MY GREG MADDUX COLLECTION

PAGE - 1

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.

- 20 -

Greg Maddux made his big-league debut on September 2, 1986...

about five months after turning twenty-years old...

the youngest player in the majors in 1986.

1986 STATS: CUBS

WON-2 // LOST-4 // ERA-5.52

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 9 8 7

DONRUSS:

# 36 - Rated Rookie

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.

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.

DONRUSS - THE ROOKIES:

1987 Donruss The Rookies is a 56-card boxed set released exclusively to Hobby dealers in a small green and black box. The design on the set is identical to the '97 Donruss regular issue except for the presence of "The Rookies" logo in the lower left corner and a green border instead of a black border.

# 52

FLEER - UPDATE:

# U-68

# U-68 - Slabbed & Graded Mint-9 by PSA Sports Authenticators

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:

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

TEAM PREVIEW # 22 of 26 - CUBS

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)

1987 STATS: CUBS

WON-6 // LOST-14 // ERA-5.61

1 9 8 8

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:

Sold exclusively in large national retail chains - Cards are very similar in design to the '88 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

1988 STATS - CUBS:

WON-18 // LOST-8 // ERA-3.18

All-Star

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!

CADACO DISCS:

The Cadaco discs made their debut at the tail end of the '80s, in 1989 - the 3½" yellow discs were part of the Cadaco All-Star Baseball game, which had been around since the 1940s - but 1989 was the first time the discs contained an image of the player. A license with the Player's Association allowed for the images, but no MLB license was obtained, so team logos were airbrushed out - These were unnumbered, coaster-sized discs.

The 1989 release included 63 players, four of which were Cubs.

A young Greg Maddux was one of the Cubs.

Because he is a pitcher, there are no game numbers around the outside of the disc. Those are only found on batter's discs.

Also, don't let the 1988 copyright date on the discs fool you. These have always been known as a 1989 release.

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:

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

DONRUSS - BASEBALL'S BEST:

Sold exclusively as a factory set through various mass market retail chains, the design is identical to that of the '89 Donruss set, except the fronts are green and yellow and the backs feature career highlight information.

# 37

FLEER:

# 431

FOR THE RECORD # 5 of 6

SCORE:

# 39 - Young Superstars (Series 1)

# 119

SPORTFLICS:

# 108

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.

For the record, Maddux looks like a 14-year-old kid in this one...

# 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

1989 STATS: CUBS

WON-19 // LOST-12 // ERA-2.95

1 9 9 0

BOWMAN:

# 27

CLASSIC:

UPDATE RED # T32

DONRUSS:

# 158

FLEER:

# 37

KENNER:

Greg's Rookie Year 1987 Starting Lineup card (NNO) - Traded for this elusive gem w/TB member Jack Downs...

Still looking for the action figure!

LEAF:

# 25

# 25 - Slabbed & Graded "8" by Beckett

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

CARD # 20 - FAMOUS FIVE:

Greg Maddux

Jeff Hirsch

Mike Harkey

Shawn Boskie

Jeff Pico

With the exception of the then-toothpick thin Greg in this photo, calling this shot the "famous five" is a joke, right?

Looking back, it could easily be named FAMOUS ONE + 4 WANNA-BE'S - In future Peoria Chief reunions, these other four guys would fall under the category "What Ever Happened To..."

SCORE:

# 403

TOPPS:

# 715

UPPER DECK:

# 213

1990 STATS: CUBS

WON-15 // LOST-15 // ERA- 3.46

Gold Glove

1 9 9 1

BASEBALL CARD MAGAZINE:

'66 TOPPS REPLICAS # 25 (Cubs)

BOWMAN:

# 426

DONRUSS:

# 374

FLEER:

# 426

FLEER -ULTRA:

# 64

LEAF:

# 127

MARATHON OIL:

This over-sized (2 7/8" x 4 1/4") was distributed by The Marathon Petroleum Company...

# NNO

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

1991 STATS: CUBS

WON-15 // LOST-11 // ERA-3.35

GOLD GLOVE

1 9 9 2

BOWMAN:

# 148

CLASSIC:

GAME SERIES # 30

Only 125,000 Classic Trivia board games were produced.

DONRUSS:

# 520

DONRUSS - STUDIO:

# 15

DONRUSS - TRIPLE PLAY:

# 19

FLEER:

# 386

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 178

GOLD GLOVE # 24 of 25

LEAF:

# 294

GOLD EDITION Parallel # 294

O-PEE-CHEE:

'92 O-Pee-Chee 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:

# 77 (90's Impact Player)

# 269

TOPPS:

# 580

GOLD WINNER PARALLEL # 580

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB:

# 665

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB MEMBER'S ONLY:

1992 Stadium Club Members Only is a 50-card multi-sport set sent to 1992 Stadium Club members in four installments. The first two installments featured baseball players exclusively, but the third and fourth installments included hockey and football players in addition to baseball players.

The design is identical to that of the '92 Stadium Club set, but with the words "Members Only" printed in gold foil at the bottom.

In addition to the Stadium Club cards, the first installment included a randomly chosen "Master Photo" printed on 5" X 7" white card stock.

# 6 - Installment-3 (Scoreboard)

UPPER DECK:

# 353

1992 STATS: CUBS

WON-20 // LOST-11 // ERA: 2.18

Cy Young Award # 1 - Gold Glove

Prior to the '93 season, Maddux is traded to the Braves...

marking the beginning of the Big-3 rotation in Atlanta...

