf), maybe to compete with Topps and their bubblegum, so they went with flavored candy sticks.
The look and feel of these cards will remind you of Fleer's debut 1990 football set (which I really like). It was also nice they simply sold this as a complete box set, so a person didn't have to buy a bunch of candy to put a set together.
I really like the design of this set. The blue starred border really stands out and helps add a little pop to the card. Unlike its 1991 Fleer cousin, this set has action shots with backgrounds. The set consists of most of the era's big stars, and each team is represented by 3 to 7 players.
The last 20 cards in the set are all rookies. They are all pictured in their college uniform. Unfortunately whoever picked the rookies missed out on Favre. These four may be the most prominent rookies from this set. I don't think any football set from that time missed out on Russell Maryland. Eric Bieniemy was a serviceable RB before coaching. Unfortunately Marinovich had some problems and never lived up to the billing, while Herman Moore turned out a pretty good career with Detroit.
Nothing says patriotic like red, white and blue! The card back offers a large profile of the player, a quick bio and one or two years of stats. The team helmet is a nice touch also. You might notice the copyright at bottom says Fleer (the box states Asher Candy).
This is a nice, affordable set from the early 90's that is fun to sort through. Maybe when July 4th comes around and you're feeling patriotic, this would be a good set to pull out but I'll enjoy this set dreaming of the 4th of July (and July's heat) when it's twenty below.
Very cool oddball set. I like how Fleer decided to release these as box sets... and the little candy sticks are a nice (and different) bonus. I remember that rookie class really well. Herman Moore was the man.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like this set's design as a kid, but like it quite a bit now as an adult. Although, somehow I never knew that this was another one of those box sets, I guess that explains why I've never seen packs of them before :)
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