MY GREG MADDUX COLLECTION

Looking for anything NOT on the following list!

Anyone who followed baseball in the late 80's and caught a Cubs game...whether you were a casual or rabid fan, became curious about this skinny kid. Being a Braves fan for many years, I was very quickly excited when he came south to Atlanta. He quickly became a BIG part of one of the greatest rotations in baseball.

He was, quite simply, a marvel - Not the flame thrower that Clemens was...no giant with a wicked fastball, like The Big Unit - but he did possess a demeaner on the mound that earned him the nickname "The Mad Professor", due to his aggressive, almost scientific way of painting the corners of the plate. He was phenomenal, to say the least. I have many awesome Maddux cards, but none are as important to me as an auto my mom stood in line for.

I'm looking for any cards or memorabilia or oddball items featuring Greg that I don't have listed here - anything you have that will enhance my collection; I'd sure like to talk about! Thanks, my friends.

1 9 8 7

DONRUSS:

# 36 - Rated Rookie

# 52 (The Rookies)

One writer described the significance of the # 36 rookie card like this: "Maddux looks like the Ferris Bueller character...with a mascara mustache drawn on...or maybe your local pizza delivery boy, on his 1987 Donruss Rated Rookie card. But even then, the future Hall of Famer was starting to make waves in the hobby. For starters, he was a Rated Rookie, and that was enough to get us thinking hard about a guy back in those days. For another thing, Maddux had just landed a spot in the Cubs rotation and was a year out from turning in his first big season - 18-8, 3.18 ERA, an All-Star selection for the 1988 Cubs club that played the first night games at Wrigley Field. After that, of course, it was pretty much a straight shot into Cooperstown for The Professor.

FLEER UPDATE:

# U-68

GLOSSY PARALLEL # U-68

LEAF:

1987 Leaf is a 264-card version of the '87 Donruss set, produced for the Canadian market. The design of Leaf is identical to Donruss with the exception of the "Leaf" logo on the front of the card, and the backs of the card written in both English and French.

# 36 (Rated Rookie)

SPORTFLICS:

Notes: Distributed via hobby dealers or through mail order as a factory set (#1-26)

TEAM PREVIEW # 22 of 26

Top Left: Ryne Sandberg/Leon Durham/Rafael Palmeiro - Bottom Left: Shawon Dunston/Lee Smith/Jerry Mumphrey - Top Right: Jody Davis/Keith Moreland/Scott Sanderson - Bottom Right: Dave Martinez/Greg Maddux/Dennis Eckersley

TOPPS TRADED:

# 70T

# 70T - Graded "10" Mint or Better & slabbed by BCCG (Beckett)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 9 8 8

CADACO DISCS:

These were unnumbered, coaster-sized discs.

DONRUSS:

# 539

UNCUT 1988 CUBS TEAM SHEET:

Featuring # 40 - Mark Eugene Grace (RR) /# 516 - Jesus Manuel Trillo/# 539 - Gregory Alan Maddux/# 561 - Lester Wayne Lancaster/# 570 - Frank Michael Dipino/# NEW - Calvin Drew Schiraldi/# 639 - Damon Scott Berryhill/# 646 - Scott Douglas Sanderson/# NEW - Michael Joseph Bielecki

DONRUSS BASEBALL'S BEST:

1988 Donruss Baseball's Best is a 336-card factory set released very late in the 1988 season and sold exclusively in large national retail chains. Similar to the 1987 Donruss Opening Day set, Baseball's Best was packaged in a specially designed box. Cards are very similar in design to the 1988 regular Donruss issue except that these cards have orange and black borders and is sometimes referred to as the "Halloween" set.

# 82

FLEER:

# 423

TOPPS:

# 361

# 361 - Glossy Parallel

1 9 8 9

1989 TV SPORTS MAILBAG # 23:

This 140-card set features glossy 8" by 10" color player photos and was distributed in packs with four pictures to a pack at the suggested retail price of $4.95. The backs carry the player's name, playing position, and team name.

This 8x10 was sent to me by a friend during one of our TOCV Trade-Daze, which was something we did at The Olde Cardboard Village from time to time - we'd search for a special card or piece of memorabilia to try and surprise each other with something amazing to add to our collections - this one, while not in pristine condition, was probably the coolest piece of Maddux gear I had at the time...and was autographed by him before some game at Wrigley Field. It was, and still is, one of my favorites!

CLASSIC:

1989 Classic is a 200-card set issued in three series. The first series (known as the "Light Blue" set) consists of 100-cards and was packaged inside a baseball trivia game. The next two series of 50-cards, (known as the "Travel Orange" and "Travel Purple" sets) were issued in blister cards. Reportedly, 150,000 sets were produced.

Travel Orange # 121

DONRUSS:

# 373

DONRUSS ALLSTARS:

1989 Donruss All-Stars is a 64-card set. This would be the final year for the annual Donruss All-Star set, and as with previous iterations of this set, the design is very similar to the regular '89 Donruss set. The players chosen for the set are essentially the participants at the previous year's All-Star Game.

# 56 of 64

FLEER:

# 431

FOR THE RECORD # 5 of 6

SCORE:

# 39 - Young Superstars (Series 1)

# 119

TOPPS:

# 240

TOPPS MINI-LEADERS:

1989 Topps Mini Leaders is a 77-card set featuring the statistical leaders from the 1988 season. Each card measures 2 1/8" X 3", about the same size as the '75 Topps Minis - the design is similar to that of the '89 Topps Team Leaders subset and are printed on a glossy white cardstock.

# 4

TOPPS STICKERS:

# 48 (Maddux) & # 213 Greg Swindell (Indians) on front with slightly larger # 3 Mark McGwire/A's (Super Star) on reverse.

PANINI STICKERS:

# 49

1 9 9 0

CLASSIC:

Update Red # T32

DONRUSS:

# 158

FLEER:

# 37

LEAF:

# 25

MARATHON:

These over-sized (2 7/8" x 4 1/4") cards were unnumbered.

PEORIA CHIEFS - SCULLY'S PUB (By Kodak):

# 20 - Famous Five: Greg Maddux/Jeff Hirsch/Mike Harkey/Shawn Boskie/Jeff Pico

SCORE:

# 403

TOPPS:

# 715

UPPER DECK:

# 213

1 9 9 1

BASEBALL CARD MAGAZINE:

# 25 (Cubs)

BOWMAN:

# 426

DONRUSS:

# 374

FLEER:

# 426

FLEER ULTRA:

# 64

LEAF:

# 127

PANINI STICKERS:

# 98 (Gold Glove)

SCORE:

# 317

TOPPS:

# 35

MICRO PARALLEL # 35

In 1991, Topps debuted Topps Micro a parallel set. Micro was sold exclusively in factory set form and primarily to mass market retail outlets. Each card measures 1" X 1 3/8".

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 126

UPPER DECK:

# 115

1 9 9 2

CLASSIC:

# 30

DONRUSS:

# 520

FLEER:

# 386

FLEER ULTRA:

# 178

GOLD GLOVE # 24 of 25

LEAF:

# 294

GOLD EDITION Parallel # 294

O-Pee-Chee:

The 1992 O-Pee-Chee baseball set was produced for the Canadian market and for the third consecutive year it was a full 792-card parallel of the Topps base set. This would be the final year of O-Pee-Chee's partnership with Topps as they would produce their own set (with its own unique design) the following year. For the first time since 1989, the fronts of each card have the O-Pee-Chee logo (as opposed to Topps). As usual, the reverse side is printed in French and English.

# 580 (Parallel of Topps # 580)

PINNACLE (Score):

1992 Pinnacle was the brand's inaugural issue and was Score's first attempt at a "premium" baseball card product.

Kirby Puckett was the official spokesman for the cards and appeared in a TV commercial for the set.

# 65

# 608 - Grips: Circle Change

TEAM 2000 # 32 of 80

SCORE:

This 90-card set was inserted at the rate of five-per Super pack. The first 45 cards are in Series One Super packs, while the last 45 are in Series Two Supers.

# 269

90's Impact Player # 77

STUDIO (Donruss):

# 15

TOPPS:

# 580

GOLD WINNER PARALLEL # 580

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB:

# 665

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB MEMBER'S ONLY:

# 6 - Installment-3 (Scoreboard)

TRIPLE PLAY (Donruss):

# 19

UPPER DECK:

# 353

1 9 9 3

BEN'S BAKERY:

1993 COLLECTOR'S EDITION DISC:

SUPER PITCHERS # 4 of 20 - Braves

CARDTOONS:

Cardtoons is a 95-card parody set intended for release in 1993, but not issued until over a year later. This completely unlicensed set uses cartoon caricatures on its fronts to parody then-active MLB players. The backs carry comical "career highlights" within silver-colored panels on the left sides and team logo caricatures on the right sides.

This product was the subject of a seven-year long court battle between the producers and the MLB Players Association -- a case eventually won by Cardtoons.

# 42

CARTWRIGHT'S:

Player's Choice # 3 of 9

CLASSIC TRADED:

# T58

DONRUSS:

# 93

# 608 (Series 2)

DONRUSS TRIPLE PLAY:

GALLERY OF STARS # 4 of 10

FLAIR:

# 7

# 298 (Checklist)

FLEER:

# 380 (Signed by Braves)

# 707 (League Leader)

ALL STARS # 10 of 12

FLEER ATLANTIC:

1993 Fleer Atlantic was a 25-card set released in the Summer of 1993. Similar to the 1992 Fleer Citgo-The Performer set, customers that purchased eight of more gallons of gasoline at any Atlantic filling station in the Greater New York City or Philadelphia areas could receive a pack of five cards from this set. Each pack contained four player cards and the checklist, and the promotion lasted from June 14th to July 25th, 1993.

The design was virtually identical to the '93 Fleer set, with the exception of gold borders (instead of the silver borders used in the Fleer base set) and an "Atlantic Collector's Edition" logo on the front.

# 13 of 25

FLEER - FINAL EDITION:

This 300-card set was Fleer's tenth (and largest) Update set that supplemented the '93 Fleer base set and was renamed "Final Edition" for this year.

# F-3

FLEER ULTRA:

# 307

ALL STAR # 9 of 20

AWARD WINNERS # 1 of 24 - Top Glove

AWARD WINNERS # 22 of 25 - NL Cy Young

LEAF:

# 326

O-PEE-CHEE:

# 135

O-PEE-CHEE PREMIER:

1993 O-Pee-Chee Premier is a 132-card set distributed exclusively to the Canadian market.

# 126

STAR PERFORMERS # 19

PINNACLE:

# 517

TEAM PINNACLE # 1 of 10 - with Mike Mussina (Orioles)

Pinnacle's flagship insert set continued in 1993 with an 11-card set that again utilized the illustrative work of sports artist Chris Greco, who depicted a star player for each position from both the National and American Leagues on a "dual-front" design. The first 10 cards were randomly inserted into Series ONE packs while card #11 was available through a mail-in redemption offer.

SCORE:

# 527 (All-Star Team)

# 576

SCORE SELECT:

1993 Score consists of 660 cards released in March 1993 - It was released to relatively very little fanfare as Pinnacle Brands

put most of their marketing budget behind their new SELECT brand - going as far as taking over Score's traditional December release date.

# 31

# 484 (Award Winner)

SELECT STAT LEADERS # 66 of 90 - Complete Games Leaders

SELECT STAT LEADERS # 78 of 90 - Strikeout Leaders

SELECT STAT LEADERS # 84 of 90 - ERA Leaders

SELECT STAT LEADERS # 88 of 90 - Wins Leaders

SCORE SELECT - ROOKIE TRADED:

# 123T

TOPPS:

# 183

# 409 (1992 All-Stars with Roger Clemens)

BLACK GOLD # 12

BLACK GOLD - Group A & B Winner Card

BLACK GOLD - Group B Winner Card

GOLD PARALLEL # 183

Hobbyists could obtain the set by collecting individual random insert cards or receive 11, 22, or 44 Black Gold cards by mail when they sent in special "You've Just Won" cards, which were randomly inserted in packs. Series One packs featured three different "You've Just Won" cards, entitling the holder to receive Group A (cards 1-11), Group B (cards 12-22), or Groups A and B (Cards 1-22). In a similar fashion, four "You've Just Won" cards were inserted in Series Two packs and entitled the holder to receive Group C (23-33), Group D (34-44), Groups C and D (23-44), or Groups A-D (1-44). By returning the "You've Just Won" card with $1.50 for postage and handling, the collector received not only the Black Gold cards won but also a special "You've Just Won" checklist card and a congratulatory letter informing the collector that his/her name has been entered into a drawing for one of 500 uncut sheets of all 44 Topps Black Gold cards in a leatherette frame.

The first 22 cards are National Leaguers while the second 22 cards are American Leaguers. Winner cards C and D were both originally produced erroneously and later corrected; the error versions show the players from Winner A and B on the respective fronts of Winner cards C and D. The winner cards were redeemable until January 31st, 1994.

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 2

# 665 (Series 3)

MASTER PHOTO REDEMPTION CARD

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB MEMBER'S ONLY:

# 7 (Installment-3)

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB - TEAM SETS:

1993 Stadium Club Team Sets were a series of sixteen different 30-card factory sealed team sets. Each set was distributed to Hobby and retail outlets, with the vast majority issued in each team's respective geographical region.

# 18

TOPPS TRADED:

# 54T

UPPER DECK:

# 488 (Award-1992 Cy Young)

# 535

UPPER DECK COLLECTOR'S CHOICE:

# 183

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 183

UPPER DECK SP:

# 59

U.S PLAYING CARD COMPANY:

Baseball Aces - King of Spades

1 9 9 4

BOWMAN:

# 245

DONRUSS:

# 380

SPECIAL EDITION PARALLEL # 100 of 100

For the first time ever, Donruss included a parallel set. Special Edition was a 100-card partial parallel featuring holographic gold foil on both sides of the card - over the nameplate and team logo on the front and on a Special Edition stamp on the back. The first 50 cards in the set paralleled cards 1-50 in Series One, while the second 50 cards paralleled cards 331-380 in Series Two.

DONRUSS TRIPLE PLAY:

# 46

MEDALISTS # 14 of 15 (Maddux with Jose Rijo/Reds & Bill Swift/Giants

This 15-card set features the three players that, in Donruss' opinion, are the three best players at each position.

FLAIR (Fleer):

# 130

FLEER:

# 365

AWARD WINNERS # 4 of 6

This 6-card set featured the winners of the MVP, Cy Young, and ROY Awards from both Leagues. Cards featured the same photo of the player presented in 3 different viewing perspectives.

LEAGUE LEADERS # 12 0f 12 (N.L. ERA Leader)

FLEER ULTRA:

# 446

ALL STAR # 20 of 20

AWARD WINNERS # 18 of 25 (Top Glove NL)

AWARD WINNERS # 23 of 25 (NL Cy Young)

STRIKEOUT KINGS # 3 of 5

KING B DISC - QUALITY MEAT SNACKS:

# 18 of 24

LEAF (Donruss):

# 94

STATISTICAL STANDOUTS # 5 of 10

LEAF LIMITED:

1994 Leaf Limited is a 160-card set, produced by Donruss, and sold exclusively to Hobby dealers. This set was Donruss' first attempt at a "super-premium" product and is printed on what Donruss called "Spectra Tech" (foil-board with holographic foil highlights) cardstock. Each individual 20-pack wax box is serial-numbered to 60,000.

The set is organized alphabetically within teams with AL preceding NL.

# 87

O-PEE-CHEE:

1994 O-Pee-Chee is a 270-card, bilingual, set released exclusively to the Canadian market. Only 2500 serial-numbered cases were produced. This would be O-Pee-Chee's final baseball card release as an independent company. The OPC name would later be purchased by Upper Deck, who would release an O-Pee-Chee baseball set in 2009. Meanwhile, this Maddux card was one of a 25-card set randomly inserted into packs. Packs NOT containing a card from one of the other three insert sets (which was most of them), were guaranteed to yield an All-Star. The backs of each card contain information on how to acquire a special foil-stamped jumbo version of the set. For only C$20 and any five standard-sized All-Stars, a collector would receive a full 25-card, 5" X 7", foil-stamped version of this set. Only 5000 serial-numbered foil-stamped jumbo sets were produced.

# 101

SPECIAL OFFER/REDEMPTION CARD (Not redeemed)

O-PEE-CHEE ALL-STARS REDEMPTION CARD # 22 of 25

PACIFIC:

# 15

PANINI STICKERS:

# 147

PINNACLE:

# 11

MUSEUM COLLECTION PARALLEL # 11

TRIBUTE # TR12

PINNACLE - NATURALS:

1994 Pinnacle Naturals is a 25-card boxed set printed with Pinnacle's "Dufex" process. 100,000 serial-numbered sets

were produced.

# 15 of 25

PINNACLE SELECT:

# 2

CROWN CONTENDERS # CC-2

SCORE:

# 524

# 634 (NL Cy Young Award)

SPORTFLICS 2000 (Pinnacle):

1994 Sportflics 2000 is a 193-card lenticular set released by Pinnacle Brands in April 1994. This was the first Sportflics set in

four years. Cards #176-#193 make up the STARFLICS subset and feature an All-Star-type team printed on 3D cards.

# 53

# 193 - Starflics

STUDIO (Donruss):

# 39

GOLD SERIES STARS # 8 of 10 - Numbered 3380/5000

This 10-card acetate set features all of the top stars and is limited (but not serial-numbered) to 10,000 copies.

A Gold parallel is also available, with each Gold Series Star serial-numbered to 5000.

TOMBSTONE PIZZA (Score):

1994 Tombstone Pizza is a 30-card food-issue produced by the Score/Pinnacle Brands. One card was inserted into specially marked Tombstone brand frozen pizzas. Factory sets were available via proof-of-purchase redemptions.

This set is not licensed by MLB Properties, and as such, all logos have been removed.

# 14 of 30

TOPPS:

# 499

GOLD PARALLEL # 392 with Jack McDowell/White Sox

TOPPS FINEST:

# 209

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 544

TOPPS - TRADED:

FINEST MVP'S # 1 of 8

UPPER DECK:

# 54

# 320

ELECTRIC DIAMOND PARALLEL # 320

UPPER DECK - COLLECTOR'S CHOICE:

# 183

UPPER DECK FUN PACKS:

# 131

# 184 (Stand Outs)

UPPER DECK SP:

# 54

1 9 9 5

BAZOOKA:

# 1

BECKETT BASEBALL MONTHLY MAGAZINE:

March '95 - Issue # 120 -

December '95 - Issue # 129 - Cy-Clone (4th straight Cy Young Award)

DENNY'S RESTAURANT:

1995 Denny's Holograms is a 28-card of holographic cards was produced by Upper Deck for Denny's and features a star player from each of the 28 Major League baseball teams. With each order of an "Classic Hits" entree and a non-alcoholic beverage, the customer received one hologram card in a blue poly pack. This would be the final year Upper Deck produced this set.

Also, guests at the restaurants could enter a sweepstakes drawing for a complete set of cards, to be given away by each participating restaurant at the end of the promotion after September 30.

# 14 of 28

DONRUSS:

# 331

PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE # 8

To preview the upcoming 1995 Donruss Baseball set, Donruss printed additional quantities of card numbers 5, 8, 20, 42, 55, 275, 331, and 340 and mailed them to dealers and Hobby media. Unfortunately, unlike other "promo" cards of the era, these cards are not marked and are exactly the same as any other base card.

# 331

MOUND MARVELS # One of Eight

FLEER:

All STARS # 9 of 25 w/Jimmy Key

AWARD WINNER # 4 of 6

DIAMOND TRIBUTES # 8 of 10

HEADLINER # 13 of 20

LEAGUE LEADER # 9 of 10 - NL Victories w/Ken Hill/Expos

PRO VISIONS # 4 of 6

FLEER - FLAIR:

1995 Flair (produced by Fleer) was a 432-card set that featured two series of 216 cards. All cards were horizontally oriented and featured a 100% etched foil surface containing two player photos. The backs featured a full-bleed photo with yearly statistics superimposed. The checklist was arranged alphabetically by league with the AL preceding the NL, as in previous years.

# 105

HOT NUMBERS # 6 of 10

FLEER/ SKYBOX - E-MOTION:

1995 Emotion was a 200-card set released by Fleer/Skybox in November 1995. The set was based on the popular basketball card set of the same name, released earlier in the year by Skybox, before it was acquired by Fleer later that year. Due to MLB licensing restrictions, Fleer/Skybox's name only appears in small fine print on the back of each card (base or insert).

This set was the genesis of Fleer/Skybox's high-end brand that evolved into the "E-X" brands that were produced until their bankruptcy in 2005 - Cards in this first-year brand had thick card stock with borderless fronts. On the front of each player card is an emotive word that reflected their nickname, acted as a description of that player's persona, or described the emotion that player was displaying in the photo. Like most Fleer products of the era, the checklist is arranged alphabetically by team with AL preceding NL.

# 106

MASTERS # 6 of 10

FLEER ULTRA:

# 129

ALL STAR # 12 of 20

AWARD WINNER # 18 of 25 - Top Glove

AWARD WINNER # 22 of 25 - NL Pitcher of the Year

GOLD MEDALLION PARALLEL # 129

GOLD MEDALLION PARALLEL - Award Winner/Top Glove # 18 of 25

LEAGUE LEADER # 8 of 10 - NL Winningest Pitcher

STRIKEOUT KING # 4 of 6

KRAFT SINGLES:

The 1995 Kraft Singles Superstars Pop-up Action set consists of 30 cards. One card was included in specially marked 12-ounce and 16-ounce packages of Kraft singles. The set could also be obtained through the mail by filling out the mail-in order form and sending in 36 Kraft Singles purchase points and $1.95 for each 15-card League set. The cards are arranged in alphabetical order within American (1-15) and National (16-30) Leagues.

This set is not licensed by Major League Baseball Properties, and as such, all trademarks and logos are airbrushed out.

SUPERSTARS # 25 of 30

LEAF:

# 6 (Checklist)

# 115

GREAT GLOVES # 11 of 16

LEAF LIMITED:

# 115

GOLD PARALLEL # 15 of 24

Gold is a 24-card partial-parallel that was inserted into each Series One pack. It should be noted that different photographs

were used in the gold set.

NATIONAL PACKTIME:

1995 National Packtime is an 18-card set jointly produced MLB, MLBPA, and the six licensed card companies from 1995 (Donruss, Fleer, Pacific, Pinnacle, Topps, and Upper Deck). The set was issued in large part to drum-up sales of the new 1995 baseball card sets after the devastating strike of 1994-95.