1 9 9 3

BEN'S BAKERY - 1993 COLLECTOR'S EDITION DISC:

Each disc measured 2 3/4"...

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 (Mad Dog)

CARTWRIGHT'S:

This was a 9-Card set - The base cards have gold foil, and the only parallel set features blue foil...have the blue...searching for the base! - Print run of 22,500.

PLAYER'S CHOICE BLUE FOIL Parallel # 3 of 9

CLASSIC - TRADED:

# T58

DONRUSS:

# 608 (Series 2)

DONRUSS/LEAF - STUDIO:

# 196

DONRUSS - TRIPLE PLAY:

GALLERY OF STARS # 4 of 10

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 - FLAIR:

# 7

# 298 (Checklist)

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:

Score consists of 660 cards released in March 1993. 93 Score 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.

After two years as a multiple series product, 93 Score was back to a single series and back to a 660 -card set. This was also the first year Score was not issued as a factory set.

Subsets include: Award Winners (481-486), Draft Picks (487-501), All-Star Caricatures (502-512 [AL], 522-531 [NL]), Highlights (513-519), World Series Highlights (520-521) and Dream Team (532-542).

# 484 (Award Winner)

# 527 (National League All-Star Team Caricatures Subset)

# 576

SCORE - SELECT:

# 31

SELECT STAT LEADERS # 66 of 90 - (NL Complete Games Leaders w/John Smoltz)

SELECT STAT LEADERS # 78 of 90 - (NL Strikeout Leaders)

SELECT STAT LEADERS # 84 of 90 - (NL ERA Leaders)

SELECT STAT LEADERS # 88 of 90 - (Wins Leaders w/Tom Glavine)

SCORE SELECT - ROOKIE TRADED:

# 123T

SPORTS CARDS MAGAZINE:

# SC-75

TOPPS:

# 183

GOLD PARALLEL # 183

# 409 (1992 All-Stars with Roger Clemens)

BLACK GOLD CARDS:

# 12

Group A & B Winner Card

Group B Winner Card

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)

# 750 (Member's Choice Subset - Series 3: Maddux Wins 2nd Consecutive Cy Young)

MASTER PHOTO REDEMPTION CARD

This is just the redemption - NOT the oversized card - I need that one!

Master Photo is a 30-card, oversize set featuring uncropped versions of the base cards. Each Master Photo is inlaid in a 5" by 7" white frame and bordered with a prismatic foil trim.

The Master Photos were made available two ways. First, redemption cards good for a group of three Master Photos were seeded into packs at the rate of 1:24. The fronts of the redemption cards feature a 2.5" X 3.5" version of a Master Photo, and exist for all 30 cards in the set. Second, each hobby box contained one Master Photo as a box topper. There are 12 Master Photos in the first two series and six in Series Three.

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.

TEAM BRAVES # 18

TOPPS TRADED:

# 54T

UPPER DECK:

# 472 (National League Team Stars - Strike Force w/Steve Avery, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine)

# 488 (Award Winner -1992 Cy Young)

# 535

UPPER DECK - FUN PACKS:

# 65

UPPER DECK - SP:

# 59

U.S PLAYING CARD COMPANY:

BASEBALL ACES - King of Spades

1993 STATS: BRAVES

WON-20 // LOST-10 // ERA-2.36

Cy Young Award # 2 - Gold Glove

1 9 9 4

BOWMAN:

# 245

CHURCH'S CHICKEN (Pinnacle)

Church's Hometown Stars is a 28-card set (one card per MLB team) produced by Pinnacle Brands. Collectors who purchased a nine-piece family meal during the months of April and May, 1994 would get a pack of four cards for free. Collectors could also get a pack for $0.69 with any other fried chicken order.

Each pack contained three regular cards and one gold parallel card. Despite being produced by Pinnacle Brands (at the time a licensee), this set is not licensed by MLB Properties and all MLB trademarks are airbrushed. A portion of the proceeds from card sales went to Habitat for Humanity.

# 4 of 28

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 - STUDIO:

# 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.

DONRUSS - TRIPLE PLAY:

# 46

PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE PARALLEL # 10 of 10

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.

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)

SMOKE N HEAT # 7 of 12

FLEER - FLAIR:

# 130

FLEER - SUNOCO:

Packs of five cards were available to customers that purchased fuel at participating Sunoco and Atlantic gas stations.

# 16 of 25

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:

'94 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

SILVER PRISM # 30 (Retail Circular Background)

There are two different versions of the Silver Prisms.

Cards inserted into Hobby packs have a triangular background while retail cards have circular backgrounds. Triangular cards are limited (but not serial-numbered) to 8000 copies.

PANINI STICKERS:

# 147

PINNACLE:

# 11 (NL Cy Young Award)

MUSEUM COLLECTION PARALLEL # 11

TRIBUTE # TR12

PINNACLE - NATURALS:

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

PINNACLE/SCORE - TOMBSTONE PIZZA:

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 (1993 Cy Young Award)

PINNACLE - SPORTFLICS 2000:

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)

JUMBO BOX TOPPER # NNO

These not-so-little gems topped each box of Sportflics 2000 - they're roughly 5 1/2 inches x 2 1/2, an oversized partial-parallel

of the regular base cards from the set (in this case # 53), while the back is completely blank - I wasn't lucky enough to pull this from the several boxes I bought over the years but was sent to me as a "surprise" by my friend & Trading Bases vet, Pete Pianelli in April 2025 - a GREAT oddball!

