Completed master set – one last look at 1999 Topps

As I mentioned in the last post, I finished the master set for 1999 Topps now that I’ve checked off the Ryan Finest set.  I’d been sitting with only that set to complete for quite a while.  The All-Topps Mystery Finest set I’d finished back in late 2015 – so it took me almost 8 years to get past this last obstacle!

Info about my base set:

How I put the base set together:

• 229 cards from the series 1 hobby box
• 217 cards from the series 2 hobby box
• 16 cards from trades

Card that completed my base set: #352– Miguel Tejada

Best card (my opinion): #100 – Ken Griffey Jr.

Check out this link to see the rest of the base set post.

My “Master” Set Info:

807 cards – 462 “base”, 121 “traded“, 220 “insert”, 6 “other”

• Insert sets:  Picture Perfect, New Breed, Lords of the Diamond, Hall of Fame Collection, All-Matrix, Power Brokers, All-Topps Mystery Finest, Record Numbers, MVP Redemption, Ryan Reprints, Ryan Finest
• Promo sets:  Pre-Production

How I put the additional sets together:

• Traded – boxed set from eBay
• Promos – all 6 cards from an eBay auction
• Inserts – 25 from my s1/s2 hobby boxes, 11 from trades, 52 from Beckett Marketplace, 42 from Sportlots, 41 from COMC, 25 from eBay, 24 from card shows

Other product bests

Completed insert set – 1999 Topps Record Numbers

After completing the Nolan Ryan Finest set from 1999, I started doing my Master Set post – and realized I’d never done a completed set post for 1999 Topps Record Numbers.  Not too surprising; this isn’t the most exciting set.

Well, here it is!

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Info about the set:

Set description:  This set showcased a record reached by 10 different players in 1998.  For example, Mark McGwire hit 70 homers, Sammy Sosa hit 20 homers in a month, Griffey became the youngest player to reach 350 homers, Cal Ripken ended his consecutive games streak at a record 2,632 games.  These cards have a striking similarity to the 1995 Topps design, but have a fireworks design in the background.

Set composition: 10 cards, 1:8 odds (1999 Topps series 2)

Hall of Famers:  3.  Mike Piazza, Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken Jr.

How I put the set together:

• 5 cards from my series 2 hobby box
• 1 card from a card show
• 3 cards from Sportlots
• 1 card from a trade

Thoughts on the set:  This set has a lot in common with the Record Breakers subsets from some of the 1970’s and 1980’s Topps sets.  Those tended to have some sort of newspaper headline-ish info on the front.  These cards don’t really celebrate the accomplishment, they list the top 10 of the record that was set.  I like the list, but a little blurb on the accomplishment would be cool.  And the set feels superfluous.

Card that completed my set: #RN7 – Kerry Wood

I think.  But am not sure.  I think this was the last card, which I got via trade from a reader back in 2013.

Best card (my opinion): #RN9 – Cal Ripken

 

I want to say Wood for this one – I think back then Wood getting 20 strikeouts was such a cool thing.  The sky was the limit!  I thought about Ripken – but this was for the streak coming to an end (and thus setting the final mark) – not for the 1995 season when he broke the record.

My Favorite Reds card:  There are none.

Any other tidbits:  Here’s a list of the records:

• 1 – McGwire – HR in a season
• 2 – Piazza – Batting Average by a catcher in a season
• 3 – Schilling – Strikeouts by a NL RHP in a season
• 4 – Griffey – Youngest to reach 350 career HR
• 5 – Sosa – HR in a calendar month
• 6 – Garciaparra – Hitting streak by an AL rookie
• 7 – Wood – Strikeouts in a game, rookie
• 8 – Clemens – Strikeouts in a game
• 9 – Ripken – Consecutive games played
• 10 – McGwire – HR in 3 consecutive seasons

Completed insert set – 1999 Topps Nolan Ryan Finest

Finishing up some more completed sets.  I finished the regular set for this almost 7 years ago, so some serious time between the Ryan reprint set and the Ryan finest set.

This was actually pretty recent purchase, so I’m no longer a year behind.  After this one – there will be a master set post forthcoming as well, which is exciting.

Info about the set:

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Set description:  After issuing reprints from great outfielders from the 50’s and 60’s – Mantle, Mays and Clemente – Topps went with a more recent hobby icon in 1999, strikeout king Nolan Ryan.  Ryan was the theme elsewhere in the product, too – he was given card #34 (his uniform number).  This is the “Finest” version of that insert set.

