BY JOEY SHIVER

A rguably the most groundbreaking set of my generation was the release of Upper Deck in 1989. The hobby changed with that release and opened the door for other high end products like Leaf, Fleer Ultra, and Topps Stadium Club. It made the other companies step up their game in order to compete.

But lost in the mysticism of 1989 Upper Deck, the follow-up set is probably as good, or better, than the initial release, when it comes to quality. However, there is one major difference in the two sets; the iconic 1989 Ken Griffey Jr. RC.

While the 1990 release didn’t have the star power of 1989 with that beautiful Card #1, the release provided a collection of the best photos (and photo quality) of any set produced to date. Remember, inaugural release this was of Stadium one year Club, before which the took photos to yet another level.

In 1990, Fleer was rolling out a fairly bland design (which I actually still like), Donruss was mired in Ketchup Red, and Topps was doing their best “Saved by the Bell” impersonation. Score was rebounding from a disappointing 1989 release, Bowman was correcting their oversized blunder from 1989 and there was one other “high end” newcomer in 1990; Leaf Baseball.