(The card...not Pete :-)

SCORE:

# 524

# 634 (NL Cy Young Award)

GOLD RUSH PARALLEL # 634 (NL Cy Young Award)

TOPPS:

# 499

GOLD PARALLEL # 392 (1993 Topps All-Stars with Jack McDowell // White Sox)

TOPPS FINEST:

# 209

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

A 720-card set released in three series of 270, 270 and 180 cards, respectively. In an effort to appeal to a younger "extreme" demographic, the design of Stadium Club underwent a radical design overhaul.

There are a number of subsets including Home Run Club (258-268), Tale of Two Players (525/526), Division Leaders (527-532), Quick Starts (533-538), Career Contributors (541-543), Rookie Rocker/Rocket (626-634) and Fantastic Finishes (714-719).

# 544

# 716 (Fantastic Finishers - from Series 3)

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB TEAM:

Stadium Club Team is a 360-card set featuring 30 players from 12 selected teams.

# 31

TOPPS - TRADED:

FINEST MVP'S # 1 of 8

UPPER DECK:

# 320

ELECTRIC DIAMOND PARALLEL # 320

UPPER DECK - COLLECTOR'S CHOICE:

# 183

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 183

UPPER DECK - FUN PACKS:

# 131

# 184 (Stand Outs)

# 207 (Headline Stars w/Roger Clemens)

NOTE: In later years, Headline Stars might have been considered an insert - it has cool stats, and opens up to reveal a holo picture of Maddux & Clemens, two Texas boys who were the same in their masterful techniques in collecting Cy Youngs, and yet different in their approach to the game. One cool card!

UPPER DECK - SP:

# 54

DIECUT PARALLEL # 54

US PLAYING CARD COMPANY:

8 of Spades

1994 STATS: BRAVES

WON-16 // LOST-6 // ERA-1.56

Cy Young Award # 3 - Gold Glove

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)

BOWMAN:

# 406

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 15 (Red Set)

DENNY'S RESTAURANT:

Denny's Holograms is a 28-card set of holographic cards produced by Upper Deck and features a star player from each of the

28 Major League baseball teams. With each order of a "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 (Series-2)

MOUND MARVELS # One of Eight

DONRUSS - STUDIO:

# 6

GOLD PARALLEL # 6 of 25

PLATINUM PARALLEL # 6 of 25

FLEER:

# 311

All STARS # 9 of 25 (with Jimmy Key // Yankees)

AWARD WINNER # 4 of 6

DIAMOND TRIBUTES # 8 of 10

HEADLINER # 13 of 20

LEAGUE LEADER # 9 of 10 (NL Victories with 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.

# 105

HOT NUMBERS # 6 of 10

FLEER/ SKYBOX - E-MOTION:

E-motion 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

GOLD MEDALLION PARALLEL # 129

ALL STAR # 12 of 20

AWARD WINNER # 18 of 25 - (Top Glove)

AWARD WINNER - GOLD MEDALLION PARALLEL # 18 of 25 (Top Glove)

AWARD WINNER # 22 of 25 (NL Pitcher of the Year)

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:

Pacific Prism was a 144-card set.

Each 2-card pack contained one Prism base card and either a checklist or a team logo card.

Only 2999 20-box cases were produced, and it's estimated that only 15,000 copies of each card were produced.

Oddly, while billed as "Series 1" on the wrappers and display boxes, a second series never materialized.

# 4

PANINI STICKERS (Fleer):

# 6

PINNACLE:

# 244

MUSEUM COLLECTION PARALLEL # 244

RED HOT # RH 12

TEAM PINNACLE # TP-1 (with Mike Mussina // Orioles on the 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:

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 // Yankees)

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)

TICKET STUB:

Wednesday Night - September 20, 1995 - Braves vs. Mets @ Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium...

The Braves (85-50) were well on their way to face the Indians in the Fall Classic as they welcomed the Mets (63-71), and Teri and I took my mom to help make up the 29,506 fans in attendance...

We didn't get to see Greg pitch (but we DID get some autographs & over-priced refreshments, as well as stocked up on some new foam tomahawks), but did get to watch Smoltzie battle against Jason Isringhausen.

Great memories - even though our boys lost...

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.

I suppose this could be referred to as "The Birth of the Gimmick Cards"?

LEAGUE LEADERS # LL24 of 25 - (NL Strikeout Leader)

TOPPS - EMBOSSED:

# 109

TOPPS - FINEST:

# 213

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 40

# 425

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS MASTER PHOTOS:

Collectors who redeemed the 1994 Super Team cards of the two 1995 World Series participants (Braves and Indians) would receive -- in addition to a Division Winner Team Set -- a ten-card Master Photo team set. Similar to the Master Photo cards of the early 90s, each card measures 3" X 5" and features a reprint of a 1995 Stadium Club base card on a blue background. Each card is also foil-stamped with the ALCS or NLCS logo.

# 7 of 20

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

ELECTRIC DIAMOND PARALLEL # 49

# 101 (90's mid-point Analysis)

ELECTRIC DIAMOND PARALLEL # 101 (90's mid-point Analysis)

PREDICTOR # H-27 - (Award Winner Redeemed Card)

SPECIAL EDITION - Checklist A: # 3 of 5 (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 - NL Cy Young)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 67 (Leaders/Highlights - NL CY Young)

UPPER DECK COLLECTOR'S CHOICE - SPECIAL EDITION:

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)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 60 (All-Star)

# 142 - Stat Leaders (Stat Leaders: ERA)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 142 (Stat Leaders: ERA)

# 249 (Fantasy Team)

SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL # 249 (Fantasy Team)

UPPER DECK SP:

# 31

UPPER DECK SP - CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES:

95 SP Championship Series is a 200-card set with a postseason theme.

Exclusive to mass-market retail outlets in August of 1995, SP Championship was conceived to be the retail counterpart

to the Hobby only SP brand. Subsets include Diamonds in the Rough (1-20), October Legends (100-114) and Major League Profiles (scattered).

