1990 Diamond Sports NO#

Type: Oddball Card

Acquired: Traded With Friend

There were so many unofficial cards released during the hobby boom in the 90s. I don't know where many of these came from or how they were acquired. This week's featured card though, is definitly odd. Still it has a charm to it. The front is made up to look like a magazine cover and features Bo famously breaking a bat over his knee. I give credit to whoever made this card, because this is a shot that I have not seen on another card. My dislike for this card stems from the fact that the front features Bo playing baseball and references his Kansas City Royals MLB days, but the back gives his 1989 NFL stats from his days with the Los Angeles Raiders! This type of thing annoys me, but what would you expect from an early 90s oddball release?

1991 Bowman #243

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Pulled From Pack

I remember pulling this card from a pack of Bowman in 1991 and being in awe of the fantastic photograph on the front. It shows Bo at his shiftiest on the gridiron ready to bust off another unbelieveablt touchdown run! Typically Bo is known for running over & bulldozing defenders, but it was his quickness and ability to cut on a dime that gave him those scoring opportunities. Power, speed and the ability to slip away from defenders, can you imagine if he was able to play in the NFL fulltime in his prime?

1991 ProSet #346

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Pulled From Pack

This card literally & figuratively hurts to post. Pro Set created a card for their "NFL Newsreel" subset that highlights Bo Jackson's football career ending injury that occured during a playoff game against the Bengals on January 13th, 1991. It's a crazy thing to think that an injury would make it into a major card series, but I guess that shows how big of an icon Bo was. As we all know, Bo was able to recover from this devastating hip injury, but he was never able to play in the NFL again. What really surprised me was how quick the Kansas City Royals were to release him just 2 months after the injury on March 18th, 1991! Luckily for us the Chicago White Sox took a gamble and signed him as a free agent on April 3rd, 1991. What a roller coaster of a year! Eventually it paid off as Bo still had a few good MLB seasons left in the tank and even helped them win the American League West in 1993.

1991 Pacific #234

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Pulled From Pack

Thanks to the AWESOME blog "Collecting Cutch" we have a bonus Bo Jackson football card post this week! Collecting Cutch is hosting a contest to raise the profile of Breast Cancer Awareness Month over at their site. This is something that hits home since my Grandmother passed away from breast cancer before I even had the chance to know her. They are asking bloggers to post a "pink" card to their sites in hopes of winning a Babe Ruth relic card. I would have taken part even if there wasn't a prize involved. I know it's not a ton of pink, but I already posted my '90 Classic Bo Jackson card, so this was the next best thing I could find and man do I love it! I really like how this cards screams 90s with the teal & pink color stripe motif, but I also like that behind that motif is a really well put together card. The graphics don't deter from the great front & back photos and there are just enough stats and info on the card to keep me satisfied! I believe I pulled this card from a pack that was in a box of Pacific cards my Dad bought for us on clearance. I wonder why the Pacific cards were always clearanced around the area I lived in NJ? They are decent enough cards, but maybe just not good enough to compete with the big boys like Upper Deck & Topps?

1990 Score #591

Type: Base Card

Acquired: Pulled From Pack

This card commemorates Bo Jackson's 92-yard touchdown run against the Cincinatti Bengals in week 9 of the 1989 NFL season. At this point Bo was the only NFL running back to have ever ran for multiple 90 yard runs. His other run came in 1987 against the Seahawks. I find it odd that the card talks about his record breaking run against the Bengals, but the photo on the front shows him eating up Broncos defenders. Why would they do that? Was this shot more dynamic? Did Score not have a shot from that game? Maybe it was a mistake by the company? Either way, it's a nice looking card that shows off the dominating run skills Bo had back in the late 80s/early 90s!