Each of the six companies produced three cards for the set, which was available only through a mail-in offer for 28 wrappers from any of the six companies listed above plus $2.00 for shipping and handling. All orders had to be postmarked by June 30, 1995; any card sets not purchased by that date were destroyed. Topps, Donruss, and Fleer all recycled designs from previous sets (1995 Topps, '95 Donruss, and '95 Ultra respectively).

The cards are numbered on the back "X of 18." An unnumbered offer card, with a checklist on its back, was found in various 1995 baseball products.

An additional second series of six National Packtime cards, known as the "Welcome to the Show" series, were distributed later in the year, in a similar fashion.

Leaf # 1 of 6 (Oddly, as far as I can tell, 1995 was the only year these were made...and yet, the number on my Maddux card clearly has "1 of 6"...while the description above plainly states each company only made 3 of the 18-card set - a smarter guy than me will have to explain this one...

PACIFIC PRISM:

# 4

PINNACLE:

# 244

MUSEUM COLLECTION PARALLEL # 244

TEAM PINNACLE # TP-1 with Mike Mussina (Dufex side)

This nine-card set, exclusive to Series One packs, utilized a reddish-orange and brown background and showcased Pinnacle's picks for the top players at each position with an American League player on the front and a National League player on the back. All cards were intentionally issued with two variations where one side of the card or the other had the Dufex finish - each card in the set had a version with the American League player side having the Dufex finish and a version with the National League player side having the Dufex finish. There is no version featuring a Dufex finish on both sides of the card, nor is there a "plain vanilla" version without Dufex.

PINNACLE SELECT:

# 21

PINNACLE SELECT CERTIFIED:

1995 Select Certified was a 135-card, "super-premium" set released exclusively to Hobby outlets in November 1995. Designed to compete with Topps' Finest brand, the cards were made with 24-point metallic stock and double laminated. This was the inaugural year of Pinnacle Brands' super-premium brand and the precursor to one of the most influential sets in baseball Hobby history - 1996 Select Certified.

# 59

PINNACLE SPORTFLICS:

# 45

DOUBLE TAKE # 12 (with Jimmy Key)

PINNACLE UC3:

1995 UC3 is a 147-card set released by Pinnacle Brands in the late summer of 1995. As the name suggests, the set uses lenticular printing to achieve a three-dimensional effect (You-See-Three). According to Pinnacle, this is the first set issued as an all-3D product, however the Kellogg's 3-D cards of the 70s and 80s (produced by Pinnacle's parent company Optigraphics) had beaten it by two decades. In addition, Topps released a similar product around the same time called D3.

# 61

# 129 (In-Depth)

PINNACLE ZENITH:

1995 Zenith Edition is a 150-card set released in August 1995. Zenith was Pinnacle Brands' first foray into a "super-premium" product to compete with Topps' Finest, Fleer's Flair, Donruss' Leaf Limited, and Upper Deck's SP. The cards are made of thick stock and borderless. The naming of the brand is conspicuously redundant as "pinnacle" and "zenith" are synonyms. The front design features an Egyptian pyramid apparently alluding to the Arabic word Zenith.

# 37

SCORE:

# 32

HALL OF GOLD # HG-18

SCORE SUMMIT EDITION:

# 30

# 189 (Special Delivery)

STUDIO (Donruss):

# 6

GOLD PARALLEL # 6 of 25

PLATINUM PARALLEL # 6 of 25

TOPPS:

# 295

# 392 (Topps All-Stars w/David Cone-Royals)

CYBERSTAT PARALLEL # 158 (the parallel of card # 295)

The 396-card (198 in each series) CyberStats insert set was issued one per pack and three per jumbo pack. The backs of each card contain computer simulated statistics had the 1994 MLB season not ended prematurely due to the strike. The photos on front are the same as the base set. The difference is that the photo is given a "Spectralite" metallic finish -- and in fact, Spectralite was the original name for this set, before Topps decided on the computer simulation gimmick.

LEAGUE LEADERS # LL24 of 25 - NL Strikeout Leader

TOPPS EMBOSSED:

# 109

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 40

# 425

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB - MEMBER'S ONLY:

1995 Stadium Club Members Only is a 50-card boxed set distributed to members of Topps' Stadium Club. Topps produced 50-card Members Only sets for each of the four major sports and with their membership, members received one set from the sports of their choice and had the option to purchase the other sets for $10.00 each. Player section was based on 1994 leaders from both leagues in various statistical categories. The last five cards (46-50) are the "Finest Rookie Picks" and represent Topps' selection of the top rookies of 1994. These are printed on Finest-style chromium stock.

This set is not to be confused with the '95 Stadium Club Members Only factory set.

# 30

UPPER DECK:

# 49

# 101 (90's mid-point analysis)

ELECTRIC DIAMOND # 49

PREDICTOR # H-27 - Award Winner Redeemed Card

SPECIAL EDITION - Checklist A: # 3 of 4 (cards 69-155)

SPECIAL EDITION - Checklist B: - # 5 of 5 (cards 376-450)

UPPER DECK COLLECTOR'S CHOICE:

# 63 (Best of the 90's)

# 67 (Leaders/Highlights)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 67 (Leaders/Highlights)

UPPER DECK COLLECTOR'S CHOICE - SPECIAL EDITION:

1995 Collector's Choice Special Edition (SE) is a 265-card, single-series, set released in December 1994. Originally, Upper Deck had planned on releasing two, 265-card, series of Collector's Choice for 1995. However, after the 1994-95 Player's Strike, Series One would be turned into a one-time 265-card set; while 1995 CC would be consolidated into a 530-card, single-series, release later in the year.

The design of SE is the same as the Collector's Choice set that would be released later in the year, however all SE cards have blue borders and an "SE" logo stamped in blue foil on the front.

# 60 (All-Star)

# 142 - Stat Leaders (ERA)

# 249 (Fantasy Team)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 60 (All-Star)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 142 (Stat Leaders (ERA)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 249 (Fantasy Team)

UPPER DECK SP:

# 31

1 9 9 6

BAZOOKA:

# 79

BOWMAN:

# 67

FOIL PARALLEL # 67

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 85

MIRROR IMAGE REFRACTOR # 9 - w/Jamey Wright, Mike Mussina, Bartolo Colon

CHRIS MARTIN ENTERPRISES:

Pro Magnet All-Stars

CIRCA (Fleer/Skybox):

# 105

CLASSIC - 7/11 PHONE CARDS:

These phone cards feature leading major league players and were available at all participating 7/11 stores for a cost of $5.99 and were good for 15 minutes of phone time. The cards expired on December 31, 1997. Cards which have been used have half the value of unused cards.

Collector's Series # 6 of 12

DENNY'S RESTAURANT (Pinnacle):

# 1 of 28

DONRUSS:

This was the final Donruss product released under the ownership of the Finnish conglomerate Huhtamäki Oy, as they sold the company to Pinnacle Brands in May of 1996. It was also the final year that famed artist Dick Perez would help produce the Diamond Kings insert set.

# 394

DIAMOND KINGS # DK 15 - Numbered 06016/10,000

This 31-card set again featured the top player from each team through a rendition by artist Dick Perez. This was the fifteenth and final year Perez produced the Diamond Kings insert as Pinnacle Brands, who bought Donruss in May of 1996, chose other artists in the following years. Further, this was also the final year that each MLB team was represented in the set.

Continuing the trend from previous years, the 1996 edition featured a new design with gold-marble borders and a black background supplementing the artistic player portrait.

PRESS PROOF Parallel # 394

All 550 base cards were available as a Press Proof parallel. Each card featured "PRESS PROOF" stamped in gold foil along the side of the card front and a gold-foil finish over the Donruss logo box. Each Press Proof is limited, but not serial-numbered to 2000 copies.

FLEER:

# 299

CHECKLIST # 4 of 10

ROAD WARRIORS # 3 of 10

SMOKE N HEAT # 6 of 10

TEAM LEADERS # 15 of 28

FLEER - EMOTION XL:

1996 Emotion-XL (stylized, "E-XL") was produced by Fleer/Skybox and was a 300-card set released in the summer of 1996.

The card design was complex and multi-layered, which became staple of this brand in subsequent years. Each card front featured a color action player photo on a color-themed background with either a blue, green, or maroon frame and the player's name and team printed in a foil-stamped medallion. Further, an emotive term was again featured on the card front, continuing the trend from 1995. The cards were numbered/grouped alphabetically by team with AL preceding NL.

# 146

D-FENSE # 6 0f 10

N-TENSE # 7 of 10

FLEER - FLAIR:

# 205

FLEER ULTRA:

# 160

# 585 (Ultra Stars)

CALL TO THE HALL # 5 of 10

CHECKLIST # 8 of 10

SEASON CROWNS # 5 of 10

FLEER UPDATE:

# U232

SOARING STAR # 6 of 10

SMOOTH LEATHER # 6 0f 10

KRSI COLLECTIBLES:

KRSI (Kelly Russell Studios Inc.) was a licensed manufacturer of high-quality lithographic prints for all professional sports leagues during the early 90's - At one time, KRSI owned the largest collection of sports art in the business. The company is no longer in business, and this product has not been produced in years.

ONE OF MY VERY FAVORITE FINDS WILL REQUIRE JOINING ME IN A WALK THROUGH THE TIME TUNNEL TO EXPLAIN...

1996 was a great year for Greg Maddux and our Braves, as Teri Lynn & I made several trips to Atlanta to watch the boys play.

Without internet here on Liberty Hill (that would come in 1998), and no clue about trading card sites back then, items such as this were unknown to us.

The steroid scandal would sour me on collecting - but the rising price of card boxes combined with financial downsizing as we retired in 2002, and I was an occasional collector at best. Finally, in 2012, I boxed up everything I owned, and stored it all away in a closet.

After Teri Lynn passed suddenly in 2019, I found myself with a LOT of empty time on my hands. One day, I began dusting off the old boxes I'd stored, ordered new (and old) product to fill in the empty spaces in my trade-boxes - and then one day ran across this treasure on an auction site. I was hesitant, yes, but it was if Teri's spirit was prompting me to buy this framed art and find a place of honor here in the office. I did, and it does.

GREG MADDUX - 11 x 14 LIMITED EDITION FRAMED LITHOGRAPH:

Numbered 1051 of 12,500

DESCRIPTION: This piece of baseball history is a limited-edition Kelly Russell Studios Lithograph - Officially licensed by MLB and The Curtis Management Group, this collectible features a reproduction of a painting of Greg Maddux by famed artist Dick Bobrick, and includes a fact-filled player/event description + trading card size photo - This beautiful litho is ndividually numbered, with a limited edition run of only 12,500...

LEAF:

Leaf was a 220-card set released in May, 1996. For the first time, Leaf was released as a single-series. The main selling point was the large number of serial-numbered inserts in this set, which was a point of focus and emphasize by card companies during this time period.

# 48 (Checklist with Randy Johnson on reverse)

# 192

HAT'S OFF # 8 of 8 - Numbered 3617/5000

This eight-card set was printed and embossed on a wool-like material with the feel of a Major League ball cap. Only 5000 serial-numbered copies of each card were produced and they were exclusive to retail packs only.

LEAF LIMITED:

# 10

LEAF PREFERRED:

# 12

PREFERRED STEEL # 58 of Seventy-Seven

Seeded at the rate of one-per-pack, these 77 "cards" set features player photos printed on steel plates. The Steel cards all have rounded corners (for obvious reasons) and have a peel-away coating on the front.

A Gold parallel was also inserted into packs at the rate of around one per box.

LEAF SIGNATURE SERIES:

One of the more significant products of the era, '96 Leaf Signature was the first product to include an autographed card in every pack. A limited number of Signature Series packs were sold to mass-market retail outlets in "Blaster"-style boxes.

'96 Leaf Signature was well received, but one criticism was the number of marginal players who signed for the product. With the exception of ten superstar players (who only signed an aggregate of 1000 cards), each player signed 5000 autographs. The "Extended Series," issued five months later, was intended to fix this. Production of the Extended Series was less than half of the original series and each pack contained two autographs with each 12-pack Hobby box yielding a "Hot Pack" containing four autographs. Again, each player signed 5000 autographs, with the exception of 31-star players who signed significantly less. Each 12-pack Hobby box was guaranteed to yield at least one short-printed star autograph. Extended Series packs had a selection of base cards from both series, making the Extended Series base cards very difficult to find.

# 3

LEAF STUDIOS (Donruss):

# 18

METAL UNIVERSE (Fleer/Skybox):

TITANIUM # 5 of 10

PACIFIC:

# 6

# 18

GOLD CROWN DIE CUTS # DC-28

HOMETOWN OF THE PLAYERS # HP-2

PACIFIC - PRISM:

# P6

GOLD Parallel # P6

PANINI STICKERS:

# 4

# 118

PINNACLE:

# 1

# 254 (Hardball Heroes)

# 397 (NL Checklist)

STARBURST Parallel # 1 of 100

PINNACLE AFICIONADO:

'96 Pinnacle Aficionado was a 200-card set released in August 1996. The set was produced for "fans with a passion for the game" and marketed as a "premium" release, but only lasted for a single year. All base cards featured a sepia-toned player photo, a wood grain-type background for the gold foil nameplate, and a player portrait that utilized what Pinnacle dubbed as "Heliogram" printing (spot holographic foil with black ink) on a 24-point thick cardstock. This thick card stock combined with the black finish on the card backs resulted in a very condition sensitive set. Further, all base cards except for the Global Reach subset, were printed in landscape orientation.

This was one of my favorite sets! They actually look like the players were etched on wood, yes, but packs were sold at our local drug store here in Liberty, Mississippi, which was a throwback to the old days when you could find Sportscards just about everywhere around the checkout aisle - in this small town, which we moved to in 1991, this was a rarity...and I probably bought 95% of the packs as we waited for prescriptions to be filled. They were trying to get the new generation of collector's interested in the hobby, but that failed, and they never stocked cards of any kind again. :-( No, wait - that's not true - they DID display some NHL Hockey cards...but those went over like a Chinese spy balloon here in the southlands.

# 22

# 199 (NL Checklist)

PINNACLE SELECT:

# 7

# 159 (Lineup Leaders)

# 198 (NL Checklist)

PINNACLE SELECT - CERTIFIED EDITION:

1996 Select Certified was a 144-card hobby-only set released by Pinnacle Brands in the summer of 1996. This set contained a staggering (for the time) six levels of parallels and was one of the first sets that allowed individual player collectors to "chase the rainbow" - Select Certified also redefined the standard for rarity for subsequent baseball card sets - up to the time this set was released, only a handful of inserts/parallels had either announced print runs or serial-numbering, which ranged from the high hundreds to high thousands. However, '96 Select Certified pushed the envelope by limiting the number of boxes distributed and drastically limiting the availability of all parallels, especially its Mirror parallels, which successfully contributed to establishment of the brand as a super-premium one, as intended a year prior. As a result, this set could be viewed as the impetus for the low serial numbering/print run craze that soon followed and harmoniously coincided with the "Insert Mania" wave of the mid-to-late 1990s that gave rise to cards numbered to ten, five, or one (e.g., Flair Masterpieces).

# 32

PINNACLE SPORTFLICS:

# 8

# 45

# 143 (NL Checklist)

PINNACLE SUMMIT:

# 91

# 199 (Common Card Checklist)

PINNACLE ZENITH:

Zenith is a 150-card "super-premium" set released by Pinnacle Brands in August, 1996. The set contains the subset: Honor Roll (131-150). In lieu of traditional statistics, the backs carry a hit location chart and player statistics.

# 3

# 134 (Honor Roll)

Z-TEAM # 5

Z-Team is an 18-card set printed on clear, micro-etched, acetate - The entire set was also available as promo cards. The promo cards, with have the word "SAMPLE" written diagonally on the front of the card, were given away to Pinnacle's dealer network, and to collectors on the Pinnacle Brands website. These cards were made available after the '96 Pinnacle Afficionado First Pitch Preview cards offer was exhausted.

SCORE:

# 194 (Radar Rating)

# 275 (Chase Program Checklist - 7 of 7)

# 275 (NL Checklist - 7 of 7)

# 276

TOPPS:

# 3 (Star Power)

# 318

CLASSIC CONFRONTATIONS # CC 15 of 15

This 15-card set was exclusive to special five-card Series One retail packs sold at exclusively at Wal-Mart.

PROFILES # NL-4

TOPPS CHROME:

MASTER OF THE GAME # MG19

MASTER OF THE GAME REFRACTOR # MG19

TOPPS FINEST:

1996 Finest is a 359-card set issued in two series of 191 cards and 168 cards respectively. A protective film, designed to keep the card from scratching and to maintain original gloss, covers the front.

One of the most bizarrely structured products ever released, '96 Finest provides collectors with the opportunity to complete a number of sets within the set, each with a different degree of insertion. In Series One the set is sub-divided into four distinct themes: Phenoms, Intimidators, Gamers and Sterling. Within these themes, the cards are fractured into three levels of scarcity: Common (bronze trim), Uncommon (silver) and Rare (gold). For the first series, the breakdown for the player selection of common, uncommon and rare cards is completely random. There are 110 common, 55 uncommon (1:4 packs) and 26 rare cards (1:24 packs). Each card is sequentially numbered twice: once by theme, and twice as part of the set as a whole. In addition to the cards' borders, each card will also have either "common," "uncommon", or "rare" written within the numbering box on the card backs to let collectors know which type of card they hold...

Series Two has another four themes also with common, uncommon and rare cards seeded at the same ratio. The four themes are: Franchise, Additions, Prodigies, and Sterling.

CONTOVERSY! As part of the sell sheet for 1996 Finest Series One, Topps claimed that no more than 150 copies of each Gold Refractor would be produced -- although the cards would NOT be serial-numbered. Dr. Joseph Sentef managed to collect over 220 of the Maddux refractors - often paying as much as $900 for each card. Sentef sued Topps in 2003 and settled out-of-court for an undisclosed figure.

FINEST INTIMIDATORS # 1 // Theme 136 (Silver/Uncommon)

There is 110 Bronze, 55 Silver (1:4), and 26 Gold (1:24) cards in Series One.
The set is divided into four subsets, each with their own unique design: Phenoms, Intimidators, Gamers and Sterling

FINEST FRANCHISES # 235 // Theme F24 (Silver/Uncommon)

TOPPS - GALLERY:

# 145 (The Masters)

TOPPS LASER:

1996 Topps Laser is a 128-card set released in two series of 64 cards. Every card features a unique design with portion of the card burned out with a laser.

# 121

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

EXTREME PLAYER WINNER - Gold # EW1

UPPER DECK:

# 10

# 379 (Best of a Generation)

# 422 (Strange but True)

DIAMOND DESTINY # DD 5

This 40-card set was randomly inserted into special "Upper Deck Tech" packs sold exclusively at Wal-Mart, at the rate of one-per-pack. Each Tech pack contained eight Upper Deck base cards and one Diamond Destiny insert. In addition, these cards are also available in silver and gold parallels.

GAME FACE # GF 10 of 10

This 10-card set was randomly inserted into specially marked 1996 Upper Deck and '96 Collector's Choice packs sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. Each Upper Deck pack had seven cards plus one Game Face, while Collector's Choice packs had 15 cards and one Game Face.

HOT COMMODITIES # HC 10 (Update Series)

V J LOVERO COLLECTION # VJ5

UPPER DECK COLLECTOR'S CHOICE:

# 8 (Stat Leaders with Randy Johnson)

# 40 (All-Star)

# 268 (Fantasy Team)

# 396 (Team Checklist)

# 709 (Award Winner - 1995 CY Young)

# 754 (Checklist)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 40 (All-Star)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 709 (Award Winner)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 754 (Checklist)

YOU MAKE THE PLAY INTERACTIVE CARDS:

One card from this 90-card set was inserted into each Series One pack. Forty-five players are featured on two different cards. The cards measure just about the standard-size but have rounded corners and were meant to be played as part of a game.

In addition to being inserted into packs, dealers also were offered extra You Make the Play cards depending on how many cases ordered. A dealer who ordered one case received two 12-card packs of these cards for a total of 24 cards. Meanwhile, a dealer who ordered two cases received six 12-card packs for a total of 72 cards.

Customers could also receive 12 of these cards by sending ten wrappers and $2 to an a mail-in order. This offer expired on May 15th, 1996 - All 90 cards are also available in a Gold Signature parallel.

# 22 - 1B (Single)

# 22A - Strikeout

UPPER DECK SP:

# 25

MARQUEE MATCHUPS # MM 10

UPPER DECK SPx:

1996 SPx ("SP to the X Degree") is a 60-card set. Sold in single-card packs, each "insert quality" card was printed on 32 pt. card stock with Holoview technology and a perimeter die-cut design.

# 1

1 9 9 7

BOWMAN:

# 256

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 40

CIRCA:

1997 Circa (produced by Fleer/Skybox) is a 400-card set released in May 1997. Billed as a set for the "serious" youth collector, the fronts feature new "in-your-face" graphics that lift the player off the card. The backs carry in-depth player statistics and "Did you know" information. Boss parallel cards also have a Super-Boss Parallel

# 337

# 400 (Checklist)

BOSS # 11 of 20

LIMITED ACCESS # 9 of 15 (Stat cruncher)

DONRUSS:

# 7

# 449 (Checklist)

GOLD PRESS PROOF Parallel # 449 (Checklist)

DONRUSS ELITE:

# 4

DONRUSS PREFERRED:

The 1997 Donruss Preferred set was issued in one series totaling 200 cards and distributed in five-card "tins" with a suggested retail of $4.99. The set features color player photos on an all-foil, micro-etched card stock. Similar to 1996 & 1997 Finest, the set is fractured into 100 Bronze, 60 Silver (1:3/packs), 30 Gold (1:12), and 10 Platinum (1:48) cards.

More than anything, the set is probably best remembered for its unique packaging. Each five-card pack was distributed in a collectible "tin" box.

# 196 (National Treasures - Bronze)

PLATINUM Parallel # 6

DONRUSS SIGNATURE SERIES:

# 8

DONRUSS STUDIOS:

# 88

PRESS PROOF - Gold Parallel # 88

Gold Press Proofs were limited to 500 copies - None are serial-numbered.

DONRUSS TEAM SETS:

1997 Donruss Team Sets is a 163-card set featuring up to 15 different players from 11 different teams. Similar to that of the '97 Score Regional Team sets, each team's cards were only available in their specific region. Unlike the Score set, all the team's cards are sequentially numbered as one large set. Cards #131 and #144 do not exist. The Angels and Indians packs were only available at their respective ballparks and remain tougher to find than the other nine teams.

Braves # 16

# 423 (King of the Hill)

DONRUSS (Update Series):

This was the first year the Donruss flagship brand was released under its new parent company, Pinnacle Brands...and their influence (especially in the Update Series) shows in the number of subsets -- many of which served little purpose other than an excuse to pack the Update Series with more star players.

