Beckett Set Notes (from set page)

“Produced by Upper Deck, this 670 standard-size card set was distributed in two series of 320 and 350. Cards were issued in foil-wrapped 12-card packs and factory sets (of which contained five Gold Signature cards for a total of 675 cards). Basic card fronts feature color player action photos with white borders that are highlighted by vertical gray pinstripes. Subsets include Rookie Class (1-20), First Draft Picks (21-30), Top Performers (306-315), Up Close (631-640) and Future Foundation (641-650). Rookie Cards include Michael Jordan and Alex Rodriguez. A legitimate variation on the Alex Rodriguez card (#647) was verified several years after release. The standard card features the “A” from Alex on the card back text in grey/silver whereas the variation features his name in white. It’s believed that the A-Rod “White A” variation is a significantly tougher card but exact estimates of it’s scarcity are not known. In subsequent years other cards (such as Johnny Damon) were also verified to have this White Letter variation – thus it’s generally believed that the entire Future Foundations subset was produced with white (and standard grey) letter variations.”

Pack Contents

12 cards each

Cost

$0.40 each (part of a large group of packs picked up at a show)

Description

This post is for three different packs.  Each has an Andy Warhol-esque picture of an NL star on the front.  One is Deion Sanders (Atlanta Braves); another is Mike Piazza (LA Dodgers); and the last is a very svelte Barry Bonds (SF Giants).  There may be other NL players on these packs, but these are the only three of which I’m aware.

Insert / Parallel List (taken from the pack)

Silver Signature parallel – 320 cards – 1:1 packs
Gold Signature parallel – 320 cards – 1:36 packs

Base cards

220 – Alex Rodriguez (front and back)

14 – Luis Gonzalez (front only)
49 – Lance Johnson (front only)

169 – Ryan Christenson (front only)
220 – Dan Wilson (front only)

Inserts and parallels

235 – Copper Parallel – Rusty Greer (front and back)

Complete pack contents

Deion Sanders
67 – Dave Burba
82 – Jeff Conine
86 – Tim Costo
117 – Ken Griffey Jr.
148 – Gregg Jefferies
218 – Paul O’Neill
224 – Mike Pagliarulo
251 – Tim Salmon
290 – Turk Wendell
306 – Top Performers of 1991 – Wins Leaders
307 – Silver Signature – Top Performers of 1991 – Strikeout Leader

Mike Piazza
1 – Rookie Class Rich Becker
14 – Rookie Class Marc Newfield
109 – Bernard Gilkey
113 – Jim Gott
120 – Juan Guzman (x2)
180 – Scott Lydy
236 – Pat Rapp
244 – Mel Rojas
289 – Bill Wegman
86 – Silver Signature – Tim Costo
73 – Gold Signature – Cris Carpenter

Barry Bonds
4 – Rookie Class Carlos Delgado
54 – Mike Blowers
67 – Dave Burba
102 – Darrin Fletcher
134 – Roberto Hernandez
142 – David Hulse
206 – Blas Minor
209 – Raul Mondesi
296 – Bob Wickman
302 – Dave Winfield
320 – Checklist Nolan Ryan
84 – Silver Signature – Scott Cooper

Comments

There’s not much to add to this post.  The images pretty much speak for themselves.  I’m normally not a fan of white borders on cards, but these seems to work OK.  For a bottom level set for the budget collector, these cards are alright.  They are nothing fancy, but of course nobody should expect them to be.  Nothing wrong with that for this set.

These cards didn’t fare too well since their printing nearly 20 years ago.  They stuck together like crazy.  A recent 1993 Upper Deck pack did the exact same thing on me, but these packs were quite a bit worse.  Maybe there was something about Upper Deck’s cards that made them very prone to sticking.  It’s something to consider if you plan on breaking a box of this stuff and hope to find really nice cards.  Regardless, you can’t exactly blame Upper Deck because their cards don’t store for two decades in packs.

One pleasant surprise was the Gold Signature card.  That is a 1:36 pack pull.  Pretty good.

