I’m back! Today, I’ll be reviewing 1990 Topps Baseball Coins and the four packs of it I opened yesterday. [NOTE: In fact, I opened these several months ago; I just haven't gotten around to posting this review on 85% Sports until now.]
Coins received: 12/60
AL coins received: 6 (American League players, whose coins are gold-rimmed, constitute coins 1-31 in the set. The six AL coins I received include the red-rimmed Kirby Puckett coin. Coins received, listed in order of coin no., are as follows: Kirby Puckett, Jerry Browne, Tom Candiotti, Don Mattingly, Ruben Sierra, and Alan Trammell.)
Design: 4/5
From what I can tell, there are three subsets within 1990 Topps Baseball Coins: gold-rimmed, silver-rimmed, and red-rimmed coins. The design basically consists of a player’s headshot against an artificially-generated, stylized infield. Each coin also features the names of the player and team on the front and the player’s vital stats on the reverse.
Innovation: 4/5
The baseball coins “minted” by Topps from 1987-1990 are a play on the ones it produced in the ’60s and ’70s. The idea of commemorating sports figures on metal coins is obviously very unique and distinct, yet for the most part, the coins remain undesirable because of their impracticality. Innovation: 4; Collectibility: 1.
Bang for the buck: 3/5
For this product, the rating for this category is especially arbitrary; it essentially boils down to how you feel about the product as a whole. Boxes can be had for a few bucks on eBay. So, the cost really isn’t an issue; however, because you only get three coins in each pack, and the coins themselves are no more aesthetically or qualitatively attractive than standard 2.5 x 3.5 trading cards, I give this product a 3/5 for “bang for the buck.”
The fact that Topps ceased development and production of its “Baseball Coins” after 1990 is demonstrative of the coins’ lack of collectibility and inability to enmesh with the trading card industry and its consumers. I enjoyed breaking the few packs that I did, but I wouldn’t be too enthused about opening any or many more.
Coin images can be found on eBay, checkoutmycards.com, and elsewhere on the internet. If you are interested in seeing the obverse or reverse of a specific coin, I’d be happy to scan and upload it for you; just leave a comment. As always, thanks for reading.