1990 Beckett #60

If you looked at my Yount Collection page you'll see 99% of the list is baseball cards.  But I do have a small collection of Magazines that Robin has graced the cover on and it's an area I really want to expand.   Robin has been featured on the front of Beckett two times, although it might be more it's just two times I know of.   The second time was in 1992 on issue #90.

I ended up picking this up for a whole 50 cents plus shipping, off of eBay.  It's wasn't advertised as mint and the seller sure didn't package it to keep it pristine, but it's a very clean, attractive and readable copy.

I love all the old advertisements from the 90's and all the business card ads for all the different card shops back then.  I even found a few for Anchorage that are long gone.  And look at this price guide.  The print is so big.  As a matter of fact  the price guide section only takes up about 35 pages of the magazine.

Let's see what Robin's rookie card was going for back in 1990.

2011 Topps Tribute Base

Year: 2011

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Tribute

Card Number: 26

Card Type: Base

I've always really liked the Tribute base cards.  Probably because Tribute is a hit driven product the base cards are relegated as filler.  That's too bad because they are well done cards.  Shiny and printed on think card stock and of course they come in a rainbow of flavors.  I especially like Robin's 2011 card because it uses a photo that wasn't over used in production that year. I won't say Topps didn't reuse it, and right now I'm too lazy to find out, from what I can remember you don't see this image used too often. Plus it's a great mid 70's photos and he looks like he's going to bunt. Heck it could be from his rookie year.  Robin also has a few relics in the set and a really nice triple auto with Paul Molitor and Ryan Braun

1991 Fleer

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Fleer

Set: Flagship Baseball

Card Number: 601

Card Type: Base

If there is a set the exemplifies the overproduced junk wax era it might be 91 Fleer.  Arguably the pinnacle of the era it's a set that has a few lovers (if I remember right there was a whole blog dedicated to the set) and a ton of haters.  For me I'm probably in the hates column, mainly because along with 87 Topps, 90 Score, and 89 Donruss this is one of the most used sets for filler for repacks.  The only endearing part of the set was the Provision inserts that were randomly included in wax packs.  But I remember it being super easy to scan packs for inserts since the base stock was white, the cards were yellow and the provision cards were black.  

Anyway,  Robin actually has two variations in the set.  It's subtle and neither card is worth more than the other.  I've included both cards here for the post.  See if you can spot the variation..take your time.

Did you find it?  Yeah the tip of the bat is cut off in the lower version.  I'm assuming this is just a relic of multiple printings this set went through.  It's not a variation that's often listed and I would never have know about it had someone not tried to sell it as special on eBay.  If you have a bunch of Robin's 91 Fleers laying around flip though them and there's a good chance you have both variations. I did manage to get the variation in the checklist over at Tradingcarddatabase.com


That being said the overall design is pretty par for the course for Fleer.  Fleer wasn't know for it's bold designs.  This does mark the first year that Fleer added a photo to the back.  I'm not sure why Fleer only started Robin's stats in 1977 seems like there's room for a few more years on the back.

1990 Score Superstars

Year: 1990

Card Manufacturer: Score

Set: Superstars Box Set

Card Number: 92

Card Type: Base

This cards came as part of a 100 card box set.  Much like the update sets put out by Topps, Fleer, and Score.  There are some great stars in the checklist and since this was 1990 this set was majorly overproduced and is still relatively cheap to pick up and so are singles.  This is a pretty typical Score card design from the era.  

Apparently Score didn't hire fact checkers, or they just didn't care.  The back of the card features a nice large head shot of Robin and a small write up.  Too bad Robin was not the starting shortstop for Angels at 18. At least they have him on the right team for this set.

New Yount Alerts!

I was finishing putting together my Brewers team set checklist for Topps Update and noticed Robin is featured in the Highlight of the Year insert and is also in the autograph parallel set.

