Donruss was usually not about the photograph, but about capitalizing on the moment. Their photography usually looked like it was picked of the cutting room floor. But Donruss got their cards out in a hurry, so they were among the first in 1991 to have a Darryl Strawberry card with a Dodgers cap on.

Donruss was all about gimmicks. Shameful and in abundance. When Upper Deck came out with the first "premium" cards, Donruss was among the last to challenge them. 1994 was the first set that didn't seem like it was thrown together by a monkey or a starving artist. Look at Donruss' 1990 and 1991 designs for proof of that.

The photography got better in quality and better in selection, but there was still a problem. There were no standout cards from the set. It was all action, all the time. Not much variety. They mostly showed pitchers pitching and batters batting. Mixed in was an occasional shot of some player in the field.


There's nothing wrong with that, but it does get a bit boring after awhile. Players are not constantly in motion. They do rest. They do have candid moments. If anyone were to come out with a card of Steve Lyons with his pants down, it would be Donruss. Not because it's a candid moment, but because it's something to capitalize on.

I'm just glad that Donruss actually found a shot of Mike "Spanky" LaValliere moving. Well, kind of, but it's more movement than I've ever seen of him captured on a card. He actually looks like he's about to do the Truffle Shuffle. This set started a lazy trend that has come to be the norm today, rather than the exception. The lazy action card.

Looking through my small inventory of 1994 Donruss, I can't find a single shot of a pose or a resting position. Not even a shot of someone just standing there. Even the backs are all action. That's mind numbing.

I applaud Donruss for stepping up the photography in this release, even though it's a bit later than most. Maybe they thought that all the portrait and posed shots should be in the Studio releases. It's always better to mix it up for some variety.

Nicole over at Olagato House and fleerfan of The Fleer Sticker Project both commented favorably on my first piece on the photography of baseball cards. My first piece focused on 1991 and 1992 Topps and showed off cards other than White Sox cards. They are out there, you know.

I had been thinking about doing followup articles about other companies and other sets. Nicole reminded me of the beautiful photography in the 1993 Upper Deck set. This was around the period where I started to get out of baseball cards, so I'm not as familiar with this set as I should be. I do have a good chunk from when this set first came out, but not rows of it like I do the 1991 set, for example.

With all the glitzy, special edition cards out there today, it's hard to remember sometimes the simple art of photography on cards. Granted, these scans of cards don't begin to give the actual card justice, but at least there is some idea of the beauty that lies in the card.

In today's world of Photoshopped cards and cut-outs, it's refreshing to see a simple, well balanced photograph. Topps had a lot of them in the 1991 and 1992 sets. I think it was timed to go with their glossier image. 1992 was the first year that Topps cards didn't have the brownish card back.
Maybe it's all the art classes I took in high school, but something strikes me about these cards. They are beautiful, in their own way. Forget about the borders and focus on the photograph. While I was scouring my collection for "Oh" face cards last night, thanks Mario, I was struck by the sheer beauty of some of these cards.
I had noticed them before, but after Wax Heaven's interview with Jerry Hale, they jumped out at me more than ever before. I chose a few cards from these sets to represent them. Posed shots and action shots alike were in full glory here. Sure, there's a few bad photos in every set, but the ones that stand out are a true work of art. The Roger Clemens card stands out to this day, in my mind. So does the Wade Boggs card.
These are nothing like the homoerotic Score Dream Team cards of shirtless men showing off their muscles. No, these cards can be appreciated by all. If they didn't land on a card, I'm sure they would be in a photography show for all to admire. They don't seem to shoot photos like this anymore.