▼

Saturday, May 22, 2021

The Sheff's Menu: 1989 Topps

By now you all should know my appreciation for Gary Sheffield and how he was a favorite player of mine growing up.  The bat speed, strong arm, and angry swagger made me really like him in my little league days and early teen years at high school.  I only got to see him play a few times as a member of the Florida Marlins when the fish came to visit Philadelphia.

I took a long break from baseball and got back into the game in 2005 when the Pirates drafted a highschooler named Andrew McCutchen.

My all time favorite player is obviously Andrew McCutchen.

I am going to try to show off a card of Gary Sheffield that has also had the design used for an Andrew McCutchen card.  You can view all items on the Sheff's Menu by clicking here.  (Title for this subject to change)

My very first Gary Sheffield card was 1989 Topps.  1987 Topps was the first set I collected and my dad and I put together the set.  My grandfather helped me build the 1989 set and one of my favorites was Gary Sheffield.
The gold chain, the "grill" with his initials, the Future Star logo, the pin stripe jersey

This card was cool!!!

The Sheffield has been used in several other releases over the years as both a reprint and buyback formats.

Here is the Sheff on top of a 2014 mini of Andrew McCutchen
As you can see by the size of the card, the mini is also a die cut format as the white border of the card has been completely removed.
The back of the minis are slightly different as well.
The pink is more pronounced on the mini back
The stats for the mini contain only the most recent season and major league totals while the original contains more in depth stat totals
The monthly scoreboard on the original is completely gone from the mini

There were two different minis produced of Cutch in 2014


The 1989 design was also used for a Chrome version in 2014
The backs as you can see feature the same problems as the mini
Interesting to see that MLB Network's Dan Duquette signed Gary Sheffield.

I also have the Superfractor of the Chrome version which I have shown off a few times.
I also have a stunning patch card of Cutch produced using the 1989 Topps design
It is limited to only 25 copies and is also a die cut
Do you have a favorite 1989 Topps card or any memories from the set?
at

4 comments:

  1. Peter K SteinbergMay 22, 2021 at 10:28 AM

    The backs of those McCutchen cards are so bright they are almost like the Tiffany versions of those 1989 Topps cards. Sheffield was fun to watch. What a fierce and ferocious swing he had.

    ReplyDelete
  2. FujiMay 22, 2021 at 10:20 PM

    I opened a fair share of Topps back in 1989... along with Donruss, Fleer, and Bowman. The first card that comes to mind when I think of 1989 Topps is the Gregg Jefferies rookie card. I also really like the Jim Abbott card with him in his UM uniform. I won't commit to them being my favorite cards from the set since I'd have to see if there are any cool action shots that stand out, but I'm sure these two would make my Top 5.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alan DeakinsMay 23, 2021 at 8:45 AM

    I have a Christmas Factory set and alot of the Tiffany set of 1989 Topps...growing up in a Mets minor league town, the Gregg Jefferies comes to mind....It also has Pete Rose's last manager/baseball card in it...Andre Dawson smiling on a card (He never smiled on baseball cards) and a cool Padres team card with Gary Carter trying to tag Roberto Alomar that is all I remember.......

    ReplyDelete
  4. JafroniusMay 28, 2021 at 11:15 AM

    My brother and I thought the 89 design was an improvement over 1988. I remember the 1st round Draft Picks making their appearance in the 1989 set and being jealous of my brother for somehow trading for the Robin Ventura 1st round card.

    ReplyDelete