Negative Decades

There is a lot of negativity in the world. It's everywhere. And, it's All. The. Time. In fact, it might be that this has always been the case but for a good number of years I was too stupid to see it or to have it fully register in my consciousness? But everywhere you turn there is something negative or critical or nasty. 

This blog post seeks to contribute to that! 

I am going to go decade by decade and showcase a card set (by Topps usually) that I dislike. The reasons may largely be petty. Some may be nonsensical. I am not really sure.

The 1940s escapes this level of inspection. It is the last vestige of a seemingly Jurassic period of card production. 

1950s

I kind of want to go after 1952 Topps, but I won't. I think 1952 Topps is the 1987 Topps of the 1950s. It's probably the best design, but I'm kind of so over it. No, instead, my least favorite set design for the 1950s is 1954. Why? For the simple reason that it looks incomplete without a top white border. I am also not a fan of using mixed all caps and lower case. 

1960s

1968 takes the award for this decade. I dislike the color and pattern of the cards. I am petty. 

1970s

1972 and 1975 are repellent, repugnant, gaudy, obscene, heinous, and stupid. Boog Powell's card is perfect for 1975. WTF? I hate myself for owning cards for these two years. 1971 is awful, too, with the lower case names and positions. Ugh. Just awful.

1980s

Now the 1980s are tough because nostalgically, this is my introduction and heydey for collecting. It would be easy to beat up on 1988 Donruss because it is kind of awful and was so overproduced. And, though I opened a lot of packs in the day, I do remember feeling an aversion to it at the time. I think 1982 Topps is probably the weakest design for that company. The first couple of years for Donruss and Fleer were a bit rough so far as design execution, so I'll be a little soft here and give them a pass. But I might go here with 1985 or 1986 Fleer. They are different sets, but they are so blah I can never tell them apart. Nolan agrees, he's like "What year is this?" Brett's like, "Dude, really?"

1990s

1995 Fleer wins hands down; but my second least favorite set is probably 1994 Topps.

I just do not care for this Topps design. I am not sure I've ever been a fan of mixing fonts, either. All italics or all regular. Not both. This is a major failing of 1970 and 1978 Topps, too, to name two others. 

2000s

In the 2000s, cards erupted especially in 2004-2006 as Donruss and Fleer other companies were losing the licensing to Topps' monopoly. How this was never allowed is beyond my ken. There are too, too, too many cards released so I am going to stick here with Topps. 2002. It's just doo-doo-brown ugly and the scrolls look like unfurling snake tongues and that gives me the heebie-jeebies.

Runners up in the 2000s could easily be 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007, or 2008.

2010s

2015 Topps can pound sand. It's awful and too influenced by things like CSI, Game of Thrones (the intro), and the Matrix. Jeter's raising his arms because he's "Sure".

2020s

I guess for this decade I will go with 2021. I don't like the diagonal & miniscule name on the weird razor blade shaped floating shelves. 2020 is on its heels though because I'm not a fan of vertical names. 

You can leave your hateful and negative comments in the comments! I might try a favorite set from each decade and I promise that if I do it, and even if I want to and should, I will not pick 1987 Topps for the 1980s. 

Thanks for stopping by!