The regular reprints have a gold foil stamp on the front to designate the cards as “Nolan Ryan Commemorative” reprints, but this has no stamp while being finished in the Topps Chrome/Finest technology.  Like the 98 Clemente set – Topps still called this “Finest”.  Unlike the Clemente set – it didn’t have a peel-off protector.  This set is more similar to the Aaron set in 2000 which also didn’t have the peel-off.  But that Aaron set was called Chrome.  My opinion while looking at all of these – this should really be called Chrome.  Shrug.

Set composition:  27 cards, 1:18 (1999 Topps)

Hall of Famers:  1 – just Ryan.  Jerry Koosman is the only other player featured in this set.

How I put the set together:

• 1 cards from my 1999 s1 hobby box
• 2 cards from a card show
• 4 cards from Beckett Marketplace
• 20 cards from COMC

Card that completed my set:  #27 – 1994 Topps

I thought I had finished this set, went to go do this post last year and realized as I was typing above there were 27 cards!  I never got that last 1994 Topps card!  Well, I got it on COMC 3 months ago and the cards arrived at the end of September!

Thoughts on the set:  Same thing I said in the regular set completed post.  By 1999 this idea was probably a bit overdone, but to be honest – if Topps had just decided, we’re gonna do one of these every year, but cut back on other stuff, I think it would be pretty good.

Ryan, like Mickey Mantle, is a true cardboard icon – like Mantle, his greatness to card collectors outpaces his considerable greatness as a player.  So this is a good set.  The fact that it’s 27 cards and fits perfectly into 3 binder sheets is awesome too!

Best card (my opinion):  #4 – 1971 Topps

1980 and 1990 are favorites of mine as well, but this is just my favorite Ryan card.  The Finest version is better than the regular because the stamp doesn’t get in the way.

My Favorite Reds card:  There obviously are none.

Here’s the scan of the full set:

 

Any other tidbits:  Ryan had card #1 for 3 straight years from 1990 through 1992.

14 of the 27 cards feature Ryan at some point in his pitching motion.

Sometimes the silhouette of the Chrome / Finest outlines don’t match up with Ryan’s figure.  Kind of annoying.

1999 Topps parallels – Ken Griffey Jr. – no more hunting left to do – for real this time!

From a post ~4 years ago, I wrote:

“So I picked up a white whale about 2 months ago.  For the parallel cards in 1999, I picked Ken Griffey Jr.  I’m considering this parallel project done for 1999, though I’m having a different player fill in for Mr. Griffey for that MVP promotion.  Yeah, if I find his MVP promotion card someday, I’ll try for it.  But I’m doubtful, and even if I do, it may be more than I’m willing to pay.”

Well – I did, in fact, pick up the Griffey last year.  And – yeah, don’t ask what I paid for it (actually – it has a crease so wasn’t that bad)!

Here’s the updated post.

1999 Topps

Card I selected:  #100 – Ken Griffey Jr.

I picked a 2nd straight Hall of Famer in 1999.  It was also my 2nd straight Moeller High School graduate – Ken Griffey Jr. followed Barry Larkin.  This was my favorite card of the entire 1999 set; Griffey connecting with a pitch on a horizontal card is great.

I don’t have every one of these cards yet.  There’s 2 hold-ups.  First – like the 1998 Larkin, I’m missing the Super Chrome Refractor which is just a card that doesn’t show up on eBay or anywhere else very often.  Second is the MVP promotional card.  There were only 100 of these, and Griffey was a winner so most of them were probably redeemed.  So I’m not holding my breath on ever getting that one and have picked a replacement.

# of cards (including the Topps card):  10

The parallel sets in 1999 include:

• MVP promotion
• Oversize
• Opening Day
• Opening Day Oversize
• Chrome
• Chrome Refractors
• SuperChrome
• SuperChrome Refractors
• Action Flats

Scans:

1999 Topps #100

1998 Topps MVP Promotion #NNO

The only parallel in the 1999 Topps product was the MVP promotion.  Inserted only into hobby packs, were cards with a Topps MVP stamp.  If the player depicted won MVP of the week (as selected by Topps) in 1999, you could send that card in for a set of cards honoring each of the 25 winners.  The set paralleled the first 198 cards in series 1, and cards #243-444 in series 2.  Basically all of the regular cards but no subsets.  The backs of the cards have information on the promotion (no statistics).