DOMINATORS # 1 of 20

DONRUSS VxP 1.0:

1997 Donruss VxP 1.0 is a 50-card set released in the summer of 1997. Each 10-card pack came packaged with one of six CD-ROMs. When all six were CD-ROMs were collected and uploaded into a computer, a special screen saver with an interactive desktop game was unlocked.

I think it's odd that some card site writers found the Pinnacle Mint coins & the Pinnacle Inside cans "gimmicky" but didn't have much to say about this obvious wrap-around-the-computer-craze idea...but maybe it's just me - I found this boxed item (with Maddux on the cover) during a west coast trip to Oregon and have never taken the cello-wrapping off. It's a treasure!

# 4 (card I got in trade)

Boxed set (sealed) picturing Maddux, the CD Rom, + unopened pack.

FLAIR (Fleer):

1997 Flair Showcase (produced by Fleer) was a 540-card fractured set released that summer and consisted of 180 players on three different levels/"Rows", with each Row featuring a unique front design:

Row 2: "Style" design
Row 1: "Grace" design
Row 0: "Showcase" design

The Row 2 cards were easiest to find, while the Row 0 cards were the toughest.

Each "Row" was then sub-divided into three, 60-card sub-sections featuring a different card back icon:

Showtime: Baseball icon
Showstopper: Batter icon
Showpiece: Glove icon

Each of the 180 players in the set had one card in each of the three rows, with a specifically assigned card back icon per Row, meaning each player had 3 base cards total. The "Seat" number on back represented the card number in the set.

1997 Flair Showcase was most notable for introducing "Masterpieces", the first ever "true" one of one parallel.

# 44 - Row 0 - Style Front/Showpiece Back

# 44 - Row 1 - Grace Front/Showstopper Back

# 44 - Row 2 - Style Front/Showtime Back

FLEER:

# 263

# 707 (Encore)

# 722 (Checklist)

HEADLINERS # 11 of 20

SOARING STARS:

This 12-card set highlighted the top stars in the game on a "star" foil background and had three variations for each player:

Version 1: "Star" foil variation #1: Midnight blue background with a "star" foil finish - This is the most common.

Version 2: "Star" foil variation #2: Midnight blue background with a different "star" foil finish than Version 1.

Version 3: "Glowing" foil: Holographic, midnight blue background with no stars. Towards the end of the production run, Fleer ran out of the "starry" foil used on the regular Soaring Stars, and had to switch to a "glowing" (holographic foil). It is believed that 10%-20% of the total production run was printed on this "glowing" foil.

VERSION-1 # 8 of 12

VERSION-3 - Glowing # 8 0f 12

FLEER - MILLION DOLLAR MOMENTS:

Million Dollar Moments is a 50-card, cross-brand, insert set included in a variety of late-year 1997 and early-year 1998 baseball packs. These 50 cards have a mix of retired legends with contemporary stars, highlighting some of the key moments in baseball history. The first 45 cards in the set are, by far, the most common to find. Cards 46-50 are extremely short printed with each card being tougher to find than the next (It is believed that Fleer only produced a single copy of Joel Youngblood's card.). Prior to the July 31st, 1998, deadline, collectors could mail in their 45-card sets (plus $5.99 for postage and handling) and receive a complete 50-card exchange set - A grand prize of $1,000,000 cash (payable in an annuity of 20 annual $50,000 increments) was available for the one lucky collector that could obtain and redeem the complete 50-card set.

It is unclear if anyone ever claimed the million-dollar prize - that would have been pretty BIG news, but I've never found any kind of information on it.

# 44 of 50

FLEER/SKYBOX EX-2000:

E-X2000 was produced by Fleer/Skybox and was a 102-card set released in the summer of 1997. Continuing with the previous year's theme of depth, each base card was multi-layered: The card fronts (top layer) featured a colored holographic foil (blue, purple, red, or orange) that accented the player's team with a translucent acetate shadowbox (middle layer) in the center of the card that depicted the sky. The player action photo was layered on top of the acetate. The card backs (bottom layer) were a non-holographic mirror image of the card fronts.

# 57

HALL OR NOTHING # 12 of 20 (Copper)

This 20-card set highlighted players that were on a projected path to the Hall of Fame. Each card was die-cut, translucent, and had depth created through foil and design. Cards were die-cut to resemble an elaborate gate/archway into the Hall of Fame and player photos were layered on top of the acetate gate/archway entrance.

The foil was etched for detail; however, two colored foil versions exist: Copper and Gold. Fleer/Skybox provided no information about these two versions and two theories have emerged for explanation: that the Copper and Gold foiled cards were a result of a printing error or that one color was a stealth parallel variation that was never officially announced. Regardless of the theories, the Copper foil versions are more plentiful than the Gold and the common conclusion is that the Copper foil was the intended finish and the Gold foil was the variant (intentional or unintentional).

FLEER ULTRA:

# 157

CHECKLIST # 4 of 10

TOP-30 # 7 of 30

TOP-30 GOLD MEDALLION PARALLEL # 7 of 30

LEAF:

# 85

# 351 (Legacy)

# 372 (Gamers)

METAL UNIVERSE (Fleer/Skybox):

# 33

TITANIUM # 5 of 10

PACIFIC:

# 240

PACIFIC PRISM - INVINCIBLE:

# 82

PINNACLE:

# 189 (Clout)

STARBURST PARALLEL # 1 of 100

Starburst was a 200-card partial-parallel that replaced the "Museum Collection" parallel in name. 100 cards from both series were featured in the Starburst parallel set - each Starburst card utilized the same photo and design as the base set but featured a "Dufex" finish that emanated from the Pinnacle logo.

Cards in the Starburst set were sequentially numbered differently as Series One cards were sequentially numbered "X of 100", while Series Two cards were numbered "X of 200."

PINNACLE CERTIFIED:

Renamed from "Select Certified," 1997 Pinnacle Certified was a 150-card set released in the summer of 1997. This set was designed to continue to compete with Topps' Finest brand -- so much so that this year's iteration, like Finest, featured chromium-stock cards with a removable protective "peel". Pinnacle Certified was available exclusively in Hobby stores.

# 83

# 143 (Certified Stars)

PINNACLE INSIDE:

1997 Pinnacle Inside was a 150-card set that is best remembered for the way it was packaged and distributed, rather than for the actual cards in the set: each 10-card pack was housed inside a cellophane wrapper and placed inside one of 24 different collectible player soup cans and thus to open the actual "pack", collectors needed to use a can opener. Pinnacle-branded can openers were distributed to hobby dealers as part of a promotional display kit which also included a Ryan Klesko promo card and sign. 24 players in the set were featured on the soup cans, making the can itself a collectible item, opened or unopened. Because of this, player and set collectors commonly objected to the "cards in a can" concept due to the possibility that hard-to-find cards (e.g., the Diamond Edition parallel) could still be housed in unopened cans that other collectors bought for display only. This concept of distributing a base set through soup cans was the first of its kind (and imitated in the future) and was a gimmick Pinnacle Brands, Inc. used to market the product and distinguish it from other baseball card offerings on a Hobby shelf or retail store section. However, this marketing idea backfired as the presentation was large and took up space, which made the product difficult to display in card stores/shows or keep on retail store shelves. Personally, I LOVED the idea of the cans (cards, not so much), and traded 'em often with friends. I had one friend who found an entire case of these once and vowed to hold off on opening them...that lasted about six months before he broke out the can opener.

# 16

DUELING DUGOUTS # 15 of 20 (with Roger Clemens)

This 20-card set highlighted two-star players (one player on each side of the card) with a spinning wheel insert between the front and back of the card that could be turned to reveal comparative statistics of the two players - I love the card, but for years HATED the fact that Clemens was on it with Maddog.

PINNACLE MINT:

1997 Pinnacle Mint was a 30-card and 30-coin set that was Pinnacle Brands, Inc.'s first attempt to combine card collecting with numismatics. This concept was one of many innovations (some would say gimmicks) the company introduced The Hobby. But while Dufex technology, and press plates were well received, Mint was not. But again...I LIKED this "gimmick", even if the coins tend to age badly - Each base card had a sepia-toned background and color player photo in the foreground with a circular die-cut hole where the player's corresponding coin was meant to fit. The coins came packaged in a 2.5" X 3.5" plastic holder in packs.

# 11 of 30 (Base Card)

NICKEL-SILVER COIN # 30

PINNACLE - NEW PINNACLE:

New Pinnacle was a 200-card, single-series set released in June 1997. Rather than issue a second series of '97 Pinnacle, the parent company decided to release an entirely new set, complete with a new checklist, design, and inserts. Each base card featured a borderless color photo, gold foil accents, a team-colored nameplate, and a holographic window behind the nameplate. The product was not as well received as expected, the release was notable for making press plates available to the Hobby for the first time. Press plates were distributed through two different methods involving the New Pinnacle brand: in sealed cases and in packs.

MUSEUM Parallel # 3

PINNACLE XPRESS:

# 9

# 149 (Checklist)

PINNACLE SELECT:

1997 Select was a 200-card, two-series set: The "Lo-Series", released in April 1997, contained the first 150 cards in the set and 100 cards featured red foil accents while 50 cards featured blue foil accents. The 50 "Blue" base cards from the Lo-Series were short-printed and seeded at the rate of one-per-pack.

LO SERIES BLUE SP # 23

TOOLS OF THE TRADE # 2 of 25 w/Andy Pettitte/Yankees

PINNACLE ZENITH:

# 8

R&N CHINA COMPANY:

During the mid 1990’s, R&N China Company Inc. of Carrolton, Ohio (under the trademark names of "SPORTS NOSTALGIA", and "DUGOUT COLLECTIONS", issued a bunch of “reprints” or “parallel” versions of various Topps cards.

Some of the porcelain cards created were reprints – for example, they did a full run of all 26 of Nolan Ryan’s cards.

Teri Lynn was watching some home shopping network one night (remember those? Back when there were very few of them?). She figured this would make a cool Christmas gift - and she was RIGHT!

The box says "WORLD'S THNNEST PORCELAIN BASEBALL CARD".

1997 Topps # 130 - Numbered 64/500

SCORE:

# 215

# 520 (Rock and Fire)

ARTIST'S PROOF HOLO-WAVE PARALLEL # 215

The Artist Proofs come in two varieties: One featuring a holographic "wave" pattern, and another with a plain gold-foil stamp.

PREMIUM STOCK/HOBBY RESERVE PARALLEL # 215

Distributed exclusive to The Hobby, Premium Stock is an upgraded version of the Series One base set. The cards parallel the regular Score set except for a gray border, a card stock twice as thick as Score, and a prominent gold foil "Premium Stock" logo on front. The Series Two edition was dubbed "Hobby Reserve." Hobby Reserve was printed on a thinner card stock than the Premium Stock cards (but still thicker than regular Score) and had white borders. Each Hobby Reserve card was foil-stamped, differentiating them from the regular Score set.

SHOWCASE SERIES Parallel # 520 (Rock and Fire)

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED:

1997 Sports Illustrated is a 180-card set released by Fleer in the summer of '97. This would be the first set in a three-year partnership between SI and Fleer. The set features photographs taken from the archives of Sports Illustrated magazine.

# 75

# 173 (Classic Covers)

STARTING LINEUP:

This 12-inch figure features Greg winding up to paint the corner against some unsuspecting wannabe...

And I'll tell you, just like I repeatedly told my wife, Teri - This is NOT A DOLL!

TOPPS:

# 130

HOBBY MASTERS # HM-3

TOPPS CHROME:

# 49

TOPPS - GALLERY:

# 145 (The Masters)

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 198

TOPPS STARS:

# 17

UPPER DECK:

1997 Upper Deck is notable for having the first game-used cards in a mainstream baseball product. It should also be noted that the "Griffey's Hot List" subset in Series Two (#415-424) was short-printed -- one of the first instances of a set featuring cards that were intentionally SPed for the sole purpose of adding secondary market "value."

# 65 (Strike Force)

# 137 (Defensive Gems)

# 302

AUTOGRAPH CARD # 302

A surprise Christmas present from my wife, Teri - she loved "busting packs" almost as much as I did, and when she pulled this one, she was inspired by a story a fan told her during a trip to Atlanta to watch the Braves at Turner Field one year, sent the card to the Braves mailroom, and got the signed card back in time for Christmas. SURPRISE!

NOTE: Was it signed by Greg Maddux, or just some clubhouse flunky trying to help out? Don't know - don't care - Teri was trying to be the sweetheart she was, and I'll always cherish this gem.

HOT COMMODITIES # HC-19 of 20

PREDICTOR # P-3 (Unscratched)

STAR ATTRACTION # SA-18

This 20-card set was exclusive to specially marked six-card "Memorabilia Madness" packs -- which were sold only at mass-market retail outlets -- and seeded at the rate of one-per-pack. Cards 1-10 were exclusive to Upper Deck Memorabilia Madness packs, while 11-20 were in '97 Collector's Choice Memorabilia Madness packs. In addition to these cards, the Memorabilia Madness packs also included randomly seeded redemptions good for autographs & gold parallels was also randomly seeded.

UPPER DECK - COLLECTOR'S CHOICE:

# 5 (History in the Making)

# 266

ALL STAR CONNECTION # 36 of 45

MEMORABLE MOMENTS # B4 of 10

(These "B" cards were bronze and issued in CC Series-2 packs).

SUPER ACTION STICK-UMS # 23 of 30

THE BIG SHOW # 1 of 45

THE BIG SHOW - WORLD HEADQUARTERS EDITION PARALLEL # 1 of 45

TOAST OF THE TOWN # T3

UPPER DECK - COLLECTOR'S CHOICE TEAMS:

1997 Collector's Choice Team are a series of ten, 14-card, team sets. Unlike similar "team set" products released that year by Score and Donruss, the Collector's Choice cards were sold as sets. Each set was sold in a blister pack with 13 player cards and one team logo card - All cards are parallels of their respective '97 CC base card but are sequentially numbered differently.

Selectively marked sets also contained one card 3 1/2" X 5" from the '97 Upper Deck Home Team Heroes boxed set.

Braves # AB-12

UPPER DECK SP:

# 23

INSIDE INFO # 6

MARQUEE MATCHUPS # MM-13

UPPER DECK SPx:

1997 marked the second year Upper Deck issued their SPx brand - Before the product's release, UD announced that '97 SPx would be the last product to feature Holoviews.

# SPx-7

SILVER Parallel # SPx-7

UPPER DECK - UD3:

UD³ ("UD Cubed") is a 60-card premium set released in mid-April 1997. The base set is broken up into three distinct 20-card subsets: Homerun Heroes (1-20) featuring "Electric Wood" (holographic foil on wood-grain stock) technology, Pro-Motion (21-40) featuring "Light F/X" (etched-foil) technology and Future Impact (41-60) featuring "Cel Chrome" (plastic/metal stock) technology. Each three-card pack contained one card from each subset (unless replaced by an insert.)

Pro-Motion # 31

WHITE ROSE - 1997 BRAVES TEAM COLLECTIBLES:

From York, Pennsylvania, comes that year's Matchbox team vehicle (a gold Plymouth Prowler car!).

# MLB97 - 15 Braves

1 9 9 8

BOWMAN:

# 16

INTERNATIONAL PARALLEL # 16

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 60

BOWMAN CHROME:

# 16

INTERNATIONAL Parallel # 16

DONRUSS + DONRUSS UPDATE:

1998 Donruss was a 420-card set released in two series of 170 and 250 cards, respectively - its smallest base set of the decade. Sadly, this year's release was the final Donruss set issued in the 90s, ending an eighteen-year run dating back to 1981.

In July, two years after Donruss, Inc. (which included the Leaf brand) was purchased by Pinnacle - who filed for bankruptcy protection and was liquidated the following month. Playoff Corporation -- known for its football cards -- paid $9.6 million for all of Pinnacle's assets and subsequently entered a license agreement with Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) allowing them to sell a portion of the leftover baseball card inventory they inherited. This would include '98 Donruss Signature Series and '98 Leaf Rookies & Stars, which came out in December 1998 and January 1999, respectively. In 2001, Playoff (now renamed "Donruss-Playoff") was able to secure a permanent MLB license and the Donruss brand was revived in 2001.

# 35

# 161 (Fan Club)

# 380 (The Untouchables)

# 406 (Spirit of the Game)

DONRUSS ELITE SERIES # 15 OF 20 - NUMBERED 1620/2500

FAN CLUB FANTASY TEAM # 6 of 20 - 1st Team - Numbered 1588/2000

SILVER PRESS PROOF # 35 - 1 of 1500

SILVER PRESS PROOF # 406 (Spirit of the Game) - 1 of 1500

DONRUSS COLLECTIONS:

1998 Donruss Collections is a massive 750-card Topps Chrome-esque parallel brand that draws from four previously released sets: '98 Donruss Series 1 - '98 Leaf - '98 Donruss Elite - '98 Donruss Preferred. Like Topps/Bowman Chrome, all cards are printed on chromium stock and feature Refractor-like parallels.

# 161 (Fan Club Parallel)

DONRUSS ELITE:

# 5

# 122 (Generations)

DONRUSS PREFERRED:

1998 Donruss Preferred is a 200-card set that is probably best remembered for its packaging. Like the previous year's set, it is fractured into the following subsets: Similar to 1996 & 1997 Finest, the set is fractured into 100 "Grandstand" (steel), 40 "Mezzanine" (Bronze, 1:3/packs), 30 "Club Level" (silver, 1:12), 20 "Field Box" (Gold, 1:23) and 10 "Executive Suite" (platinum, 1:65) cards.

# 172 (Grandstand/Preferred Power)

DONRUSS STUDIOS:

# 199

CHECKLIST # 3 of 6 (Not actually numbered on card)

FLEER BRILLIANTS:

Fleer Brilliants was issued in June 1999, and was actually one of my favorite all-time sets.

# 95

FLEER - CIRCA THUNDER:

Circa Thunder is a 300-card set released by Fleer in the summer of 1998.

# 31

LIMITED ACCESS # 9 of 15-LA

FLEER/FLAIR:

OK - better buckle your seatbelt, 'cause this is one complicated set...

1998 Flair Showcase is a 480-card multi-tiered, multi-fractured set released by Fleer in July of that year that was similar in structure to the '97 product. Each of the 120 players in the set were featured in four different levels/"Rows", which each Row featuring a unique front design:

Row 3: "Flair" design
Row 2: "Style" design
Row 1: "Grace" design
Row 0: "Showcase" design

The Row 3 cards were easiest to find, while the Row 0 cards were the toughest.

Each "Row" was then sub-divided into four, 30-card sub-sections featuring a different card back design and banner:

Showtime: Team-colored headshot design, light-blue banner text
Showstopper: Torso picture design, golden-yellow banner text
Showdown: Torso picture and nameplate design, red banner text
Showpiece: Glowing, full-body picture design, white banner text

Each of the 120 players in the set had one card in each of the four rows, with a specifically assigned card back design per Row, meaning each player had 4 base cards total. The "Seat" number on back represented the card number in the set.

SHOWSTOPPER/STYLE: Sec 2 - Row 2 - Seat 13

SHOWTIME/FLAIR: Sec 2 - Row 3 - Seat 13

FLEER TRADITION:

1998 Fleer Tradition (the new name for Fleer's annual "flagship" baseball card product), was a 600-card set released in two series of 350 and 250 cards, respectively. This was the first time in five years, and only the second time ever, that Fleer/Fleer Tradition Baseball was released in multiple series.

The "Insert Mania" craze continued into 1998 and coincided with the Home Run Race of that summer, which brought the popularity of baseball to new highs and drove collector demand for baseball cards in general and specifically inserts and parallels.

# 31

# 49

# 305 (Smoke N Heat)

# 346 (Checklist)

# 589 (Unforgettable Moments)

DIAMOND STANDOUTS # 13 of 20 DS

VINTAGE '61 PARALLEL # 49

Vintage '63 was a 128-card, Hobby-exclusive, partial parallel spread across both series. Player photos were the same as the base set, but the cards utilized the design from the 1963 Fleer set.

FLEER ULTRA:

1998 Ultra is a 501-card set released over two series. This would be the first year Ultra had short-printed base set cards, and the third year Fleer printed the cards on 20 pt. card stock. The set contains the following short-printed subsets: Seasons Crowns (211-220), Prospects (221-245), Checklists (246-250 and 473-475), and Pizzazz (476-500)

# 122

# 484 - (Pizzazz) - SP

FALL CLASSICS # 8 of 15-FC

GOLD MEDALLION Parallel (SP) # 484 (Pizzazz)

LEAF - 50th ANNIVERSARY:

# 155 - Curtain Calls SX

STATE REPRESENTATIVES # 28 of 30 - Numbered 4852/5000

This 30-card set was printed on etched-foil and for each player, the card paid homage to the State that housed the team they played for. For the two Canadian teams, the cards are titled "Provincial Powers" and paid homage to the respective Provinces that housed the team they played for. Each card is serial-numbered to 5000 copies.

LEAF - ROOKIES & STARS:

Rookies & Stars is a 339-card set released in December 1998 by Playoff, Inc. This product was originally intended for release by Donruss in August 1998 under the name "Leaf Rookies & Chase," but was delayed by the bankruptcy of Donruss' parent company Pinnacle Brands. At the time of Pinnacle's bankruptcy, the structure of Leaf Rookies & Stars had mostly been laid out -- each pack was to contain either a short-printed base card or a serial-numbered insert. Football card manufacturer Playoff purchased what was left of Pinnacle Brands and negotiated with MLB Properties a temporary license that allowed the firm to distribute '98 Donruss Signature Series and 1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars.

Because of the novelty of being guaranteed pulling either a serial-numbered insert or a short-printed base card in every pack, Leaf Rookies & Stars was one of the more notable base brand issues of the late 1990's. The later than originally scheduled release allowed Playoff to tack-on 39 additional cards at the end of the set, including several rookies added to the 40-man roster at the end of the 1998 season.

The set contains the subsets: Power Tools (131-160), Team Lineup Cards (161-190), and Rookies (191-300). Cards 131-230 were short printed, being seeded at a rate of 1:2/packs. The 39 cards tacked on to the end of the set (301-339) were seeded at noticeably shorter rates (approximately 1:8/packs) than other subsets. Several key Rookie Cards including J.D. Drew and Troy Glaus appear within this run of "high series" cards -- as well as one of the few cards depicting future Hall of Famer Mike Piazza as a Florida Marlin.

It has been estimated that there are about 4500 copies of each "low number" short-print and 5500 copies of each "high number" SP. Though not confirmed by the manufacturer, it is believed that card #317 (Ryan Minor) was printed in a lesser amount than the other cards in the high series -- about 2000 copies.

