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Homework in a PWE


No card era baffles me more than the late 1990s.

Brian from Play at the Plate knows this. He knows I collected fewer cards during that time than any other collecting period in my life. And being the supertrader that he is, he recently sent a PWE that contained nothing but cards from between 1996-2000.

In other words, he stuffed the envelope with homework.

There is no way I will be able to figure out which late 1990s cards I need and which I don't unless I have a few quiet minutes to myself, alone, with a lamp lit above, equipped with my research materials and binders, with a pencil and paper by my side.

Now does that sound like homework or what?

It's the only way I can do it. Put a card in my hand from the 1980s and I know instantly what it is and whether I own it. Card from the late '90s? I have maybe a 50 percent chance. Can you hand me that giant research volume on the shelf so I can figure it out? I'll get back to you in a few minutes.

So, I had a few minutes to devote to this homework project early this afternoon. Let's see what I came up with:



OK, this is a simple problem to solve. Fleer Ultra's main parallel were the gold medallion cards. They're easy to spot, for the most part, and 1999 and 2000 Ultra gold cards are no exception. I figured out right away that I needed both cards.


Question No. 3 on the homework sheet wasn't hard either. I've seen the 1997 Donruss Preferred bronze parallels before and own a couple. If you're going to make a parallel, make it distinctive like this. An easy spot. I needed this card, too.



I knew right away that I needed this card. That was the easy part. The tricky part for me was "what exactly is it?"

I guessed it was from 1996. The '96 Pinnacle Summit set has a look of its own and I recognize it. Yet, when I searched through the Pinnacle sets from the late '90s in the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards, I couldn't find it.

I couldn't find it because --- grrrrr -- it's not listed under "Pinnacle," it's listed under "Summit." I hate that.

You may have noticed if you look through my want lists that I don't break up brands like that, for the most part. I list sets by the card manufacturer. Listing "Ultra" as a separate brand unto itself just seems confusing to me. It's obvious Fleer put it out, list it under Fleer! There is a host of '90s sets that are plagued by separate listings and it's annoying and confusing.

So, once I realized that this was the '90s and "Summit" was "special," I found the set. And I was correct, I needed the card.


I knew I needed this card and I knew it would be an adventure, too. Once I pinned down the copyright date -- in the all-too-tiny type common in the '90s -- it turned out to be not that difficult.

It's just that Pinnacle seemed to issue 786 sets in 1998 and this was an insert card. To which set did it belong?

I narrowed it down Pinnacle Plus -- the fact that everything in that set is plastered in foil was the tip-off -- and there I saw Piazza in the Yardwork insert set. Some of those cards are still worth a couple bucks. Not bad for foilboard.


All right, I knew I had this card. But just for fun I decided to look it up. Call it checking your work.

1998 Flair Showcase is one of those "let's make 4 different versions of each base card" sets. This is from "Row 3" of the base set, which was called "Flair" -- yes, 1 of the 4 versions of the base set had the same name as the card set itself. Because the goal in the late '90s was to remove the sanity from every last collector.

Also, levels of rarity went from 3, 2, 1 to 0 with 0 being the most rare. My brain thinks it should be in the reverse, but I better not dig any deeper. I only have so much time.

The other lines in the set are called "Style," (Row 2), "Grace" (Row 1), and I don't know if Row 0 has a name, which is smart because why do you have two names for a set anyway?

Anyway -- I own that card already.


I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw these cards.

Much like Flair Showcase, 1998 Topps Gold Label features two photos of each player on a card and different "classes" of base cards. The difference in the background photo signifies a different class of card. "Fielding" is Class 1, or the base card, "running" is Class 2, and "hitting" is Class 3. But don't let me muddle through it. Here is what the Standard Catalog says:

"Topps debuted its Gold Label brand with 100 cards printed on 30-point 'spectral-reflective stock' with gold foil stamping and two shots of the player on each card front. Cards arrived in Gold Label, Black Label and Red Label versions, each with varying levels of scarcity. The rarity of the cards was determined by the photo and foil stamping on the cards. In the foreground of each card front, the photograph is the same, but in the background one of three shots is featured. Class 1, fielding, are considered base cards; Class 2, running (inserted 1:4 packs) and Class 3, hitting (inserted 1:8 packs) are seeded levels. For pitching the levels are: Class 1, set position (base); Class 2, throwing (inserted 1:4 packs) and Class 3, follow-through (inserted 1:8 packs). Black Label cards are scarcer, while Red Label Cards are scarcer yet. In addition, 1 of 1 cards exist for each Class and version. Class 1 cards have matte gold-foil graphic highlights on front. Black Label Class 1 cards were inserted one per eight packs. Red Label Class 1 cards are a 1:99 insert and are serially numbered to 100."

