The 1990 National Sports Collectors Convention was held in Arlington, Texas, so Optigraphics (the owner of Score and Sprotflics) produced a special Nolan Ryan promo card that they distributed to folks who toured their manufacturing facility the week of the show.
I came across the card for the first time a few weeks ago while flipping through Christie’s East October 1993 Sports Memorabilia Catalog.
During the 1990 National Sport Collectors Convention in Arlington Texas, Score Inc., a major baseball manufacturer produced only 500 special cards of Nolan Ryan for distribution to attendees who toured their manufacturing facility. About 250 people availed themselves of the opportunity and. to their delight, were presented with one of these cards, the rarest issue of a Ryan card. Of the remaining 250 cards, 100 were given to Nolan Ryan and the rest to charities. The reverse of the card has a 3-D like motion image of Ryan pitching.
Christie’s
I noticed that Christie’s expected the card to sell for $600-800. The price seemed high to me, and when I checked eBay, I ran across the Beckett 9.5 graded example pictured above, with a Buy It Now price of $200. BaseballCardPedia’s card synopsis covers more of the card’s history and addresses the price drop.
To commemorate the 11th Annual National Sports Collectors Convention taking place in their hometown of Arlington, Texas, Optigraphics (the parent company of Score and Sportflics) produced a special Sportflics card of Nolan Ryan. The front of the card is lenticular and features a reprint of Ryan’s 1990 Sportflics card. The back is a reprint of Ryan’s 1990 Score card, with the logo of the NSCC.
Only 600 copies of the card were produced with Optigraphics giving Mr. Ryan the first 100. Approximately 300 cards were given out to those who took a tour of Optigraphics’ facilities the week of The National with the remainder given to various charities in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.
At the NSCC itself, Score/Sportflics held a press conference where Mr. Ryan personally destroyed the press plates.
During the NSCC, this promo card was regularly selling for $1000 to $1500 with a sale of $3000 confirmed by the Chicago Sun-Times. Professionally graded copies (Gem Mint or better) regularly sell for a tenth of that now.
BaseballCardPedia
BaseballCardPedia and Christies disagree about how many Ryan promo cards Opitgraphics printed, 600 vs. 500, and how many they gave out where. Beckett’s card description appears to align with BaseballCardPedia; however, they might have just referenced each other.
This standard-size card was issued by Optigraphics (producer of Score and Sportflics) to commemorate the 11th National Sports Card Collectors Convention held in Arlington, Texas in July of 1990. This card featured a Score front similar to the Ryan 1990 Score highlight card except for the 11th National Convention Logo on the bottom right of the card. On the other side a Ryan Sportflics card was printed that stated (reflected) either Sportflics or 1990 National Sports Collectors Convention on the bottom of the card. This issue was limited to a printing of 600 cards with Ryan himself destroying the printing plates.
Beckett
Now, it turns out REA attempted to sell (their site says unsold) a 1990 Nolan Ryan Score/Sportflics Signed Baseball Card Display in the spring of 2007.
Given the source material in the display, I suspect REA has the best data; here’s what they had to say:
This one-of-a-kind Nolan Ryan signed item is the actual printing plate used to create the specially produced limited-edition 1990 Score/Sportflics Nolan Ryan baseball card that was issued in conjunction with the 1990 National Collectors Convention. The printing of that special card, of which only 600 were ever produced, was done by Optigraphics, a card manufacturing company located in Grand Prairie, Texas. The card was made as a special promotion and was only distributed to members of the 1990 National Collectors Convention who participated in a special tour of the company. The card featured Ryan on both the front and reverse, with the front and back displaying, respectively, the images used on that year’s Score and Sportflics baseball cards of Ryan. The typography on the card makes special note of the 1990 National Collectors convention. Barry Halper was a part-owner of Score and Sportflics at the time and was personally involved in working with Ryan and arranging for the production of this card. The plate, which was destroyed by Ryan at the plant, has been inscribed to Barry in blue Sharpie, “Sorry you can’t reproduce these. Nice job with the card. Your Friend Nolan Ryan 4/28/92.” Ryan destroyed the metal plate by cutting through the card images with large shears, thus insuring that they could never be reproduced. The sheet measures 24 x 28.5 inches and has been beautifully decorated with photos and articles commemorating the event. Attached to the sheet are five small color photos of Ryan, taken on that day, including photographs of him cutting the sheet, touring the factory with Barry Halper, and holding the specialcard. Also included in the display are two cut newspaper articles covering the event as well as two examples of the card (one showing the front, the other the reverse). The sheet, in turn, has been mounted and framed to a total dimension of 30 x 34 inches. From the Barry Halper Collection. LOA from James Spence/JSA.
REA
There are obviously a few subtle differences between the promo and base cards; here’s a regular 1990 Sportflics Nolan Ryan card:
You can see that the promo card only used the front, with the key difference being the text area under Ryan’s action shots, which highlights the “1990 National Sports Collectors Convention” on the promo.
And here’s the 1990 Score Nolan Ryan card:
The big differences are that the promo card replaced the “1989 Highlight Texas Rangers” logo with one for The National in Arlington, added MLBPA and MLB logos, and added Score’s copyright information under Nolan Ryan’s name. The copyright information implies that the Score side is the back of the promo card, and Sportflics is the front.
One last thing: if you want a PSA-graded sample, they’ve graded 54 of these Nolan Ryan promo cards, including 19 Gem Mint 10s.