1993 Fleer featured a nice, clean design. Gray border. Readable font. Standard photography, as seen on Joe Oliver‘s card above. It was also Fleer’s first two-series set. And series two is where we run into problems.
Roster changes.
You see, Scott Bankhead was a free agent after the 1992 season, and decided to leave the Reds for Boston. Ok, no problem…just add a notation like O-Pee-Chee often did:
Reds photo, Reds team designation on the card, but a little note in the bottom left corner. Simple enough, right? Let’s do the same with Darnell Coles, who went north of the border for the 1993 season:
Now, what about the guys who came to Cincinnati? Like the 1989 National League MVP, Kevin Mitchell, who was traded from the Mariners for Norm Charlton?
Mariners photo, Reds team designation, and a little note in the bottom left corner. Not entirely consistent. Let’s turn to Roberto Kelly, who the Yankees traded to the Reds for Paul O’Neill:
Yanks photos, Reds team designation, and a little note with the wrong information in the corner. Kelly wasn’t signed by the Reds as a free agent. He was traded from the Yankees.
I’m scratching my head over the inconsistency.
Then there was the expansion draft. 1993 was the first year for the Rockies and Marlins, and their rosters were made up of players from all over the majors. It’s understandable that Fleer couldn’t get proper photos in the new uniforms in time for printing (after all, it was the 1990s). But instead of any notation on the card whatsoever, they simply went with old uniform, new team designation. Freddie Benavides will serve as our example:
This would have driven me crazy if I was collecting in 1993. My interest in the hobby waned in 1992 and was non-existent in 1993. Does anyone remember if Fleer received any flack over these inconsistencies?