I think I need to lie down.


The scary part is, I have no want list for 1998 Gold Label and I already own the '98 Gold Label Paul Konerko card of him hitting. Yet, Brian was able to send the two other classes of Konerko cards (fielding and running) that I needed. I have no idea how he knew I needed just those two cards. Clearly some voodoo going on.

At any rate, I now have a headache, as any good homework assignment will produce.

I don't know how you '90s collectors did it -- or do it.

Comments

Mike Matson said…
I've been dreading going through my wantlists for the late 90s and early 2000s... Then again, I've been removing a lot from consideration as well..
JediJeff said…
Ultra is Fleer. I hate it when they list it as Ultra. FLEER IS ULTRA AND ULTRA IS FLEER!!!!

https://youtu.be/alPQgx7SGms?t=1m12s
Billy Kingsley said…
Row 0 of Flair Showcase is called Showcase. Yes, the title is "Flair Showcase Showcase". It's probably also serially numbered.
checking them off one at a time.
Anonymous said…
Sets like Gold Label make me want to get a DeLorean, travel back in time, and slap whoever is responsible for that.
Fuji said…
I've always loved Topps Gold Label & Flair Showcase... but have never actually understood all of the different classes, rows, colors, and styles. Someone needs to write a book deciphering both companies' secret codes.
John Bateman said…
Mostly from a Topps Perspective

1952-1991 The Golden Age
1992-1994 Transition Age
1995-2004 The Middle Ages with 1998 - 2002 being the Stone Age
2005-Present - The Silver Age

CaptKirk42 said…
I kind of like the Gold Label and Showcase, but hate the Row and Class systems. Confusing just like the Bowman Draft, Prospects and Prospect Draft things. Its taken me about 10 years to figure out the Bowman number systems, but I still can't figure out when to look under the regular Bowman set to find a card, or Bowman Draft Picks, or Bowman Prospects and Drafts or my standby Bowman just screw it I have a Nationals card (or Orioles or one of my PC players). I agree about the confusing of calling Fleer Ultra just "Ultra" I look in databases and checklists for "Fleer Ultra" first then remember that the silly thing is calling it "Ultra". It is like now Topps Heritage being called just "Heritage" forgetting the fact that at one time there were "Topps Bowman Heritage" which of course was simply called "Bowman Heritage" by all. Why cant the card makers go back to doing things simply? Even Topps "Heritage" is not simply modern players on a vintage card design.
beefman said…
I agree with you on the whole 'Fleer Ultra' thing! I also try and refer to Topps Stadium Club as that and not just Stadium Club. I buy a Beckett magazine every year or so, and it annoys the way they refer to the old Upper Deck Masterpieces sets as 'U.D. Masterpieces' They've arbitrarily selected a few Upper Deck sets and kept the 'Upper Deck' in the name, used U.D. in some others, and yet Upper Deck SP is referred to as SP. Beckett is doing my head in!
Anonymous said…
"it's not listed under "Pinnacle," it's listed under "Summit." I hate that" I agree. This is very frustrating.

There are a few scenarios when I feel like it's OK. Score/Pinnacle and Donruss/Leaf are the 2 that come to mind. First, the brand itself needs to be recognized as a standalone. Pinnacle was always the manufacturer, but since there were 4 Score sets released before any set called "Pinnacle", it was recognized as it's own brand. Nobody was calling it "Pinnacle Score" in 1988, nor were they in 1995. Same basic idea with Leaf. In 1990 when Leaf became it's own set and not a parallel of Donruss, nobody started calling the latter "Leaf Donruss".

The 2nd thing is that if the set manufacturer uses the company name - magazines should use it. In your card above - Pinnacle doesn't even call it just Summit on the front of the card! They call it "Pinnacle Summit"! This is where Stadium Club is a bit iffy. Topps called it "Topps Stadium Club" on the TSC logo through 1997. But it seems like a brand that had it's own standing that I could at least understand separating it out. A brand that doesn't meet that is Finest. Beckett has had it called just "Finest" forever. But I've always thought of it as Topps Finest.
I honestly just sent a batch of cards....I'm so glad you needed some of them and also glad to give you something to do in this slow season. (haha)