Other 1994 Collector’s Choice 1 pack rips or box breaks

Pack Rip (Mike Piazza) by A Pack To Be Named Later

Pack Rip (Jumbo Deion Sanders) by Cardboard Collection

Box Break (retail) by Fan Stuff

Part of a box break by Nachos Grande

“The 1991 Score set contains 893 standard-size cards issued in two separate series of 441 and 452 cards each. This set marks the fourth consecutive year that Score issued a major set but the first time Score issued the set in two series. Cards were distributed in plastic-wrap packs, blister packs and factory sets. The card fronts feature one of four different solid color borders (black, blue, teal and white) framing the full-color photo of the cards. Subsets include Rookie Prospects (331-379), First Draft Picks (380-391, 671-682), AL All-Stars (392-401), Master Blasters (402-406, 689-693), K-Men (407-411, 684-688), Rifleman (412-416, 694-698), NL All-Stars (661-670), No-Hitters (699-707), Franchise (849-874), Award Winners (875-881) and Dream Team (882-893). An American Flag card (737) was issued to honor the American soldiers involved in Desert Storm. Rookie Cards in the set include Carl Everett, Jeff Conine, Chipper Jones, Mike Mussina and Rondell White. There are a number of pitchers whose card backs show Innings Pitched totals which do not equal the added year-by-year total; the following card numbers were affected, 4, 24, 29, 30, 51, 81, 109, 111, 118, 141, 150, 156, 177, 204, 218, 232, 235, 255, 287, 289, 311, and 328.”

Box Contents

36 packs with 16 cards + 1 Magic Motion trivial card each

Cost

$13.00 both boxes (four-box lot on eBay for a $10.50 bid + $15.50 s/h)

Description

Junk wax glory – 1991 Score.  Here are both the Series 1 box and a poly pack.  Green is the color for Series 1.

Here are the Series 2 box and pack in a lovely purple-pink.

Insert List (taken from Beckett)

Mantle cards – 7 cards – 1:??
Mantle Autographs – 7 cards – 1:??

Comments

I collect serial-numbered autographed and relic inserts from the 90s, and 1991 Score is ground zero for these cards.  (Some might say that 1990 Upper Deck is where it all started, but I don’t collect the early Upper Deck cards for reasons I’ll cover sometime later.)  The fun begins in Series 2.  Series 1 is just another innocent junk product.  Series 2 is where the inserts can be found.

In 1991 the Donruss flagship set included the Elite set.  A total of 8 cards were included in the basic Elite set, and each was numbered to 10,000.  Two other Elite cards, the Signature and Legend single-card sets, totaled 12,500 cards.  That is a grand total of 92,500 cards in the full press run of the 1991 Elite insert set.

What was the insertion rate of the Elite cards in 1991 Donruss?  Well, nobody knows for sure.  The figure has been estimated by the folks over at BaseballCardPedia at around 1 Elite card per 75 boxes.  With 36 packs per box, the overall odds of finding an Elite card in a pack of 1991 Donruss is 1:2,700.  Wow.  Those are long odds.  What does that mean for the total production of Donruss?

1991 Donruss
Total boxes: 6,937,500 (92,500 Elite cards * 75 boxes / 1 Elite card)
Total packs: 249,750,000 (36 packs / 1 box)
Total cards: 3,746,250,000 (15 cards / 1 pack)

That is nearly 4 billion cards.  What can you do if you place 4 billion cards end-to-end?  Lots, because 4 billion 3.5-inch cards cover a total distance of over 220,000 miles.  That distance would allow one to…

• travel between New York and San Francisco over 80 times (2,600 miles).
• circle the Earth at the equator almost 9 times (25,000 miles).
• almost reach the Moon (240,000 miles).

Let’s go with another measure – surface area.  Each card measures 2.5″ x 3.5″.  With those dimensions, 4 billion cards would cover an area of 27 million square yards.  That area would cover…

• a football field over 4,200 times (160′ x 360′).
• Central Park in New York City nearly 7 times (843 acres).
• Key West over 1.5 times (3,370 acres).

The 1991 issue of Donruss had a crazy production run.  That’s why you can pick up a box of this stuff for $10 or less without trying on eBay.  Buy two or more boxes, and you can get the price down to $7.50 without searching too hard.  This truly is junk wax.  Don’t be fooled though – buying enough to get an Elite card is no picnic.  Keep in mind that the least expensive Elite cards can be bought for under $10.    They are numbered to 10,000 after all.

