Tino Tuesdays #5: 1990 Topps Debut

With the September call-ups arriving and the excitement around guys like Jesus Montero, I thought I'd feature a Tino Martinez card from one of my all time favorite set concepts: 1990 Topps Debut.

As much as I like the current Topps Pro Debut cards, they don't really make sense. It's basically a minor league set, which is cool, just don't call it "pro debut" and feature the same player multiple years. Like I said, I do like the cards, but only because I like minor league cards.

This 1990 Topps Debut set is just flat-out awesome. It features players that actually made their debut during that season. I would be all over a set like this at season's end. There would be a lot of great players in it, such as Ackley and Montero, and it's a great way to document the past year of debuts.

These cards came out in 1990, but they actually feature the 1991 Topps design which is interesting. I love the banner that gives the exact date of the debut. If this set ever came out in 2011, I'd hope that the image was from the actual game, but that's being greedy.

The back is even cooler. It uses the name of a local paper and gives a short recap of what the player actually did. I now know that Tino got his first MLB hit in his first game and ended the day with 2 hits and a run scored.

If I could have just one set return, it wouldn't be Topps Today, it would be Topps Debut...with real debuts, and not fake "pro debuts."