There was a portion of the 1990s when the Cincinnati Reds produced more pro bowl football players then the Cincinnati Bengals.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Reds have sent nearly as many players to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton over the last 30 years as the lowly Bungals.

With Deion Sanders’ enshrinement in Canton over the weekend, the Reds are now challenging the Bengals for football supremacy in the Queen City.

As insulting as it is that Cincinnati’s baseball team has better gridiron talent than its own NFL team, there was speculation that Sanders was actually open to playing with the Bengals. He even offered up a plan to play for the Bengals in 2000, according the Cincinnati Enquirer. The price tag was a factor, however according to the report.

In the waning years of the David Shula/Bruse Coslet/Dick Lebeau era, putting Prime Time in stripes could have at least helped up the Bengals win a few games. However I guess team owner Mike Brown preferred having Tom Carter, Rodney Heath and Artrell Hawkins in his secondary rather than one of the game’s all-time great corners.

It’s been a few decades since Ohio State issue a set of football cards celebrating its legendary players and coaches.

2011 is certainly a new era for the Buckeyes and with it come a set of football cards through the Ohio State athletic department’s Facebook page. The first card in this series is senior quarterback Joe Bauserman.

While Bauserman has not seen a ton of action with the Buckeyes this is not his first trading card. Prior to joining Ohio State in 2007, Bauserman played three years in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization as a pitcher. See some of his baseball cards below.

With the Pirates, he had a career record of 14-12 career record with an earned run average of 3.42. After the 2006 season with Hickory Crawdads of the class A South Atlantic League, Bauserman decided to join Ohio State’s football program.

2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Signature Turn of the Century #351

2006 Bowman Prospects #B17

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 6

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 6 back

The sixth and final installment of the Pete Rose Years subset featured the ascension of the Hit King, however it also included one glaring omission.

Topps inserted a special subset into the beginning of its 1986 regular set to honor Rose for becoming major league baseball’s all-time hit leader with 4,192 hits on Sept. 11, 1985.

The sixth card in the tribute series featured thumbnail versions of Rose’s cards from 1983, 1984 and 1985 Topps set. This was the only card with an original image of Rose. Topps showed the Cincinnati native apparently day dreaming of Cobb.

My favorite card from this three-year span doesn’t even appear on this colleague. Topps opted to showcase its 1984 regular card of Rose with the Phillies rather than the traded set card that featured Rose in a Montreal Expos uniform.

The novelty of Charlie Hustle with the Expos is what makes this card so appealing. It is even more troubling that Topps didn’t include it considering Rose was in Montreal when he collected his 4,000th hit on April 13, 1984.

I also enjoyed Rose’s granny picture complete with the bowl haircut on the 1983 card (top right).

Before heading north of the border, Rose and several other former members of the Big Red Machine helped the Phillies return to the World Series in 1983.

In addition to becoming the second player to reach 4,000 hits, Rose set a few other marks while with Les Expos.

He passed Carl Yastrzemski for most games played with 3,309, Cobb for most singles with 3,053 and Stan Musial for the most doubles in National League history with 726.

After rejoining the Reds and before passing Cobb, he passed Hank Aaron for most runs scored in the National League with 2,108 tallies on May 22, 1985. That same season his 17th and final all-star game appearance.

At the end of the 1985 season, Rose had totaled 4,204 hits. He ended his 24 season career in 1986 with 4,256 hits.

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 5

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 5b

The fifth card in the Pete Rose Years subset featured the Hit King’s biggest move of all. He traded his hometown Cincinnati Reds uniform for the Philadelphia Phillies uni.

Topps inserted a special subset into the beginning of its 1986 regular set to honor Rose for becoming major league baseball’s all-time hit leader with 4,192 hits on Sept. 11, 1985

The fifth card in the tribute series featured thumbnail versions of Rose’s cards from 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1983 Topps set.

My favorite card in this set is the 1979 offering, which was his final with Cincinnati until 1985. This particular card is only action shot of the bunch and features Rose leaving the batter’s box after smacking the ball.

With perennial all-star and Dayton native Mike Schmidt entrenched at third base, Rose was forced to switch to first base. Rose became the highest-paid athlete in team sports when the Phillies signed him to a four-year, $3.2-million contract as a free agent.

Just a few months before bolting to Philadelphia, Rose passed Honus Wagner with 2,427th single to become the National League’s all-time base hitter.

Rose was the final piece of the puzzle to help lead the Phillies to the 1980 World Series championship.

During his first three years in Philadelphia, Rose started to re-write the record books.

On Aug. 15, 1980, he notched his 3,500th hit in New York on August 15.

The next season, he passed Stan Musial’s record for most hits in the National League with 3,631st hit on Aug. 10, 1981.

Rose moved immediately behind Cobb on baseball’s all-time hit list on June 22, 1982. He passed Hank Aaron with his 3,772nd during a big league record tying seventh hitting streak of 20 or more games.

Within these four years, Rose made it to four more all-star games. By the end of 1982, Rose has totaled 3,869 hits only 322 away from catching Cobb.

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 4

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 4 back

The mid-1970s was the heyday of the Cincinnati Reds and the focus of the fourth card of the Pete Rose Years subset. This card also featured Pete Rose’s second position change as the Hit King headed back to the infield.

The Pete Rose Years subset was inserted at the beginning of Topps’ 1986 factory set to commemorate Rose passing Ty Cobb to become baseball’s all-time hit leader on Sept. 11, 1985.

The fourth card in the tribute series featured thumbnail versions of Rose’s cards from 1975, 1976, 1977 and 1979 Topps set.