As I mentioned, I was not too optimistic that I’ll ever run down the ’99 MVP Promotion card of Griffey.  I now have it and can consider this closed!

1999 Topps Oversize #7

Each hobby box or HTA jumbo box contained a 3-¼” x 4-½” jumbo card as a box topper.  There were 16 cards that are exact replicas of the player’s base cards, except for the size and the numbering.

1999 Topps Opening Day #58

Opening Day was back for the 2nd time in 1999.  This 165 card set was retail only, and features the same photos from the base Topps set.  The border is silver instead of the gold on flagship Topps, and there is a foil Opening Day logo instead of the Topps logo.  Naturally, the back has a different number and it has a silver background unlike the gold in the regular Topps set.

1999 Topps Opening Day Oversize#3

Just like the flagship Topps, Opening Day contained a jumbo box topper.  They were the same size – 3-¼” x 4-½” – but only had 3 players.  Naturally, Junior is one of them, along with Home Run champs McGwire and Sosa.  The only difference from this card and the base Opening Day is the size and the numbering.  I tracked this down recently as part of this parallel project.

1999 Topps Chrome #100

Topps Chrome was back for the 4th year.  For the 2nd time it was a full reproduction of the regular Topps set, released in 2 series.  The front of the card reproduces the base set using Topps chromium technology and of course the logo is the Topps Chrome logo.  The back of the card is the same as the regular set except for the Topps Chrome logo and slightly different copyright wording.

1999 Topps Chrome Refractor #100

Inserted every 12 packs of Topps Chrome were refractors.  A plastic diffraction effect that gives refractors a colorful, reflective shine.  The word refractor is written just below the number on the back – otherwise the back is the same as the regular Chrome card.  Of all the cards I got specifically for this project – this one was the most expensive – I paid $30 for it.

1999 Topps SuperChrome #18

1999 Topps SuperChrome Refractor #18

For the 2nd and last time, Topps came out with giant jumbo cards that were their own product called SuperChrome.  These cards came in 3-card packs that retailed for $4.99.  The front is the same as Topps Chrome except there’s a SuperChrome logo and the cards are 4-⅛” by 5-¾”.  The number on the back is different since it’s a smaller set, and it also has a SuperChrome logo.  There’s also a refractor version, which came 1 in 12 packs just like regular-sized ones, with refractor wording just below the card number.

YAY!  NOW I HAVE THIS CARD!

1999 Topps Action Flats #S1-8

This was probably one I could have not counted as a parallel – it’s a totally different picture.  But since Griffey has one of these, I decided to include it.  The set has the exact same design as Topps, with an action logo on the front in foil and on the back in color.  Aside from the logo and the numbering – the back is exactly the same as the Topps back.

The “Rainbow”:

Any sets I didn’t get:  That’s all you could possibly get from 1999.

Other cards I would have liked to do:  Griffey is the best (in my opinion) card in the set.  And the only 3 players that have all of the cards above are the ones in the Opening Day jumbo set – Griffey, McGwire, Sosa.

1999 Topps parallels – Ken Griffey Jr. – no more hunting left to do! (sort of)

So I picked up a white whale about 2 months ago.  For the parallel cards in 1999, I picked Ken Griffey Jr.  I’m considering this parallel project done for 1999, though I’m having a different player fill in for Mr. Griffey for that MVP promotion.  Yeah, if I find his MVP promotion card someday, I’ll try for it.  But I’m doubtful, and even if I do, it may be more than I’m willing to pay.

But the big find here was the Refractor from Topps SuperChrome.  I’ve been on the lookout for this card for over a year, and I jumped on a $30 price tag (best offer – I think $40 was the initial ask) as soon as I saw it!

Here’s the updated post.

1999 Topps

Card I selected:  #100 – Ken Griffey Jr.

I picked a 2nd straight Hall of Famer in 1999.  It was also my 2nd straight Moeller High School graduate – Ken Griffey Jr. followed Barry Larkin.  This was my favorite card of the entire 1999 set; Griffey connecting with a pitch on a horizontal card is great.

I don’t have every one of these cards yet.  There’s 2 hold-ups.  First – like the 1998 Larkin, I’m missing the Super Chrome Refractor which is just a card that doesn’t show up on eBay or anywhere else very often.  Second is the MVP promotional card.  There were only 100 of these, and Griffey was a winner so most of them were probably redeemed.  So I’m not holding my breath on ever getting that one and have picked a replacement.

