This year's baseball cards, in my opinion, are the best designed cards ever. They are bright and colorful. There should be fewer errors, even though Donruss has already made some. The value of Donruss, Fleer and Score will be better than last year, and, with the sweepstakes and the better design, Topps will be worth buying.

The specials and contests will most likely be the factors to make you choose between Topps, Donruss, Fleer and Score. Topps includes a game card where the special offer card was if you get a card with an X on it, you will get one of the sets printed in Topps' 40 years. If you get a losing card, you can send in for a drawing each month. Also, at least two of every Topps cards printed are randomly inserted into packs.

Donruss has the same contest as last year, except with new prizes. On the inside of every wax pack is a game piece. If you get the left side of a game piece and then the right side of the same game piece, you win that prize. You can also get an instant win instead of a game piece.

Score doesn't have any contests, but they do have several special cards. Riflemen, K-Men, All-Stars, Dream Team and more. In my opinion, Score has the best special offer cards this year. Donruss has All-Stars, Diamond Kings and Rated Rookies again and they now have highlights. Like other years, Donruss again has the Hall of Fame Diamond King puzzle, this year's is Willie Stargel. Three pieces (one puzzle card) are inserted in every pack. This puzzle may be only in Series 1 because there aren't many duplicates.

Fleer has a series of 12 cards called Pro-Visions Sports Art Cards. These cards are randomly inserted into packs and are not too common. I found one card in 15 packs, but one of my friends bought 36 packs and still hasn't found one.

If you want to collect baseball cards for a profit, this year's Fleer will be near Upper Deck prices since Fleer has announced they won't be as common as last year's and they will be harder to find than Upper Deck. Series 1 of Donruss and Score will be more valuable because younger kids don't start to buy packs until May or June and Series 2 will be available for a longer time. Topps will be more common this year because of their sweepstakes, so they won't be that valuable. They will be the same as last year, but there will be more of them.

In conclusion, I think this will be a very good year for baseball cards. There will be many valuable cards, the cards will look better and the prizes are worth winning. In my opinion, this will be the best season we have had in years. n