EXTREME MEASURES # 8 of 10 - Numbered 711/1,000

This 10-card set is printed on foil board and serial-numbered to 1000. However, a parallel version was created whereby a specific amount of each card was die cut to a featured statistic. The result was varying print runs of the non-die cut cards.

GREAT AMERICAN HEROES # 5 of 20 - Numbered 1070/2500

METAL UNIVERSE (Fleer/Skybox):

# 133

TITANIUM # 12 of 15-T

PACIFIC:

# 241

PACIFIC AURORA:

# 108

PENNANT FEVER # 46

PENNANT FEVER RED # 46

PACIFIC CROWN ROYALE:

Crown Royale is a 144-card die-cut set released by Pacific in September 1998 exclusively to Hobby outlets.

All base cards (and most inserts) are die-cut.

CRAMER'S CHOICE PREMIUM # 7 of 10

This 10-card set features an all-star team selected by Pacific Trading Cards CEO Mike Cramer. Each card measures 5" X 7" and one card was seeded into each Hobby box as a box topper.

DIAMOND KNIGHTS # 3 of 25

PILLARS OF THE GAME # 4 of 25 (Cy Young Award Winners with Smoltz & Glavine)

PACIFIC INVINCIBLE:

1998 Pacific Invincible is a 150-card set -- and is the new name for what had been known as the "Prism" brand. Each base card has a transparent cel-window inlaid into the cards. Backs are printed in both English and Spanish.

# 80

# 122 (Gems of the Diamond)

SANDLOT HEROES # 3 (Action/Pitching)

SEISMIC FORCE # 3 A - Portrait

SEISMIC FORCE # 3 B - Action

NOTE: Like with the Sandlot Heroes, there are two versions of each player's Seismic Force insert card, a portrait and an action photo. Both are produced in equal quantities.

PACIFIC OMEGA:

# 23

PACIFIC PARAMOUNT:

1998 Paramount is a 250-card set released by Pacific in the early May 1998. This product was Pacific's first English language-only baseball card set and as such, is licensed only by the MLBPA. At the time, Pacific's license with MLB Properties only allowed them to produce cards in Spanish. Despite the lack of league licensing, Pacific didn't bother to airbrush or otherwise conceal any team logos.

# 133

FIELDER'S CHOICE # 2 of 20

SPECIAL DELIVERY # 2 of 20

PACIFIC REVOLUTION:

# 16

PINNACLE:

1998 Pinnacle was a 200-card set released in February 1998 and was the last offering of the flagship brand before the Donruss/Leaf/Pinnacle parent brand went bankrupt in July/August 1998. This final product offering marked the end of a 7-year run where the "premium" brand began in the early-1990s, peaked with collector popularity in the mid-1990s, and fell by the late-1990s. Responsible for some of the Hobby's most recognized card and card design innovations like pack-inserting Press Proofs and Dufex card technology respectively, the demise of the parent brand was viewed sadly by Hobby and is still fondly remembered today.

# 14 (All-Star)

PINNACLE INSIDE:

Pinnacle Inside was a 150-card set, released in July 1998 and was one of the last products the Donruss/Leaf/Pinnacle parent brand released before going bankrupt later that month. Once again, each 10-card pack was housed inside a cellophane wrapper and placed inside one of 23 different collectible player/team soup cans and thus to open the "pack", collectors needed to use a can opener.

20 players in the set and 3 teams (Arizona Diamondbacks, Florida Marlins, Tampa Bay Devil Rays) were featured on the soup cans, making the can itself a collectible item, opened or unopened. Because of this, player and set collectors commonly objected to the "cards in a can" concept due to the possibility that hard-to-find cards (e.g., the Diamond Edition parallel) could still be housed in unopened cans that other collectors bought for display only.

Pinnacle Brands, Inc. continued the cards in a can" for a second consecutive year to market the product and distinguish it from other baseball card offerings on a Hobby shelf or retail store section. However, this marketing idea fell flat again as the presentation was large and took up space, which made the product difficult to display in card stores/shows or keep on retail store shelves.

# 31

# 142 (Painting the Corner)

STAND-UP GUYS:

#12AB Randy Johnson / Greg Maddux / Hideo Nomo / Roger Clemens

This 50-card set featured some of the most respected players in the game on a unique card design: four different players were printed on half of the card front and card back (i.e., 2 players on front, 2 players on back) with a slit that was cut down the middle of the card; thus, each card could be matched to its pair to form a three-dimensional "stand up" card.

PINNACLE MINT:

Base # 12

NICKEL/SILVER # 12

PINNACLE PERFORMERS:

1998 Pinnacle Performers was a 150-card, single-series, entry-level set that was the re-branded, second iteration of the '97 Pinnacle Xpress product. Released in July 1998, this product was Pinnacle Brands' penultimate baseball card product that was officially released prior to their bankruptcy that same year. This set continued with the second iteration of the Swing for the Fences game/contest for collectors. Base cards featured a color player photo with a team-colored, off-set border background. There were two subsets and Checklists at the end of the set: Rookies and Far and Away.

# 5

# 142 (Far and Away)

PINNACLE PLUS:

1998 Pinnacle Plus was a 200-card, single-series set released in August 1998. This product was the last baseball card set officially released by Pinnacle Brands prior to their bankruptcy which happened a couple weeks later.

# 156

# 191 (Naturals)

PIECE OF THE GAME # 7 of 10

SCORE:

The original 1998 Score Baseball set was released in December 1997. Four months later, Pinnacle Brands re-released '98 Score under the "Score: All-Star Edition" banner. The base cards in All-Star Edition packs are identical to the cards in '98 Score packs -- the only difference is the new inserts.

# 9

# 265 (Interleague Moments)

ALL-SCORE TEAM # 19 of 20

SCORE - ROOKIE/TRADED:

# RT-4

COMPLETE PLAYERS # 6A (Approach)

This 30-card set features three photos of each of the ten listed players with full holographic foil stamping. Pinnacle had previously produced a batch of 30 Complete Players for the 1998 Score. The Rookie/Traded Complete Players have a 1998 copyright date, while the Score Complete Players have a 1997 copyright.

For collectors of Ken Griffey, Jr., it should be noted that Griffey appears on cards #1A, 1B, AND 1C in BOTH Complete Players series.

Samples of each of the 30 cards were distributed to Hobby dealers to promote the product. Each card has the word "SAMPLE" printed on the back.

SCORE - TEAM SETS:

1998 Score Team Sets are a series of eight, 15-card, sets distributed regionally to retail outlets.

# 2 of 15

SKYBOX DUGOUT ACCESS:

1998 Skybox Dugout Axcess is a 150-card set released by Fleer in the summer of '98. The product was intended for children and as such has numerous "kiddie" themed inserts and subsets. The product wasn't not particularly popular with either collectors or kids and was discontinued after only one year.

# 6

# 129 (7th Inning Sketch)

DISHWASHERS # D-1 of 10

SKYBOX E-X 2001:

# 3

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED (Fleer):

# 82

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED - THEN AND NOW (Fleer):

# 38 (A Place in History)

# 107 (Legends of Today)

GREAT SHOTS # 2 of 9

Inserted one in every pack, this 25-card set features SI photos on fold-out mini-posters. Each poster measures 5" X 7"

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED - WORLD SERIES FEVER (Fleer):

# 99

STARTING LINEUP:

Figurine & Cards made by Hasbro (1 Card featuring Iowa Cubs)

TOPPS:

# 296

MYSTERY FINEST BORDERED:

# M-12 of 20

This 20-card all-chromium stock set is exclusive to Series Two packs and is available in the following versions.

Bordered
Bordered Refractor
Borderless
Borderless Refractor

Unlike the Series One Mystery Finest cards, the back of the card clearly states which player will be on the front. The collector is required to peel off the opaque film that covers the front of the card to determine which version of the card they have received.

TOPPS CHROME:

MILESTONES #7

TOPPS FINEST:

1998 Finest is a 275-card set released in two series of 150 and 125 cards, respectively. Topps shed the fracturing scheme of the

past two years and went back to a simpler Finest base set. This would also be the last time all Finest base cards would be printed

in equal quantities.

# 16

TOPPS GALLERY:

# 60

PLAYERS PRIVATE ISSUE AUCTION CARD (75 Points)

Seeded at the rate of one-per-pack, Player's Private Issue Auction parallels the entire set. All 150 cards are available in four different "point values": 25, 50, 75, and 100 points. Collectors could then use their Auction cards to "bid" on one of ten different pieces of framed artwork (one for each of the following players: J. Gonzalez, M. McGwire, C. Ripken, Jr., M. Piazza, C. Jones, F. Thomas, D. Jeter, K. Griffey, Jr., A. Rodriguez and N. Garciaparra). Point totals were doubled, however, when the player featured on the Auction card was the same player actually being bid on.

The auction period ran from July 4th through October 16th, 1998. During that time period, collectors had to mail in their accumulated bid points and specify which of the ten pieces they were bidding upon. An "800" number was available for collectors to check upon the status of the current high bid, allowing them the opportunity to submit additional bid points prior to the October 16th closing date. Winners were notified 30 days after the closing date. Auction point cards were not returned.

TOPPS GOLD LABEL:

Gold Label is a 300-card, multi-fractured, multi-tiered, set released by Topps in October 1998.

Structured similarly to Fleer's Flair Showcase set, there are 100 players released on three different, repeating, levels, each with its own design: Class 1, Class 2, and Class 3. The Class 1 cards are the easiest to find, while the Class 3s the toughest.

To distinguish between the Classes, each Class 1 card has the player's name stamped in gold foil and has a fielding pose in the background. Class 2 shows the player running with sparkling silver foil. The Class 3 have sparkling gold foil with a hitting or pitching photograph.

# 2 - Class 1

# 2 - Class 2

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 116

TOPPS - SUPER CHROME:

1998 Topps Super Chrome is a 36-card over-sized partial-parallel of the '98 Topps Chrome set - which in turn was a parallel of the '98 Topps set. Each card measures 4 1/8" X 5 3/4".

# 19

UPPER DECK:

# 16 (Griffey's Hot List)

# 30 (All-Star Game)

# 147 (Define the Game)

# 602 (Eminent Prestige)

ALL-STAR CREDENTIALS:

# AS-22 of 30

This 30-card insert set features players who have the best chance of appearing in future All-Star games.

10TH ANNIVERSARY PREVIEW:

Randomly inserted in Series One packs, this 60-card set features a design similar to the inaugural 1989 Upper Deck series. The backs carry a photo of a previous Upper Deck card of that player. A 10th Anniversary Ballot was inserted into every fourth Series One pack which allowed the collector to vote for the players they wanted to see in a proposed 1999 Upper Deck tenth anniversary set. The set was canceled, and instead became an insert in '99 UD...

Upper Deck also released a "Preview Edition" factory set to selected retail outlets. The Preview Edition contained a complete set of all 60 10th Anniversary cards, as well as 200 randomly selected '97 Collector's Choice base cards and sold for $19.99.

The difference between the two sets are the words "PREVIEW EDITION" printed on the side of each card.

# 1 of 60

PRIME NINE:

# PN-56

# PN-57

# PN-58

# PN-59

UPPER DECK - COLLECTOR'S CHOICE:

# 305

STAR QUEST - SERIES 1:

# SQ-25 - Special Delivery (1-star)

Series One StarQuest inserts is a 90-card set fractured into four levels as follows: Special Delivery (1-star) - Students of the Game (2-stars) - Super Powers (3-stars) - Superstar Domain (4-stars)

Stat QUEST - SERIES 2:

# SQ13 - 1-star (Single)

For the second series, Upper Deck issued a second batch of StarQuest inserts. Like the Series One StarQuest's, there are four levels of scarcity; unlike the first series which was fractured, the four tiers are parallels of the same 30 cards. The tier is identified by the number of stars on the front of the card.

UPPER DECK RETRO:

1998 Upper Deck Retro is a 129-card set that was the company's first nostalgia-based card set. All packs were distributed, not in a traditional wax box, but in one of six collectible lunchboxes. All cards are printed on super-thick, un-coated 24-pt stock card and has a distinct "retro" feel.

# 9

UPPER DECK SP AUTHENTIC:

1998 SP Authentic is a 198-card set released by Upper Deck in the summer of 1998. The brand was renamed from "SP" due to the fact that, for the first time, each Hobby box yielded an authentic on-card autograph.

# 45

UPPER DECK SPECIAL F/X:

1998 Upper Deck Special F/X is a set that partially-parallels 150 cards from the 1998 Upper Deck set. Each card is printed on 20-point cardstock (about twice as thick as a standard Upper Deck card) with etched-foil card fronts.

# 8 (Parallel to UD-16)

UPPER DECK UD3:

1998 UD³ ("Upper Deck Cubed") consists of 270 cards. The set is structured similar to Flair Showcase with the same 90 cards repeated on three different cards, with three different designs, each produced in three different levels. This would be the second, and last, year for the UD³ brand. Like Flair...it was complicated.

The UD³ base set is fractured so that the same 90-card checklist is repeated across three "Technology" subsets: Light F/X (i.e., etched foil, cards #1-90), Embossed (cards #91-180), and Rainbow (cards #181-270). For example, card #1 in the Light F/X subset is also card #91 in the Embossed subset and #181 in Rainbow, and card #50 in Light F/X is cards #140 and #230 in Embossed and Rainbow, respectively. In addition, each 90-card subset is further subdivided into three 30-card subsets with their own unique designs that are also repeated in the three Technology subsets: Future Impact, Power Corps, and The Establishment.

Further confusingly, each card is sequentially numbered three times on the reverse: Technology, Set, and Subset.

The Establishment # EM-75 / Set # 165 / Subset # TE-25

The Establishment # FX-75 / Set # 75 / Subset # TE-15

WHITE ROSE - 1998 TEAM COLLECTIBLES:

Ford F-150 Braves Truck # MLBF98008W-15

1 9 9 9

BOWMAN:

# 10

International Parallel # 10

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 67

# 93 (Best Performers)

Mirror Image - Refractor # M5 w/Bruce Chen

BOWMAN CHROME:

# 10

International Parallel # 10

FLAIR SHOWCASE:

Showtime: Row-3 / Seat-31

FLEER - BRILLIANTS:

One of my favorite sets, 1999 Fleer Brilliants is a 175-card set issued in June 1999. The last fifty cards make-up a short-printed "Rookie" subset. Each card is printed on a 24-point styrene plastic stock and coated with "mirroring" mylar foil.

# 95

FLEER MYSTIQUE:

'99 Fleer Mystique was a 160-card set released exclusively to Hobby outlets in August 1999. Each four-card pack included one card covered on both sides with a blue, opaque, sticker which had to be peeled off to reveal what it was (hence the name "Mystique"). Peel off cards were either short-printed super stars from the basic set (#1-#100), a serial-numbered Prospect (#101-#150), a serial-numbered Super Star card (#151-#160), or a serial-numbered insert card. For obvious reasons, the Fresh Ink autographs and Feel the Game game-used cards are not covered.

Mystique is notable for it was the first baseball card set that combined an ample number of "true" rookie cards with the scarcity (by late-90s standards) serial-numbering. While other products of the era had short-printed base cards, many of these sets did not have SPed rookies -- or if they did, the "rookies" were often cards of players whose "true" RC was in a previous year's release. The concept of base sets with serial-numbered RCs would be a feature part of most early 2000s card sets.

# 81 (SP)

FLEER - SPORTS ILLUSTRATED:

Sports Illustrated is a 180-card set released by Fleer/Skybox in March 1999.

This would be the third and final year for this brand.

# 7 (Post Season Review)

# 16 (1998 Award Winners: ERA w/Roger Clemens

# 153

HEADLINERS # 19 of 25-HL

FLEER TRADITION:

# 49

Vintage '61 Parallel - # 49

FLEER ULTRA:

# 1

# 217 (Season Crowns) - SP

The Book On # 14 of 20 - BO

HASBRO/STARTING LINEUP FIGURE & CARD:

NNO

PACIFIC:

# 36

# 36 - Headshot Variation SP

DYNAGON DIAMOND # 11

PACIFIC AURORA:

# 20

PACIFIC CROWN:

# 28

PACIFIC CROWN ROYALE:

1999 Crown Royale is a 144-card, all-die-cut, set released in September 1999. 18 of the base cards are short printed.

# 16

Master Performers # 2 of 20

PACIFIC INVINCIBLE:

Pacific Invincible is a 150-card set. As with previous years, each base card has a translucent "window" embedded into the card.

# 17

SANDLOT HEROES:

There are two versions of each player's Sandlot Heroes insert card -- both are produced in equal quantities.

# 3 (Pitching)

SEISMIC FORCE:

Like with the Sandlot Heroes, there are two versions of each player's Seismic Force insert card, an portrait and an action photo. Both are produced in equal quantities.

# 3 (Headshot Pose)

# 3 (Pitching)

PACIFIC OMEGA:

# 26

PACIFIC PARAMOUNT:

# 28

COPPER PARALLEL # 28

FIELDER'S CHOICE # 2

PACIFIC SPORTSFEST PHILADELPHIA (Stamped # 28)

PACIFIC PRISM:

# 16

PACIFIC - PRIVATE STOCK:

1999 Private Stock is a 150-card set released by Pacific Trading Cards. All base cards were printed on thick 30-point cardstock and each pack contained one PS-206 mini parallel.

# 11

PLATINUM Parallel # 11 - Numbered 8/199

PACIFIC REVOLUTION:

# 15

SKYBOX EX CENTURY:

# 14

SKYBOX METAL UNIVERSE:

1999 Metal Universe was a 300-card set produced by Fleer/Skybox and released in January 1999. For the first time since the brand was introduced in '96, base card backgrounds were the same for every player and did not feature a space or fantasy comic book theme (Marvel Entertainment had put its Fleer/Skybox division on the market in late 1998, with the sale closing shortly after this product's release). Instead, card backgrounds all resembled a piece of sheet metal featuring the player's name. All cards are printed on embossed etched foil and were highly susceptible to chipping along the edges and were marked as "condition sensitive" by Beckett, just like the 1996-1998 sets.

In an effort to appeal to a non-traditional demographic, Fleer reoriented all their Skybox brands (E-X, Metal, Molten Metal, Skybox Premium, and Skybox Thunder) toward a younger audience. The language used on card backs has not aged well (pretty goofy, really). Also, for the first time since 1996, Alex Rodriguez was not the front man for the Metal Universe product - instead, highly touted prospect at the time, J.D. Drew held that honor for the 1999 set.

# 215

# 243 (Caught on the Fly)

# 291 (MLPD)

SKYBOX MOLTEN METAL:

# 136 (Supernatural)

XPLOSION METAL PARALLEL # 136

Xplosion is a full parallel of the base set printed on metal with rounded corners - similar to the Leaf Steel cards in '96 Leaf Preferred.

TITANIUM SUPERNATURAL FUSION # 36F - Numbered 19/50

Fusion is a laser-cut set that partially-parallels the base set's last 50 cards. Cards #1-30 parallel the Heavy Metal subset (cards #101-#130), while #31-#50 reprint the Supernatural subset. Like in the base set, the Supernatural cards are short-printed in comparison to the Heavy Metal cards.

Each card is also available in the following serial-numbered parallels.

Fusion Sterling (serial-numbered to 500 copies)
Fusion Titanium (serial-numbered to 50 copies)

SKYBOX PREMIUM:

# 140

# 284 (Spring Fling)

SKYBOX THUNDER:

# 274

TOPPS:

# 16

# 231 (League Leaders)

# 460 ('98 All-Topps Pitchers: Maddux/Clemens/Wood)

LORDS OF THE DIAMOND # LD-15

MVP PROMOTION CARD PARALLEL: Topps # 16

MVP is a 416-card partial-parallel to the regular Topps set - The front of the card features the same photo as the basic issue card but is adorned with a bold gold foil MVP Promotion logo. The back features contest guidelines for the Topps MVP Promotion. Note that some MVP Promotion cards did not feature the gold foil MVP Promotion stamp on the front - specifically, some of the Strikeout King and All-Star subsets and the S2 Draft Picks and Prospects subsets are missing the stamp.

Only 100 of each MVP Promotion card was produced.

OVERSIZED PARALLEL:

Inserted one per Home Team Advantage and one per Hobby box, these cards feature 16 of the leading players in an oversized parallel version. The photos are the same as the regular Topps cards - Cards were numbered with A and B prefixes to denote series one versus series two distribution as both series are sequentially numbered 1-8. Series Two cards are numbered "X of 8."

# 2 (Series 1)

PICTURE PERFECT # P-5

TOPPS CHROME:

# 16

# 231 (League Leaders)

FORTUNE 15 # FF-9

LORDS OF THE DIAMOND # LD-15

TOPPS FINEST:

# 100

# 120 - Gems (SP)

# 262 - Sterling (SP)

SPLIT SCREEN:

This 14-card set features two players paired together on the same card and printed using a "split Refractor" technology. On half the cards, the player on the left is refracting and the player on the right is not - the opposite for the other half. There are no "plain vanilla" non-refracting cards - In addition, there is also a "full Refractor" parallel.

# SS11 - REFRACTOR - with Tom Glavine (non-refractor)

# SS11 (Maddux non-refractor) - with Tom Glavine (REFRACTOR)

TOPPS GALLERY:

# 9

# 114 (SP)

TOPPS GOLD LABEL:

# 72 (Class-1)

TOPPS OPENING DAY:

# 11

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 100

NEVER COMPROMISE # NC-4

TRIUMVIRATE - Luminous # T11A

This 48-card set features photos printed on cards made to fit together to form eight different long cards. Cards T1-T8 were in Series One packs, while cards T9-T16 were Series Two.

Each card is available in three versions: Luminous - Luminescent - Illuminator

TOPPS STARS:

1999 Topps Stars is a 180-card set released exclusively to members of Topps' Home Team Advantage network. For the third consecutive year, Topps Stars was issued under a different format -- in the case of the '99 set, a series of progressively smaller and scarcer partial-parallels.

# 51 (Base)

# 51 (1-Star Silver)

# 51 - 1 Star Foil - Numbered 214/299

# 151 (Luminaries)

TOPPS STARS N STEEL:

1999 Topps Stars 'n Steel is a 44-card set printed on .25-gauge metal "cards."

# 38

UPPER DECK:

# 308 (All-Star Game)

10th ANNIVERSARY TEAM:

# X20 of 30

TEXTBOOK EXCELLENCE:

# T-2

VIEW TO A THRILL # V5 of 30

Each View to a Thrill is also available in the following parallels: Double (serial-numbered to 2000 copies) - Triple (serial-numbered to 100 copies) - Quadruple (serial-numbered to ten)

WONDER YEARS # WY-17 of 30

Each Wonder Years insert is also available in the following parallels - Double (serial-numbered to 2000 copies) - Triple (serial-numbered to 50 copies) - Home Run (one-of-one)

UPPER DECK - BLACK DIAMOND:

Each base card is available in one of three "Diamond" parallels: Double, Triple, and Quadruple. Each is serial numbered to the following production figures EXCEPT the cards of Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Mark McGwire.