Highlight of the Year
H-81

Highlight of the Year Autograph #/25
HYA-RY

2015 Panini Cooperstown Dual Etched in Cooperstown

Year: 2015

Manufacturer: Panini

Set: Cooperstown

Card Number: 11

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Etched in Cooperstown Dual

I got this card from the same seller that I got Robin's solo Etched in Cooperstown card.  Hard to pass up that combined shipping and the fact that they had two cards I wanted and needed for my collection.

This is a great card of Milwaukee's only HOF representatives.  The scan sucks I'm sorry these super shiney cards just don't scan well, but do look very nice in hand.  This set also features multiple color and gem parallels.  This is not the first time Robin's shared a cards with Molly, but I would think it would happen more often then it does.

1992 Studio

Year: 1992

Manufacturer: Leaf/Donruss

Set: Studio Baseball

Card Number: 200

Card Type Base

I've always liked the Studio brand. Especially as a player collector it was nice to have a studio lit portrait shot of the guy you collect.  Studio got better and better though the years and Panini still uses the brand.  They use it as an insert instead of a full blow card release and I think that works.  There are plenty of set concepts that work better as inserts.  This was the second year of Studio and Donruss would go on to make sets for years. 

I also all the odd facts that they threw on the back of the card.  Hey Robin what's the weirdest job you ever had? Who's your favorite singer?  I'm sure some of these answers might have changed over time.  The back also mentions his wife and 4 kids.  Robin's son Dustin played pro ball for a while too, so did his nephew.

1990 Good Humor Ice Cream Bat Stick

Year: 1990

Manufacturer: Good Humor

What is it?: A Popsicle stick shaped like a bat.

There are oddballs and then there are oddballs.  This might be one of the weirdest items I've ever spent money on to add to my Yount collection.  It's a Good Humor Ice Cream Bat.  Obviously meant to be used as a stick for a sweet frozen treat I've had a hard time finding much information on the product.  The stick doesn't appear to be used, there's no staining anywhere that would indicate that this was once used as a popsicle stick.  

I was able to find a little info on the set, there was a factory produced album for the sticks, but I can't find a product images of a product that these might have been used in.  It's possible they were giveaways.  Most likely the album was mail order and it's possible that the sticks were mail order as well from an magazine ad or giveaways from an ice cream truck.  It's probably lost to time unless someone remembers anything about the set.

Still a neat oddball.

2015 Panini Cooperstown Etched in Cooperstown

Year: 2015

Manufacturer: Panini

Card set: Cooperstown

Card Number: 60

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Etched in Cooperstown

Just got this guy in the mail the other day.  I also picked up the base dual Etched in Cooperstown with Paul Molitor from the same seller, gotta love combined shipping.  Robin has a bunch of cards in this year's Coopertown set, but the stand outs are these Etched in Cooperstown inserts.  They come in the plain old silver version here and gold and blue and inset with gems.  I really want to add a gem card to the collection, that would be a new one.  

When I saw the preview for these I was torn.  I wasn't sure how they would look in hand, but after acquiring a Frank Thomas version from my local card shop I knew I would be picking  up Robin's card.

The scan really doesn't do the card justice.  Very shiny and I get what Panini was trying to do with the set.  While maybe not the most appealing card to some I will give Panini credit for coming up with something a little bit different.

1993 Upper Deck

Year: 1993

Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: Baseball (Flagship)

Card Number: 587

Card Type: Base

There's really nothing like a great Upper Deck card.  I really do miss them in the baseball card market.  1993 marks a turning point for Upper Deck and a departure from what the previous 4 year's cards looked like.  Gone is the diamond logo on the front and while the cards still have a white border you can see Upper Deck inching toward using a borderless full bleed design that it's later issues would use.

The card has a great photo on the front.  Robin's obviously just hit a dinger, was it a fly out, home run, single, double, triple?  Who knows? But we can see him with his eyes on the ball and taking off for first.

The back of the cards only gives you 5 years of stats, but a nice big back photo.  This would mark the last regular issue Upper Deck card for Robin, but he would get some tribute cards the next two years.  And he has a few inserts in this year's set.