# of cards (including the Topps card):  10

The parallel sets in 1999 include:

• MVP promotion
• Oversize
• Opening Day
• Opening Day Oversize
• Chrome
• Chrome Refractors
• SuperChrome
• SuperChrome Refractors
• Action Flats

Scans:

1999 Topps #100

1998 Topps MVP Promotion #NNO

The only parallel in the 1999 Topps product was the MVP promotion.  Inserted only into hobby packs, were cards with a Topps MVP stamp.  If the player depicted won MVP of the week (as selected by Topps) in 1999, you could send that card in for a set of cards honoring each of the 25 winners.  The set paralleled the first 198 cards in series 1, and cards #243-444 in series 2.  Basically all of the regular cards but no subsets.  The backs of the cards have information on the promotion (no statistics).

As I mentioned, I’m not too optimistic that I’ll ever run down the ’99 MVP Promotion card of Griffey.  I hope to, but these are just really hard to find.  So I bought this card of Roberto Kelly a while ago to stand in as a semi-permanent placeholder.

1999 Topps Oversize #7

Each hobby box or HTA jumbo box contained a 3-¼” x 4-½” jumbo card as a box topper.  There were 16 cards that are exact replicas of the player’s base cards, except for the size and the numbering.

1999 Topps Opening Day #58

Opening Day was back for the 2nd time in 1999.  This 165 card set was retail only, and features the same photos from the base Topps set.  The border is silver instead of the gold on flagship Topps, and there is a foil Opening Day logo instead of the Topps logo.  Naturally, the back has a different number and it has a silver background unlike the gold in the regular Topps set.

1999 Topps Opening Day Oversize#3

Just like the flagship Topps, Opening Day contained a jumbo box topper.  They were the same size – 3-¼” x 4-½” – but only had 3 players.  Naturally, Junior is one of them, along with Home Run champs McGwire and Sosa.  The only difference from this card and the base Opening Day is the size and the numbering.  I tracked this down recently as part of this parallel project.

1999 Topps Chrome #100

Topps Chrome was back for the 4th year.  For the 2nd time it was a full reproduction of the regular Topps set, released in 2 series.  The front of the card reproduces the base set using Topps chromium technology and of course the logo is the Topps Chrome logo.  The back of the card is the same as the regular set except for the Topps Chrome logo and slightly different copyright wording.

1999 Topps Chrome Refractor #100

Inserted every 12 packs of Topps Chrome were refractors.  A plastic diffraction effect that gives refractors a colorful, reflective shine.  The word refractor is written just below the number on the back – otherwise the back is the same as the regular Chrome card.  Of all the cards I got specifically for this project – this one was the most expensive – I paid $30 for it.

1999 Topps SuperChrome #18

1999 Topps SuperChrome Refractor #18

For the 2nd and last time, Topps came out with giant jumbo cards that were their own product called SuperChrome.  These cards came in 3-card packs that retailed for $4.99.  The front is the same as Topps Chrome except there’s a SuperChrome logo and the cards are 4-⅛” by 5-¾”.  The number on the back is different since it’s a smaller set, and it also has a SuperChrome logo.  There’s also a refractor version, which came 1 in 12 packs just like regular-sized ones, with refractor wording just below the card number.

YAY!  NOW I HAVE THIS CARD!

1999 Topps Action Flats #S1-8

This was probably one I could have not counted as a parallel – it’s a totally different picture.  But since Griffey has one of these, I decided to include it.  The set has the exact same design as Topps, with an action logo on the front in foil and on the back in color.  Aside from the logo and the numbering – the back is exactly the same as the Topps back.

The “Rainbow”:

Like I said, if I see a Griffey someday I’ll try to get it, but I’m not holding my breath.

Any sets I didn’t get:  That’s all you could possibly get from 1999.

Other cards I would have liked to do:  Griffey is the best (in my opinion) card in the set.  And the only 3 players that have all of the cards above are the ones in the Opening Day jumbo set – Griffey, McGwire, Sosa.

Completed insert set – 1999 Topps All-Topps Mystery Finest

I’m still moving along with the catch-up posts for completed insert sets.  This was the last of the Mystery Finest inserts from the late 90’s – in fact, I think this was the last Finest branded insert Topps would insert into its flagship product.  That ended 6 straight years of doing so, counting the Finest inserts that were included in 1994 Topps Traded.

