2017 Sportlots purchases: a Barry nice finale, part 2

Time to finish up this series so I can move on to bigger and better things (namely pickups from COMC, eBay, and shows)!

Last time I showed off some Larkins from 1988-2000, and today I've got a similarly large chunk of cards that finish off that original run up to 2017 along with horizontal and non-standard sized stuff that spans 1988-2012.  Quite a ride!

First we'll finish off 2000 (after the last post's cliffhanger) with Topps' Opening Day and Upper Deck's totally weird Ionix.  Then you can buckle in for a nice run of 2001s that extends into the next couple scans.  This first bunch has some good lookers in Absolute Memorabilia, Bowman's Best, Donruss Classics, E-X, Finest, and Fleer Authority.  I give the Bowman's Best card a slight nod as my favorite but there's lots to like here.

I guess 2001 was a particularly strong year for Barry's cards because again there's some choice offerings here.  Fleer Premium had a nice design and Showcase looks excellent.  Leaf Limited brings some appeal with its strong foil game.  Private Stock (of one-relic-per-blister-pack fame) had a nice canvas style going on.  UD's SP Authentic and Sweet Spot were simple and solid.  Studio featured one of its top designs and I'm especially fond of this year's version because of the Private Signings 5x7 autos.  Topps Chrome looked quite nice in the upgraded version of the 50th anniversary product.  And then we finish the scan with one of my favorite cards in either post:  the Stadium Club entry from 2001 Topps Fusion.  Stadium Club's just about always a winner, and for some reason this design just really appeals to me.

It takes the first eight cards here to close out 2001.  Topps brings its solid Opening Day and a pretty nice Stars design.  Ultra has the best photo/design combo in the scan and the turn-two image is a big part of that.  Then Upper Deck owns the rest of the real estate with the fairly forgettable Reserve, decent MVP and Pros & Prospects, fun low-end Victory, and very cool Vintage products.  Then 2002 puts the previous year in the rear-view mirror with another cool Absolute Memorabilia design that's associated with an excellent product that's responsible for the cool Signing Bonus framed pieces you may have seen before.

Now we have a Donruss/Fleer one-two punch.  The former was responsible for the first four seen here:  Best of Fan Club, Classics, Fan Club, and Super Estrellas.  Classics looks fantastic as usual while the manufacturer should have chosen one of Fan Club or the Best of versions; Super Estrellas doesn't really do anything for me.

Fleer's offerings--which bleed into the next scan--are a bit of a mixed too.  Flair looks awesome, Maximum and Authentix are pretty good, and Focus Jersey Edition and Genuine are mediocre.  Considering the sheer volume of sets Fleer produced around then it's not a surprise that they weren't all winners.  You'd think I'd like the shininess of Genuine but it just doesn't do it for me.  Luckily Flair's there to raise the bar.

Fleer's 2002 dominance continues with the whole top row here:  the beautiful and artistic Showcase, the rather pedestrian Triple Crown, and Hot Prospects, which is kind of in-between for me.  The Leaf name features on the next two:  another pleasing Certified design and a decent Rookies and Stars (though I still find that brand unnecessary).  Then Upper Deck makes a cameo outside of its usual part of the alphabet with SPx and a design I don't really care for.  The bottom row is quite nice, though, with an excellent and patriotic Studio, vintage-themed Topps 206, and the sort-of-works Topps Ten.

Ultra starts us off here on a design that's not one of my favorites mainly because of the name/team piece.  Then Upper Deck goes on a nice run with UD Authentics (made to look like the '89 version, of course) and its turn-two photo, flagship (and a Griffey Sr. cameo), and the very cool 40-Man.  I don't think I'll ever put the latter together like I did with a couple years of Topps Total, but you never know!

2003 starts off strong once again with Absolute Memorabilia's shiny goodness, and it's joined by a solid Bazooka effort by Topps.  Then it's time to go on a three-card Donruss run with the brand's cool flagship product, the solidly-themed Champions, and the almost always great Elite.  I'll happily collect any '95 MVP cards of Larkin that get made!

Another big Fleer run dominates this scan, but first we start off with Donruss' Team Heroes, another fun product of theirs I like because it also includes some of my favorite 80s Tigers.

