- I remember this product very well. Paid around $70 for a box, the autograph I got was some common player, and I felt very empty at the end.
- I'm sure that one day I'll end up with the autographed version of this card; I'll probably have to pay more than half of what I paid for the box two decades ago.
- This is the first of several Pinnacle cards from 97-98 that I have yet to show.
- Maybe one of the cheaper base cards of Joe, there are currently 5 copies of this card on COMC, with the cheapest being 74 cents.
- Robert
- An easy card detective this time around; that's Philly's Eric Desjardins checking Joe on the front.
- The border is actually silver, not black as it scanned. It's interesting how the card looks with the black border; the border reminds me of snow falling in the middle of the night on a dark street.
- COMC has 5 copies of this card currently, the cheapest priced at 93 cents. There also is a Prime Numbers insert (which I need) that is priced at $30.25. Interestingly, the Prime Numbers insert is numbered out of 307, which was the number of career goals Joe had scored by the end of the 96-97 season.
- Robert
- Never understood the red shading below Jim's name on the card. Have no idea why UD did that.
- Otherwise it's a great photo, Jim just out of the batters box following a recently hit ball.
- Bio on the back: The UD card also mentions that Jim was third in walks in the AL, just as the Bowman card last night did.
- Career homer #25 was Jim's 8th straight homer at home, hit July 1st, 2002 versus KC's Dan Reichert. It was a 2-run shot in the middle of a wild high scoring affair, which the Indians eventually lost 13-11.
- Robert
- Simple design, black border and nothing else fancy. Great looking card in my opinion.
- Bio on the back: Ranked third in AL in walks (116) and 10th in hits in 2000. Had to look up the # of hits Jim had in 2000, and was surprised that 150 hits was good enough for 10th overall in the AL.
- Glad I didn't have to still buy this card....it's listed currently on COMC for 85 cents. I'm hoping to find a couple of cheap cards of Jim at the site this evening...
- Robert
- Love. This. Photo. The concentration on Jim's face is in sharp focus on this card.
- Jim's 253rd career homer was his 6th consecutive homer at Jacob's Field. It was hit 6/19/01 vs. Minnesota's Eric Milton. It was a solo shot to bring the Tribe to within 6-3, and the game would go to 12 innings before the Twins won 10-9.
- Sticking with the COMC holiday weekend sale, this card is listed at $1.05 on the site. Both of the inserts are 40-50 cents cheaper. Crazy.
- Scanned a lot darker, typical of silver foil cards. Still I like the design, simple but different with the generations vertically on the card.
- You know, I thought about 2 weeks ago that I was running out of 97-98 cards. I counted just before I started this post, and I have 10 more to go. Yikes...
- COMC started their Black Friday sale, so I decided to check on this card for pricing. No copies of this card, but the gold die cut version is listed for $20. It's limited to 100 copies, but there's no way I'm paying that much.
- Robert
- The refractor definitely scanned much better than the regular base card did. Love how the dots/holes in the background pop with a gold tinge to them.
- This is the final card of Andrew from my last COMC order, finally cleaning off my desk. This morning's base card was just 34 cents, while the refractor was very cheap (in my eyes) at just 40 cents.
- Another card added to the Trading Card Database. It amazes me sometimes just how many cards of star players haven't been added yet. The site is currently at 2.12 million cards added.
- Robert
- The dots or holes or whatever those are in the background remind me of the punchboard game on the Price is Right.
- Drafted ahead of him: Justin Upton was drafted first overall in 2005, 10 spots ahead of Andrew. Justin was one of only 2 HS players drafted ahead of Andrew (the other being Cameron Maybin).
- Career homer #105 was hit 4/21/13 against Manny Parra of the Reds. It was a solo shot in the eighth inning that tied the game at 5-5; the Pirates would go on to win the game with another run in the bottom of the 9th off of J.J. Hoover.