Double (Red foil): short set, 3000; Debuts, 2500
Triple (Yellow foil): short set, 1500; Debuts, 1000
Quadruple (Green foil): short set, 150; Debuts, 100

# 9 (Base)

UPPER DECK CENTURY LEGENDS:

Century Legends is a skip-numbered 131-card set released in June 1999. One of the more popular and influential products of the era, Century Legends was one of the first products to combine current players with retired Hall of Famers.

# 39 (The Sporting News Top-50 Players of All Time)

# 58 (Top 50 Contemporaries)

UPPER DECK CHOICE (UDC) PREVIEW:

UD Choice Preview is a 55-card, skip-numbered, set. Released 2 months before '99 UD Choice, the sole difference between the two products is the word "PREVIEW" stamped onto the front of each card. There were no inserts, parallels, or other chase cards.

Preview # 56

UPPER DECK CHOICE (UDC):

Here's the set previewed above - a 155-card, single-series, set. Even though it is labeled as "Series One" on the packaging, this was the only series as Series Two was never released, as this would be the final Collector's Choice/UD Choice set released by Upper Deck as it was replaced by Upper Deck MVP as their low-price brand.

# 35 (Cover Glory)

# 56

BLOWUPS:

There are two separate ten-card 5" X 7" over-sized partial-parallels - the base parallel & the Cover Glory subset - each was available via a wrapper redemption offer.

PRIME CHOICE RESERVE # 10

OPENING SEASON SUPERSTARS # S-10

STARQUEST:

BLUE Parallel # SQ11 of 30 (1 Star)

GREEN Parallel # SQ11 of 30 (2 Stars)

RED Parallel # SQ11 of 30 (3 Stars)

UPPER DECK ENCORE:

# 7

UPPER DECK HOLOGrFX:

# 7

FUTURE FAME # F-5

STARVIEW # 6

UPPER DECK IONIX:

# 6

ATOMIC #

UPPER DECK MVP:

# 17

UPPER DECK OVATION:

Ovation is a 90-card set released in the late-Spring of 1999. The set consists of a 60-card short set designed to look and feel like a baseball - One of my favorite sets!

# 45

UPPER DECK POWERDECK:

Power Deck features both digital CD-ROMs as well as more standard "paper" cards. Each CD-ROM, which is die-cut to the size of a standard 2.5" X 3.5" trading card, has game clips, sounds, photos and career highlights of the featured players and can be played on almost any computer.

The checklist of CD-ROMs and paper cards (called "Auxiliary") are identical.

# AUX-8 (Card)

UPPER DECK RETRO:

Throwback Attack # T-7

UPPER DECK SP AUTHENTIC:

# 8

CHIROGRAPHY AUTOGRAPH # GM

UPPER DECK SPx:

# 17

UPPER DECK - ULTIMATE VICTORY:

Ultimate Victory was produced by Upper Deck and released exclusively to The Hobby in late 1999. Ultimate Victory was UD's first attempt at a Topps Chrome-like parallel brand - The base set is 180 cards, all based on the design of that year's Victory set. The first 120 cards make up the short-set, and there are two 30-card, short-printed subsets.

# 12

STAT[URE] # S-6

ULTIMATE COMPETITORS # U-4 of 12

UPPER DECK - VICTORY:

# 31

2 0 0 0

BOWMAN:

# 103

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 75

BOWMAN CHROME:

METEORIC RISE # MR-9 of 10

METEORIC RISE REFRACTOR # MR9 of 10

RETRO/FUTURE PARALLEL # 103

FLEER - FOCUS:

# 158

FLEER - GAMERS:

# 31

FLEER - IMPACT:

# 192

NNO - Braves Tattoos

FLEER - MYSTIQUE:

# 24

FLEER - SHOWCASE:

# 58

FLEER - TRADITION:

Fleer Tradition is a 450-card, single-series set, released in February 2000. Printed on a gray cardstock and a design reminiscent of the '54 Topps baseball set, 2000 Fleer Tradition ushered-in the wave of "Retro"-themed products like Topps Heritage and Allen & Ginter that drove the hobby in the 2000s.

# 16 (League Leaders)

# 57

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 230

DIAMOND MINE # 1 of 15-DM

MLB SHOWDOWN:

Released in April 2000 MLB Showdown is a collectible card game made by Wizards of the Coast. The game simulates authentic Major League Baseball play, with randomness via a 20-sided die, player cards and strategy cards.

The outcome of an at-bat largely depends on the player cards. The player whose pitcher is pitching that turn rolls a die to determine whether the batting player rolls on the pitcher's chart or the batter's chart. Each of the two charts has a list of possible results from the at-bat.

Cards from the first printing run are labeled 1st Edition, while cards from later print run are called "Unlimited" and do not have the 1st logo on the front.

# 41 (1st Edition)

# 41 (Not 1st Edition)

PACIFIC 2000:

Pacific is a 500-card set released in December 1999. The base set consists of 450 players and 50 "Variation" cards. Unlike "gimmick" cards of future years, the Variations were printed in about the same quantity as any other base card.

A set is considered complete with all 50 Variations.

# 42 (Action)

# 42 (Portrait)

PACIFIC AURORA:

# 14

PACIFIC CROWN COLLECTION:

# 25

PACIFIC CROWN ROYALE:

# 16

FEATURE ATTRACTIONS # 5 of 25

PACIFIC OMEGA:

# 15

NL CONTENDERS # 3

PACIFIC PARAMOUNT:

# 24

PACIFIC PRISM:

# 14

PACIFIC PRIVATE STOCK:

# 12

PS-2000 Mini # 2

Each pack contained two PS-2000 cards. PS-2000s are mini-sized and are made to look like a tobacco-era trading card.

PACIFIC REVOLUTION:

# 16

MLB GAME BALL SIGNATURES - Leather # 2 of 25

SEASON OPENER # 5 of 36

SHADOW SERIES PARALLEL # 16 - Numbered 40/99

PACIFIC VANGUARD:

Vanguard is a 100-card set released by Pacific Trading Cards in May, 2000. This would be the only Vanguard set produced as Pacific would surrender their licenses at the end of the year.

# 56

GAME WORN JERSEY # 2

SKYBOX:

# 17

SKYBOX DOMINION:

# 141

DOUBLE PLAY # 6 of 10-DP (with Roger Clemens)

Each Double Play is also available in a "Plus" and "Warp Tek" parallel.

EYE ON OCTOBER # 7 of 15-EO

SKYBOX E-X:

# 16

SKYBOX- METAL:

Metal (the "Universe" moniker was dropped due to the re-branding effort that started with the '99 product), was a 250-card single-series set produced by Fleer/Skybox and released in March 2000. Notably, this was the final year for the Metal brand in baseball as Fleer discontinued the Skybox brand name.

# 105

TOPPS:

# 425

TOPPS CHROME:

# 425

ALL TOPPS # AT1 - All Topps NL Team

COMBOS REFRACTOR # TC2 - Batter Bafflers: Glavine / Smoltz / Maddux / Millwood

TOPPS FINEST:

# 64

TOPPS GALLERY:

# 84

# 105 (Master of the Game)

TOPPS GOLD LABEL:

Class-1 # 2

Class-2 # 2

Class-3 # 2

TOPPS - HD:

HD is a 100-card set released in January 2000. Each card is printed on 50-point thick plastic stock.

# 58

TOPPS OPENING DAY:

# 120

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 150

CAPTURE THE ACTION # CA-5

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB CHROME:

# 150

TOPPS STARS:

# 25

# 165 (Spotlights)

UPPER DECK:

Dubbed by some as "The Blue Monster," Upper Deck Series One was released in December 1999, while the second series (known officially as "Series Two: Jersey Edition") was released in July 2000.

# 44

FACES OF THE GAME # F-13

UPPER DECK - BLACK DIAMOND:

# 9

# 61 - This card was assigned to Eric Chavez of the A's - And yet. it has Maddux on the front...an exact parallel of his # 9 card in this set - but Chavez & his stats on the reverse. Can you say ERROR CARD?

UPPER DECK - BLACK DIAMOND ROOKIE EDITION:

Rookie Edition is a 154-card set released exclusively to Hobby outlets by Upper Deck in December 2000 -- almost a full year after 2000 Black Diamond -and would be the final Black Diamond baseball set.

# 46

UPPER DECK - GOLD RESERVE:

Gold Reserve is a 300-card parallel brand released exclusively to mass-market retail outlets in August 2000 - It was the one and only baseball set EVER that actually had real gold flakes embedded in each & every card, making even the base set extremely valuable!

Nope - not really - as the name suggests, the design is almost identical to that of the Upper Deck cards...but with gold borders.

# 133

UPPER DECK - HOLOGRFX:

# 14

UPPER DECK - IONIX:

# 12

ATOMIC # A-5

BIORHYTHM # B-12

UPPER DECK - LEGENDS:

2000 Upper Deck Legends is a 135-card set released in August 2000. The sequel to the previous year's well-received Century Legends, the base set features 90 retired players, 15 short-printed Y2K cards and 30 SPed Century Legends.

# 10

# 122 (SP) - 20th Century Legends (30 cards in this subset)

UPPER DECK - MVP:

# 27

UPPER DECK - OVATION:

# 9

UPPER DECK - PROS AND PROSPECTS:

# 51 (Short set)

THE BEST IN THE BIGS # B-9

UPPER DECK - SP AUTHENTIC:

# 46

UPPER DECK - SPx:

# 12

UPPER DECK - ULTIMATE VICTORY:

# 47

UPPER DECK - VICTORY:

# 49

# 59 (Stat Leaders)

2 0 0 1

BOWMAN:

# 16

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 60 (All base cards are Refractors)

BOWMAN - CHROME:

# 13

BOWMAN - HERITAGE:

2001 Bowman Heritage is a 440-card set released by Topps in late 2001. It was the premiere edition of the Bowman Heritage brand and would become part of Topps' annual product line until 2007.

# 12

BRYAN MEATS COLLECTOR'S CARDS:

NNO

DONRUSS:

WHY DO I ADD THESE NOTES?

For 2 reasons, actually - # 1 is that some might find them helpful (as I do), and # 2 is that every now & then you come across an interesting story about how a card came to be...as in the case of Donruss 2001.

It's a 220-card set released in May of 2001 - and was the first "Donruss" branded card set since their previous owner, Pinnacle Brands went bankrupt in the Summer of 1998, and the first product released by Playoff since acquiring an MLB/MLBPA license in February 2001 - It's important to note that Playoff only began discussing changing their name to Playoff-Donruss, or Donruss-Playoff in August 2001. This legally did not occur until October 2001 as Donruss-Playoff was chosen by the then owner of Playoff.

In 1998 Pinnacle Brands, the owner of the Donruss and Leaf brand names, filed for bankruptcy protection and went out of business. It appeared that after an eighteen-year run Donruss' flagship baseball set would come to an end. But then an unlikely savior appeared in the form of football card manufacturer Playoff, who purchased what was left of Pinnacle through a bankruptcy court. Almost as soon as they bought Pinnacle, speculation immediately began as to Playoff's baseball card intentions. Although Playoff was given a temporary license in 1998 -- so that the 1998 Donruss Signature set could be released -- it appeared that Playoff's efforts to get into the baseball card business may not bear fruit.

Shortly after Pacific had its MLB Player's Association license revoked in November 2000 (partially due to the Manny Ramirez corked bat card incident and mostly due to making fake game-used cards in 2001 Private Stock Baseball) rumors of Playoff finally getting the licenses it had long coveted began to fly again. Those rumors came to fruition in February 2001 it was announced that Playoff -- had at last received permission to produce Major League Baseball cards. They quickly announced that their first baseball card set (2001 Donruss) would be released that April.

With nearly three years of pent-up demand -- not to mention the novelty of it being the first completely original baseball card product from Playoff -- loyal Donruss collectors immediately began to place pre-sell orders with their local hobby dealers. (Many of those same dealers were disappointed to find out that they would be limited to only one six-box hobby case.) In early April 2001 Donruss Baseball went live. The result: a big "thud", but only to dealers. Collectors were having a field day with the Retail release as the 2000 Retro (pack in a pack) 90-card sets were selling easily for $100.00 a set on eBay making all the other cards pulled in the retail boxes they were buying free!

In their haste to produce their first real baseball card product, Playoff essentially recycled the same formula that had successfully worked for them in football cards. In fact, the parallels between the 2001 Donruss Baseball and 2000 Donruss Football sets are uncanny to say the least. Both sets have roughly the same number of cards (220 in baseball versus 250 in football), and both had an MSRP of $1.99/pack. However, both products relied heavily on a gimmick that was becoming commonplace in football cards, but had never, ever, before appeared in a base level baseball brand. 2001 Donruss was the first entry level baseball trading card product to feature short-printed and serial-numbered rookie cards. While short-printing may have appealed to the football card audience, unfortunately, by limiting the production of each "Rated Rookie" to only 2001 copies (not including the Albert Pujols and Ben Sheets exchange cards -- each limited to 500), D-P made the decision, whether they knew it or not (and they probably didn't) to abandon the one segment of the market that traditionally purchases base level baseball card products. The segment that had been the cornerstone of the Donruss brand since 1981: Set builders.

In retrospect, some felt Playoff screwed up the comeback edition of Donruss baseball. As a result, many long-time Donruss baseball collectors, simply gave up on Donruss Baseball. But it opened up a far greater mass of collectors who finally found a product that favored collectors far more than dealers. Even though Ichiro and Pujols RCs were very rarely pulled from Retail boxes, collectors were still loving these retail boxes. This caused dealers to start emptying retail store shelves of 2001 Donruss Retail! What Playoff failed to realize, and never really quite understood, was that football card collectors and baseball card collectors are two completely different breeds of hobbyist. What works in football, may not (and usually does not) necessarily work in baseball. For instance, 70-100 rookies in a football product worked, this failed miserably in baseball and Playoff ignored this no matter how many collectors complained.

# 8 (Short Set)

# 208 - Fan Club Subset

Each Fan Club subset card was seeded into packs at the rate of 1:24. Although not serial-numbered, it is believed that 5000 copies of each were produced.

"1999" Retroactive Short Set # 20

"2000" Retroactive Short Set # 21

"2000" Retroactive Diamond Kings # DK-2 of 5 - Numbered 1136/2500

The "1999" Retro actives were inserted into hobby packs and the "2000s" in retail. Both sets are 100 cards with eighty veterans and 20 serial-numbered "Rated Rookies." In addition, there are a slew of Stat Line parallels, and five additional Diamond King Inserts. Unfortunately, rather than simply including it with the other 2001 cards, the Retroactive card was wrapped separately in its own one-card "pack." These single-card packs were extremely difficult to open, and as a result, many of the Retro actives were damaged coming out of the pack.

Here's another interesting tidbit - for me, at least - every card released on my boy Greg is numbered "8".

DONRUSS - CLASS OF 2001:

# 44

Diamond Aces Jersey # A4 - Numbered 493/750

DONRUSS - CLASSICS:

# 8

DONRUSS - ELITE:

# 8

DONRUSS -SIGNATURE SERIES:

# 8

DONRUSS - STUDIO:

2001 Studio is a 200-card set released by Donruss-Playoff. This was the first Studio set after a two-year absence due to the bankruptcy of the line's previous owner Pinnacle Brands. While the design of the set was in the spirit of 1990s Studio, the $10/pack price tag and the extreme difficulty of collecting a set saddled with 50 "gimmicked" rookies led many collectors to take a pass on this product.

# 8

FLEER AUTHORITY:

# 89

FLEER - FOCUS:

# 47

FLEER - FUTURES:

# 105

FLEER - GAME TIME:

# 31

FLEER - GENUINE:

# 95

MATERIAL ISSUE - Game Uniform - NNO

FLEER - LEGACY:

# 13

FLEER - PLATINUM:

2001 Fleer Platinum is a 601-card set produced and distributed by Fleer, as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the '81 Fleer set. The first series of 301 cards was released in May 2001 and was originally intended to be the sole series. But after the set was so successful, a second series of 300 cards, officially known as "2001 Fleer Platinum Rookie Collection" was quickly produced and released in December.

# 103

# 411 (Platinum RC - Chart Toppers)

FLEER - PREMIUM:

# 126

FLEER - SHOWCASE:

# 58

FLEER/SKYBOX - EX:

# 33

FLEER - TRADITION:

# 210

# 403 (League Leaders)

# 421 (Braves Team Leaders)

FLEER - TRIPLE CROWN:

# 158

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 22

GOLD MEDALLION Parallel # 22-G

LEAF - CERTIFIED MATERIALS:

# 8

LEAF - LIMITED:

# 94

LEAF - ROOKIES AND STARS (Donruss):

A number of these cards had uncorrected errors, where the statistical header on the back of the card was swapped between pitchers and hitters. Did you know that Greg Maddux hit 200 doubles in 2000? The boy was on a ROLL!

# 89 (UER)

MLB SHOWDOWN:

# 42 of 462 (Not 1st Edition)

PACIFIC:

A 500-card set released in December 2000. This was the final Pacific Baseball set, and penultimate baseball card product from Pacific Trading Cards as they chose not to renew their MLB Properties license for 2001.

# 41

PACIFIC - PRIVATE STOCK:

2001 Private Stock is a 150-card product released by Pacific Trading Cards in late December, 2000. Cards 126-150 focused on prospects and were seeded at a rate of 1:4 hobby packs.

This product is notable for 2 reasons: The Hobby version was the first product to offer a game-used card in every pack, and

this was Pacific's final MLB licensed baseball product issued as they decided to not renew their baseball license as of

January 1st, 2001.

# 14

GAME GEAR (Bat) # 29

PLAYOFF ABSOLUTE MEMORABILIA:

# 8

TOPPS:

2001 marked Topps' 50th Anniversary in the baseball card business and Topps went all out to celebrate by bringing back Manager cards, dual-player prospect cards, and the 2000 season highlight cards.

# 660

GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY # GA-15 (Gold Nuggets)

THROUGH THE YEARS Reprint # 48 of 50 (1996 Topps card # 318)

TOPPS NOTEWORTHY # TN-17

TOPPS - CHROME:

# 374

PAST TO PRESENT # PTP-2 (with Warren Spahn)

TOPPS - FINEST:

# 16

TOPPS - FUSION:

A 250-card set released in March 2001, the product attempted to fuse five of Topps' brand names (Bowman's Best, Finest, Gold Label, Stadium Club, and Gallery) all into one product - Card numbers ending in a 1 or 6 are done in the style of Bowman's Best (refractive chromium stock); 2 and 7 Finest (etched chromium stock); 3 and 8 Topps Gallery (canvas); 4 and 9 Gold Label (thick plastic stock with holographic foil); and 5 and 0 Stadium Club (high-glossy and full bleed).

# 82 (Finest card)

# 86 (Bowman's Best card)

# 103 (Gallery card)

TOPPS - GALLERY:

# 42

TOPPS - GOLD LABEL:

# 38 - Class 1

# 38 - Class 3

GOLD PARALLEL # 38 - Class 1 - Numbered 788/999

MLB Awards Ceremony Relic # GLR-GM (Jersey)

TOPPS - HD:

# 50

# 103 SP (20-Card Superstars of the Game Subset)

TOPPS - HERITAGE:

A 407-card set released right before spring training in February 2001, and considered one of the landmark products of the 2000s for its model configuration, "throwback" design, and legendary autograph lineup. In 2009, 2001 Topps Heritage Baseball was awarded "Product of the Decade" by Beckett Baseball.

Produced to celebrate Topps' 50th anniversary in the baseball card business, the base set had the same look and feel as the legendary 1952 Topps set. (Topps opted make all cards in the modern 2 1/2" X 3 1/2" format, and not in the 2 5/8" X 3 3/4" dimensions of the real '52 Topps.) Most of the photographs on the cards were purposefully blurred to give them an early-50s look - Just like '52 Topps, the 80 lower numbered cards and the 97 higher numbered cards, were short-printed -- but unlike '52 Topps, '01 Topps Heritage was released in a single series. In a nod to history, then Yankee prospect David Parrish's card all but mirrored the picture used on Mickey Mantle's '52 Topps card.

Topps went beyond the call of duty on this set by inserting redemption cards for every original 1952 Topps card including the famed Mickey Mantle. There were also redemptions featuring replica hats. To top things off, 25 original Willie Mays '52 Topps cards were bought, autographed by Willie and randomly inserted as box toppers. A 110-card, serial-numbered, Chrome partial-parallel set was inserted at the rate of one per box and is very popular among Master set builders today, as are the autographs.

The Legacy of 2001 Topps Heritage: The lasting legacy of 2001 Topps Heritage Baseball cannot be stressed enough. At the turn of the century, set collecting, for decades the traditional way cards were collected, was on the decline. Much of the products produced in the years preceding featured scores of intentionally short-printed base cards that were either too hard to pull out of packs or produced in such low quantities that even attempting to build a complete set was an exercise in futility. With Heritage, Topps found the right combination in making a product that, while challenging to collect, was still realistic for the average collector to put a full set together.

# 49 (SP)

# 49 - BLACK-BACK Parallel SP

NEW AGE PERFORMER # NAP-15

TOPPS - OPENING DAY:

# 108

TOPPS - RESERVE:

# 83

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB:

# 72

TOPPS - STARS:

# 60

TOPPS - TRADED AND ROOKIES:

Through the Years - T123 Reprint # 24 of 45 - 1987 # 70T

Through the Years - Chrome T123 Reprint # 24 of 45 - 1987 # 70-T

UPPER DECK:

# 156

BIG LEAGUE BEAT # BB-19

MID-SEASON SUPERSTAR SUMMITT # MS-6

THE FRANCHISE # F-6

UPPER DECK - EVOLUTION:

Evolution is a one-off, 120-card set released in October 2001 - The product was intended to show off the upperdeckdigital.com website, and features inserts that can "evolve" into game-used cards when a code is entered. This was not received well by collections and the upperdeckdigital.com website went dark a year later. Oops!

