When I was looking back through my notes on the 1994 baseball strike, I started to think about the hobby and where it was at the time.
What was the last box I ripped open before the strike occurred? Who were the hot rookies that year? Who were the most popular players? How were the collecting habits of collectors like then vs. now?
The landscape for baseball cards was very different in 1994. There were five different companies pumping out multiple trading card products.
The 1994 Bowman Baseball set was a 682-card set that was very heavy with rookies and prospects. The rookie card class that year featured Jorge Posada, Billy Wagner, Torii Hunter, Derek Lee, Jermaine Dye and Chan Ho Park. Some of those players had RCs in other sets. By the way, I reference Chan Ho Park often because my fantasy baseball team, the Prescott Fighting Amish, play their home games in Sally Field at Chan Ho Park along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. The home of the Prescott Fighting Amish is, well, fantasy baseball. It’s not real, so please don’t show up in the Fort Town looking for it. And the Amish people are across the river in Ogdensburg, NY, not in Prescott.
Collectors craved insert cards, and the companies were cranking out parallels and inserts with splashy foil and designs. It was around that time when I watched collectors at shows open boxes up and save all the insert cards and just throw the base set cards in the trash bins.
The insert card craze was still fresh, but they would not compare to today’s chase cards.
There were no serial numbered cards. Jersey cards had not hit the market yet. Getting cards graded was not a thing yet. Nobody was online yet, meaning there was no eBay or online auction sites.
Back then, however, the insert card craze kept the superstars in the game relevant. In 1994, the game was dripping with superstars. Their rookie cards were part of the collecting equation, but a Frank Thomas insert card was as important at that time as a mass-produced Frank Thomas rookie card.
The companies that had baseball licenses in 1994 were Topps, Donruss, Fleer, Pinnacle and Upper Deck. Products out that year included Bowman, Topps and Topps Stadium Club from Topps; Donruss, Studio, Triple Play, Leaf and Leaf Limited from Donruss; Fleer, Fleer Ultra and Flair from Fleer; Score, Pinnacle and Select from Pinnacle; and Upper Deck, SP and Collector’s Choice from Upper Deck.
Although it may not seem like as much as you remember being on the market, most of the products had a first and second series. In 1994, it was the second series products that were most affected by a decrease in demand.
Pacific was producing cards in Spanish, while O-Pee-Chee gave Canada its last baseball card set that year. Although baseball was not as popular as hockey among Canadian collectors, Canada had always had a strong baseball card market. With the Toronto Blue Jays winning the World Series in 1992 and 1993, and becoming the first team in Major League Baseball to break the four million mark for attendance, the baseball market north of the border was strong. Also that year, the Montreal Expos were considered the best team in baseball and had a legitimate shot of giving Canada their third straight title.
So what players were on the hot list before the 1994 strike?
The hobby hot list always ranked players rather than cards, and that always made sense. Some of the hot names may surprise you a little bit, but you have to remember that this was a list from 1994, not a list looking back at who was playing in 1994.
So when baseball was shut down in 1994, here were the top 20 players on the “hot list”.
Frank Thomas
The Big Hurt’s rookie cards are in various 1990 sets, but any and every insert card Thomas was on was driving his popularity in the hobby. He was the AL MVP in 1993 and 1994. When the strike started, Thomas led the AL in OPS, walks, on-base percentage, and runs scored.
Ken Griffey Jr.
Junior was always on the hot list in the 1990s, but in 1994, his popularity was off the charts. Griffey hit 30 home runs in the first 65 games of the season, and had 40 at the time of the strike. There were people wondering if Griffey would be the player to break the Roger Maris home run record of 61. His famous rookie card is card number 1 of the very first Upper Deck set in 1989.
Alex Rodriguez
A-Rod had just made his debut in the Major League’s a month before the strike happened. He was the first overall pick in the 1993 draft, and the Seattle Mariners wasted very little time in making the 18-year-old the shortstop the youngest player in team history. Classic included Rodriguez in the 1993 Four Sport set, and he had a full menu of rookie cards in the 1994 sets. Even though he only .204 with two RBIs and three stolen bases, the hobby was buzzing about the shortstop destined to be a superstar.
