My Introduction to the 90s: Jim Edmonds Part 2

In an earlier post I explained why you'll be looking at these cards, check it out here - I Have a Confession

So my Marty McFly-like look back to the 90s for the first time continues with Part 2 of Jim Edmonds stack. 4 more cards that delight and confuse.


This appears to be a 1995 Pinnacle card.

I'm not Mario, the king of all baseball card blogs, but I do appreciate this effort from Pinnacle. I've picked up a few Pinnacle cards in various Garret Anderson lots and the foolish purchase (or two) of a repack box and I've always been drawn in by the photography. This is no exception.

This image is both awesome and depressing as an Angel fan. Just the moment in time feel alone makes this great photo, but it's the depressing aspects that pull me in too. First, there's only one reason for Jim to be pulling himself up on the wall, clearly Chuck Finley has given up another of his team high 21 home runs. While that's certain to put a frown on the face of any Angel fan's face, it's the background of this shot that is much too familiar for us fans from the 90s. The left field seats are as always empty. It didn't matter if they offered these seats as a discount and called it the family section or tried to force kids to sit there on Little League Day, no one wanted to sit there. This is just one of the many reasons why the Angels were the biggest winners when the Rams moved to St. Louis and the Big A could be all about baseball again.


Next up is a 1996 Pinnacle Zenith card. (I think.)

Oh, the horror. The wacky baseball bats background, the pure 90s workout shirt/garbage bag and yes the Jimmy Edmonds coiffure. The photographer couldn't have waited a moment or two for Jim to put the helmet on?
Pinnacle with great outfield photo 1 - Pinnacle with Edmonds pompadour 0


1996 Bowman's Best

Holy crap! A set that I've heard of. I'm not sure when the Bowman's Best set began or even much about it's history, but it does bring to mind something that saddens me about my hiatus from collecting. I never got to experience chrome and refractors in the way other collectors did. By the time I got back into the hobby, chrome was everywhere and it just sort of overwhelmed me. As for this card, nothing about it is spectacular, but I find it appealing. Not sure why, I just do. I think that's good enough justification.


Circa '97 (?)

Finally, a card that just absolutely bewilders me. I have no idea what's going on here. Edmonds is written at the top in a hot pink comic book style font. Jim is engulfed by green stalactites or stalagmites or maybe it's blades of grass. I honestly am clueless and I'm pretty sure I would have felt this way in 1997 as well. Anyone with an explanation, I'd love to hear it.

Maybe the best part of this card is the quote from Edmonds on the side, "I'm a hard-nosed player...I got a bad rap in the Minor Leagues, and I've done everything I could to prove them wrong."

This card leaves me with so many questions. Who is the "them" that Jim is proving wrong? How many other players have cards where they're quoted telling the world what their supposed negative qualities are?

I'd love to see the Barry Bonds card were this set to be put out in 2006. "I'm a hard worker...I got a bad rap for injecting myself and becoming a hulk of a human being over the last decade. But I just keep up my surly attitude and don't really give a crap about them."

I'm starting to realize that I missed out on way too much during the 90s.
The final Edmonds card is coming up very soon. It is absolutely the Pièce de résistance!

Go Halos!