Baseball Cards Magazine 1989 / 1959 Cubs

In 1981, the same year that Topps lost it's monopoly, Krause Publications released it's first issue of Baseball Cards magazine.  The timing was perfect, as there were now more releases to discuss and collecting would soon take off.

The magazine began a five-year run of including baseball cards with the magazine in 1989.  The cards all borrowed a design from Topps, so they were Heritage long before there was Heritage.  I wonder if Topps was flattered or angry that their designs were being used.  The magazine helped boost card sales, so I suppose Topps just looked the other way.

The 1989 set used the 1959 design.  Four Cubs were on the 72-card checklist

 

 

It's nice that they stayed current with the Walton card.

And how did the magazine do with design accuracy?  To see, I made a tile, with the magazine card on the left, an original '59 in the middle, and a Heritage card on the right.

Not a bad job by the magazine, especially when you consider that this was 1989 and you couldn't do much digitally like you can today.

The rookie card is OK, though you can see how the lettering on the magazine card is over towards the edges too much.