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Saturday, February 5, 2022

First Five in the Fabulous Fleer Fortnight

I have a lot of Fleer cards to blog and so I decided to do a theme week... then I thought about it and I thought a Fleer Fortnight was more apt. And it would help me 'clear the Fleer'. So this is the first post of my Fabulous Fleer Fortnight!

This first post will feature five cards from the special Tony Gwynn commemorative set - an insert series in Fleer Ultra in 1992. I have gradually acquired eleven of the twelve cards in this set. Here are cards numbered 1, 4, 5, 8 and the two mailaway cards. (I blogged those in August 2020, nearly 700 cards ago!)

Card Number 920: Fleer Ultra Tony Gwynn Commemorative Series, 1992; #2

That's a nice picture of Tony in the proper vintage Padres colours from when he first broke into the team. It looks familar though... Back in July last year I noticed that Topps were using a photo that originally appeared on one of these cards in the commemorative set, on the Archives insert in Series 1 of their flagship set. This photo really looks like the photo used by Topps on their 2021 Stadium Club card.


It was only when I compared the two I realised it wasn't eactly the same photo. Tony is wearing exactly the same gear, but that is a different bat. The dug-out in the background is also different, but I wouldn't put it past Topps to alter that anyway.

There is a decent chunk of biography on the back of the card.


I doubt that Tony really went to college thinking he would "play a little baseball" as well. The way his fellow alumnus Bobby Meacham tells it in He Left His Heart in San Diego, Tony was reluctant to approach his basketball coach to ask about playing baseball. 

Card Number 921: Fleer Ultra Tony Gwynn Commemorative Series, 1992; #3

Outfield photo!


Another chapter of "Big T's" biography on the back. (Big T? Really?)


This chunk of Tony's life concludes by mentioning the broken wrist he sustained in the Puerto Rican league in the winter of 1982-3. It was his right wrist. He had already broken his left wrist during the regular season! 

I do think it's testament to how much Tony loved playing baseball that after a very successful season in the minor leagues he would head off to Peurto Rico to play even more baseball. 

Card Number 922: Fleer Ultra Tony Gwynn Commemorative Series, 1992; #6

This card shows Tony posing with a silver slugger award and a golden glove!


Tony's golden gloves don't get mentioend very often - perhaps that's because he didn't in any in the latter half of his career. His batting titles were evenly split between the first ten years and last ten years that he played. The golden gloves were all early career awards.

Some of his fielding achievements are mentioned in the biography on the back.


As an aside, this is why I roll my eyes when people suggest Fernando Tatis Jr is a better player than Tony Gwynn. Brilliant though he is, Tatis is never going to win five gold gloves in his career. I will predict that now.

Card Number 923: Fleer Ultra Tony Gwynn Commemorative Series, 1992; #9

A baserunning photo. Fleer were trying to show all aspects of Tony's game in this set.


Tony was a multi-sport man. He was a basketball player good enough to be offered an NBA contract. He was a keen fisherman and golfer. I don't know if he ever boxed, but he's putting up his fists on the back of this card. 


Tony's commitment to playing baseball possibly cost him a batting title in 1991. If he had limited his appearances and maintained that .360 average, he would have won it by a margin. (Julio Franco won the batting crown with an average of .341 that season.)

Card Number 924: Fleer Ultra Tony Gwynn Commemorative Series, 1992; #10

These photos on the last card were bang up to date at the time,as the Padres had just switched out their brown accoutrements for blue. 


Tony looks contemplative in the photo on the back. 


This is the second card in a row where Kirby Puckett is mentioned on the back. There is also a mention of his wife and children. His son is referred to as 'Anthony II' instead of junior. 

You may have noticed that the card I am missing from this set is card number 7! Do you have one lying around at home in a random old card box, not really doing anything? Could you help me complete this insert series? I would great appreciate it!

Total: 924 cards



2 comments:

  1. Oh how I loved 1992 Fleer Ultra when it came out and Tony had his own insert set. In the 80s and early 90s Tony was probably the most under rated and under valued player in the hobby. His cards were not worth much and very few outside of San Diego collected him. Then this set came out and finally his cards became a chase, at least in this set.

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  2. A. I love this set. I was addicted to opening 1992 Fleer Ultra back in the day in an effort to build the master set (w/o Gwynn autographs). I'm starting to wonder if I was attracted more to the design or the fact that Gwynn had his very own insert set.

    B. Either last week or the week before, local sports radio were debating who had a better career: Wade Boggs or Tony Gwynn. When the guy made his argument for Gwynn, he tossed out the fact that he won five Gold Glove Awards. That totally shocked the other two guys. By the end, the neutral guy sided with Gwynn. On a side note... they were wondering why Boggs' WAR was so much higher than Gwynn's. They couldn't figure it out.

    C. If Tatis stays at SS, he won't even win one Gold Glove Award, but I think I read he's gonna move to the OF. I'm with you in betting he doesn't win five Gold Gloves, but I will be rooting for him in hopes that he does.

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