DIECUT PARALLEL # 25

1995 STATS: BRAVES

WON-19 // LOST-2 // ERA-1.56

Cy Young Award # 4 - Gold Glove

1 9 9 6

BAZOOKA:

# 79

BOWMAN:

# 67

FOIL PARALLEL # 67

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 85

PREVIEW PROMO PARALLEL # BBP 14

MIRROR IMAGE REFRACTOR # 9 (w/Jamey Wright-Rockies // Mike Mussina-Orioles // Bartolo Colon-Indians)

CHRIS MARTIN ENTERPRISES - PRO MAGNETS:

Throughout the 90’s Chris Martin Enterprises, Inc. produced a bunch of gimmicky licensed sports products...

Stamps, dog tags, and refrigerator magnets were just some of the items they produced.

PRO MAGNET ALL-STARS # SS 2

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):

Breakfast? A burger & fries? And a ball card of Maddux? SIGN ME UP!

# 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

# 394 - PRESS PROOF PARALLEL

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.

PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE PARALLEL of # 394:

This eight-card set was issued to preview the set prior to release. These promos featured the same design as the base cards but had "PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE" stamped diagonally across the front and back of the card.

# 8 of 8

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.

FLEER:

# 299

CHECKLIST # 4 of 10

GOLDEN MEMORIES # 3 of 10

ROAD WARRIORS # 3 of 10

SMOKE N HEAT # 6 of 10

TEAM LEADERS # 15 of 28

FLEER - FLAIR:

Flair was a 400-card set released in July 1996.

In a twist, all 400 base cards were printed on either gold or silver-foil; thus, each player had a gold and silver variation of their base card. However, unlike a traditional parallel, half the total production run was in silver, the other half gold so there was no difference in scarcity between the variations.

# 205

DIAMOND CUTS # 6 of 12

FLEER/SKYBOX - CIRCA:

# 105

FLEER/SKYBOX - EMOTION XL:

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/SKYBOX - METAL UNIVERSE:

Metal Universe was a 250-card single-series set released by Fleer/Skybox in the summer of 1996.

This set marked the inaugural year of the Metal brand in baseball and distinguished itself from all other products in the Hobby by utilizing unique artwork and design for each card. Specifically, all cards were printed on colored, etched foil that combined outer space and fantasy comic book elements to create a background that complimented or even "interacted" with the player photo - thus, no two card backgrounds were the same. Due to the etched foil finish, all base cards were highly susceptible to chipping along the edges and were marked as "condition sensitive" by Beckett.

Fleer/Skybox was owned by Marvel Entertainment at the time and many of the famed comic book publisher's artists (who are credited on the reverse side of each base card) were involved in the design of the set, giving Metal Universe its trademark look.

# 134

PLATINUM EDITION PARALLEL # 134

All 250 base cards are available in a one-per-pack Platinum Edition parallel. Each player's Platinum Edition featured the same base set background design on silver, (not platinum) etched foil.

TITANIUM # 5 of 10

FLEER - TEAM SETS:

To compete with team sets produced by Donruss and Score, Fleer released team sets in 1996.

The cards are identical to the '96 Fleer cards except they contain silver foil on the front and are numbered X out of 20 on the back - each team set contained 20 cards and were released in 10 cards packs in team-specific boxes.

# 11 of 20

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 160

# 585 (Ultra Stars)

CALL TO THE HALL # 5 of 10 (Series-2)

CHECKLIST # 8 of 10

DIAMOND PRODUCERS # 5 of 12 (Series-2)

RAWHIDE # 6 of 10 (Series-2)

SEASON CROWNS # 5 of 10 (Series-2)

FLEER UPDATE:

# U-232 (Encore)

SOARING STAR # 6 of 10

SMOOTH LEATHER # 6 0f 10

TIFFANY PARALLEL # U-232 (Encore)

Similar to the base set, every base card was also available in a "Tiffany" parallel...

Tiffany cards had a glossy finish (in contrast to the matte-finished base card) and a silver holographic foil nameplate.

K.R.S.I. 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 them.

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.

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 emphasis by card companies during this time period.

# 48 (Checklist with Randy Johnson - Mariners 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.

MVP CONTENDER # 19 of 20

This 20-card set featured possible contenders for the MVP at the 1996 All-Star Game held in Philadelphia.

If the player on the front of the card won the MVP Award (which turned out to be Mike Piazza), the holder could send it in for a Gold MVP Contenders set. (Unlike the '94 set, none of the gold sets are serial numbered.)

The backs of each card had instructions on how to redeem the card. The Piazza card when returned with the redemption set had a hole in it to indicate the set had been redeemed.

Curiously, the backs of the gold cards have the same information on how to redeem winning cards.

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 (DONRUSS) - STUDIO:

1996 Studio is a 150-card set, released in August 1996. After the "credit card" fiasco of '95 Studio, this edition went back to a design that was more in-line with previous Studio sets...

This was the first Donruss-branded card set released after the firm's acquisition by Pinnacle Brands.

