my favorite cards of the year - 1994 edition

i recently introduced my mini collection focusing on my favorite cards from each year that i've been a collector. the basic gist is that i wanted to create a space for the cards that i most appreciated having in my collection in the year that they were released. these were cards that i acquired in the year that they were issued, and that i considered to be my favorites at the time. i have disallowed (most) cards that are already in other mini collections in order to avoid having a mini collection consisting of more steve garvey, double plays, and dodger stadium cards.

for this post, i'm breaking that rule and allowing a card that is also featured in my dodger stadium collection. first, let me say that i bought a lot of cards in 1994 - mostly topps and upper deck. this was really the first year that i bought upper deck cards with a passion, and i absolutely loved their flagship and collector's choice issues as you will soon see. 

favorite non-dodger card: upper deck ken griffey jr

the kid at the wall in yankee stadium makes for a great shot. how many highlights had i seen by the time i found this card of junior making highlight plays in the outfield? a large number, i am sure, and this card reminds me of all of them. of course, this card came out before griffey broke his wrist making a catch at the wall which puts a damper on things a bit.  still, like i said above, i really liked this set, and it featured a bunch of great cards. i didn't mind the "phantom zone" inset photo, and i quickly completed the set through pack purchases.

favorite dodger card: collector's choice eric karros

there were a lot of dodger cards that i liked in 1994, and some from that year that i don't recall if i actually obtained in 1994 or shortly thereafter. still, when i first saw this karros come out of a pack that year, i was enamored. i already have this card in my dodger collection and my dodger stadium collection, but it was so far hands down my favorite card that year that i am including it here, too.

at one time, i considered having an awards mini-collection because of this card and the 1982 fleer phillies finest card, but decided against it. you can see that karros is holding his rookie of the year award and he is also sporting the tim crews memorial patch, which further qualifies the card for another mini-collection of mine. however, i have a different karros card to rep the crews patch. 

upper deck did very well in my opinion with their 1994 releases!

next up, 2009. stay tuned...