The next seven cards continue to illustrate Fleer going bonkers in the early aughts.  In my opinion Flair, Authentix, Genuine, and Rookies and Greats are all good to great while Focus JE and Patchworks were unnecessary, and Splendid Splinters has a weird color scheme thing going on that makes it look nothing like a Fleer product.

A pretty good Prestige design (you know I did that blue!) is a nice way to close out this scan.

Studio continues its strong run (which isn't nearly over!) and I should totally do a post on the lifespan of that brand.  Topps checks in with a nice trio of 205 (keeping things historical) plus Chrome and Opening Day.  Those blue borders on Chrome made for some great Refractors.  The second iteration of 40-Man wasn't as good as the previous one in my opinion, but I'm still glad UD made it.

Jumping ahead to 2004, Barry's final season, we open with a Donruss trio of Diamond Kings, Classics, and World Series.  The DKs look great and I'm glad Donruss was able to vary the designs a bit from year to year.  Classics looks fantastic as always, and I'm glad Larkin appeared in the product as often as he did.  And World Series' design isn't much to look at, though at least the theme is strong.

Fleer Platinum--a bit superfluous when you look at the Tradition card in the next scan--ends things here, but this time it's not the start of a huge run...

...because Tradition (see what I mean?) is the only non-Ultra card here from that year.  Leaf's design is solid enough and I have the Second Edition version of that card as well.  Studio...well, I don't think I have to say how much I love it at this point, right?  Donruss' Throwback Threads was a cool product though it kind of blends in with some of their other offerings from that time.  Topps Chrome featured another nice design as we get near the end of the era where they were good.  Ultra gives us yet another great double-play shot, and Upper Deck mixes things up a bit with what looks to be a stolen base attempt, maybe?

Then we get into 2005 with Upper Deck's Artifacts, a product on my shitlist due to the difficulty in tracking down the football versions from it that I need, plus another nice Donruss flagship design.  I sure do miss the good old days of that product!

The last card in the previous scan was a good omen for this one which is dominated by Donruss/Leaf/Playoff brands, most of which are beauties.  Those include Classics, Elite, Greats, Team Heroes, Leaf Century, Leather and Lumber, Playoff Prestige, and Studio; the only combo-breaker is card #8, another solid look from SP Authentic.

Of the Donruss products here Leather and Lumber is the one whose design I like the least, followed by the look (but not concept) of Leaf Century.  Classics, Greats, and Studio are all A+ for me while Elite, Team Heroes, and Playoff Prestige aren't far behind at all.

By the way, that Studio card is of particular note as it represents the sunset version of that fantastic product.  And that makes me want to show off all 13 of Barry's entries in its run:

Like I said, I may do a post focusing on these in the future!

And at last we reach the end of the verticals.  Solid offerings Throwback Threads from Donruss and Pros and Prospects from UD close out the year in cards 2005.  Then 2006 begins and ends with the beautiful Greats of the Game from Fleer, a product I'd sure love to see again these days.

The next two you see are 2013 Panini products:  Hometown Heroes and Prizm.  I've always thought the phrase "hometown hero" should refer to someone that's at least from that team's state, if not city, like the Cincy-born Larkin, so Barry definitely belongs here.

Two more comprise my 2017 haul:  Topps' Allen and Ginter and Panini's USA Baseball Stars and Stripes.  I have no love for the former while the latter's fun for me as long as it still includes players I care about (like Larkin and Jim Abbott).

And finally, two more went MIA while I was getting everything scanned (there were lots of piles, some of them huge...mistakes were made!) that caused them to end up here:  1995 Zenith and 2011 Gypsy Queen.  Like A&G, GQ can go take a long walk off a short pier for all I care.

The first of 3.5 horizontal scans opens with a '92 Fleer base shared with Twins legend Kirby Puckett and a hologram insert from '93 UD.  Three UD-branded cards including Collector's Choice cover '94.  1995 begins with a great sliding shot from Bowman, another from Sportflix(!), and a Gold parallel of the least popular Studio design.

'95 finishes with the trio of Summit, Topps Cyberstats, and yet another headfirst slide, this time courtesy of Upper Deck.  Summit returns for '96 as the only card from that year, and it's followed by a hit and miss Pinnacle pair from '97:  New Pinnacle--the hit with a nice design and a sliding Ryan Klesko getting doubled up--and XPress, a definite miss in my book.  Then we jump ahead to 1998 with two wildly different products:  Collector's Choice and Pacific's Omega.