# 45

UPPER DECK - GOLD GLOVE:

# 46

GOLD GLOVE GAME JERSEY # GG-GM

UPPER DECK - LEGENDS:

# 49

LEGENDARY GAME JERSEY # J-GM

UPPER DECK - MVP:

# 165

UPPER DECK - OVATION:

# 31

A PIECE OF HISTORY # GM - GAME USED BAT

UPPER DECK - PROS AND PROSPECTS:

# 46

Game-Used Dual Bats # PP-MJ (with Randy Johnson)

UPPER DECK - UD RESERVE:

# 91

UPPER DECK - SP AUTHENTIC:

# 44

UPPER DECK SP - GAME BAT EDITION:

2001 SP Game Bat Edition is a 90-card set released by Upper Deck in December, 2000. Each four-card pack contained one game-used bat card -- a novelty for the time.

Piece of the Game Bat # GM

UPPER DECK SP - GAME BAT - MILESTONE EDITION:

# 48

# B-GM

UPPER DECK SP - GAME USED EDITION:

# 34 (SP)

AUTHENTIC FABRIC # GM Jersey (DP)

UPPER DECK - SPx:

# 46

UPPER DECK - VICTORY:

# 275

# 618 (Victory's Best)

UPPER DECK - VINTAGE:

Vintage was released in late January 2001. Featuring a 400-card base set, Vintage is notable for two things. 1) The very first officially licensed Major League rookie card of Ichiro Suzuki, and 2) A design that look suspiciously like 1963 Topps. The set was broken into tiers as follows: Base Veterans (1-340), Prospects (341-370), Series Highlights (371-390) and League Leaders (391-400).

# 174

# 398 - League Leaders-ERA w/K. Brown / R. Johnson / J. D'Amico / M. Hampton

# 400 - League Leaders-WINS w/D. Kyle/R. Johnson/T. Glavine/C. Park

UPPER DECK - SWEET SPOT:

# 33

2 0 0 2

This marked a difficult period for us - I'd never fully recovered from quadruple bypass surgery in December 2000, and in my assignment as a Master Sergeant of the cellblock at Louisiana State Penitentiary, I began thinking seriously about my cardiologist's suggestion of taking an early retirement at age 47. The decision was made once my mom needed constant care with Cirrhosis - my wife Teri and I took turns making the hour drive to Louisiana to care for her, so that she wouldn't have to leave home for an assisted living facility. She passed that fall. Our finances took a hit for a while, and I backed off from collecting/trading for years...

BOWMAN:

# 35

BOWMAN'S - BEST:

# 60

BOWMAN - CHROME:

# 35

BOWMAN - HERITAGE:

# 165

DONRUSS:

# 142

DONRUSS - CLASSICS:

# 8

DONRUSS - DIAMOND KINGS:

# 70 (Crowning Moment)

Bronze Parallel # 70

DONRUSS - ELITE:

# 5

ALL STAR SALUTES # AS 25 - Numbered 058/1994 (not holo-foil)

DONRUSS - FAN CLUB:

Fan Club/Best of Fan Club is a 325-card set released in two series. The first 300 cards were issued as part of the Fan Club/Best of Fan Club products which were released in December 2001.

Donruss created two versions of Fan Club: "Fan Club" which was exclusive to retail outlets, and "Best of Fan Club" which was Hobby only. While the retail Fan Club was printed on regular cardstock, the Hobby Best of Fan Club was printed on foil board. It is best to think of Best of Fan Club as a Topps Chrome-like parallel-brand of Fan Club.

The last 100 cards in both Fan Club and Best of Fan Club were short-printed; however, only the Best of Fan Club subsets were serial-numbered.

# 154

# 154 - Die Cut Parallel

Best of Fan Club # 154 - Foil Parallel

DONRUSS - ORIGINALS:

2002 Donruss Originals is a 425-card set that paid tribute to Donruss sets of the 80s. The base set featured cards done in the styles of the 1982, 1984, 1986 and 1988 Donruss sets but featured active 2002 players - The Donruss Originals product, containing the first 400 cards, was released in September 2002. All 50 Rated Rookies and another 50-star player cards were short-printed with the 50 superstar SPs scattered throughout the set. Donruss had plans to release a second series of Originals in 2003 featuring all the odd years but was cancelled.

# 35 ('82 Donruss)

# 277 ('86 Donruss) - SP

# 388 ('88 Donruss)

DONRUSS - STUDIO:

2002 Studio is a 275-card set issued in two separate series. In response to the disappointing sales of the previous year's Studio, the 2002 version was reconfigured and sold at a price point more in-line with the brand's 1990s heyday. The base set's American Flag themed design (which, curiously, also applied to cards from the two Canadian teams) can be seen in retrospect as part of the post-9/11 patriotic symbolism of the era.

# 179

STARS # SS-42 GOLD PARALLEL - Numbered 65/200

FLAIR (Fleer/Skybox):

2002 Flair is a 138-card set released by Fleer in April 2002. The was the first Flair set since '99 Flair but bore little resemblance to the Flair/Flair Showcase sets of the 90s -- especially in the use of thin cardstock.

# 8

FLEER:

2002 Fleer Baseball is a 540-card set released May 29th, 2002. This brand was an homage to the Fleer Baseball base sets of the 80s and 90s. However, BCP considers 1998-2005 Fleer Tradition to be the continuation of the Fleer brand's lineage and 2002 Fleer to be a one-off product.

# 419

GOLDEN MEMORIES # 8 of 15 - GM

FLEER - AUTHENTIX:

There are two versions of each Jersey AuthenTIX card - Ripped and Unripped - Ripped cards have one perforated edge, while the Unripped cards all have a "tab" attached to the card and are serial-numbered to 50 copies.

Some Ripped cards were printed in smaller quantities and are designated below. Unlike the Bat and Autographed AuthenTIX short prints, Fleer did not state the production figures for these cards.

# 49

Jersey AuthenTIX # JA-GM Ripped

FLEER - BOX SCORE:

# 44

FLEER - FOCUS JE (JERSEY EDITION):

# 135

K-CORPS # 7 of 15-KC

FLEER - GENUINE:

# 63

FLEER - HOT PROSPECTS:

# 50

FLEER - MAXIMUM:

# 19

FLEER - PLATINUM:

# 61

# 255 - SP (Decade of Dominance)

FLEER - PREMIUM:

# 166

FLEER - SHOWCASE:

# 79

FLEER/SKYBOX - EX:

# 75

BEHIND THE NUMBERS # 27

FLEER - TRADITION:

2002 Fleer Tradition is a 500-card set was issued early in 200. The first 100 cards in this set were issued at an overall rate of one in two -- a fact that was not revealed by Fleer until after the product's release. In line with the brand's 2000 reboot, the base set is based on the 1934 Goudey set.

# 337

THIS DAY IN HISTORY # 16 of 30-DH

THIS DAY IN HISTORY JERSEY (Print run of 100)

FLEER - TRADITION UPDATE:

2002 Fleer Tradition Update is a 400-card set released in October 2002. For the first time since 1996, Fleer's post-season Update set was issued exclusively in pack form.

# U-291 (Diamond Standouts)

# U-367 (Curtain Call)

GLOSSY Parallel (Curtain Call) # U367 - Numbered 3/200

FLEER - TRIPLE CROWN:

# 166

# 241 (Scrapbook)

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 33

On the Road - Game Jersey # NNO

LEAF:

# 102

LEAF - CERTIFIED:

# 62

LEAF - ROOKIES AND STARS:

2002 Leaf Rookies & Stars is a 400-card set released in November 2002 - It's perhaps best known for over 100 base set variations that were not acknowledged until after the product's release. In a harbinger of "gimmicks" to come, Donruss-Playoff randomly inserted into packs base cards featuring players in their previous team's uniform. Unfortunately, since these cards look exactly like the player's base card and are not marked otherwise, it is very difficult to identify, much less attempt to collect, the full set.

# 122 (Braves)

# 275 - Award Winners/1995 NL Cy Young

# 276 - Award Winners/1992 NL Cy Young

# 277 - Award Winners/1993 NL Cy Young

# 278 - Award Winners/1994 NL Cy Young

DRESS FOR SUCCESS # DS8 - Numbered 215/250

Each is serial-numbered to 250 copies and also available in a Prime Cuts parallel, which is serial-numbered to 25 copies.

PLAYOFF - ABSOLUTE MEMORABILIA:

# 11

TEAM TANDEMS MATERIALS:

# TT4 - Game Worn Jerseys - Greg Maddux & Tom Glavine

Team Tandems is a full parallel of the insert. Each Team Tandems Materials card is also available in a Gold Materials parallel which is serial-numbered to 50 copies.

PLAYOFF - PIECE OF THE GAME:

# 10

Bronze # POG 97 - Numbered 01/50 (Jersey & Bat)

TOPPS:

# 240

# 359 (United We Stand - Braves vs. Phillies: 9/17/21)

This subset "United We Stand", features highlights of games played September 17th, 2001-the first Major League games since the 9/11 terrorist attacks...

# 705 - (Award Winners)

OWN THE GAME # OG-23 of 30

RING MASTERS # RM-8 of 10

TOPPS - 206:

206 is a 526-card set issued in three series and done in the general style of the classic T-206 set issued more than 90 years prior.

# 9

# TR-GM1 (Series 1 - light yellow frame)

TOPPS - CHROME:

# 240

REFRACTOR Parallel # 240

TOPPS - FINEST:

# 90

TOPPS - GALLERY:

# 126

HERITAGE UNIFORM RELICS (Group A) # GHR-GM - Slabbed & Graded "8" by PA Sports

TOPPS - GOLD LABEL:

Unlike previous year's Gold Label sets, only one card for each player was produced. This would be the final year for the Gold Label brand, until it was revived in 2016.

# 36

TOPPS - HERITAGE:

Heritage is a 440-card set released in February 2002 and based on the '53 Topps set. The base set includes 90 short-printed base cards. In a sign of things to come, ten unannounced Nighttime "variations" were included.

# 147

TOPPS - OPENING DAY:

# 19

TOPPS - PRISTINE:

PRISTINE PORTIONS Jersey Card # PPGM - Numbered 377/425

TOPPS - RESERVE:

# 111

RESERVE JERSEY # TRJ - GM

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB:

# 75

TOPPS - TEN:

# 145 (ERA Leaders)

# 181 (Most Gold Gloves)

RELICS # TTA-GM (1:108 packs)

TOPPS - TOTAL:

Total is a 990-card set released in June 2002. By far, the most comprehensive baseball card set Topps has ever released, 2002 Total was the largest Topps set ever produced and has retained a cult-like following from collectors. Unfortunately, Topps also included (at the expense of some actual Major League players) dozens of marginal minor leaguer prospects, some of whom never played a Major League game. That spells M-I-S-T-A-K-E...

# 895

TOPPS TOTAL # TT-30

UPPER DECK:

# 260

CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER # CC6

GAME WORN GEMS (Jersey) # G-GM

SUPERSTAR SUMMIT # 2 of 8

UD PLUS EXTRA:

# UD46 - Numbered 90/1126 (Hobby/White)

UD Plus is a 100-card set randomly inserted into Series Two packs. Each Series Two Hobby box contained a two-card UD Plus pack, packaged as a box topper. In retail packs, UD Plus cards were randomly inserted into packs.

UD Plus cards packed into Hobby boxes have WHITE borders, while retail cards are GOLD. The checklist is identical, and both Hobby and retail cards are serial numbered to 1125 copies.

UPPER DECK - 40 MAN:

40-Man is a massive 1182 card set that was released in July 2002. As the name implies, the set includes just about every player who appeared on the 40-man roster of every Major League team during and up to the middle of the 2002 MLB season. Only those players who had served as replacement players during the 1994-95 strike were excluded.

Although the concept was well-received by collectors, the suggested retail price of $3 for a ten-card pack turned off many who instead focused on a similar, but $2/pack cheaper, offering from Topps Total.

Compared to today (2023 as I update my collections & build this website), I find it remarkable that we complained about pack prices back then. If today-Marv could speak to then-Marv, I'd advise him to invest heavily on unopened hobby boxes...store 'em away in a safe, cool, dry place...and think of them like savings bonds that would one day pay dividends.

# 503

ELECTRIC Parallel # 503

UPPER DECK - A PIECE OF HISTORY:

# 50

ERA Leaders Jersey # EL-GM

UPPER DECK - AUTHENTICS:

Authentics is a 200-card set released in March 2002. Both the base set and the packaging were done in the style of the '89 UD Set, set, and the product can be seen as a response to Topps Heritage. However, all similarities between the '89 UD set and this one end there - Each 18-pack Hobby box yields three game jersey cards -- back when three game jerseys in a box still meant something.

# 93

'89 FLASHBACK # F5 - Numbered 1866/4225

REVERSE NEGATIVE JERSEY # R-GM

UPPER DECK - BALLPARK IDOLS:

Ballpark Idols is a 245-card set & less remembered for the card set, but the bobblehead included in each box...

# 99

UPPER DECK - DIAMOND COLLECTION:

# 48

UPPER DECK - MVP:

# 151

UPPER DECK - OVATION:

# 33

Ovation Swatches # O-GM

UPPER DECK - SP AUTHENTIC:

# 48

GAME JERSEY # J-GM

UPPER DECK - SPx:

This set was notable for featuring the first ever licensed, game-used, nameplate bat barrel cards of active players in an insert set. This landmark innovation of featuring on-card nameplate barrels started with the Bat Barrels insert in '02 Sweet Spot, '02 Sweet Spot Classics, and continued in this set. The game-used memorabilia craze was in full gear at the time and these game-used nameplate barrels were both novel and trendsetting as competing companies began featuring nameplate barrels in subsequent releases in later years and are still featured in modern-day releases (although modern day releases are not explicitly game-used as these were).

# 45

UPPER DECK - SWEET SPOT:

In my humble opinion, a visually stunning set - one of my all-time favorites! Ok, it doesn't hurt that this particular shade of blue is my favorite, but I really like the cloud-framing too. I distinctly remember NOT being able to find boxes of these around ...

I got the Maddux card in trade...otherwise, I might have tried to put this set together. Oh well.

# 44

UPPER DECK - VICTORY:

# 260

# 266 (Stat Leaders Checklist)

UPPER DECK - VINTAGE:

# 136

UPPER DECK - WORLD SERIES HEROES:

# 12

2 0 0 3

ABSOLUTE MEMORABILIA:

# 3

BAZOOKA:

# 31

MINI PARALLEL # 31

BOWMAN:

# 107

GOLD Parallel # 107

BOWMAN'S - BEST:

# BB-GM

BOWMAN - CHROME:

# 107

CUB FOODS:

2004 Cubs schedule featuring Kerry Wood/Maddux (in Cubs uniform)/ Sammy Sosa/Mark Prior

DIAMOND KINGS:

# 79

# 79 - SAMPLE Parallel

DK Evolution # DK-10 of 25

DK Evolution is a lenticular set which shows the original Diamond King artwork along with the photograph it was based on.

WHITE FRAMED Parallel # 79

DONRUSS:

For the first time since 1991, the Diamond Kings returned to the base set - The 20-card GOLD set partially-parallels the Diamond Kings subset, which kicked off the base set. Each card has gold borders and is serial-numbered to 2500 copies.

# 4 (Diamond Kings)

# 237

GOLD DIAMOND KING Parallel # DK4 - Numbered 1018/2500

DONRUSS - CHAMPIONS:

# 22

GRAND CHAMPIONS # GC-9

DONRUSS - CLASSICS:

# 100

DONRUSS - ELITE:

# 91

DONRUSS - ESTRELLAS:

2003 Donruss Estrellas is a 100-card set entirely in Spanish. All cards are printed in Spanish and the product was distributed primarily to Latin America and in majority Hispanic areas of the United States.

# 10

DONRUSS - STUDIO:

# 104

DONRUSS - TEAM HEROES:

# 42

DONRUSS - THE ROOKIES:

GAMERS JERSEY # G4 - Numbered 29/500

GAMERS JERSEY - POSITION # G4 - Numbered 24/100

2003 Donruss The Rookies is a 65-card set that was the centerpiece to the 2003 DLP Rookies & Traded product.

FLEER - AUTHENTIX:

# 70

TICKET STUDS # 2 of 15 TS

GAME OF THE WEEK JERSEYS:

# GM-RJ - Braves vs. D'Backs (Randy Johnson) - 5/02/23

FLEER - AVANT:

# 42

FLEER - DOUBLE HEADER:

Fleer Double Header is a 240-card set released in January 2003. Each card is undersized, measuring 2" X 3". The last sixty cards in the base set are "Flip" cards, loosely based on the '55 Topps Double Headers set. Each Flip card is sequentially numbered twice (i.e. #241-#242), meaning that, while there are only 240 cards in the full set, it is sequentially numbered to 300.

# 31

FLEER - FLAIR:

# 57

DIAMOND CUTS Jersey # DC-GM Jersey

FLEER - FOCUS JE (JERSEY EDITION):

# 126

FLEER - GENUINE:

# 79

FLEER - HARDBALL:

Fleer Hardball is a 280 "card" set released in March, 2003. Each card is a 2 1/2"-diameter disc done in the style of similar food issue discs of the 1970s and 80s.

# 264 (All-Around All-Stars)

FLEER - MLB HOT PROSPECTS:

# 49

FLEER - MYSTIQUE:

# 31

FLEER - PATCHWORKS:

# 59

NATIONAL PATCHTIME - Jersey Trim # GMNP - Numbered 47/200

Each National Patchtime Trim card features a piece of jersey trim and is serial-numbered to 200 copies.

NATIONAL PATCHTIME - Number Patch # GMNP - Numbered 54/75

Each National Patchtime Number card features a piece of the player's jersey number and is serial-numbered to 75 copies.

FLEER - PLATINUM:

2003 Fleer Platinum is a 250-card set that was released in February 2003. In a departure for the brand, rather than issue separate wax, jumbo, and rack packs, each Hobby box contained 14, ten-card wax packs; four, 25-card jumbo packs; and a 45-card rack pack. In another departure, rather than recycle the design of a previous Fleer baseball set, 2003 Platinum used an original design, although one that heavily evokes Fleer's boxed sets of the mid-80s.

# 183

FLEER - ROOKIES & GREATS:

Fleer Rookies & Greats is a 75-card set released in December 2003

# 57

FLEER - SHOWCASE:

# 70

HOT GLOVES # 1 of 10-HG

FLEER/SKYBOX - EX:

# 7

FLEER - SPENDID SPLINTERS:

Knothole Game Jersey # GM-KG

FLEER - TRADITION:

This 25-card set is based on the design of the '36 Goudey set. Each card measures 2" X 3", was serial-numbered to 1936 copies, and exclusive to Hobby packs. Each card is also available in the following parallels. Red (serial-numbered to 500 copies, retail only), and Gold (serial-numbered to 36 copies, Hobby only)

BLACK AND WHITE GOUDEY # 15 of 25 - Numbered 35/36

JERSEY # 13 of 44

MILESTONES # 24 of 25-MS

FLEER - TRADITION UPDATE:

# U-275 (Interleague Play vs. Barry Zito)

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 66

PHOTO EFFEX:

Each card is also available in a Photo Effex Gold parallel, which is serial-numbered to 25 copies.

# 8 of 20 PE

LEAF:

# 261 (Passing the Torch)

2003 Leaf Certified Materials Samples:

This 15-card set was issued in Leaf packs to promote the 2003 Leaf Certified Materials set and features the same design of

the base set -- the only difference is the "LC" prefix on each card number. Each card is also available in the following parallels.

Mirror Red (serial-numbered to 150 copies)
Mirror Blue (serial-numbered to 75 copies)
Mirror Gold (serial-numbered to 25 copies)

# LC-2

# LC-2 - Mirror Red - Numbered 133/150

LEAF - CERTIFIED MATERIALS:

# 12

MIRROR RED MATERIALS # 12 - Numbered 194/250

PLAYOFF - PIECE OF THE GAME:

2003 Playoff Piece of the Game is a 179-card, all game-used memorabilia set released exclusively to Hobby outlets in September 2003. Each pack contained one, and only one, game-used memorabilia card.

The base set is sequentially numbered to 100, and a number of players have multiple game-used variations. Some of the base card variations are serial-numbered, but not all. For each of the numerous parallels, only one version for each card was produced...

# POG 35 - PRIME SILVER - Numbered 72/75

# POG-36 - JERSEY

# POG 36 PLATINUM JERSEY - Numbered 5/25

PLAYOFF - PORTRAITS:

2003 Playoff Portraits is a 144-card, all painted, set released exclusively to Hobby outlets in September 2003. The product can be seen as something of a preview of the following year's Diamond Kings with its use of autographs and game-used memorabilia cards as parallels...

Portraits # 38

PORTRAITS PROMO CARD (NNO but is a parallel of # 38 from the set)

Playoff Portraits promos were randomly inserted into packs of '03 Absolute Memorabilia. The checklist partially-parallels the first 72 cards in the Portraits base set. For brevity's sake, please refer to the base set below for the checklist. Each card has "PROMO" printed on the back.

PORTRAITS - SILVER BAT # 38 - Numbered 38/50

PLAYOFF - PRESTIGE:

# 100

TOPPS:

# 105

# 347 (League Leaders in ERA with Johnson/Glavine)

# 632 (Braves team photo)

# 694 (Awards Winner)

1951 BLUE/RED BACKS:

NOTE: Neither the Blue Backs nor the Red Backs are sequentially numbered.

# Strike

RECORD BREAKERS:

# RB-GM (Series 2 Green)

TOPPS - 205:

Fresh off the successful Topps 206 release of a year earlier, the first series of 2003 Topps 205 was released in July, 2003. The base set consists of 150 cards with 15 (non-short-printed) variations. Each eight-card pack contained one mini-sized parallel, and one "Triple Folder" insert.

# 13

TOPPS - CHROME:

# 21

TOPPS - FINEST:

2003 Finest is a 110-card set released by Topps exclusively to Hobby outlets in May 2003...

# 82

REFRACTOR PARALLEL # 82

FINEST RELIC BAT # FRB-GM (Group F: 1 in 23 mini-boxes)

TOPPS - GALLERY:

# 12

TOPPS - HERITAGE:

# 330

TOPPS - OPENING DAY:

# # 95

TOPPS - PRISTINE:

# 48

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB:

2003 Stadium Club is a 125-card set, released by Topps, in November 2002. Subsets include: Future Stars (101-113) and First Year Player (114-125). Cards numbered 101-125 were issued with different photos depending on whether or not they came from hobby or retail packs. After this year's set, Topps put Stadium Club on hiatus for five years.

BORN IN THE USA:

Game-Used Jersey # USA-GM

TOPPS - TOTAL:

TOTAL TOPPS # TT6

TOPPS - TRIBUTE CONTEMPORARY:

2003 Topps Tribute Contemporary was released in August, 2003. It was the second of three Topps Tribute products released in 2003, and the first Tribute set to feature active players.