# 18

# 18 - BRONZE PRESS PROOF PARALLEL

STAINED GLASS STARS # 4 of 12

PACIFIC:

# 6

# 18

GOLD CROWN DIE CUTS # DC-28

HOMETOWN OF THE PLAYERS # HP-2

OCTOBER MOMENTS # OM 13

PACIFIC - PRISM:

# P 6

# P 6 GOLD PARALEL # P6

PANINI STICKERS:

# 4

# 118

PINNACLE:

# 1

# 1 STARBURST PARALLEL # 1 of 100

# 254 (Hardball Heroes)

# 254 - FOIL PARALLEL (Hardball Heroes)

# 254 - STARBURST PARALLEL (Hardball Heroes)

# 397 (NL Checklist)

TEAM SPIRIT # TS 1 of 12

PINNACLE AFICIONADO:

Released in August 1996, this 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)

MAGIC NUMBERS # 2 of 10

MAGIC NUMBERS SAMPLE # 2 of 10

This 10-card set highlighted some of the top players in the game and compared them to 10 retired stars from the past that shared the same jersey number. All cards were printed on actual maple wood.

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

# 137 (Pastime Power)

PINNACLE - SPORTFLICS:

# 8

# 45

# 143 (NL Checklist)

PINNACLE - SUMMIT:

Summit was a 200-card, single-series, set produced by Pinnacle Brands and released in July 1996.

Their slogan on the box read "Half The Battle Is Knowing What to Collect...Pinnacle."

The BIG BANG MIRAGE insert set was touted as "the first-ever floating hologram" card - it encouraged buyers to "Tilt the

Mirage card into the light to witness a holographic image floating off the card...You've never seen anything like it!"

I say, "Big Bang? BIG DEAL" - pitchers like Greg weren't included in the set, so miss me with that!

# 91

# 199 (Common Card Checklist)

# 199 (Common Card Checklist) - ABOVE & BEYOND PARALLEL - 2.880 COPIES PRODUCED

PINNACLE - ZENITH:

# 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.

PIZZA HUT GIVEAWAY:

27" BAT & BALL SET:

Always on the lookout for "oddball" items, and this is pretty cool - brand new (at the time), never opened, this is a 27-inch foam bat, with a 3-inch foam baseball.

There were 4 bats in the set: Mo Vaughn, Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, and Ken Griffey Jr.

There were also 4 balls: Orel Hershiser, Randy Johnson, David Cone, and Greg Maddux.

Each set has two mini cards featuring the players - in my case, Griffey & Maddux - Griffey is depicted on the bat, and The Professor is on the ball - They were NOT giveaways, really - each item costs around $9.95, if I remember right...

SCORE:

# 194 (Radar Rating)

# 275 (Chase Program Checklist - 7 of 7 with Albert Belle // White Sox)

# 275 (NL Checklist - 7 of 7)

SERIES-2:

# 276

# 276 DUGOUT COLLECTION PARALLEL # 1 of 110

Dugout collection is a 220-card partial-parallel (110 cards in each series) with each card printed on copper-colored foil stock. A "Dugout Collection '96" logo is watermarked on the back. There is also a "Artist's Proof" parallel available with the words "ARTIST'S PROOF" printed inside a ring on the front.

Unfortunately, both series of cards are sequentially-numbered "X of 110." The only way to differentiate between the two series is looking at the copyright date on the reverse side. Series One cards have a 1995 copyright, while Series Two are dated 1996.

# 515 (NL Checklist 5 of 7)

DREAM TEAM # 9 of 9

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 By Tony Gwynn # NL-4

TOPPS CHROME:

# 125

MASTER OF THE GAME # MG19

MASTER OF THE GAME REFRACTOR # MG19

STAR POWER # 3

TOPPS FINEST:

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.

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...

A Doctor named 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)

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

TOPPS - GALLERY:

# 145 (The Masters)

TOPPS - LASER:

# 121

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 132

# 245 (Series 2 / Team TSC - Blue TSC)

# 245 (Series-2 /Team TSC - Purple TSC)

Team TSC cards were slightly short-printed

EXTREME PLAYER WINNER - BRONZE # EW 1

EXTREME PLAYER WINNER - G O L D # EW 1

This 180-card partial-parallel set was part of a contest. 18 players (nine in each series) from ten different positions (the eight fielding positions plus a starting pitcher and a reliever) were selected and at the conclusion of the 1996 regular season, an "Extreme Player" from each position was identified as a winner based on a statistical formula. (The ten winning players are noted with a "W" below.) Collectors could then mail back any winning Extreme Player cards they had and redeem it for a prize (see below).

Each card is available in three colors, based on the foil-stamp on the front of the card.

Bronze
Silver
Gold

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:

# 6 (Stat Leaders with Mike Mussina/Orioles)

# 8 (Stat Leaders with Randy Johnson)

# 40 (All-Star)

# 40 SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL (All-Star)

# 268 (Fantasy Team)

# 396 (Team Checklist)

*** # 396 (Team Checklist w/ Braves logo also printed in silver foil)

# 709 (Award Winner - 1995 CY Young)

# 709 SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL (Award Winner)

# 754 (Checklist)

# 754 SILVER SIGNATURE PARALLEL (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-A (S T R I K E O U T)

# 22-1B (S I N G L E)

UPPER DECK - SP:

# 25

MARQUEE MATCHUPS # MM 10

UPPER DECK - SPx:

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 - BASE SILVER

# 1 - GOLD PARALLEL

1996 STATS: BRAVES

WON-15 // LOST-11 // ERA- 2.72

Gold Glove

1 9 9 7

BOWMAN:

# 256

BOWMAN'S - BEST:

# 40

DONRUSS:

# 7

# 423 (King of the Hill)

# 423 - SILVER PRESS PROOF PARALLEL

# 449 (Checklist)

# 449 - GOLD PRESS PROOF PARALLEL

DONRUSS - ELITE:

# 4

# 4 - ELITE GOLD STARS PARALLEL

DONRUSS - LIMITED:

# 2 COUNTERPARTS (With David Cone - Yankees)

DONRUSS - PREFERRED:

This 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.

