1994 Signature Rookies Panel

I forgot that I had this item until I was rearranging some of my baseball stuff and this was in a stack of magazines.  I got this on eBay a few years ago and it is the only one I have come across since.  It is numbered out of 900 on the right side above Scott Ruffcorn's name.

A pretty neat oddball item I think.  Someday I will figure out how to display this so it doesn't get lost in a stack of magazines again.

1994 Upper Deck Minors Player Of The Year #PY26

Player of the Year insert card form the 1994 UD Minors set.  Cool blue background with bronze lettering, and if you look really closely you can see a Minnesota Twins logo hiding back there too.  Very similar photo to the previous two cards.

Kind of boring on the back.  Small photo from the same photo shoot again, bio, star hologram.

Current total = 8

1994 Upper Deck Minors #248

I like the angle of the photos on this card, looking up at him showing the concentration on his face.  Looks like the photos could have come from the same photo shoot as the previous card.  The scrunched up little photo on the let is a little weird.  They should have left that a solid color and put the "Twins Top Prospect" from the right side in there.

Similar photo on the back only this time a blue undershirt and a different jersey with a patch on the left shoulder.  The star Upper Deck hologram is cool as they usually use a baseball field shaped hologram.  Only one line of stats but they added a rating scale for his pitches which is different but pretty cool.

Current total = 103

1994 Upper Deck Next In Line #6

Card number 6 out of 20 in the Next In Line insert set.  I like the close up photo with his glove up and the serious stare he has going on.  They had to put a happy photo on there so they got one of him smiling to put in the corner to even it out.  1 of 2500 it says, I have not seen many of these cards so it is a bit more scarce.

A nice wind up photo on the back with a little bio and the short version of his stats.  Overall a nice card, I hope to find more of these over the years.

Current total = 2

1994 Upper Deck #548

With the angle of the photo and the clouds in the background this photo is pretty cool.  I like when they get creative with card photos, it adds more fun to collecting!  The card has a shine to it which makes it stand out among other cards.

The back has a similar photo but this time he rolled up his sleeve so we can see the gun show.  And the tattoo, don't forget that.  A nice bio and full career stats round out the back of this card.

Current total = 183

There is also an Electric Diamond version of this card which merely has the extra words stamped among the right side under the Upper Deck logo.  The added lettering is very sparkly like a diamond.  Not sure it is electric but what can you do.

Electric Diamond total = 44

1994 Fleer Ultra #389

I like the full picture with minimal border on the bottom.  The gold diamond in the Fleer Ultra logo makes it a bit difficult to read but I like the Rookie designation and otherwise it's a good looking card.  Now, the picture itself, I am not a big fan of.  I always thought his face in this picture looked a bit washed out but the high leg kick is cool.

The back has a three part photo that shows different angles of his delivery.  Only one year worth of stats on the card and no bio but the nice photos make up for it.

Current total = 57

1994 SP Die-Cut #8

Nearly identical to the last card posted, the only difference being the cutout at the top of the card.  I would have preferred a gold version over the die-cut but that's just me.

I think it would have been cool if they did the same die-cut at the bottom of the card too.

Current total = 45

1994 SP #8

Today's card is the one I currently have the most of.  1994 SP, #8.  Not sure how I ended up with so many of these as it is not really my favorite card.  I like the star-burst almost holographic background that they used but the edges are so delicate that little chunks will flake off if handled wrong.  I like the photo as it shows him in a #26 jersey, not sure if that is from the GCL Twins or the Elizabethton team.

The other oddity about this card is that the background on the front is not always the same color.  It ranges from a grayish silver to a darker steel blueThe back has a nice floating head photo and nice little bio.

Current total = 531

1994 Signature Rookies Autograph #T4 and #T9

Today's card is pretty much the same as yesterdays only this one has an autograph and an added sticker on the back.  Hand numbered to 2100 copies.  I wonder how long it takes to sign that many cards and if they break it up into multiple days or just hammer it out in one marathon session.

Just like yesterdays card this one has two different card numbers.  They added the Authentic Signatures gold seal so you know it's a legit autograph.

T4 total = 13
T9 total = 15

I just bought a couple of these on ebay so those totals will go up in the next few days when they arrive.

