This type of oddball stuff really grabs a hold of me and won't let go. The SCBC has a checklist but because the cards aren't dated or numbered it's tough to pinpoint exactly what year each card is from. As a Dodgers collector, I was particularly drawn to this set because of the Hershiser cards. He is cataloged as appearing on four different cards over the years and since most people don't know the difference from one card to the next and call them all the same thing (1981-93) it was difficult to track down all four but I think I've done it.
Hershiser #A) My guess is that this is from 1986. It was the only one of his four cards printed in Taiwan prior to Louisville Slugger moving their printing operations to the Philippines in 1987 and the back of the card contains season stats from the '85 season so labeling this an '86 is fairly safe unless it was printed in Nov. or Dec. of '85. The photo on the front of the card is cropped on the sides, the photo touches the top and bottom green border, one knuckle appears in his glove, there is a blue bio border on the back with a thin black line break on top and a thin blue line break on bottom.
Hershiser #B) My guess is that this is from 1987. It was the first of three to be printed in the Philippines. Again, the front photo is cropped on the sides, however, this time they pulled the photo back from the top and bottom away from the green border. This time two knuckles appear in the glove. The back design is almost identical to the previous year with the exception of where it was printed and the thin blue line break line which now appears to have been drawn in place due to its waviness.
Hershiser #C) My guess is that this is from 1988. This variation appears almost identical to the previous year with one very minor exception - the tail of the "l" in Orel on the facsimile autograph does not touch the players jersey. Upon careful inspection, the tail of the "l" on the '87 Hershiser can clearly be seen touching his jersey. The back, however is a different story. Apparently the blue wavy line didn't sit well with some folks because they changed it to black and for the first time both line break lines are black. The Hillerich & Bradsbury logo is also now touching the bottom blue border where on previous years it did not.
Hershiser #D) My guess is this is from 1989. This variation is the most drastically different compared to the others. The back bio was completely reconstructed to reflect the accomplishments he achieved in '88. I suppose it's possible that it could have been printed in Nov. or Dec. of '88 or in 1990 or 1991 for that matter but my best guess is that it was changed in '89 and used throughout the remainder of the contract. The front photo now has a full bleed, meaning it extends to the border on the right and left. This caused part of the photo to be cropped off so now there are no knuckles showing in the glove. Orel's first name on his facsimile autograph is now completely off his body. The back is also very different with a black border now encompassing the bio. His middle name and name suffix were dropped from the top and he is now labeled as an All-Star pitched as opposed to just a pitcher. The H&B logo is once again dropped down off of the border.
By the way - I'm looking to obtain the Eric Davis / Dodgers Louisville Slugger card if anyone has one to sell, thanks!