# 6 - PLATINUM

# 196 BRONZE (NATIONAL TREASURES)

DONRUSS - SIGNATURE SERIES:

# 8

DONRUSS - STUDIOS:

# 88

# 88 - GOLD PRESS PROOF PARALLEL

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

8 x 10 STUDIO PORTRAITS:

Each pack contained one 8 X 10 "Portrait." The 24-card set is, essentially, an over-sized partial parallel.

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.

Braves # 16

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.

FLEER:

# 263

# 707 (Encore)

# 722 (Braves Checklist)

GOUDEY GREATS:

Foreshadowing future "throwback" sets by Fleer (and others), this 15-card set featured some of the top players in the game on a card design that resembled the 1933 Goudey (R-319) set.

Like the originals, each card measured 2 3/8" X 2 7/8".

This set was also available in a gold foil-stamped parallel.

HEADLINERS # 11 of 20

SOARING STARS:

VERSION-1 # 8 of 12

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.

FLEER - FLAIR SHOWCASE:

'97 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 - 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 - CIRCA:

# 337

# 400 (Checklist)

BOSS # 11 of 20

LIMITED ACCESS # 9 of 15 (Stat Cruncher)

FLEER/SKYBOX - EX-2000:

# 57

HALL OR NOTHING # 12 of 20 (Copper)

FLEER/SKYBOX - METAL UNIVERSE:

# 33

TITANIUM DIECUT# 5 of 10

FLEER - ULTRA:

# 157

GOLD MEDALLION PARALLEL # G-157

CHECKLIST # 4 of 10

DOUBLE TROUBLE # 11 of 20 (with Chipper Jones - Braves)

TOP 30 # 7 of 30

TOP 30 - GOLD MEDALLION PARALLEL # 7 of 30

LEAF:

# 85

# 351 (Legacy)

# 372 (Gamers)

DRESSED FOR SUCCESS - Numbered 1645/3500

PACIFIC:

# 240

CARD SUPIALS # 24 of 36 (with Andruw Jones - Braves)

PACIFIC PRISM - INVINCIBLE:

# 82

Each pack contained two Gems of the Diamond "inserts," the purpose of which was to protect the die-cut cel "window" of the Prism base card. Of course, since this set is larger than the base set, you could make an argument that Gems of the Diamond is Prism's "real" base set.

GEMS OF THE DIAMOND # GD-113

PINNACLE:

# 189 (Clout)

PINNACLE - CERTIFIED:

Renamed from "Select Certified," 1997 Pinnacle Certified was a 150-card set released in the summer of 1997.

# 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. Don't know why he was so antsy - just a year or so later, he quit the hobby completely...

# 16

DUELING DUGOUTS # 15 of 20 (with Roger Clemens - Red Sox)

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...but now it seems appropriate.

PINNACLE - MINT:

1997 seemed to be the year of the gimmick for Pinnacle - first the cans, now these coins...

This was a 30-card/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...there's that word again)

the company introduced into the hobby.

But while Dufex technology, and press plates and cards inside a can 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/No Hole)

# 30 - NICKEL/SILVER COIN

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.

# 3

# 3 - MUSEUM PARALLEL

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.

# 3 - LOW SERIES BLUE SP

# 3 - SAMPLE PARALLEL (Exactly like the # 23 base, but numbered differently)

It is unclear exactly how many sample cards were made.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE # 2 of 25 (with Andy Pettitte - Yankees)

PINNACLE - XPRESS:

# 9

# 149 (Checklist)

PINNACLE ZENITH:

# 8

Each pack of 1997 Zenith had two over-sized cards, which partially paralleled 24 cards in the base set. One card is printed on glossy cardboard, the other on Dufex.

# 6 of 24 - 8 x 10

# 6 of 24 - 8 x 10 DUFEX

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

# 215 - ARTIST'S PROOF HOLO-WAVE PARALLEL

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

# 215 - PREMIUM STOCK/HOBBY RESERVE PARALLEL

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.

# 520 (Rock and Fire)

# 520 - SHOWCASE SERIES PARALLEL (Rock and Fire)

SCORE - REGIONAL TEAM:

# 12 of 15 (Parallel to Score # 215 - Braves Team)

SPORTS ILLUSTRATED:

# 75

# 173 (Classic Covers: The Greatest Pitcher You'll Ever See)

STARTING LINEUP:

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

Once again - THIS IS NOT A DOLL!

TOPPS:

# 130

HOBBY MASTERS # HM-3

TOPPS - CHROME:

# 49

TOPPS - GALLERY:

# 26

TOPPS STADIUM CLUB:

# 196

TOPPS - STADIUM CLUB MEMBERS ONLY:

# 32

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)

#263 (World Series)

# 302

# 302 - AUTOGRAPHED CARD

A surprise Christmas present from my wife, Teri - she loved "busting packs" almost as much as I did, and when she pulled this

base card of my favorite player (she loved Chipper), 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.

S U R P R I S E!