Info about the set:

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Set description:  This was the 3rd time (and the 4th set), that Topps inserted the “Mystery Finest” theme into its flagship product.  This set mirrors the players from an 11-card subset that’s included in the Topps base set – the All-Topps Team.  At each position there are three players who made the team, plus an additional three spots for rookies.  All 3 players are shown on the 11-card subset in the base set, but the “mystery” idea is used for this insert set – you have to peel the black front off the card to see who your player is.

Naturally, there is a refractor version as well.

Set composition:  33 cards, 1:36 odds (1999 Topps series 2)

Hall of Famers:  4.  Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Mike Piazza, Greg Maddux

How I put the set together:

• 1 card from my series 2 hobby box
• 3 cards from a trade
• 11 cards from Beckett’s Marketplace
• 10 cards from Sportlots
• 8 cards from Check Out My Cards

Card that completed my set:  #M14 – Ken Griffey Jr.

I got this card last December when my Black Friday COMC purchase arrived.  I accidentally bought 2 of these somehow.

Thoughts on the set:  I like the general idea of most Finest products, though at the end of the 1990’s it seems like they got a little bored with creating cool borders.  I liked the cool borders.  Instead they tried to create different etchings to highlight the background.  Which was neat at first, but not as good as the different borders.  Also, this set suffers from a big issue in my opinion.  It’s supposed to be a set of the best players at each position, but there’s no 2nd basemen in it.  Out of the 11 trios, there are 4 outfield slots, and 2 first base slots.  There is a slot for rookies.  There is one trio of catchers, shortstops, third baseman and pitchers.  But no 2nd baseman.  No bueno.

Best card (my opinion):  #M5– Jim Thome

To me, this is how baseball players are supposed to dress!  Just an all-around cool card.

My Favorite Reds card:  33 cards. No Reds. Blah.

Here’s the full set.  If you look closely, you’ll realize the Jason Kendall card is a refractor.  Not sure how that happened.  I bet I bought a regular and got sent the refractor.  Oops 😉

Any other tidbits:  For the 2B discrepancy I mentioned.  There actually were a number of good second baseman in 1998.  Craig Biggio was the best of the lot and clearly would have made the All-Topps team – he became only the second player (and still is) to hit 50 doubles and steal 50 bases in the same season.  After him, I’d probably go Jose Offerman and Ray Durham, though Jeff Kent and Fernando Vina were also great.  And the best two American League second baseman of the previous five years, Roberto Alomar and Chuck Knoblauch, were also very good – just not in the category of the other 5 guys I mentioned.

1. Biggio – .325-.403-.503, 20 HR, 88 RBI, 123 R, 210 H, 51 2B, 50 SB
2. Offerman – .315-.403-.438, 7 HR, 66 RBI, 102 R, 191 H, 13 3B, 45 SB
3. Durham – .285-.363, .455, 19 HR, 67 RBI, 126 R, 181 H, 36 SB

1999 Topps parallels – Ken Griffey Jr. (some hunting left to do)

1999 Topps

Card I selected:  #100 – Ken Griffey Jr.

I picked a 2nd straight Hall of Famer in 1999.  It was also my 2nd straight Moeller High School graduate – Ken Griffey Jr. followed Barry Larkin.  This was my favorite card of the entire 1999 set; Griffey connecting with a pitch on a horizontal card is great.

I don’t have every one of these cards yet.  There’s 2 hold-ups.  First – like the 1998 Larkin, I’m missing the Super Chrome Refractor which is just a card that doesn’t show up on eBay or anywhere else very often.  Second is the MVP promotional card.  There were only 100 of these, and Griffey was a winner so most of them were probably redeemed.  So I’m not holding my breath on ever getting that one and have picked a replacement.

# of cards (including the Topps card):  10

The parallel sets in 1999 include:

• MVP promotion
• Oversize
• Opening Day
• Opening Day Oversize
• Chrome
• Chrome Refractors
• SuperChrome
• SuperChrome Refractors
• Action Flats

Scans:

1999 Topps #100

1998 Topps MVP Promotion #NNO

The only parallel in the 1999 Topps product was the MVP promotion.  Inserted only into hobby packs, were cards with a Topps MVP stamp.  If the player depicted won MVP of the week (as selected by Topps) in 1999, you could send that card in for a set of cards honoring each of the 25 winners.  The set paralleled the first 198 cards in series 1, and cards #243-444 in series 2.  Basically all of the regular cards but no subsets.  The backs of the cards have information on the promotion (no statistics).

