Completely Red: 1990 Topps/Topps Traded

Kind of an odd set, this one. I was reminiscing about the 1990 World Series championship year, so I felt the need to post that year's flagship. Topps went way off base with this design (Hey! That's a baseball phrase!) Overcompensating for the white-border-dullness of '88 and '89, I suppose. Though those sets were pretty alright. All the color on this one, however, is off-putting. Perhaps it's an early preview of the Topps Finest line and their year-to-year color vomitorium. Or it's an homage to grade-school arts and crafts.

The Reds in the set more than make up for any design flaws. This ragtag bunch of hooligans just whooped everyone on their way to their sweeping of the A's in the Fall Classic. Here's a fun fact. The Reds have won 9 straight World Series games. Game 7 in 1975, Games 1-4 in 1976, and Games 1-4 in 1990. A bittersweet record indeed, in that we haven't even had a chance to break the streak in over two decades.

STATS:

Cards - 35

RC's - 2 (Mike Roesler, Tim Layana)

All Stars - 15 (Barry Larkin, Rob Dibble, Tommy Helms, John Franco, Mariano Duncan, Eric Davis, Paul O'Neill, Norm Charlton, Tom Browning, Danny Jackson, Jack Armstrong, Johnny Bench, Chris Sabo, Randy Myers, Lou Piniella)

Hall of Famers - 2 (Barry Larkin, Johnny Bench)

Reds Hall of Famers - 7 (Ken Griffey, Eric Davis, Jose Rijo, Tom Browning, Barry Larkin, Chris Sabo, Ron Oester)

Clashing Colors - 5,000

Checklist:

10 Barry Larkin

46 Rob Dibble

94 Herm Winningham

110 Tommy Helms MG

120 John Franco

151 Rick Mahler

176 Luis Quinones

203 Mike Roesler

234 Mariano Duncan

260 Eric Davis

289 Norm Charlton

332 Paul O'Neill

364 Rolando Roomes

402 Eric Davis AS

418 Tom Browning

445 Danny Jackson

492 Ron Oester

516 Tim Leary

553 Scott Scudder

581 Ken Griffey Sr.

604 Ron Robinson

627 Jose Rijo

642 Jack Armstrong

664 Johnny Bench TBC

668 Joe Oliver

687 Tim Birtsas

712 Todd Benzinger

737 Chris Sabo

772 Jeff Reed

   13T Glenn Braggs
   38T Billy Hatcher
   55T Tim Layana
   76T Hal Morris
   78T Randy Myers
   96T Lou Piniella MG

Go Reds.