“The 1999 Paramount set was issued in one series for a total of 250 cards and distributed in six-card packs with a suggested retail price of $1.49. The set features color action photos of some of today’s biggest superstars and tomorrow’s up-and-comers in their 1999 uniforms. As was typical with 1999 Pacific products, a Tony Gwynn Sample card was produced and distributed to dealers and hobby media several weeks prior to the product’s release. The large “SAMPLE” text running across the back, and lack of a card number make this an easy card to distinguish.”

Pack Contents

6 card

Cost

$0.25 (part of a large group of packs picked up at a show)

Description

Whoo hoo!  A pack from 1999 – absolute top shelf material for this blog.

Insert / Parallel List (taken from the pack)

Platinum Blue parallel – 250 cards – 1:73 packs
Copper parallel (hobby) – 250 cards – 1:1 packs
Gold parallel (retail) – 250 cards – 1:1 packs
Holographic Silver parallal (hobby) – 250 cards – unknown
Holographic Gold parallel (retail) -250 cards – unknown
Team Checklists – 30 cards – 2:37 packs
Personal Bests – 36 cards – 1:37 packs
Fielder’s Choice – 20 cards – 1:73 packs
Cooperstown Bound – 10 cards – 1:361 packs

Base cards

220 – Alex Rodriguez (front and back)

14 – Luis Gonzalez (front only)
49 – Lance Johnson (front only)

169 – Ryan Christenson (front only)
220 – Dan Wilson (front only)

Inserts and parallels

235 – Copper Parallel – Rusty Greer (front and back)

Comments

I have recently liked just about everything that I’ve opened.  From packs of newer stuff to boxes of junk, I have found something redeeming in all of it.  It stops here.  This product, 1999 Paramount, is lousy.  Allow me to elaborate.

The white borders don’t work well.  I have never liked new, glossy cards with white borders.  I think these cards look like some lame effort from Topps.  (That might be hitting below the belt.)  Look around your house.  Are there any pictures framed in a white mat?  No.  Frames are dark.  Maybe in the 70s white borders were OK and accepted without question.  Even I like the look of the 1973 and 1977 sets.  But, by 1999, the white border looks washed out.  (Glossy white borders are also hard to crop and trim in scans.)

What else don’t I like?  Let’s see, the backs don’t look like real card backs.  The font size is so big that I feel like I’m in the third grade.  Maybe the writers at Pacific didn’t feel like creating too much text.  Maybe these cards are designed for the visually impaired.  Whatever the reason, the backs just don’t feel like real backs.  (Whatever that means.)

A final point is that I have no idea whether I opened a retail or hobby pack.  The one insert card looks like a Copper parallel, which would make the pack a hobby pack.  Then again, the insert could be a Gold parallel, which is retail only.  Gold and Copper are kind of hard to differentiate based on foil lettering alone.

In conclusion, this pack is kind of a bust.  Pacific put out a ton of different sets in the late 90s.  They can’t all be great products.

Other 1999 Paramount pack rips or box breaks

Pack Rip by The Priceless Pursuit

Part of a box break by Nachos Grande

base cards: 320 of 450 – 71.1% complete (71 doubles or triples)
Silver parallel set: 36 of 450 – 8.0% complete
Platinum Blue parallel set: 1 of 450 – 0.2% complete
Gold Crown Die-Cuts insert set: 1 of 36 – 2.8% complete
Team Checklists insert set: 1 of 30 – 3.3% complete
Latinos of the Major Leagues insert set: 3 of 36 – 8.3% complete
Home Run Hitters insert set: 0 of 20 – 0% complete
In the Cage insert set: 0 of 20 – 0% complete
Cramer’s Choice insert set: 0 of 10 – 0% complete

Selected Base cards

188 – Randy Johnson (front and back)

262 – Dave Burba (front and back)

Selected insert and parallel cards

14 – Latinos in the Majors – Moises Alou (front and back)

17 – Latinos in the Majors – Edgar Renteria (front and back)

30 – Latinos in the Majors – Joey Cora (front and back)

29 – Gold Crown Die Cuts – Ken Griffey Jr. (front and back)

5 – Team Checklists – Cleveland Indians (front and back)