1994 Signature Rookies #T4, #T9

Today's post is sort of a 2 for 1.  One card with two different card numbers.  As far as I can tell the cards are identical other than the card number on the back.  The photo is from his days with the Ft. Myers Miracle but they don't want you to know that since they airbrushed the "M" off of his cap.  1 of only 20,000.  I wonder how many are card number 4 and how many are number 9.

The back uses the same photo as the front in the exact same spot which is kind of weird and cool at the same time.  A closeup of his face from that same photo is used as the large head shot on the back.  Add some stats and a bio and there you go.

T4 total = 2
T9 total = 22

1994 Fleer ProCards #1163

1994 Fleer ProCards #1163.  Very simple design on the front with the classic white border and name and logo in one strip across the bottom.  I like the ProCards logo this year with the baseball diamond incorporated into the bottom.  I like the pose they used for the card but the background could have been more exciting.  Have the outfield or the backstop be the background instead of a section of bleachers.  I guess minor league cards in the 90's weren't the biggest market so I can understand the lack of imagination.

I like the stripes on the back, makes it look classy!  They had some extra room on there for a bio but that section must have not made the cut.

Current total = 8

1994 Classic Fort Myers Miracle #1

1994 Classic Fort Myers Miracle card #1.  Pretty cool that he is card 1 in the set!  This is one of my favorite card photos.  The crossed broken bat pieces shows you just how deadly his fastball is!

Nothing too exciting on the back, stats, logos, and of course the card number.  Card number 1!  I have a couple of these sets still sealed in the factory plastic wrap with LaTroy's card on the top.

The first one of these cards that I had was from a set that I broke open.

Current total including team sets = 9

1994 Classic Tri Cards #T46

Today we look at the 1994 Classic Tri Card.  When I first decided to try and find every LaTroy card made this was one of the tougher ones for me to find.  It was on my short list of needed cards for quite a while before I found one.  Then all of a sudden I found a few of them and haven't seen another one for sale in a few years.  This card features 3 different players and each mini card is perforated in the middle so you could tear them apart if you wanted to.  They used good pictures that fill up the space very nicely in my opinion.

The back has a little bio about each players 1993 season.  No stats which is a little different but I suppose with the size of the card they were a bit limited on what they could put on there.  1 of 8000 made, I wonder how many of them were torn apart into individual cards.

The last time I saw one of these at a card show was a few years ago.  A local dealer had an autographed copy where all three players had signed the card.  Of course I had to buy it.

I'm generally not interested in autographs that I didn't get myself but I made an exception for this one.  I figured the odds of me finding these 3 guys and getting them to sign the card was pretty slim.

Grand total with the auto = 4

1994 Classic #54

1994 Classic, card #54.  This was one of the first few LaTroy cards that I ever had.  I remember buying it at Shinder's along with a couple other LaTroy cards and some other Twins cards.  They used to have a box of random Twins cards that I would sit and look through and pull out the 25 cent cards of the guys that I liked.  At the time I liked this card because it was a minor league card and it had a big photo on the back.

I just think this card has a nice design overall.  Good picture on the front with all the logo's and names tucked into one section on the bottom.  Big picture on the back with the stats and bio over the top.  I like that you can still see the photo under the stats.

Current total = 80

1994 Bowman's Best Refractor #65

Well folks, today's card is going to look very similar to yesterdays.  That's because it is the Refractor version of the 1994 Bowman's Best card.  The picture doesn't show the rainbow affect very well but enough to tell the difference.

It doesn't say on the back anywhere that it is the Refractor version so you have to hold it in the light to be sure.

Current total = 4

1994 Bowman's Best #65

Today we take a look at the 1994 Bowman's Best card #65.  I am a fan of chrome type cards so this one is a favorite of mine.  It has a nice close up photo on the front with an interesting blue frosted glass background.

The back has kind of the reverse photo of the front with LaTroy looking in the other direction.  The cool thing that I never noticed before is the design along the edge line up from the front to the back.  Not sure it was planned that way but it's a cool side note I think.  This has also been rumored to be LaTroy's favorite card and the only one that he will not autograph.

Current total = 112