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 ATTRACTIONS # 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 # B-4 of 10

(These "B" cards were bronze-foiled & 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.

# AB 12 BRAVES (Parallel to CC # 266)

UPPER DECK SP:

# 23

# 23 COPPER PARALLEL

INSIDE INFO # 6 (One of my favorite Maddux cards!)

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

# SPx 7 SILVER PARALLEL

# SPx 7 STEEL PARALLEL

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.)

# 31 (Pro Motion)

WHEATIES CEREAL (UPPER DECK) ALL-STARS:

I cut this "mini" card (2" x 3-5/16") from a Wheaties box I got at Walmart during one of our shopping days - it's unnumbered but

is generally considered to be # 2 in this set (I have others listed on my '97 trade page).

WHITE ROSE - LIMITED EDITION: 1997 BRAVES TEAM COLLECTIBLES:

8th in a series of collectible models made for Major League Baseball...From York, Pennsylvania, comes that year's Matchbox team vehicle (a gold Plymouth Prowler car!).

# MLB97 - 15 Braves

1997 STATS: BRAVES

WON-19 // LOST-4 // ERA-2.20

Gold Glove

1 9 9 8

BOWMAN:

# 16

INTERNATIONAL PARALLEL # 16

BOWMAN'S BEST:

# 60

BOWMAN CHROME:

# 16

INTERNATIONAL PARALLEL # 16

DONRUSS + DONRUSS UPDATE:

Sadly, this year's release was the final Donruss set issued in the 90s, ending an eighteen-year run dating back to 1981.

Donruss was a 420-card set released in two series of 170 and 250 cards, respectively - its smallest base set of the decade. Similar to the previous year, the second series was officially known as Donruss Update but with these cards being sequentially numbered as a continuation of Series One, Donruss Update is considered part of the overall 1998 base set.

There were five subsets.

Fan Club (156-165)
Hit List (346-375)
The Untouchables (376-385)
Spirit of the Game (386-415)
Checklists (166-170/416-420)

Each Fan Club card carried instructions on how one could vote for their favorite players to be included in the Update Series' FANtasy Team insert set.

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.

Got all that?

# 35

# 35 - SILVER PRESS PROOF PARALLEL - (1 of 1500)

# 161 (Fan Club)

# 161 SILVER PRESS PROOF PARALLEL - Numbered 1 of 1500 (Fan Club)

# 380 (The Untouchables)

# 406 (Spirit of the Game)

# 406 SILVER PRESS PROOF PARALLEL - Numbered 1 of 1500 (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

DONRUSS COLLECTIONS:

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 - DONRUSS PARALLEL (Fan Club Parallel)

# 555 - DONRUSS PREFERRED PARALLEL (Executive Suite)

According to Donruss, only 1400 copies of each Donruss Preferred Collections card were produced.

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 - Preferred Power - (Grandstand)

# 172 - Preferred Seating - DIECUT (Grandstand/Preferred Power)

DONRUSS STUDIOS:

# 199

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

FLEER - DIAMOND INK EXCHANGE PROGRAM:

THE CHASE WAS ON...

Diamond Ink was a unique redemption program which allowed collectors to save "points" and exchange them for autographed baseballs - Randomly inserted into packs of all '98 Fleer-branded baseball products (Tradition, Ultra, and Flair Showcase) was a Diamond Ink point card bearing the name of one of ten Major League stars, and a point value. Collectors who saved 500 points of the same player could then redeem them for an autographed baseball signed by that player. Point cards came in 1-, 5-, 10-, and 25-point denominations.

Judging from supplies on the secondary market at the time of the promotion it appears that point cards of a few players -- most notably Roger Clemens, Tony Gwynn, and Alex Rodriguez -- were in shorter supply than others. Greg Maddux was a very late addition to the promotion...thus his point cards were made available only in 1998 Fleer Tradition Series One packs.

Collectors had until December 31, 1998, to redeem their Diamond Ink points, and the first 100 balls were serial-numbered and designated "Century Club Edition" balls - It's believed that unclaimed balls were used for the 2000 Fleer Showcase Sweet Sigs insert, as the checklists for the two sets overlap.

Obviously, for many of us, (especially collectors like me, who lived in rural America and didn't have daily access to card shops

OR the extra cash to chase these points even if we DID), amassing the 500-points was an unrealistic goal

1 DIAMOND POINT card

FLEER/SKYBOX - CIRCA THUNDER:

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

# 31

BOSS # B-12 of 20

LIMITED ACCESS # 9 of 15-LA

FLEER/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)

FLEER/SKYBOX - EX 2001:

# 3

FLEER/SKYBOX - METAL UNIVERSE:

# 133

DISHWASHERS # D-1 of 10

TITANIUM # 12 of 15-T

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 - SPORTS ILLUSTRATED:

Released by Fleer in February 1998, this was one of three Sports Illustrated-branded sets Fleer released in 1998.

# 82

FLEER - SPORTS ILLUSTRATED // THEN AND NOW:

# 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"

FLEER - SPORTS ILLUSTRATED // WORLD SERIES FEVER:

# 18 (Atlanta Wins!)

# 90

FLEER TRADITION:

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 (McGwire/Sosa), which brought the popularity of baseball to new highs and drove collector demand for baseball cards in general and specifically inserts and parallels.