# 71

UPPER DECK:

2003 Upper Deck is a 600-card set released in three series. Series One and Series Two contained 270 cards each and were released in November 2002 and June 2003, respectively. The final 60 cards are the Update Series are was released as a boxed set inside each '04 UD Series-1 Hobby Box...

# 386

LINEUP TIME JERSEY:

# LT-GM

MASTERS WITH THE LEATHER:

# L-3 of 12

UPPER DECK - 40 MAN:

# 397

# 839 (UD Top-40)

UPPER DECK - AUTHENTICS:

# 73

UPPER DECK - CLASSIC PORTRAITS:

2003 Upper Deck Classic Portraits is a 232-card set released in October 2003. The product is best known for the 27 collectible 8" Busts each Hobby box was packaged with.

# 81

UPPER DECK - FINITE:

Finite Elements Jersey # FE-GM

UPPER DECK - GAME FACE:

# 177 - Faceoff with Mike Piazza

Game Face Gear # GG-GM2

UPPER DECK - HONOR ROLL:

# 15

# 15 - Silver Honors Parallel - Numbered 110/150

UPPER DECK - MVP:

# 18

SPORTSNUT SCRATCH-OFF # SN-64 (Unscratched)

SportsNut was a 90-card interactive fantasy sports game. Each card had a silver scratch-off bar on the front that concealed a code that, when registered on Upper Deck's website, could be used in the game.

UPPER DECK - UD PATCH COLLECTION:

# 10

O horror of horrors - the fabrication of NOT actual game-used memorabilia.

UPPER DECK - PLAY BALL:

Play Ball is a 104-card set released in February 2003. The base set was designed to evoke the '41 Play Ball set.

# 8

RED BACKS PARALLEL # 8

Inserted into each pack is a Red Back parallel, in which the text on the back is printed in red ink -- as opposed to black on the base cards. The 30 cards that were short-printed in the base set (#74-#103) were also SPed in this set.

1941 SERIES PARALLEL # 8

1941 Series partially-parallels the first 73 cards of the base set, in the 2 1/4" X 3 1/8" size of the original '41 Series set.

UPPER DECK - SP:

Each Back to 93 card is done in the style of the '93 SP set and serial-numbered to 1993 copies.

10th Anniversary - Back to '93 - # 128 - Numbered 426/1993

UPPER DECK - SPx:

# 12 - SP

SPx SPECTRUM PARALLEL # 12 - Numbered 11/31

All 178 SPx series base cards are available in a Spectrum parallel. All are numbered with a SP- prefix and are serial-numbered to the figures listed below. Cards #1-#125 (serial-numbered to the player's jersey number).

UPPER DECK - STANDING "O":

# 8

UPPER DECK - SWEET SPOT:

Number Patches # GM-1

"Manufactured" Relics?

Huh?!

Yeah, boy - Both number and logo patches...and I honestly do not know what to do with this new twist in collecting - Just treasure this, I guess? Oh, America...WE ONCE MADE STEEL IN THIS COUNTRY!

UPPER DECK - VICTORY:

2003 Victory is a 200-card set released, exclusive to retail, in February 2003. After four years as a large but no-frills, insert-less product, Upper Deck dramatically changed Victory into a multi-fractured, multi-paralleled, set with a collectible card game element. The first 100 cards comprise the short set while the last 100 cards were all short printed to various quantities. The corners on all cards are rounded to look like a playing card.

These changes were not well received by collectors, and as a result, Upper Deck discontinued the line after 2003 -- although it remains part of their hockey line.

# 10

# 135 (Clutch Players) SP

# 197 (Winning Formula) SP

GREEN PARALLEL # 10

UPPER DECK - VINTAGE:

# 30

2 0 0 4

BAZOOKA:

# 93

RED CHUNK PARALLEL # 93

BOWMAN:

# 126

BOWMAN - CHROME:

# 126

BOWMAN - STERLING:

VETERAN RELIC JERSEY # BS=GM

CUB FOODS/WGN TV:

2004 Cubs Season Schedule w/Maddux/Kerry Wood/Sammy Sosa/Mark Prior

DIAMOND KINGS:

Diamond Kings is a 175-card set released in February 2004. Dubbed by Donruss-Playoff "The Art & Soul of Major League Baseball," all cards feature original artwork specially commissioned for this set. The product is also known rather infamously for the absurd number of parallels - The last 25 base set cards are short-printed and also come in a Sepia variation.

# 113 (Crowning Moment - Braves)

# 156 Crowning Moment/Flashback)

BRONZE SEPIA Parallel # 156 (Flashback - Cubs) - Numbered 43/100

FRAMED BRONZE Parallel # 156 (Flashback - Cubs)

SEPIA Parallel # 156 (Flashback - Cubs)

DIAMOND CUT COLLECTION - Jersey # DC33 - Numbered 003/100

DOLLAR BILL, YA'LL!

I don't know what to tell you about this, except it's Presidential - The Father of our country, George Washington, has been

replaced by Greg Maddux, on a real dollar bill! I kid you not. It's a legitimate Federal Reserve Note with Serial # E90976384-C

from Series-2003 - Sadly, I can't remember exactly where I picked this one up, but I LOVE it - unless I find out it's illegal to deface legal tender (even with the greatest pond-for-pound pitcher ever), I'll hang on to this forever!

DONRUSS:

2004 Donruss is a 400-card set released in November 2003. After a year in which all base cards were printed in equal quantities, the 2004 edition of Donruss went back to having short-printed base cards. The 25-card (cards #1-25) Diamond Kings, 45-card Rated Rookies (26-70), and the 30 Team Checklists (371-400) are all short-printed -- a fact that most collectors did not realize until after they opened up their first packs as this was not revealed by Donruss-Playoff in their sell sheets.

Donruss-Playoff also greatly increased the number of base set parallels and insert parallels.

# 2 (SP) Diamond King

# 228

# 386 (SP) Team Checklist

DONRUSS - CLASSICS:

# 58

DONRUSS - ELITE:

# 149

DONRUSS - LEATHER & LUMBER:

# 30

LEATHER IN LEATHER # LEL-34

DONRUSS - STUDIO:

# 44

DONRUSS - THROWBACK THREADS:

# 41

DONRUSS - TIMELESS TREASURES:

2004 Timeless Treasures is a 100-card set released by Donruss-Playoff in May, 2004. As with the previous year's product, each four-card tin will contain three base cards/parallels serial-numbered to 999 copies or fewer

# 97 - Numbered 617/999 (Cubs)

DONRUSS - TIMELINES:

2004 Donruss Timelines is a 50-card set released exclusively to Hobby outlets in January 2004. Each pack will contain one autograph and one game-used card.

COMBO # 17 - Bat & Jersey - Numbered 91/125

MATERIAL JERSEY # 17

DONRUSS - WORLD SERIES:

2004 Donruss World Series is a 225-card set released in two series.

# WS-38

FLAIR:

OPEN THE BOMB BAY DOORS!

2004 Flair is an 82-card set released in April 2004. The first 60 cards in this set feature veterans while the final 22 cards make of the "Class of '04" subset - In a radical departure, Fleer issued the Hobby version in 12-card boxes with a suggested retail price of $120. Each Hobby pack contained seven base cards, one "Class of '04" prospect card, three game used cards and an autograph.

A stripped-down version was issued to retail outlets, but the odds of finding anything but base cards were extremely remote.

The new format of Flair was not accepted by collectors. A weak rookie card class and substandard hits (especially among the autographs) led many to take a pass on this product.

# 39

FLEER - AUTHENTIX:

# 38

FLEER - CLASSIC CLIPPINGS:

# 35

FLEER - GENUINE INSIDER:

# 51

FLEER - HOT PROSPECTS DRAFT:

2004 Hot Prospects Draft is a 120-card set released by Fleer in November 2004.

In late 2004, the MLBPA granted Donruss-Playoff, Fleer, and Upper Deck a one-time exemption to their licensing agreement that allowed each to produce a set featuring prospects, draft picks, and other non-union players. These exempt products were designed to compete with Topps' long-established Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects brand. Hot Prospects Draft was Fleer's exempted product, while Donruss Elite Extra Edition and SP Prospects were Donruss-Playoff & Upper Deck's, respectively.

The last 60 cards in the base set are short-printed and serial-numbered. Cards 61-70 and 112 and 113 make up the "Hot Prospects" subset and are serial-numbered to 1000 copies. Cards 71-111 and 114-120 are the "Signature Selections" and are all serial-numbered to 299 copies.

DRAFT REWIND # 4 of 30-DW

FLEER - LEGACY:

# 32

FLEER - NATIONAL PASTIME:

2004 National Pastime is a 90-card set, released by Fleer, in July, 2004.

# 46

FLEER - PATCHWORKS:

# 33

FLEER - PLATINUM:

2004 Fleer Platinum is a 200-card set and was released in February 2004. Like previous Platinum efforts, the base set evokes a classic Fleer Baseball set -- in this case, 1984 Fleer. The set does feature 22 short-prints.

# 136 - (Wax Exclusive SP)

BIG SIGNS # 9 of 15-BS

FLEER - SHOWCASE:

# 87

FLEER - SWEET SIGS:

# 28

SWEET STITCHES JERSEY # ST-GM - Numbered 24/156

FLEER - TRADITION:

# 41

THIS DAY IN HISTORY # 4 of 15-DH

Also has parallel game-used versions...

FLEER - ULTRA:

2004 is a 395-card set released in two series. The first 220 cards were issued in November 2003; while the last 175 cards were released as the "Update Series" in October 2004. Each series, but especially the Update Series, has a substantial number of short prints.

# 192

GOLD MEDALLION Diecut Parallel # 192

K (STRIKEOUT} KINGS # 9 of 10-SK

TURN BACK THE CLOCK # 17 of 20-TBC

FLEER - ULTRA UPDATE:

# 228

LEAF:

2004 Leaf is a 300-card set that was released exclusively to the hobby in December 2003 - the first 200 cards were printed in higher quantities than the last 100 in this set.

NOTE: See it's "second" birth below...

# 109

HOME/AWAY # A-1

HOME/AWAY # H-1

LEAF LIMITED PREVIEWS:

These cards are only available in Hobby packs, serial-numbered to 999 copies, and available in the following parallels.

Silver Spotlight (serial-numbered to 100 copies)
Gold Spotlight (serial-numbered to 50 copies)

# 7 - Numbered 73/999

FACTORY ERROR! A very odd card - Pictures Maddux on the front BUT the writing on the reverse is all about fellow Brave Tom Glavine...

LEAF - SECOND EDITION:

Second Edition is the name of the retail version of 2004 Leaf. All cards are identical to their Hobby counterparts, with the exception of the words "SECOND EDITION" on the front of each card. Second Edition card #195 of Barry Bonds appears to be extremely rare or non-existent.

# 109

LEAF - CERTIFIED MATERIALS:

# 69

PLAYOFF HONORS:

The one and only Playoff Honors set was released in July 2004.

# 25

PLAYOFF - PRESTIGE:

# 18

ACHIEVEMENTS # A-4

PLAYOFF - PRIME CUTS:

2004 Prime Cuts was released in November 2003 by Donruss-Playoff. Each five-card box includes four base cards (serial-numbered to 949 copies) or base card parallels and one autograph, game-used memorabilia, or autographed game-used card serial-numbered to 50 copies or fewer, slabbed (but not professionally graded) by BGS.

# 5 - Numbered 564/949

SKYBOX - AUTOGRAPHICS:

# 47

SKYBOX - LE:

2004 Skybox LE - the LE stands for Limited Edition - is a 160-card set released in March.

Instead of the "LE", I submit that this unremarkable set should be referred to as Skybox PU - the PU standing for PRETTY UNEXCEPTIONAL...

# 26

TOPPS:

# 140

TOPPS - CHROME:

GOLD REFRACTOR # 140

TOPPS - CRACKER JACK:

The 2004 Topps Cracker Jack set, based on the 1914 Cracker Jack set, consists of 250 total cards: 197 base cards, 3 base variations, 40 short prints and 10 short print variations. The design is the same, however the size of the cards has been resized to today's standard format.

MINI Parallel # 124

STICKERS # 124

Each wax pack came with a "Secret Suprise," which would yield either an autograph, relic, or a sticker parallel. The stickers are virtually identical to the one-per-pack minis in both size and appearance.

Red (Base: one-per-pack; SPs 1:20)

White (one-of-one)

TOPPS - FINEST:

# 72

TOPPS - HERITAGE:

CHROME # THC-46 - Numbered 573/1955

TOPPS - OPENING DAY:

# 60

TOPPS TRADED:

The Maddog goes back to his roots in Chicago...

T-45

UPPER DECK:

FAMOUS QUOTES # Q-10

HEADLINERS JERSEY # HL-GM

UPPER DECK - ETCHINGS:

Upper Deck Etchings is a 150-card set released in August 2004. As the name of the product suggests, each card has elaborated etched foil borders. Cool set!

# 58

UPPER DECK - PLAY BALL:

# 63

UPPER DECK - R CLASS:

Exactly WHERE do they come up with these names???! I think a better one would have been UPPER DECK - S.O.S.

# 67

UPPER DECK - REFLECTIONS:

Reflections is a 390-card set - the first 340 cards were issued as part of the Reflections product in April 2004.

The final 50 cards were randomly inserted as an Update set into Hobby boxes of '04 UD-Series 2. Every 12th Hobby box contained the Reflections Update set.

Level-1 Jersey # 149

Level-2 Jersey # 185

UPPER DECK - SP AUTHENTIC:

# 84

UPPER DECK - UD SUPERSTARS:

2002-03 UD Superstars is a 300-card multi-sport set released in March 2003. A first-of-a-kind product, Superstars was the first (and to date only) trading card product fully licensed by the then four major North American sports leagues, as well as a number of prominent golfers.

With the advent of exclusive licenses, a product like UD Superstars will probably never be attempted again.

# 16

UPPER DECK - SWEET SPOT:

# 30

UPPER DECK - VINTAGE UPDATE SET:

# 465

2 0 0 5

BAZOOKA:

2005 Bazooka is a 220-card set released by Topps in February -- primarily to retail outlets. Each pack contains a stick of Bazooka chewing gum, and each box will yield three game used Relics.

COMICS # 11 of 24

BOWMAN:

# 84

BOWMAN - HERITAGE:

2005 Bowman Heritage is a 350-card set released in December 2005. The design is based on the '51 Bowman set.

# 139

BOWMAN STERLING:

JERSEY # BS-GM

DIAMOND KINGS:

2005 Diamond Kings is a 450-card set released in two series of 300 and 150 cards by Donruss-Playoff. Series One (containing

the first 300 cards) was issued in February, while the final 150 cards (#301-450) came out as part of the Diamond Kings Update Series - The Update Series was issued after the announcement that Donruss-Playoff would not have their licenses renewed for 2006. As a result, the product was rushed and reused much of the same artwork from Series One. The Update Series can be seen as a sticker and relic dump.

As with the '04 product, 2005 Diamond Kings is known for the almost obscene number of parallels - makes you wonder if the folks who would one day come up with the outrageously priced boxes with the thousand-and-one parallels were remembering this recipe for confusion (think Panini Prizm etc.).

SERIES ONE:

# 50 (Cubs)

# 277 (Braves Flashback)

DK MATERIALS # 277 Bronze (Crowning Moment/Flashback) - Numbered 147/200

DK MATERIALS (Crowning Moment/Flashback): Framed Red # 277 - Numbered 11/100

FRAMED RED Parallel # 50 (Cubs)

TEAM TIMELINE # TT-6 with Sammy Sosa - Cubs

DONRUSS:

2005 Donruss is a 400-card set released in November 2004. 100 cards from three subsets (Diamond Kings, Rated Rookies, and Team Checklists) are short printed. This would be the final Donruss set for nine years as Donruss-Playoff lost their MLB Properties license after the 2005 season.

# 133

MOUND MARVELS # MM-4 - Numbered 99/1,000

Each Mound Marvel is serial-numbered to 1000 copies, and available in a Black parallel which is serial-numbered to 100.

DONRUSS - CHAMPIONS:

# 217

DONRUSS - ELITE:

Donruss Elite is a 199-card set released exclusively to Hobby outlets in May 2005.

# 35

1994 ELITE TEAMS # ET10 - Green - Numbered 161/750 - Maddux/Glavine/Klesko/Justice

DONRUSS - GREATS:

2005 Donruss Greats is a 150-card product released in November 2005. This was one of the last baseball products released by Donruss-Playoff as an MLB Properties licensee, as it was announced that summer that their license would not be renewed.

Early in 2005, Fleer went out of business. Donruss Greats was marketed as a tribute to Fleer's Greats of the Game line.

Despite this, it still has the look, feel, structure, and aesthetic of a mid-2000s Donruss-Playoff product. This product can also be seen as another sticker/relic dump. Unlike the Fleer Greats sets, Donruss-Playoff's version featured a number of active players.

# 102 (Cubs)

# 148 (Braves)

DONRUSS - LEATHER & LUMBER:

# 47

DONRUSS - STUDIO:

This would be the final Studio set as Donruss-Playoff's license was not renewed for 2006.

# 60

DONRUSS - ZENITH:

2005 Zenith is a 250-card set released by Donruss-Playoff in September 2005. Conceived as a tribute to the brand released by Pinnacle Brands in the 1990s.

# 61

Zenith Epix is a 96-card tribute to the multi-tier insert from 1998. Each of the 24 players has four cards: Play, Game, Season, and Moment; and is paralleled in one of six different colors: Orange, Blue, Purple, Red, Emerald, and Black.

EPIX ORANGE # E 19 - Numbered 131/350

EPIX PURPLE # E 19 - Numbered 125/350

SPELLBOUND # 2

FLAIR:

2005 Flair is a 90-card set released by Fleer in March 2005 - Like the '04 set, the price fell at the $120/pack level. Each 12-card pack yields eight base cards, one "Class of '05" card serial-numbered to 699 copies, two game-used cards serial-numbered to 199 copies or less, and an autograph numbered to 250 or less.

# 27

FLEER:

# 14

FLEER - CLASSIC CLIPPINGS:

Classic Clippings is a 125-card set released by Fleer in March 2005.

# 59

FLEER - NATIONAL PASTTIME:

2005 National Pastime is a 79-card set released by Fleer in March 2005. This was Fleer's penultimate product before filing for bankruptcy in May. Cards 1-50 make up the short-set while 51-80 are short-printed and serial-numbered to 699 copies. Card #64 does not exist.

# 46

FLEER - PATCHWORKS:

# 53

FLEER - TRADITION:

2005 Fleer Tradition is a 350-card set released in February 2005. The last 50 cards in the base set were short-printed.

Fleer Tradition was intended to be a 750-card set released over three series; however, due to Fleer's bankruptcy, only Series One was released.

CLUB 300 # 4 of 40-CLUB

Each Club card is limited to 175-copies but is NOT serial-numbered.

X-TRA NOTE - The set is numbered to 40 cards...and yet, only 20 cards were released in the CLUB set - It's assumed that cards 21 thru 40 would have been issued in Series Two...but Fleer's bankruptcy derailed that. Oh well.

DIAMOND TRIBUTES # 10 of 25 - DT

DIAMOND TRIBUTES JERSEY w/Blue Stripe # DT-GM

STAND OUTS JERSEY w/Blue Stripe # SO-GM

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 28

LEAF:

2005 Leaf is a 300-card set released in January 2005. This would be the final Leaf Baseball set as Donruss-Playoff's MLB license was not renewed for 2006. Donruss-Playoff would allow the rights to the Leaf brand name expire after 2008.

# 41

# 254 SP - (Passing Through Time)

Passing Through Time features ten-year Major League veterans. The reverse side of card features the player's 1995 (and final) Leaf base card. For me, it's one cool concept, even if the cards aren't all glittery, shiny, refractory, or even covered in game-used this or that. I like the simplicity of it - the front has Maddux in his Cubbies uniform, and the reverse (with the sequentially numbered "PTT" prefix), showing him in the Braves uniform that made him most famous. It's a fitting tribute to Greg's full-circle swing from Chicago to Atlanta and back to Chicago again.

CY YOUNG WINNERS # CYW 11 - Gold - Numbered 122/350

CY YOUNG WINNERS # CYW 11 - Gold Diecut - Numbered 64/100

LEAF - CENTURY COLLECTION:

2005 Leaf Century was released in January 2005. The gimmick with this product is the use of genuine U.S. Postage stamps

on cards. Now, in 2023, the stamps may actually be worth more than the cards...

# 131

LEAF - CERTIFIED MATERIALS:

Leaf Certified Materials is a 250-card set released exclusively to Hobby outlets in July 2005.

# 46 (Cubs)

# 178 (Braves)

MIRROR RED Parallel # 178 (Braves!) - Numbered 73/100

PLAYOFF - ABSOLUTE MEMORABILIA:

# 24

PLAYOFF - PRESTIGE:

Just imagine - buying this product...busting packs...and being AMAZED at how intricately designed and presented these were.

I won't even call them cards - I'll just call them TREASURES!

Ok - enough already - I'm full of sarcasm this morning...If you've seen 'em, then you know what I'm talking about - the brand name is educational, though...I never knew PRESTIGE actually meant "nothing special". You live, you learn. Thanks, Playoff.

# 131

PLAYOFF - PRIME CUTS 3:

TIMELINE: MATERIAL COMBO (Jersey + Bat) # T4 - Numbered 20/25

TOPPS:

# 155

# 155 - 1st Edition

# 336 (Season Highlights)

# 704 (14 Gold Gloves)

TOPPS - CRACKER JACK:

# 20

MINI Parallel # 20

MINI RED Parallel # 20

TOPPS CHROME - UPDATES & HIGHLIGHTS:

# UH-217 (Season Highlights)

TOPPS - GALLERY:

Topps Gallery is a 195-card set released in January 2005, after a one-year hiatus.

This would turn out to be the last Gallery set for a dozen years.

# 89

TOPPS - HERITAGE:

2005 Topps Heritage is a 475-card set released in February 2005. This was the fifth year for Heritage, and keeping with the theme of the product, the 2005 version honored the '56 Topps set. 90 of the cards are short-printed and are sprinkled throughout the set. 20 cards have a variation. Every other pack should have either a base set SP or a variation.

# 276

TOPPS - TOTAL:

# 535

TOPPS - TURKEY RED:

Turkey Red is a 315-card set released by Topps on August 31st, 2005. The product is done in the style of the 1911 Turkey Red Cabinets (T3)

# 38

UPPER DECK:

# 455 (Bound for Glory subset)

UPPER DECK - ESPN:

2005 Upper Deck ESPN is a 90-card set released in March 2005, to commemorate the cable network's 25th anniversary (which was actually in 2004).