Two more UD cards are enough to finish off 1998:  UD3 and a Retro insert called Time Capsule.  I don't think the UD3 design in '98 was as interesting as the debut version from the year before, but it was at least a fun way for Upper Deck to experiment with some crazy designs.  And I loved grabbing a Retro insert on the cheap since that brand was so much fun.  Omega then makes another appearance in the form of its 1999 version (which I thought was a bit of an improvement).

Speaking of looking a bit better, Upper Deck's 2000 HoloGRfX definitely shows signs of progress after the eye-melting 1999 offering, though it still wasn't that great of a set.  Fleer's 2001 Legacy shows plenty of promise but wastes a ton of space on literally nothing.  Upper Deck gives us a 2002 pair that includes a second appearance from the fun 40-Man product (card #1081, to give you an idea of the set's scale) and Vintage.  Then a jump ahead to 2004 brings another USA Baseball-related set, this one from Upper Deck celebrating the program's 25th anniversary.

Just two more "mainstream" horizontal cards here:  a typically strong action shot from 2005 Ultra and a textbook boring Topps insert pairing Larkin and Cleveland SS Asdrubal Cabrera, who I believe was captured mid-mlem (12/10, would bat 8th again).  Then we have a pair of junk wax-era stalwart Topps Bigs from 1988-89.

And now it's time to get into the smaller stuff:  1989 Topps Mini Leaders, 1990 Panini Stickers, 1990 Topps Sticker Backs, and 2001 Private Stock PS-206 Action.  Going even smaller there's a quartet of Topps Micros from 1991 and '92 (two each).

Last up in this scan are a Brass Coin from Pinnacle's crazy 1997 Mint product and a Fleer Hardball disc-like card from 2003.  But that's still not quite everything:

Some of you may recognize this:  an Opening Day Mini Poster from Fleer's 1998 collaboration with Sports Illustrated.  Definitely a fun throw-in in packs, and a useful one too!

And now I can finally say I'm done with this series!  After a crazy amount of cards scanned, edited, labelled, posted, and written about, Barry Larkin was the big winner after seeing his collection boosted by around 275 cards.  Chris, I'm coming for you!  While that probably won't happen in my lifetime, I'm thrilled to count a new total of 688 Larkins in his collection, just five shy of PC leader Cal Ripken Jr.

That was a ton of work and I know it's a lot to look at, so I'll happily take a breather (how will anyone tell given how infrequently I post?) before getting back to showing off more stuff soon!

Why I love this hobby #2: thinking outside the 2.5 x 3.5 box!

Previously:  1. Refractors

Last time I explained why I thought Refractors made the hobby more enjoyable and interesting for several reasons, but those have been around for 20+ years now.  What other cool and unique innovations have we seen since then?

After the explosion in the popularity of inserts changed the face of collecting, shifting the focus away from base cards, card companies had to find new ways to grab the interest of collectors.  The most recent effect of this competition has been the proliferation of memorabilia and autographed cards, plus one-of-ones of several varieties such as printing plates and SuperFractors.

Still, from the mid-to-late 90s to the early aughts, collectors were treated to some fun, interesting, and sometimes strange innovations in design concepts.  To that end, I came up with 12 items from my collection that take a look at the more unorthodox attempts of card companies trying to be unique.  Eight of these are inserts, one is a "pack" itself while another is a "box," and the last two are more recent examples of cardboard creativity.  Read on and we'll see how familiar people are with some of these memorable (or forgettable) stabs at standing out in the collecting crowd:

 Ken Griffey Jr. 2000 Crown Collection In the Cage Net Fusions

Pacific has a few good examples of outside-the-box thinking in its history, such as its Christmas ornament cards, plus Fielder's Choice die-cuts in the shape of a fielding glove.  This set, simulating the look of a batting cage, is even MORE out there!  You could say the set was a bit of a leap considering the fact that most fans don't really celebrate the practice aspects of their favorite sports.  All the same, the combination of die-cutting and the tiny "batting cage" net make for a conversation piece of a card.

