Fred Lynn, 1988 Donruss Baseball's Best #297

Happy Halloween to one and all! I'm fairly certain that this is the orange-and-blackest card in my collection. Fred Lynn is actually in costume on this card; he's supposed to be former Giants, Cardinals, and Yankees slugger Jack Clark. Couldn't you tell from the eye black?

I hope you all have a festive and spooky night, no matter what you have planned. I'm staying in, since I'll be at the Ravens game with my dad tomorrow and we have to meet my uncle at nine to drive to an undisclosed tailgate location. But I did venture out last night to a friend's Halloween party in Hampden. My "suicidal Redskins fan" costume was a big hit, and I even gave an actual 'Skins fan the shirt off of my back at the end of the night so I wouldn't have to dispose of it myself. After all, the very idea of me owning a maroon and gold sweatshirt is truly scary.

Eddie Murray, 1988 Donruss Baseball's Best #142

Only Eddie Murray could make the batting-helmet-over-the-cap style look cool. The single black glove and the matching orange wristbands don't hurt. But take a closer look at his left wristband, which is facing the camera. If I'm not mistaken, Eddie is wearing wristbands that bear his own likeness, complete with afro. (It's either him or Lionel Richie.) Seriously, do you think Kelly Gruber would have been able to pull that off? Or, say, Ozzie Smith? Okay, maybe Andre Dawson could make it work. But to my knowledge, Eddie Murray is the only member of the 500 home run, 3,000 hit, self-referential wristband club. It's truly a badge of honor.

Mike Boddicker, 1988 Donruss Baseball's Best #317

When I posted Jose Bautista's 1988 Donruss Rookies card last weekend, reader Jeffrey observed that the dark, murky blue-bordered base set would have looked better in green. It made me think of this card and several others like it that I recceived in two separate trades last month. I don't know much about Baseball's Best, except that it's a 336-card set, so it's barely more than half the size of the regular Donruss issue. All of the cards in the set feature this bright orange border, which of course is an awesome fit for the Orioles. The cards are glossy, much like the Rookies set but unlike the drab regular set. The card backs are a golden yellow and vertically oriented with full career major and minor league stats, unlike the blue, horizontally oriented, last-few-years statline card backs in 1988 Donruss. Even the photography seems clearer, more dynamic, less shadowy than usual. It's amazing to me that Donruss could put out a set that was, with a few tweaks, leaps and bounds beyond its now-universally-panned 1988 release. They put out similar, but less-impressive (in my opinion) sets in 1989 and 1990, as well.

Why am I just discovering this set now? Why is there so little information about it online? Was it meant to be a hobby-exclusive or Tiffany-type set, for the distinguished collector? If so, they must have still fallen victim to disinterest and/or overproduction. I found one site selling sealed factory sets for $12. Well, I for one am going to spread the word about Baseball's Best, though your mileage may vary.