As I mentioned, I’m not too optimistic that I’ll ever run down the ’99 MVP Promotion card of Griffey.  I hope to, but these are just really hard to find.  So I bought this card of Roberto Kelly a while ago to stand in as a semi-permanent placeholder.

1999 Topps Oversize #7

Each hobby box or HTA jumbo box contained a 3-¼” x 4-½” jumbo card as a box topper.  There were 16 cards that are exact replicas of the player’s base cards, except for the size and the numbering.

1999 Topps Opening Day #58

Opening Day was back for the 2nd time in 1999.  This 165 card set was retail only, and features the same photos from the base Topps set.  The border is silver instead of the gold on flagship Topps, and there is a foil Opening Day logo instead of the Topps logo.  Naturally, the back has a different number and it has a silver background unlike the gold in the regular Topps set.

1999 Topps Opening Day Oversize#3

Just like the flagship Topps, Opening Day contained a jumbo box topper.  They were the same size – 3-¼” x 4-½” – but only had 3 players.  Naturally, Junior is one of them, along with Home Run champs McGwire and Sosa.  The only difference from this card and the base Opening Day is the size and the numbering.  I tracked this down recently as part of this parallel project.

1999 Topps Chrome #100

Topps Chrome was back for the 4th year.  For the 2nd time it was a full reproduction of the regular Topps set, released in 2 series.  The front of the card reproduces the base set using Topps chromium technology and of course the logo is the Topps Chrome logo.  The back of the card is the same as the regular set except for the Topps Chrome logo and slightly different copyright wording.

1999 Topps Chrome Refractor #100

Inserted every 12 packs of Topps Chrome were refractors.  A plastic diffraction effect that gives refractors a colorful, reflective shine.  The word refractor is written just below the number on the back – otherwise the back is the same as the regular Chrome card.  Of all the cards I got specifically for this project – this one was the most expensive – I paid $30 for it.

1999 Topps SuperChrome #18

1999 Topps SuperChrome Refractor #18

COMING SOMEDAY TO A BLOG NEAR YOU

For the 2nd and last time, Topps came out with giant jumbo cards that were their own product called SuperChrome.  These cards came in 3-card packs that retailed for $4.99.  The front is the same as Topps Chrome except there’s a SuperChrome logo and the cards are 4-⅛” by 5-¾”.  The number on the back is different since it’s a smaller set, and it also has a SuperChrome logo.  There’s also a refractor version, which came 1 in 12 packs just like regular-sized ones, with refractor wording just below the card number.

I don’t have the Refractor version. Like the Larkin – this may be challenging to track down.

1999 Topps Action Flats #S1-8

This was probably one I could have not counted as a parallel – it’s a totally different picture.  But since Griffey has one of these, I decided to include it.  The set has the exact same design as Topps, with an action logo on the front in foil and on the back in color.  Aside from the logo and the numbering – the back is exactly the same as the Topps back.

The “Rainbow”:

COMING SOMEDAY TO A BLOG NEAR YOU

If I do find the SuperChrome refractor, I’m counting the Kelly MVP toward my “rainbow”.  Like I said, if I see a Griffey someday I’ll try to get it, but I’m not holding my breath.

Any sets I didn’t get:  That’s all you could possibly get from 1999.

Other cards I would have liked to do:  Griffey is the best (in my opinion) card in the set.  And the only 3 players that have all of the cards above are the ones in the Opening Day jumbo set – Griffey, McGwire, Sosa.

1999 Topps Action Flats – Ken Griffey Jr.

In 1999, Topps entered the figurine market with tiny figures called Action Flats.  There were 12 players available.  These are meant to look “2-D”, unlike Starting Lineup and other similar figures.  Hence the name “flats”.

Included in the packaging for each of the 12 players is a card in the design of the Topps base set with an “Action Flat” foil stamp – though the picture is different from the base Topps set.  The figurine mirrors the picture on the card, and there were home and away versions for each player.

I bought the Griffey as part of this parallel tack-on project I’m doing.  This and the other 1999 Griffey cards will follow-up next!

Completed insert set – 1999 Topps Nolan Ryan Reprints

Continuing on the completed set wagon.  I posted about the Willie Mays reprint last week; I also finished up the Nolan Ryan set from 1999 a little while ago.  I’m sort of catching up – this one’s only from December of last year!