Cliff Floyd
Selected 14th overall by the Montreal Expos in the 1991 MLB Draft, Cliff Floyd was projected to be a superstar. He did not quite live up to expectations, but he still won a World Series, was an All-Star and hit 233 home runs. Floyd, now a broadcaster with the MLB Network, was a star baseball, basketball and football player and had signed a letter of intent to go to Creighton before being drafted. His most iconic card is his 1992 Bowman RC, which has a photo of him dunking a baseball on an outdoor basketball court. That card was among the hottest in the market when the strike started.
Barry Bonds
Bonds was really emerging as a power hitter in 1994, which was his second season with the San Francisco Giants. He had 37 home runs and a 1.073 OPS when the strike started, and was on pace for more than 50 home runs. Bonds had an XRC in the 1986 Topps, Donruss and Fleer traded and update sets, and his rookie cards were in the 1987 sets.
Derek Jeter
Jeter and Rodriguez were the two hottest rookie card prospects on the market in 1994. But while Rodriguez made his debut just before the strike, Jeter had to wait until after the strike ended. Jeter’s rookie cards were in several 1993 sets, but the set that Jeter made popular in 1994 was Signature Rookies. With Major League Baseball shut down, fans still wanting a baseball fix turned to the unique prospect set with an autograph in every pack. That set revolutionized the hobby.
Mike Piazza
The hobby has always loved the underdog, and Piazza went from being a 62nd round draft choice, the fifth last player selected, to the 1993 NL Rookie of the Year. In his second full season, Piazza was hitting .319 and had 24 home runs and 92 RBIs when the strike started in 1994. His rookie card is in the 1992 Bowman set, and that card makes 1992 Bowman one of the best sets of the decade.
Tony Gwynn
Although Tony Gwynn rookie cards came out in 1983, his inserts were super hot in the summer of 1994. It seems like a forgotten anecdote of 1994, but Gwynn was challenging to become the first .400 hitter since Ted Williams. He was hitting .394 with an OPS of 1.022 when the strike happened.
Jeff Bagwell
Bagwell had his breakthrough year in 1994 and was the NL MVP. He had 39 home runs and led the league with 116 RBIs, a .750 slugging percentage, and an OPS of 1.201. His rookie cards appeared in the 1991 sets.
Larry Walker
Walker was a five-tool player that had emerged as the superstar on the best team in baseball in 1994. Walker, Marquis Grisson and Moises Alou gave the Montreal Expos what was widely considered the best outfield in baseball. He was hitting .322 with 19 home runs and a league-leading 44 doubles when the strike started. He was one of several Expos who left Montreal during the strike, landing in Colorado. His rookie cards are in various 1990 sets.
Paul O’Neill
While all the focus was on Tony Gwynn and his batting average, Paul O’Neill quietly led the AL with a .359 average and added 21 home runs and 83 RBIs. The Yankees were once again emerging as the power in the AL East, and led the American League with a 70-43 record when the season was shut down. O’Neill, whose rookie cards came out in the 1986 sets, was a fan favorite in New York and among Yankee collectors.
Roberto Alomar
There were a number of stars that were in Toronto for a part of their career, but Roberto Alomar remains the most beloved Toronto Blue Jay of that era. He is considered the best second baseman of the 1990s. In his 1988 rookie cards, he is pictured as a member of the San Diego Padres.
Raul Mondesi
If you are wondering why Raul Mondesi is on this list, think back to the 1994 season. Mondesi was red hot in the hobby, and won the NL Rookie of the Year Award by hitting .306 with 16 home runs and 56 RBIs. His rookie card is in the 1991 Bowman set.