# 17

ESPY AWARD WINNERS # AW-7

UPPER DECK - MINI JERSEY COLLECTION:

2005 UD Mini Jersey Collection is a 100-card set released in July, 2005. Each pack contained three cards plus one mini-sized replica baseball jersey.

# 16

UPPER DECK - ORIGONS:

Origins is a 286-card set released by Upper Deck in two series.

Old Judge Materials - Jersey w/blue stripe # OJ-GM

UPPER DECK - PROS & PROSPECTS:

# 21

UPPER DECK - REFLECTIONS:

Reflections is a 286-card set released in two series by Upper Deck. As the name suggests, all cards are printed on foil board.

The first 200 cards were issued as part of the Reflections product - the last 86 cards were seeded at the rate of one-per-pack in packs of '05 UD Update.

# 44

UPPER DECK - SWEET SPOT:

# 32

UPPER DECK - ULTIMATE SIGNATURE EDITION:

Ultimate Signature is a 185-card set released in two series by Upper Deck. The first 110 cards were issued as part of the Ultimate Signature product, on June 1, 2005. The first 100 cards are serial-numbered to 825 copies while cards 101-110 were autographed and serial-numbered to 225 copies.

# 69 - Numbered 80/825

2 0 0 6

2006 was a year of great change in the baseball card landscape...

Donruss-Playoff had lost its license to produce Major League Baseball cards - Fleer went bankrupt and had their assets picked up by Upper Deck - Major League Baseball imposed its "Not a Rookie Til We Say So" policy and created the now-ubiquitous "RC icon." This forced Topps to move all the minor league players and prospects who could no longer be included in base sets into Prospect "inserts" in all their Bowman brands.

NEW SETS: As part of the purchase of Fleer, Upper Deck added Fleer, Fleer Tradition, Ultra, Greats of the Game, and Flair Showcase to their product line. Upper Deck also introduced Epic, Future Stars, Special F/X, and the ultra high-end Exquisite brands. Topps introduced the extremely popular Allen and Ginter's as a new retro set, as well as Topps 52 (a new rookie set featuring the design of the 1952 Topps set), Topps Co-Signers (previously only an insert set in Stadium Club) and two new high-sets: Triple Threads and Topps Sterling - Topps also produced the 2006 Bowman Originals set, a single year release that came with a certified buyback autograph in every pack that proved to be a dud.

BAZOOKA:

# 24

BOWMAN:

# 66

BOWMAN HERITAGE:

# 255 of 300

FLEER:

2006 Fleer is a 430-card set released (primarily to mass-market retail outlets) in April 2006. This was the first Fleer Baseball set released by Upper Deck.

FABRICS # FF-GM

SMOOTH LEATHER # SL-6

FLEER - TRADITION:

2006 Fleer Tradition is a 200-card set, released in August 2006 by Upper Deck which purchased Fleer's trademarks after their 2005 bankruptcy. This would be the only Fleer Tradition set UD would produce.

# 58

FLEER - ULTRA:

GOLD MEDALLION Parallel # 47

TOPPS:

# 45

# 251 (Gold Glove Award Winner)

# 330 (Team Stars with Michael Barrett)

TOPPS - ALLEN & GINTER:

2006 Topps Allen & Ginter (officially "Topps Allen & Ginter: The World's Champions") is a 350-card set released July 26th, 2006. Considered by many to be the best baseball product of 2006, Ginter was named Beckett Baseball's Product of the Year for 2006. Part of the appeal of Allen & Ginter, was a strong lineup of major league players joined by superstar athletes from other sports -- all in keeping with the spirit of the original Allen & Ginter sets.

The autographs, parallels, and game-used inserts were all outstanding, but the real prize was the controversial Rip Cards. The Rip Cards, which contained another miniature-sized card embedded inside the main card, were seeded at the rate of one-per-case. In order to get the mini-card, collectors had to "Rip" open (thereby destroying) the Rip Card. Inside the Rip Cards would be either an autographed mini, a special limited mini, a unique Dick Perez sketch or an original 1887 Allen and Ginter N28 card.

# 115

TOPPS - CHROME:

2006 Topps Chrome is a 354-card parallel brand and was released in July, 2006. For the first time since 1997, Topps released Chrome in a single series.

# 19

# 261 (Award Winners - Gold Glove)

TOPPS CO-SIGNERS:

Co-Signers is a 120-card set released May 31st, 2006.

# 30

TOPPS - FINEST:

# 54

TOPPS - OPENING DAY:

# 45

UPPER DECK:

Upper Deck is a massive 1250-card set released in three series and is widely considered to be one of Upper Deck's

finest accomplishments - The first series of 500 cards was released on April 6, 2006, while the next 500 cards were issued August 8th. Combo Fat Packs (containing cards from both series) were released September 21st. The final 250 cards were issued as part of the retail-exclusive Update Series, which went live in December.

50 cards in the Update Series were short printed.

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS # SH-29

SILVER SPECTRUM Parallel # 878 (Team Checklist) - Numbered 42/99

Update Series # 1099 (Dodgers!)

UPPER DECK - ARTIFACTS:

Artifacts is a 100-card set released by Upper Deck on July 19, 2006.

# 19

UPPER DECK - EPIC:

Upper Deck Epic is a 300-card set released exclusively to Hobby outlets on July 6th, 2006. Each base card is printed on rainbow-refractive mirror board and serial-numbered.

EPIC EVENTS # EE-40 - Numbered 592/675 (Maddux Logs Career Win # 300: Cubs vs Giants)

UPPER DECK - FIRST PITCH:

# 33

UPPER DECK - FLAIR SHOWCASE:

2006 Flair Showcase is a 200-card set released by Upper Deck in August, 2006. This was the first (and only) Flair Showcase set issued by Upper Deck after they purchased Fleer's assets in bankruptcy. As the name suggests, '06 Flair Showcase marked a return in the tiered base set that was common to this brand in the late 90s. Unlike late 90s Flair Showcase, each player had only one card.

# 75

UPPER DECK - SP AUTHENTIC:

All 100 short prints are serial-numbered to 899 copies.

# 120 (Short Print) - Numbered 79/899

UPPER DECK SPECIAL FX:

STAR ATTRACTIONS # SA-GM

UPPER DECK - SWEET SPOT UPDATE:

# 16

2 0 0 7

BOWMAN:

# 122

GOLD Parallel # 122

BOWMAN - HERITAGE:

2007 Bowman Heritage is a 301-card set, released by Topps in November 2007. The base set mimics the design of the '52 Bowman set - After a seven-year run, this would be the final Bowman Heritage set for twelve years.

# 83

FLEER:

# 169

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 160

FACES OF THE GAME # GF-GM

TOPPS:

This was the first black-bordered Topps set since 1971; but unlike '71 Topps, the 2007 design was not well received by collectors. The product was also hampered by a series of repetitive "Mirror" inserts. 2007 marked a turning point for Topps and their relationship with The Hobby and card collectors for it was the first time they resorted to base gimmickry to sell their product. Derek Jeter's base card (#40) was issued, unannounced, with the images of Mickey Mantle and then-President George W. Bush Photoshopped into the background - The card had the intended effect of creating "buzz" for Series One -- as if it needed it -- as it drew the curious into The Hobby. On the surface, this might seem like a good thing. Unfortunately, these uneducated marks thought this was another Billy Ripken-esque error, and grossly overpaid for what was an ordinary Derek Jeter base card.

Since 2007, just about every Topps flagship baseball release (and some of the other brands as well) has had some sort of gimmick attached -- becoming progressively stupider by the year.

# 275 (Padres)

# 311 (2006 NL Rawlings Gold Glove Award - Dodgers)

GOLD PARALLEL # 311 - Numbered 1849/2007

RED BACK Parallel # 311

A previously unannounced addition to the set, this Hobby exclusive parallel features each player's name and card number printed in red ink on the reverse side.

TRADING PLACES # TP-24 (Dodgers to Padres)

TRADING PLACES RELIC # TPR-GM - Bat (Dodgers to Padres)

TOPPS - ALLEN AND GINTER WORLDS CHAMPIONS:

Allen & Ginter World Champions is a 350-card set released in August 2007.

# 310 SP (Padres)

DICK PEREZ SKETCHES # 23 of 30

MINI PARALLEL SP # NNO - Limited to 50-copies

TOPPS - CHROME:

# 110

# 275 (Gold Glove Award Winner)

REFRACTOR # 110 - Padres

TOPPS - HERITAGE:

# 120

TOPPS - MOMENTS & MILESTONES:

Moments & Milestones is a 193-card set, released exclusively to Hobby outlets, in April 2007...

It's one of the most bizarrely structured card-sets ever produced - each of the 169 veterans has multiple variations based on the player's statistical accomplishments, similar to a mirror insert. For example, Alex Rodriguez's 2003 AL MVP-winning season is celebrated with 47 different variations (one for each home run he hit that season) of card #27 - Like a mirror, each of the 47 cards is identical to each other, with the exception of a large numeral on the front side of the card. Each individual card is serial-numbered to 150 copies, but when all the different variations of each card are factored in, the production runs are much higher; there are a total of 7050 copies of the aforementioned card #27.

The highlight of Greg is on strikeouts - Every card is # 13 - it's estimated that there are 199 different cards commemorating this... Pass me the aspirin - I've got a headache already.

23 Strikeouts - Numbered 3/150

43 Strikeouts - Numbered 112/150

48 Strikeouts - Numbered 147/150

67 Strikeouts - Numbered 72/150

108 Strikeouts - Numbered 20/150

112 Strikeouts - Numbered 51/150

176 Strikeouts - Numbered 59/150

194 Strikeouts - Numbered 59/150

BLACK PARALLEL - 27 Strikeouts - Numbered 28/29

BLACK PARALLEL - 132 Strikeouts - Numbered 19/29

TOPPS - WALMART:

# WM-6

UPPER DECK:

# 356 (Dodgers)

UPPER DECK - FUTURE STARS:

# 77 (Padres)

UPPER DECK - GOUDEY:

This 288-card set was released in August 2007.

To mimic the look and feel of the original 1930s Goudey's, all cards measure 2 3/8" X 2 7/8" - slightly smaller than the modern-sized card - Cards numbered 201-223 feature retired greats while 224-240 are short, printed cards of some of today's biggest stars.

# 44 (Green Back - Padres)

# 44 (Red Back - Padres)

# 234 (SP)

BIG LEAGUE BAT # 44

UPPER DECK - SP AUTHENTIC:

# 41

UPPER DECK - SP ROOKIE EDITION:

# 41

UPPER DECK - SPECTRUM:

# SR-GM (Season Retro-spectrum - Padres)

2 0 0 8

BOWMAN:

# 130

TOPPS:

# 625

TOPPS - ALLEN & GINTER:

# 124 (Padres)

TOPPS - CHROME:

# 163

BLUE REFRACTOR # 163

REFRACTOR # 163

TOPPS - MOMENTS & MILESTONES:

Moments & Milestones is a 189-card set, released exclusively to Hobby outlets, in April 2007. The set follows the same "mirrored" structure of the previous year's product. Each of the 144 veterans has multiple variations based on the player's statistical accomplishments. For example, Alex Rodriguez's card #1 has 518 different variations, one for each home run he had hit coming into the 2008 season. Like a mirror, each of the 518 cards is identical to each other, with the exception of a large numeral on the front side of the card. Each individual card is serial-numbered to 150 copies, but when all the different variations of each card are factored in, the production runs are much higher -- there are a total of 77,700 copies of the aforementioned card #1. OMYGOSH!

# 8 - Numbered 14/150 (26 Career Wins/Milestone: 300 Wins)

TOPPS - OPENING DAY:

# 171

UPPER DECK:

# 182

# 738 (Season Highlights)

UPPER DECK - A PIECE OF HISTORY:

# 79

UPPER DECK - HEROES:

Upper Deck Heroes is a 200-card set released August 11th, 2008. Like the '05 set of the same name, the design of the base set is almost identical to the Baseball Heroes inserts of the early 1990s - the set is best known for the extreme, for its day, number of parallels (10).

# 145

UPPER DECK - MASTERPIECES:

Masterpieces is a 120-card set released October 1st, 2008. As with the previous year's set, all cards are original paintings and printed on a canvas-like substrate.

# 76

UPPER DECK - SP AUTHENTIC:

SP Authentic is a 180-card set released by Upper Deck October 13, 2008...

# 15

UPPER DECK - SPECTRUM:

Upper Deck Spectrum is a 145-card set released April 8th, 2008.

# 78

UPPER DECK - TIMELINE:

2008 Upper Deck Timeline is a 385-card set, released in November 2008.

# 133 (UD All-Time Heroes)

UPPER DECK - X:

Upper Deck X is a 100-card set released September 16th, 2008. Each pack contains one die-cut parallel and one XPonential insert.

# 83

GOLD DIE CUT PARALLEL # 83

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Someone needs to help me out here!

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Again - I need some help filling out these lean years when I was out of the hobby!

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TOPPS:

Topps marked the company's 60th anniversary in baseball cards, and a number of "Diamond Anniversary" themed inserts and promotions were added. Similar to the Million Card Giveaway promotion of a year before, 2011 Topps featured a Topps 60th Anniversary Diamond Card Giveaway. Randomly inserted into packs at the rate of 1:6 are code cards that, when entered, would unlock special one-of-one parallels embedded with a real diamond; Added to the Topps 60th Anniversary Diamond Card Giveaway, were redemption cards good for a diamond ring. I never pulled anything like that - even a cubic zirconium woulda been ok.

Topps 60 # T60-90

A 100-card set of legends and current stars noting the statistical category in which each places in the top 60 all-time or among active leaders. Cards 1-50 appeared in Series One, while 51-100 appeared in Series Two. An additional 50 cards appeared in 2011 Topps Update.

DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY SP VARIATION # 505-B - Cognac Diamond Parallel

NOTE: This insert was found in the Topps Update release but is considered an SP/Variation of Card # 505 (Tommy Hanson)

Don't ask...the powers-that-be do what they will. It's a beautiful card, though!

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PANINI - PRIZM:

2012 Panini Prizm Baseball marks the brand’s diamond debut. And while it took some time to really garner a lot of attention, it has emerged as one of the key 2012 issues.

# 122

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PANINI - HOMETOWN HEROES:

# 134

PINNACLE:

2013 Pinnacle is a 200-card set released by Panini America on August 15, 2013. This set marks the return of the "Pinnacle" brand name (which was inherited by Panini after their purchase of Donruss-Playoff) to baseball after a 15-year hiatus...

AWAITING THE CALL # AC-2

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PANINI - CLASSICS:

# 57

PANINI - NATIONAL TREASURES:

PRIME GAME-USED # 90 - Numbered 8/10

TOPPS:

Topps produced six different versions of their annual factory set in 2014.

The first wave of 2014 Topps factory sets were released exclusively to The Hobby the week of July 16, 2014. There were two versions of the set: one for Hobby distribution and the other to commemorate the 2014 All-Star Game in Minnesota. The Hobby set came in a red box and had a five-card pack of Orange-bordered parallel cards, each serial-numbered to 199 copies. The All-Star set had five bonus "All-Star" cards and came in a black box.

The second wave of factory sets were released to mass-market retail and Hobby outlets in November. All retail factory sets, which were in a blue box, came with five exclusive Rookie "variation" cards. The Target and Wal-Mart sets also came with one of three Refractor or Gold Refractors of Sandy Koufax (Wal-Mart; Purple Box) or Ted Williams (Target; Green Box).

Finally, Topps produced a special "1st Edition" factory set. Randomly seeded in Hobby/Jumbo boxes of 2014 Topps Series One were ten Power Players Spring Training Access Pass redemption cards good for a 1st Edition factory set. The redeemed set is a retail (Blue Box) factory set, that also included all five Rookie Variation cards. Each card, and the outside of the box, has a "1st EDITION" logo stamped on the front.

TOPPS MINI DIE CUT # TM-25

TOPPS - GYPSY QUEEN:

# 75

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 178

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PANINI ELITE:

2015 Panini Elite is a 200-card set, released the week of July 1st. This marks the first standalone Donruss/Panini Elite product in ten years.

THROWBACK THREADS # 10 (Cubs)

TOPPS:

BASEBALL ROYALTY # 11 of 25

FREE AGENT 40 # F40-8

HIGHLIGHT # H-58 (2005: 3,000th Career Strikeout)

TOPPS - GYPSY QUEEN:

# 138

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB:

# 259

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BOWMAN DRAFT:

MLB DRAFT HISTORY # MLBD GM - Chrome Refractor

DIAMOND KINGS:

DK Mini # 206

TOPPS:

100 YEARS OF WRIGLEY # WRIG-38

HALLOWED HIGHLIGHTS # HH-15

TOPPS - ALLEN & GINTER:

THE NUMBERS GAME # NG-80

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TOPPS - ALLEN & GINTER:

WHAT A DAY # WAD-61 (7.22.17: Maddux Makes Quick Work of Cubs)

TOPPS UPDATE:

UNTOUCHABLES # U-28

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DIAMOND KINGS:

JERSEY KINGS JERSEY # JK-GM

DONRUSS:

# 202 (Aces in Atlanta with Tom Glavine)

TOPPS - ALLEN & GINTER:

# 131

FANTASY GOLDMINE # FG-15

TOPPS - ARCHIVES:

# 35 (1959 Design)

TOPPS - BUNT:

# 169

TOPPS - GOLD LABEL:

Class-1 # 7

Class-2 - # 7

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB:

# 208

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DIAMOND KINGS:

2019 Diamond Kings was released by Panini April 9th. The base set is 150 cards with the last 50 short-printed, and twenty variations.

DK FLASHBACKS # DKF-GM (# 5) - Cubs

THE 300 # 300-4

HERO DECKS:

GO BRAVES!

The inside flap of this box of regulation-sized US playing cards says: www.HeroDecks.com - Hero Decks and Baseball Heroes are trademarks of Parody Productions LLC."

"The Atlanta Baseball Hero Deck playing cards for Atlanta Braves fans feature fifty-two of the greatest players by position and era in Atlanta Braves baseball history. Thoughtfully organized by position using baseball numerology, the face of each playing card is colorfully illustrated with a different hero ... this deck is sure to be a HOME RUN with Braves fans of all ages!"

I ran across this box of 52 cards while searching for Braves memorabilia one afternoon. Cool!

The box contains charactered cards of all of my Braves heroes and will remain one of my all-time favorite collectibles. My only complaint? They've put my boy Maddog on the Queen of Hearts. What's THAT about???! I hope it indicates the heartbreaking anxiety batters felt when they tried to figure out where his pitches were going...

QUEEN OF HEARTS - Greg "Mad Dog" Maddux: 1993-2003

PANINI - LEATHER & LUMBER:

LIFE ON THE EDGE # LOE-5

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DONRUSS:

Retro 1987 # 261

EAST COAST TROPHIES & AWARDS:

This is the Hall of Fame Induction Postcards Plaque featuring the 3 Atlanta Braves icons that now hangs proudly in my office/sports memorabilia room.

HALL OF FAME HURLERS: Greg Maddux // Tom Glavine // John Smoltz (Braves All-Star Pitchers)

PANINI - MOSAIC:

FIELD VISION # FV4

TOPPS - ALLEN & GINTER:

# 7 (Braves)

MINI A&G BACK Parallel # 7

TOPPS - ARCHIVES:

MOVIE POSTER CARDS # MPC-4 - The Big Three: Maddux/Smoltz/Glavine)

TOPPS UPDATE:

1986 TOPPS BASEBALL # 86B-41

70 YEARS OF TOPPS # 70YT-1 (Strike)

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TOPPS:

Similar to previous year's promotions, Topps Baseball Chrome Refractors is a 100-card set distributed as premiums at participating Hobby stores. Each card is a Chrome "Tire Tread" Refractor done in the style of the 1987 Topps set, but it is NOT a parallel of the 1987 inserts seeded in packs. Collectors who purchase a full Hobby box will receive a four-card pack and those buying a Jumbo box will receive two packs. Randomly seeded in packs are "colored" Refractors and autographs, also done in the "Tire Tread" pattern

1987 TOPPS BASEBALL CHROME REFRACTOR # T87C-83

TOPPS ALLEN & GINTER:

# 40 (Cubs)

BANNER SEASON # BS-26

PITCHING A GEM # PAG-1

TOPPS - ALLEN & GINTER CHROME:

# 40

MINI REFRACTOR Parallel # 40

REFRACTOR Parallel # 40

TOPPS - ARCHIVES:

# 86

TOPPS CHROME - PLATINUM ANNIVERSARY:

# 64

TOPPS - FINEST FLASHBACKS:

2022 Finest Flashbacks is a 220-card set released exclusive on topps.com. The set is done in the style of the '95 Finest set.

The 2022 edition is not structured exactly like the 1995 Finest set. (95 Finest was 330 cards, 22 Flashbacks is only 220) Then again, 1995 Finest was released in two series of 220 and 110 cards. Also, unlike 1995, the last 20 cards are short printed ... for some reason.

FLAME THROWERS # FT-6 (Braves)

TOPPS - GALLERY:

# 167

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB:

# 210

RED FOIL Parallel # 210

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB CHROME:

# 210

RED FOIL Parallel # 210

TROPHY HUNTERS # RL-27

Trophy Hunters is meant to evoke the Ring Leaders insert from the '95 Stadium Club set - whereas, the 1995 Ring Leaders were printed on matrix foil, the Trophy Hunters are on chromium stock.

It's estimated that 7075 copies of each Trophy Hunters and 375 of each Trophy Hunters Wave Refractor were produced.

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DONRUSS:

# 154

CAROLINA BLUE HOLO PARALLEL # 154

MARVELS RAPTURE # M6 (Braves)

ORANGE HOLO PARALLEL # 154

PRESIDENTIAL COLLECTION PARALLEL # 154 - Numbered 11/46

LEAF - IN THE GAME USED SPORTS:

LEGENDARY LOCKER ROOM JERSEYS # LR-7 - Numbered 41/45

Maddux/Randy Johnson/Pedro Martinez/Roger Clemens/Tom Glavine/Dwight Gooden

PRIZM:

# 287 (Braves)

TOPPS:

ONE-TWO PUNCH # 12P-20 (Maddux/John Smoltz - Braves)

TOPPS ALLEN & GINTER:

# 160

MINI PARALLEL # 160

SPOTLESS SPANS # SS-16

TOPPS - ARCHIVES:

# 6 (Braves)

1989 DOUBLEHEADERS # DH-24 - Greg Maddux/John Smoltz - Braves

TOPPS - TRIBUTE:

# 76

TOPPS - UPDATE:

# 88US-14 (35th Anniversary)