Dodgers Yanks Rain Delay - So Here's the Last '97 UD Jewels

Aloha, everybody, 

The Dodgers and Yankees game went into a rain delay during today's game, and that gave me a chance to get this post started. 

So let's take a look at the last of the cool cards from my forgotten 97 UD set. 

Global Impact is a cool subset featuring foreign-born players making good in the big leagues. This is a young (and dreadless) Manny Ramirez. 

The card back for Raul Mondesi's card...

This next subset is a fun one, called Strike Force. Of course, it features the top pitchers...

These cards have a cool, emerald green shiny finish. 

Here's a very young-looking Hideo Nomo...

I mentioned abominations in my first '97 UD post - here's another. The Hawk as a Marlin in the Final Tribute subset. 

 Gimme those full-career stats! 

And now, another fun set of inserts, Ticket to Stardom...

These are die-cut to look like ticket stubs - remember those?  They have a high gloss, gold finish. Handsome cards. These were seeded 1:34 packs. 

Here's the rear...

Last, but not least, my favorite subset from '97 Upper Deck. Series One that year kicked off with cards 1-9 devoted to ATBATT's patron saint. 

 These are a very nice little set, with sepia toned photos and a slightly mirrored finish. 

There are nine cards, so we get nine different shots of Jackie, posed and in action. 

Here's a card back...

Discovering this Jackie set was a nice surprise as these cards have now come out of that forgotten box from inside the end table, and now they have their very own binder page. 

There is one drag, though. The set has nine cards - like a binder page. I have eight. Argh! I'm missing card #3. 

That's the rub, aint it? No matter how many cards we add to our collections, there's always one more card to chase. 

Aloha! 

1997 UD Jewels Part 2

Aloha, everybody, 

In the last post I said we would be taking a look at the inserts from this set, but I over-spoke, because I don't really have many inserts from the set. Certainly not the big-time inserts. 

Back then - just as now - it was hard as heck for me to pull the huge names and the big money inserts out of packs. 

What I do have to show are some of the base subsets and a few inserts. So those will have to do for our purposes. Let's get started with some of the tribute cards from the base set.

Subsets from this era, like Defensive Gems, rock because the checklists are full of HOFers.  

The drawback for our blogpost is the mirrored finishes that were popular back in the day don't reproduce very well on our scanners. 

On the other hand, those reflective and shiny cards still look beautiful in my hands 20 years later. 

For fans of the Wizard of Oz, here's one more. This one is from the Final Tribute subset...

The caption says this is 6/19/96, when Ozzie announced his retirement. 

Here comes more shiny in real life, but dark on the blog. This is from the Star Rookies inserts. Back then foil was used by almost every set. The foil shield here reads Major League Debut. 

Here's the back. How about Nomah with a single line of stats? They're his rookie year totals. 

Another Major League Debut card. I like Erstad, and dig this photo contrasted against the mirror finish, so he makes it into the post. 

Highlights was another subset filled with HOFers...

It's dark, but the caption reads " Paul Molitor joins the 3,000 hit club on 9/16/96". 

Here's the back of the Highlights cards. Kenny Lofton was very popular back then. The card honors the day he stole his 300th base... 

We'll close this out quick today because the Dodgers are playing the Yankees now. Time to focus on that. 

Speaking of Dodgers vs Yankees, today's final card will go to one of the biggest figures from the old LAD-NYY rivalry...

 Tommy's sayin', "I'll bet my '35 Seasons of Dodger Stadium' sleeve patch that damn Reggie threw his damn hip into the path of the damned ball!" 

Next time: More subsets

Aloha! 

Pulling Jewels From Forgotten Cardboard

Aloha, everybody,

I've had the same set of living room end tables forever. They're the kind with doors that open to storage inside. I recently opened one of them and discovered a forgotten stash of card sets that have been in there who-know-how-long? 

Some of the sets are complete, others aren't. They hail back to the 90's; back when I first got into collecting. The sets aren't worth much monetarily, as they are mostly overproduced product from the junk wax era. 

Since today was a lazy Sunday, I decided to dig into the boxes while watching football, and take a look at these cards, some of which haven't seen sunlight in - believe it or not - two decades! 

I was pleasantly surprised at the beauty of this old cardboard, and I'd like to share some of my favorites with you. 

First up is 1997 Upper Deck. 

Upper Deck was considered one of the high end sets in those days, with its full bleed photos and shiny, glossy finish splashed across absolutely everything. 

The base cards used photography that varied from studio poses to Spring Training and game action shots...

The Kid was perhaps the most popular face on cardboard back then. I think The Big Hurt was a close second. 

One of the amazing little details in this set is found on the front of each base card, a caption explaining the photo, and the date it was taken. 

Take a look at this great play at the plate shot...

Dig the catcher's mask flying amid the dust and the blood. 
Thanks, Buster Posey, for making this essential part of baseball virtually disappear. 

Oh, there were abominations as well...

Here's what the card backs look like. I love UD gave us career stats...

I hate to see Fernando as anything but a Dodger, but the rear photo shows him batting...I'll take it. 

There are plenty more jewels to come from 1997, so join us next time for the inserts. 

Aloha!