Rose lead the Big Red Machine to a seven game World Series win over the Boston Red Sox. For his effort, Rose was named the mvp of the series and Sports Illustrated “Sportsman of the Year.” The same season, Rose moved from the outfield to third base.

My favorite card in this set is the 1976 card (upper right). Rose with the sideburns and flip-up sunglasses is photographed with a determined look on his face.

The next season, Rose and the Reds became the first team since the expansion of the playoffs in 1969 to go undefeated in the postseason.

In addition to the earning his first two championship rings, Rose broke a number of impressive records and also continued on his march to become baseball’s hit king.

In 1978, tied the National League’s consecutive game hitting streak with 44 hits from June 14 to July 31.  The streak tied the mark set by Willie Keeler in 1897 while with the Baltimore Orioles.

A season earlier, he passed Frankie Frish to become the hit king among switch hitters with his 2,881st hit on July 25, 1977.

Rose also reeled off a pair of milestones on his quest to become the Hit King. He notched his 2,500th hit on Aug. 17, 1975 against the Pittsburgh Pirates and then became the 13th member of the 3,000 hit club on May 5, 1978. That hit came against the Montreal Expos at Riverfront Stadium and allowed former Red Tony Perez to congratulate Rose on first base.

During this era, Rose went to the all-star game each of the four years. By the end of the 1978 season, Rose had totaled 3,164 hits and was less than 1,000 hits away from catching Cobb.

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 3

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 3 back

The third card in the Pete Rose Years subset features one of Pete Rose’s finest seasons as a baseball player.

Topps inserted a special subset into the beginning of its 1986 regular set to honor Rose for becoming major league baseball’s all-time hit leader with 4,192 hits on Sept. 11, 1985.

The second card in the tribute series featured thumbnail versions of Rose’s cards from 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 Topps set.

By the mid-1970s, Topps started using action photography rather than the standard posed photos.

In 1973, Rose put together a complete season that would lead to his only mvp award and another post season appearance for the Big Red Machine.

That season Rose led the majors with 230 hits, which was the highest single season total for the Hit King, and paced the National League with a .338 batting average.

In addition, he also collected his 2000th hit on June 19 in San Francisco.

The season before he became the Cincinnati Reds’ all-time hit leader by collecting his 1,882 hit to pass outfielder Vada Pinson. By the time Rose was finished, he had 3,358 hits in a Reds’ uniform.

During the four-year span, Rose made three more all-star appearances, went back to the World Series in 1972, losing to the Oakland Athletics in seven games and lost to the New York Mets in five volatile games in the 1973 National League Championship Series.

At the end of the four years, Rose had 2,337 hits and was more than halfway on his way to catching Cobb.

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 3

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 3 back

The second card in the Pete Rose Years subset featured a position change, new uniforms for the Cincinnati Reds and the start of the Big Red Machine.

Topps inserted a special subset into the beginning of its 1986 regular set to honor Pete Rose for becoming major league baseball’s all-time hit leader with 4,192 hits on Sept. 11, 1985.

The second card in the tribute series featured thumbnail versions of Rose’s cards from 1967, 1968, 1969 and 1970 Topps set.

My favorite card in this quartet is the 1968 Topps card with the burlap background. Despite the posed batting stance, the image showcases the Reds’ pinstripe, vest uniforms which featured the player’s name under their number.

By 1967, Rose had made the switch to left field. During the four seasons featured on this card, Rose was named to the National League’s all-star team every season.

This four-year span also featured a pair of milestones during his pursuit of Cobb. In 1968, Rose collected his 1000th major league hit on June 26 against the New York Mets. With a string of three 200 hit seasons from 1968-70, Rose reached the 1,500 hit plato on August 29 at Montreal. By the end of the 1970 season, Rose had 1,532 career hits.

He also earned his first two batting titles in 1968 and 1968 and earned the only two Gold Glove awards of his carer in 1969 and 1970.

Rose reached the post season for the first time in his career. Cincinnati won 102 games and won the National League West division by 14.5 games over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Reds defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in three straight games, to win their first National League pennant since 1961. They dropped the World Series to the Baltimore Orioles three games to one.

The Pete Rose Years - 1986 Topps No. 2

The Pete Rose Years 1986 Topps No. 2 back

Sorry for the brief recess. My wife and I are busy making preparations for the arrival of our first child in October. Now on to the cards.

The season after Pete Rose eclipsed Ty Cobb to become baseball’s all-time hit leader, the trading card companies commemorated the feat in many ways.

Topps, the only card manufacture that produced baseball cards throughout Rose’s career, inserted a special subset in the beginning of its 1986 regular set.

This six card set featured thumbnail versions of nearly all of the cards Topps produced of Rose over the years. The thumbnails appeared chronologically throughout the subset.

For the first card in the special set, Topps featured Rose’s 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966 cards. Rose’s rookie card (top left) also featured New York Yankee second baseman Pedro Gonzalez, Los Angeles Dodger third baseman Ken McMullen and Chicago White Sox short stop Al Weis.

The three other players combined for 2,790 games and 1901 hits in 31 major league seasons. Rose on his own, set major league records for 3,562 games and 4,256 hits in 24 seasons.

In each of these four cards, Rose played second base for the Cincinnati Reds.

From 1963-66, Rose collected the first 723 hits of his career, earned his first all-star appearance in 1965 and was named National League rookie of the year in 1963. He recorded his 500th hit on Sept. 16 1965 against the New York Mets.

My favorite card in this quartet is the 1965 edition. I particularly like the old scoreboard in the background of the photo in addition to the pennant treatment that was used for each team’s nickname and logo.