# 31

# 305 (Smoke N Heat)

# 346 (Checklist)

# 589 (Unforgettable Moments)

DIAMOND STANDOUTS # 13 of 20-DS

IN THE CLUTCH # 11 of 15-IC

VINTAGE '63 PARALLEL # 6 (Parallel of Base # 31)

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:

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 - SHORT PRINT (Pizzazz)

# 484 - GOLD MEDALLION PARALLEL - SP (Pizzazz)

ARTISTIC TALENTS # 8 of 18-AT

DOUBLE TROUBLE # 4 of 20-DT (with Chipper Jones - Braves)

FALL CLASSICS # 8 of 15-FC

LEAF - 50th ANNIVERSARY:

Released in March 1998, this set featured three subsets:

Curtain Calls (148-157) - Gold Leaf Stars (158-177) - and Gold Leaf Rookies (178-197).

All three subsets were short-printed compared to cards 1-147 and 198-201 and represented one of the early efforts by a manufacturer to incorporate short-printed subsets into a base set.

# 155 - SP (Curtain Calls SX)

# 155 FRACTAL MATERIALS PARALLEL - Numbered 2875/3250

STATE REPRESENTATIVES # 28 of 30 - Numbered 3228/5000

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.

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

PACIFIC:

# 241

PACIFIC AURORA:

# 108

# 46 PENNANT FEVER

# 46 PENNANT FEVER RED PARALLEL

PACIFIC CROWN ROYALE:

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 John Smoltz & Tom Glavine)

PIVITOL PLAYERS # 3

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)

PACIFIC OMEGA:

# 23

PACIFIC ONLINE:

# 67-A (Silver - Batting)

# 67-B (Silver - Pitching)

PACIFIC PARAMOUNT:

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.

Take that, Bigwigs.

# 133

# 133 - COPPER PARALLEL

SPECIAL DELIVERY # 2 of 20

PACIFIC - REVOLUTION:

# 16

PINNACLE:

THE END OF THE LINE:

'98 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.

The first 157 base cards were available in three different variations: Home stats, Away stats, and Full stats. One-third of the base cards produced had the full career stats on the back, one-third had career stats at the player's home ballpark, and one-third had career stats of the player away from his home ballpark. (Yes, this is the kind of gimmickry Pinnacle Brands was stooping to at the end.) A set is considered complete with any card.

# 14 (All-Star - Full Stats On Back)

MUSEUM COLLECTION PARALLEL # PP-14 (Parallel to # 14 with full stats on back)

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:

#12 - A SIDE: Greg Maddux - Braves // Randy Johnson - Mariners

# 12 - B SIDE: Hideo Nomo - Dodgers // Roger Clemens - Blue Jays

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:

# 12 (Base - No Hole)

# 12 - NICKEL/SILVER PARALLEL + COIN

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.

# 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

PINNACLE - ZENITH:

# 12

# 12 - Z SILVER PARALLEL

5 x 7 PORTRAIT # Z-3

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

FIRST PITCH # 17 of 20

These were exclusive to All-Star Edition packs.

LOADED LINEUP # LL-10

SCORE - ROOKIE/TRADED:

# RT-4

COMPLETE PLAYERS # 6A (Approach)

COMPLETE PLAYERS # 6B (Control)

COMPLETE PLAYERS # 6-C (Fielding)

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 '98 Score set - The Rookie/Traded Complete Players have a 1998 copyright date, while the Score Complete Players have a 1997 copyright.

SCORE - TEAM SETS:

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

# 2 of 15

STARTING LINEUP:

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

TOPPS:

# 296

# 296 - MINTED IN COOPERSTOWN PARALLEL

ETCH A SKETCH # ES4

FOCAL POINT # FP-13

MYSTERY FINEST:

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.

BORDERED # M-12 of 20

BORDERED REFRACTOR # M-12 of 20

NO BORDER # M-12 of 20

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

# 16 (No Protector)

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:

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 - STARS:

# 1 - GOLD PARALLEL - Numbered 307/2299

TOPPS - SUPER CHROME:

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:

# 5 (History Making - Interleague)

# 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 # 1 of 60

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.

PRIME NINE:

# PN-56

# PN-57

# PN-58

# PN-59

UPPER DECK - COLLECTOR'S CHOICE:

# 305

EVOLUTION REVOLUTION # ER-2

Randomly inserted into Series One packs, this 28-card set features a player from each Major League team printed on a baseball jersey themed card which folded out to display the players accomplishments.

STAR QUEST - SERIES 1:

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)

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

STAR QUEST - SERIES 2:

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.

# SQ13 - 1-STAR (Single)

# SQ-13 - 2-STARS (Double)

UPPER DECK - COLLECTOR'S CHOICE TEAM SET:

Team Sets were a series of seven, 13-card, team sets. Unlike similar "team set" products released that year by Score & Donruss, these were sold as sets. Each set was sold in a blister pack with 13 player cards, and all are parallels of their respective '98 CC Choice base card but are numbered differently.

# 8

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

GROOVY KIND OF GLOVE # G-14

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

SHEER DOMINANCE # SD31 - Numbered 861/2000

UPPER DECK - SPECIAL F/X:

# 8 (Parallel to UD-16)

UPPER DECK - SPx FINITE:

SPx Finite is a 360-card set released in two equal series. Each 180-card series is sub-divided into several fractured subsets and produced to different levels. As the name of the product implies, each card is serial-numbered.

# 142 - STAR FOCUS Numbered 1440/7000

SERIES 2:

# 250 - COMMON # 6206/9000

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.

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

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

WHITE ROSE - 1998 TEAM COLLECTIBLES:

Ninth in a series of collectible models made for Major League Baseball...

FORD F-150 BRAVES TRUCK # MLBF98008W-15