 Greg Maddux 1998 Pinnacle Mint Brass Coin

While coin collecting is certainly its own hobby, it has sometimes overlapped with ours throughout their shared histories.  This 1964 Topps Mantle, for example, featured a full-color photo in a format just about anyone would call a "coin."  Pinnacle took the concept a step further in 1997 with its Mint set.  Collectors opening packs found these babies in their packs, and finally they could truly say they owned a baseball "coin."  Better yet, one version of the accompanying base cards featured a coin-sized hole cut out so collectors could combine the two for an interesting piece.  On the higher end of things, rarer versions of the coins were also available:  nickel and gold-plated.  The set only lasted two years, but these coins still give collectors something to talk about more than 15 years later.

 Cal Ripken Jr. 1998 Pinnacle Inside Can

And here we are at the "pack" example I mentioned earlier.  Another bold move by Pinnacle, not to mention a set that only existed from 1997-98, Inside eschewed the idea of a traditional pack, be it wax, foil, or other.  Instead, your cards arrived shrink-wrapped inside of a collectible CAN.  And it literally was a can you had to open with your garden-variety can-opener.  When you think about it, the fact that you got to keep the "pack" itself, which was a pretty cool collectible item in its own right, added a nice amount of value to what was otherwise a fairly normal product (ridiculous Stand-Up Guys insert notwithstanding!).  These generally seem to have been panned by collectors over the years, but I've accumulated a nice collection of them from the baseball, football, and hockey sets and I still like to take a peek at them from time to time.

Ken Griffey Jr./Babe Ruth 1999 Upper Deck Retro Lunch Box

In keeping with the theme of unique packaging and a two-year existence in the late 90s, 1998 and 1999 Upper Deck made its boxes more collectible than ever:  packs arrived in sealed metal lunchboxes!  The boxes themselves were often kept hidden so buyers couldn't cherry-pick the best ones, like the Griffey/Ruth above.  UD was clearly looking to cater to the nostalgia of many of its older fan base, but I have to imagine everyone got a kick out of the bonus from buying this product, leaving them with an item they could actually use, or display proudly with the rest of their collection.  Despite lasting only two years, this concept was easily a winner in my book.

 Cal Ripken Jr. 2000 Upper Deck PowerDeck Inserts

While it was still the late 90s, UD tried to be forward-thinking as well.  The Internet was nowhere near as prevalent as it is now and people got most of their highlights from TV whenever possible.  Then UD tried to make things more interactive for collectors.  In 1997 they released a small number of audio-only insert CDs, then upped the ante in 1999 and 2000 with mini disc cards like the Ripken above.  Smaller than a standard card but still playable in your CD-ROM drive, these CDs packed in some well-put-together highlight videos and gobs of stats--WAY more than any plain old card could ever hope to give you.  And the upside is, even today when they might not be playable on your PC anymore, (I'll admit I haven't tried) they're still as collectible as ever as CD cards.  These obviously didn't hit it as big as they could have, and now collectors would scoff at them anyway thanks to the ubiquity of ESPN and YouTube, but I, for one, enjoyed them.

 Ivan Rodriguez 2000 Stadium Club Capture the Action Game View (#006/100)

Here's ANOTHER set that made it to its second birthday and then disappeared.  A fairly big pull at the time, these cards paralleled the basic version of the insert set by embedding a copy of a slide of the photo used in the creation of the card.  The fact that they were limited to just 100 copies made them fairly rare for the time period, too.  It was a fun way to give collectors a small peek into the card-creation process.  Other sets may have incorporated this concept as well, and others have definitely replicated it since then, but 2000 Stadium Club's is one of the best earlier examples of a fun and fairly original idea.

 Tony Gwynn 1998 Donruss Preferred Title Waves (#1807/1995)

Die-cutting was hardly new to the hobby by 1998 when Donruss produced these inserts, but the execution of the "title waves" motif means this set merits a place on this list that honors creativity.  The most notable feature at first glance is the die-cutting on the card's edge in the shape of waves.  But better yet, each card commemorates a certain title, be it an individual accomplishment, like Gwynn's above, or a team award, such as Greg Maddux and the Braves capturing the 1995 World Series crown.  And best of all:  each insert is serial-numbered to the year that title was achieved.  That makes this an attractive and fun set that would be a blast to collect, and I may pursue it this year depending on how I do with my other goals.

