1989 Baseball Cards Magazine Repli-Cards

1989 Baseball Cards Magazine Repli-Cards - #6 Ricky Jordan, #7 Juan Samuel, #19 Mike Schmidt

After 20-plus years of isolation between the pages of old issues of Baseball Cards Magazine, the Phillies Repli-Cards are now free. With the assistance of my trusty X-Acto 12" Heavy Duty Paper Trimmer, these baseball cards have been precision cut from their former prison.

In January 1989, Baseball Cards Magazine began including 1959 Topps-style baseball cards within each issue, six to a panel. By the end of the year, subscribers to the magazine owned a 72-card set. Three Phillies were included with the inaugural repli-card set - prospect Ricky Jordan, second baseman Juan Samuel and future Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt.

This set's concept of using an old Topps design with modern players predates the first Topps Heritage set by 12 years. At the time, it was somewhat surreal to see Mike Schmidt's image on a 1959 Topps card. It doesn't seem so strange today, but 20 years ago, this was pretty groundbreaking stuff.