The story of Cardtoons is one of daring ingenuity, creative design, and court room drama which resulted in quite possibly the longest product window in trading card history.  

Cardtoons was founded in late 1992 and began working with a team of artists and journalists to create a series of parody cards based on caricatures of MLB players and other notable faces of the game.  The 95 card base set did not use the player’s actual name. Instead, they changed them slightly to make a play on words.  For instance, Greg Maddux became “Greg Maddogs” and Andy Van Slyke became “Andy Van Tyke” and was pictured in a diaper.  The artwork on these first 95 cards was designed by  Dayne Dudley.

Most of the checklist is made up of current players, but there were a handful of retired players included.  Roberto Clemente, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose, and Ernie Banks to name a few.  The Phillie Fanatic, Ted Turner, Harry Caray, and Michael Jordan were some of the other personalities found in the set.

There were two additional subsets which are considered part of the “complete set”.  The 11 card “Politics in Baseball” set is a run of baseball themed political cartoons poking fun of a variety of topics were were on the minds of of fans.  Card S-2, “The Wave” depicts a fan standing with his arms stretched skyward.  He says, “I’m not doing the wave, I’m being held up by these ticket prices!”  This subset was designed by Dave Simpson.

The nine card “Field of Greed” set was essentially a puzzle which combined to show a picture of players holding  picket signs on a field surrounded by corn.  The card backs recapped 8 previous strikes and a ninth “pending” strike, all of which were driven by greed of either the players or team owners.

Three additional subsets serve as more as traditional inserts.  The 20 card “Big Bang Bucks” set is designed to look like cash and outline some facts and figures about a variety of notable salaries at the time.  The “Grand Slam Foils” set is an additional 10 card subset which utilizes the same basic design of the base set, but with foil etching which is comparable to what you see with Fleer Metal Universe.  A final eight card set was not pack issued.  Instead, the “Awards Replacement” set was only available as a send away offer.  They appear to be extremely rare as there are no Award Replacement cards on COMC, Ebay, or Sportlots!

There is often some confusion about the dates on the cards.  Some list them as 1993 since that is the date on the back of the card.  However, the cards were not actually released until 1995.  A multi-year court battle caused the delay.  

As part of their marketing plan, Cardtoons placed an ad in the May 14th, 1993 issue of Sports Collector’s Digest.  The MLBPA got wind, and promptly issued cease and desist letters to Cardtoons and their printer.   A court battle ensued, and ultimately Cardtoons came out on top.  Due to the satirical overtones, they won a ruling stating the cards did not violate the MLBPA’s property rights.

Even though this set came out right in my collecting prime, I had never seen it before. I got my first look in a collection I purchased in late 2019.  There were two full sets plus a good stack of additional insert and base card singles.  I’ll happily add one set to the PC, and will be finding a new home for the remaining cards.

This isn’t an oddball set in the traditional sense, but I still feel like it fits more into that category than treating it like a mainstream release.  Some of the names and card back narrative is a bit cheesy, but overall I find them pretty funny.  The cartoons in the Politics in Baseball set are my favorites.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the set!  Let me know in the comments below.

Then, after your done, check out these other oddball sets which served as promos back in the day!  The 1986 Quaker Granola Bars set and 1988 Bazooka are two of my favorites.

Checklist