Info about the set:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Set description:  After issuing reprints from great outfielders from the 50’s and 60’s – Mantle, Mays and Clemente – Topps went with a more recent hobby icon in 1999, strikeout king Nolan Ryan.  Ryan was the theme elsewhere in the product, too – he was given card #34 (his uniform number).  I think this may have been in honor of his getting inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame, as it had been 5 years since he retired.  Topps inserted the even years (starting with 1968) came in series 1 and the odd years came in series 2.  The reprints are glossy, with a gold foil stamp on the front to designate the cards as “Nolan Ryan Commemorative” reprints, and a small extra line on the back noting the card number for the insert set.

Set composition:  27 cards, 1:18 (1999 Topps)

Hall of Famers:  1 – just Ryan.  Jerry Koosman is the only other player featured in this set.

How I put the set together:

• 4 cards from my 1999 hobby boxes
• 10 cards from a card show
• 7 cards from Beckett Marketplace
• 4 cards from COMC
• 2 cards from Sportlots

Card that completed my set:  #10 – 1977 Topps

I picked up this from COMC for Black Friday last year.  This is one of the better cards in the set – Ryan has a great autograph, so any card with a facsimile signature gets high marks.

Thoughts on the set:  By 1999 this idea was probably a bit overdone, but to be honest – if Topps had just decided, we’re gonna do one of these every year, but cut back on other stuff, I think it would be pretty good.  Compared to the 1 per year for each series sets they’ve done 4 times already in the new decade (counting 2012 Archives), these single player inserts are pretty cool.  Ryan is a true cardboard icon – like Mantle, his greatness to cardboard collectors outpaces his considerable greatness as a player.  So this is a good set.

Best card (my opinion):  #4 – 1971 Topps

Even the poor placement of the stamp can’t keep this card down.  1980 and 1990 are favorites of mine as well.

My Favorite Reds card:  There obviously are none.

Here’s the scan of the full set:

Any other tidbits:  Ryan had card #1 for 3 straight years from 1990 through 1992.

14 of the 27 cards feature Ryan at some point in his pitching motion.

With sets like this, you notice things like that.

Completed insert set – 1999 Topps Power Brokers

This is actually the 7th insert set I’ve finished in 1999 Topps.  There really aren’t that many left for me for 1999 Topps at this point, though the Nolan Ryan reprints may take me a little bit of time.

Info about the set:

Set description:  Appropriate for the era, which saw an explosion in home runs, these cards focus on players who can hit the ball a long way, with a couple of strikeout pitchers thrown in at the end.  The cards are die-cut at the top, featuring the set name in what I’d describe as shattered block letters with an image of lightning going behind them.  This is all positioned between two electrical conductors that remind me of Dr. Frankenstein as he prepared to get the monster ready.  A picture of the player swinging is below, with Chrome technology as the finish (there are refractor parallels available).  The player’s name and team logo are below.  The back has another player picture and a write-up about the player’s slugging prowess.

Set composition: 20 cards, 1:36 odds (1999 Topps series 1)

Hall of Famers:  1 – just Frank Thomas, though that number will go up soon.

How I put the set together:

• 1 card from my series 1 hobby box
• 1 card from a trade
• 2 cards from the 2013 NSCC
• 3 cards from Sportlots
• 7 cards from Beckett’s marketplace
• 6 cards from COMC

Card that completed my set: #PB20 – Kerry Wood

This was one of 6 cards I got delivered from COMC last December, as part of the Black Friday promotion.

Thoughts on the set:  It’s a decent set, but not my favorite.  I like it, don’t love it.  Any type of power-hitting set in 1999 is a good theme, considering this was capitalizing on the home run splurge of the year before.  I like the die-cut design and Frankenstein-like conductors at the top – it’s kind of fun.  It is more of a Topps Chrome look than a Topps Finest look, which to me means it’s more dull than colorful.  The refractors are probably nicer, but also a lot harder to obtain.

Best card (my opinion): #PB4 – Sammy Sosa

Sosa or McGwire seem most appropriate here, since they were the ones making the “power” headlines in 1998 that probably led to this space.  I like the Sosa picture in particular on his card.

My Favorite Reds card:  There are none.

Any other tidbits:  There was an insert set by the same name in 1994 Leaf called Power Brokers.  I kind of liked the design of that set a little better.