Comments

• base cards
  These are pretty nice cards.  The second language takes a little getting used to, but the cards themselves are alright.  Among the base cards is a nice mix of vertical and horizontal poses.  One weird thing – the horizontal cards, if held so that the back of the card has the same orientation as a vertical card, has the player name upside down.  Otherwise, these cards are fine.
• subsets
  This set has no subsets, and I really like it.  They are just player cards.  What a great idea.
• parallel cards
  I don’t know why, but when I was scanning these cards, I missed getting the Silver and Platinum Blue parallels.  Since they are parallels, you are not missing much.  The Silver parallels have the player name in silver foil.  The Platinum Blue parallels have the player name in a bluish-silver foil.  (What the hell is Platinum Blue?)  Otherwise, the parallels are identical to the base cards.
• insert cards
  I pulled five inserts from three different insert sets from this box.  That’s pretty much on target based on the published odds.  The Latinos in the Major Leagues cards are pretty cool.  The front of the cards has the player’s national flag as the background.  The background has a texture that feels a big like fabric (plastic-coated fabric).  It’s pretty cool.  The die-cut Home Run cards are OK, although they’re a big gaudy for me.  The Team Checklist cards are pretty plain.  Note that all the cards of a given team are numbered sequentially in the set.

Conclusion

I had no idea what to expect in my first bilingual baseball card box break.  Overall, I was pleased.  There is nothing fancy about this product.  It tries to be glam with all the gold foil, but it’s just a simple product.  Actually, that’s the best part about it.  It’s not so tricked out such that it gets in its own way.

Other blogs’ breaks/rips of 1998 Pacific

To my knowledge, nobody has posted a box break or pack rip of 1998 Pacific.  Don’t I feel special right now?

My goal for the show was to pick up some unopened packs.  I didn’t care what I got as long as it was a nice mix, preferably from the 90s.  I only saw boxes of packs at tables for two dealers.  I was worried that the selection would be weak, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The first dealer’s box was strictly late 80s/early 90s junk – stuff like 1990 Score Football.  This wasn’t exacly what I wanted, but it was at least a big variety.  I picked up 20 packs for $5.  The second dealer’s box had just about everything – rack packs, non-sports, and stuff from the late 80s to around 2005 or so.  I passed on the Pocahontas packs but went crazy on everything else.  I got around 25 packs for $5.  With admission, I dropped a total of $15.

The three pictures below show what I got.  There is some duplication, but I have plenty of material for my Monday pack rips until next spring.

This batch is mostly from dealer #1.

This batch is mostly from dealer #2.

This is a mix of non-baseball stuff from both dealers.

“This 28-card set was produced by Pinnacle for Denny’s and features a star player from each of the Major League baseball teams. The fronts feature a full motion hologram player image. The backs carry player information. By ordering anything on the menu, a customer could buy two packs. Each Denny’s also sponsored a drawing to win all 48 cards (the regular set and both insert sets).”

Pack Contents

1 card

Cost

$0.25 (part of a large group of packs picked up at a show)

Description

This blue foil pack was irresistible in a bargain bin at a local show.  Somehow I resisted buying the 50 or so that were in the box.

Insert / Parallel List

Grand Slam inserts – 10 cards – 1:56 packs
Artist’s Proofs inserts – 10 cards – 1:360 packs

Card

13 – Barry Larkin (front and back)

information card

Comments

At one time I had a bunch of rules on what I considered to be a set.  This Denny’s pack would not have made the grade.  I’m glad I got over those rules.

As Beckett tells us, these packs could be bought if you ate food at Denny’s.  You’d think they’d throw then in as a promo, but apparently you had to buy them.  With 28 cards per set, that’s a lot of French toast to get a full set.  What kills me is that this issue included insert sets.  The Artist’s Proofs are inserted at a rate of 1:360.  Scarce inserts just don’t seem to fit with the distribution of these cards.

Enough about the particulars of this set, the cards themselves contain a holographic image.  If you get the light just right (no easy task), then you are treated to a color motion clip of the player featured on the card.  Getting the light correct is pretty hard – so hard, in fact, that each pack includes a special instruction card.  The instructions do not say anything about patience or luck.  This is a serious omission in my opinion.

Other 1996 Denny’s pack rips or box breaks

Pack Rip by A Pack To Be Named Later

“The 1998 Pacific set was issued in one series totalling 450 cards and distributed in 12-card packs with a suggested retail price of $2.49. The fronts features borderless color player photos with gold foil highlights. The backs carry player information in both Spanish and English. As is standard with base-brand Pacific, the entire set is devoid of subset cards, instead focusing on a comprehensive selection of major league players.”