Albert Belle
If you look at his rookie cards from 1990 and his cards from 1991, you will notice that he was Joey Belle when he started his career. Belle was having a career year in 1994. Not only were the Cleveland Indians gaining in popularity, but Belle was hitting .357 with 36 home runs and 101 RBIs when the strike happened in 1994. The following year, he became the only player to ever hit 50 home runs and 50 doubles in the same season.
Greg Maddux
Maddux, one of the most collectible pitchers of the 1990s, was having a career year in 1994 and was an easy choice for the NL Cy Young Award. When the strike ended the 1994 season, Maddux 16-6 with 10 complete games, three shutouts, and a 1.56 ERA. He was in practically every insert set of pitchers, which practically every card set in 1994 had. His rookie cards are in the 1987 Donruss and Leaf sets with the Chicago Cubs.
Bob Hamelin
If you are asking why bob Hamelin is on this list, you either don’t remember or weren’t around for the 1994 season. Hamelin, whose rookie cards are in the 1990 Bowman and Upper Deck sets, was known as “The Hammer”. He was a power hitting first baseman and DH who turned down a scholarship to play football at Notre Dame to pursue a career in baseball. In 1994, he won AL Rookie of the Year honors by hitting .282 with 24 home runs and 65 RBIs. While collectors hunted for Hamelin’s cards, he never regained the form he had after the strike. In 1998, his last season, he hit .219 with just seven home runs and 22 RBIs in 109 games for Milwaukee.
Kenny Rogers
The Gambler was one of baseball’s premier pitchers from the mid-1990s through the late 2000s. While he is remembered mainly as the pitcher who melted down in 2005 and shoved a TV camera man, Rogers became a four-time All-Star, a World Series champion, and a five-time Gold Glove winner. He was having a breakthrough year in 1994, which was his second as a starter after being a reliever in his first four years with the Texas Rangers. But what sent collectors scrambling for his cards just before the strike was the perfect game he pitched on July 28, 1994, just two weeks before the strike. Heading into the strike, Rogers was 11-8 but had six complete games and two shutouts in just 24 starts.
Cal Ripken Jr.
If you ever wondered why the Bob Bonner and Jeff Schneider have expensive 1982 Topps rookie cards, it’s because they are on a three-panel rookie card with Cal Ripken Jr. The longtime Orioles shortstop and third baseman had his own Donruss and Fleer rookie cards in 1982, but he had to share his Topps card. Ripken was consistently on baseball hot lists throughout the decade. He was having a very solid 1994 season. He hit his 300th career home run that season, and just 12 days before the strike, he played in his 2,000th career game.
Fred McGriff
Donruss/Leaf was the only card company that jumped on McGriff for a rookie card in 1986, when the Crime Dog was a prospect with the Toronto Blue Jays. McGriff was having a monster year in 1994, hitting .318 with 34 home runs when the season ended early. He was especially hot as just a few weeks earlier he was the All-Star Game MVP and the runner-up to Ken Griffey Jr. in the Home Run Derby.
Pedro Martinez
After two years in the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen, Martinez was traded to the Montreal Expos for Delino DeShields before the 1994 season. Manager Felipe Alou worked with him to change his fastball grip, and the result was immediate. On April 13, 1994, Martinez had a perfect game into the eighth inning when he threw a brush back pitch to Reggie Sanders of the Cincinnati Reds. Sanders charged the mound, and a bench clearing brawl left Martinez ejected from the game.
He was 11-5 with a 3.42 ERA when the strike started, but he had established himself as baseball’s best young pitcher. His rookie card was in the 1991 Upper Deck Final Edition set.
Kenny Lofton
Lofton was popular in the hobby in the 1990s because he was one of the most exciting players in baseball. When the strike cancelled the 1994 season, Lofton was hitting .349 and was leading the league in hits with 160, and stolen bases with 60. Lofton’s rookie cards are the 1991 Bowman and Upper Deck Final Edition sets. But the first time Lofton was on a card was actually in the 1985-86 Arizona Wildcats basketball team police set.
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