Derrek Lee 1998 Flair Showcase Wave of the Future

I wanted to include at least one card that was certainly original but also a faceplant.  Fleer tried the "wave" motif as well, but it didn't pull it off as well in producing these cards that are supposed to identify some of the game's rising stars.  Each is printing on some sort of clear plastic that encloses a liquid-y gel-like material that supposed to give you the sensation its filled with water.  I give Fleer points for trying to be different, but these are just too plain weird to be all that collectible--plus the checklist as seen with 20/20 hindsight is pretty uninspiring, unless you're a big fan of the Rich Butlers and Eli Marreros of the world.

Chipper Jones 1999 Topps Gallery Gallery of Heroes

Sure, it had been done before, such as Donruss' 1996 Studio Stained Glass Stars set, but this is one I actually have on-hand, and of a legendary player, I might add.  Again, die-cutting had existed for quite a while, and so had translucent designs, to some degree.  Still, sets like this one did a beautiful job of combining the two features into one gorgeous card.  How can you look at something like this that marries the attractiveness of stained glass with Atlanta's team colors?  These are just an excellent example of what a quality insert could be, especially at a time when many of them were throw-away ideas.

Frank Thomas 1998 Studio Portrait 8x10

Studio had been around for a few years, owning a tradition of cards with classy player shots that lived up to the product's name.  Then in 1997, all of a sudden the packs were much larger.  The explanation:  each pack included one 8x10 blown-up version of a player's base card.  They made things even more interesting in that a few of the 8x10s were autographed, plus there were parallel and insert versions of the larger cards as well. But what made these stand out the most besides their obvious size increase was that they were perfect for autographs.  Logistically, of course, it was easier to get them signed in-person, but it wasn't out of the realm of possibility to mail one of these to a player instead.  Regardless of how you got the signature, these were fantastic items to get signed, and that's a real plus for any autograph collector.  The set fizzled out after a couple years, but they've left behind a legacy of an autograph-friendly product.

George Sisler 2010 Topps Update Manufactured Bat Barrel (#11/99)

Let's face it:  by the mid-to-late 90s, collectors started getting bored with the usual suspects that were supposed to excite us, especially memorabilia cards.  Manufacturers like UD and Topps finally realized this and thus the manurelic was born.  In what was surely a financial coup for each company--"You mean we don't have to buy jerseys and bats, we can make 'em up?!"--they started with manufactured team logos and other commemorative patches, then moved onto other items.  One of my favorites has been the manufactured bat barrel, and item that appeared in a couple 2010 Topps sets.  Not every manufactured item has been a winner in my eyes--I particularly loathed the leather nameplate versions--but these do a nice job of simulating the key part of the bat barrel from the fans' point-of-view:  the area that includes the player's name and signature.  While not everyone loves these faux relics, they've become popular, which has led to Topps, among others, coming up with a few new ideas (what a concept!) such as pins, coins and even Hall of Fame plaques.  They may not be game-used, but that obviously doesn't mean much to the collecting world anymore due to authenticity issues.  What does it matter anyway when you get a card that simply looks cool?

Barry Larkin 2005 Sweet Spot Signatures Red Stitch Black Ink auto (#162/175)

Finally, I wanted to close things out with one example of a pretty cool autograph innovation.  Back in 2001, Upper Deck surprised the collecting world with one of the most interesting premium autograph designs the world had ever seen:  not only were cards signed, but they included signatures on the sweet spot of an actual baseball!  Many collectors pursue proper autographed balls as they're very easy to display and can be very attractive in a way that cards sometimes can't.  Since then, Sweet Spot has given us something like the best of both worlds thanks to an embedded sweet spot with a sweet signature.  Even better, these have led to some fun equivalent cards in the rest of the sports, including autographed manuhelmets in football and signed faux hockey pucks as well.  Can anyone collecting today imagine what things would be like without something this cool in 2013?  I think you'd be hard-pressed to do so, but that's just my opinion.

So what do YOU think?  Any comments on the cards above?  Do they bring back memories? (or maybe ones you'd rather forget)?  I know I've just scratched the surface of outside-the-box designs, so what else stands out in your minds?  Please leave me comments below answering any or all of these questions!