Box Contents

36 packs with 12 cards each

Cost

$22.45 ($12.45 bid + $10.00 s/h) on eBay

Description

Here is the box in the bilingual style distinctive of Pacific.

The packs mirror the box.

Insert and Parallel List (taken from the box)

Silver Parallel – 450 cards (1:1)
Platinum Blue Parallel – 450 cards (1:73)
Gold Crown Die-Cuts – ?? cards (1:37)
Team Checklists Laser-Cuts – ?? cards (1:37)
Latinos of the Major Leagues – ?? cards (2:37)
Home Run Hitters – ?? cards (1:73)
In the Cage Laser-Cuts – ?? cards (1:145)
Cramer’s Choice Awards – ?? cards (1:721)

Comments

I was going to break some 1991 Stadium Club, but yesterday I read a post over on Stale Gum with some comments on the most recent National.  One observation was that the convention was light on late 90s wax.  So, in honor of Stale Gum, I’ll break a cheap box from the late 90s – 1998 Pacific.

Sometime back I ripped a pack of 1998 Pacific Online.  That’s as close to a Pacific product as I’ve ever been.  Most products were down to 24 or so packs per box by the late 90s, so this box feels pretty hefty at 36 packs.  This product also has a lot of gold on it.

This year will be different.  My interests are better defined and richer, so I might have an easier time finding things.  Also, my #1 goal is to pick up a broad assortment of packs for my Monday posts.  Lots of dealers have bins of packs, so I am just about guaranteed success on this front.  I’d love to get some old boxes, but eBay seems to be the way to go on these, even with shipping.

So, on with the show.  I hope I don’t come home empty-handed.

“The set can be subdivided into regular cards (1-100, 116-160, 170-214), Season Highlights (101-106), International Flavor (107-115), Road To The Show (161-169), and Draft Class (215-224). Card 225 was a special card of the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. An early Vladimir Guerrero card is the highlight of this set.”

Pack Contents

10 cards

Cost

$0.40 (part of a large group of packs picked up at a show)

Description

Last week I opened a 1993 Upper Deck 1 Jumbo pack.  That thing had a foil wrapper that was about as thick as the sheet metal on my Corolla.  This pack is made out of the same tough stuff.  As the pack shows, retail price was $1.99 back in 1995.  This pack might be a hobby pack as Beckett mentions four-card retail packs and this pack has ten cards.

Insert / Parallel List (from Beckett)

Future Shock – full parallel – 224 cards – 2:1 packs
Michael Jordan Scrapbook – insert – 10 cards – 1:35 packs
Organizational Profiles – inserts – 24 cards – 1:10 packs
Top 10 Prospects – inserts – 10 cards – 1:10 packs

Cards

38 – Richard Hidalgo (front and back)

65 – Jason Isringhausen (front and back)

29 – Jose Silva
84 – Makato Suzuki

99 – Desi Wilson
153 – Benji Grigsby

159 – Jamie Arnold
177 – Lou Pote

32 – Future Shock – Shannon Stewart
145 – Future Shock – Sal Fasano

Comments

Minor league cards were big in the early 90s.  I guess the major manufactures thought the little guys were making money on them, so the big boys decided to try to steal the market.  Throw in the rookie card craze, and apparently collectors bought these things.

So, here is a pack of one of those minor league sets made by one of the big card companies.  I must admit that these are actually really nice cards and compare very well to other mid-1990s products.  In fact, they might be better than most major league cards because these cards aren’t as tricked out (i.e., messed up).  I admit that a little pizzazz can be nice.  The Future Shock parallel set differs from the base set only by a little foil stamp on the front.  That’s a bit weak.

The cards pretty much speak for themselves.  I will note that instead of the traditional Upper Deck hologram, these cards have a printed Upper Deck logo with a foil star next to it.  I guess that minor league cards do not deserve full Upper Deck security measures.  Still, these are pretty slick cards.  If you were into minor league issues back in the 1990s, this set was probably part of your collection.

Other 1995 UD Minor League pack rips or box breaks

Pack Rip by A Pack To Be Named Later