- Robert
- Collectors choice was never much for inserts; 97-98 saw the normal Starquest and Crash the Game inserts along with a Stick 'um card, but this was the closest thing to a "real insert" card that CC released. Not bad.
- I like how the back talked about his gold medal at the '94 World Championships and the silver at the '91 WC. Within a decade he would add a couple of Olympic gold medals to his resume.
- The cheapest copy of this card right now on COMC is actually a penny cheaper than the cheapest base card. All the other inserts are priced more than a dollar, while this is listed at 55 cents.
- Robert
- Part of a very large (for Upper Deck) 60 card insert set. Most of the big name stars are there, even some 2nd tier stars such as Ziggy Palffy and Ed Jovanoski are part of the set.
- I was very surprised to see that this wasn't submitted to the TCDB as of yet. As usual, I took care of that.
- Career goal #268 came on 2/3/96 vs. the Rangers. It was one of 2 goals on the night for Joe as the Avs handled the Broadway Blueshirts 7-1. Glenn Healy was the victim that night for both goals.
- Robert
- Part of the monthly card show, I paid a buck for this one. If there's any uniform I'd like to see less of, it's the road grays.
- Interesting that the back of the card only shows the previous 2 seasons worth of stats. The back also talks about how Lefty Gomez was the first and only pitcher to win the All-Star Game for a 3rd time. That was in 1937.
- Career homer # 104 was the first of the 2014 season for Andrew, hit on April 17th against Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers. It was a 2 run shot in the bottom of the 1st, hit after the Brewers scored 1 in the top of the inning. The Bucs would go on to throttle the Brewers 11-2, behind 7 strong innings from Edinson Volquez.
- Robert
- I'm sure by the time the 97-98 season rolled around, Sakic's talent wasn't a secret.
- I like the idea though of a player's file on a card, similar to a police file with a photo (or in this case 2 of them) with biographical info.
- Bio on the back: Tied for second highest output of 96-97 season with a 6 point game. That 6 point night came early in the year, 10/15/96 vs. Edmonton. 1G, 5A helped the Avs beat the Oilers 7-2.
- Robert
- Spotted this at last weekend's show in a dollar bin. Didn't think that the price was too outrageous, so it came home with me (as you can plainly see).
- I'm grateful that the serial # is easily visible on the front. Normally I have to use a magnifying glass to see serial #'s these days.
- One of the many cards in the Bowman Platinum rainbow, I still need the Black, Green, Ice and Orange parallel versions.
- Robert
- I truly didn't care for this release when it first came out. No logos (as everyone laments) and the cartoon like drawings didn't appeal to me. These are starting to grow a bit on me now.
- I looked at the back and saw the helmet/face portion of the card as part of the 9 part series, and I'm looking forward to picking up the other 8 cards and dedicating an entire page to this set. Crazy....
- The remainder of the puzzle pieces are priced anywhere from 51 cents to $1.15 on COMC. Yes, it's McCutchen but I think that these kinds of cards should still be found in either dime or quarter boxes.
- Robert
- Love the red border on this card, it really stands out with the red Indians script on the jersey. I also never noticed until now the stars in the card background.
- I wonder how many people complained about the 20th anniversary stamp on the card back in 2001. Would have been nice to see Donruss survive another 20 years, but what can you do?
- Stats on the back: Jim didn't play a full season of major league baseball until his age 25 season. Imagine if during the 4 seasons before that he had played full time, instead of pieces here and there. 700 homers could have been a real possibility.
- Robert
- Actually found this card while digging through the boat load of inserts and parallels that I am slowly adding to my trade list on TCDB.
- Speaking of TCDB, I added this card to the website today. I still have a long way to go to get all of my PC's entered, but it'll be worth it in the end for me, because the site will help me get organized.
- What I like about this photo is how comfortable Andrew looks at the game. 2014 was his 4th straight All-Star appearance; I'm hoping he has a big year in 2018 and gets back to the game.
- Robert
- I took a quick look at the card in the binder and thought that it was a Stadium Club card because of the full bleed photo. Not a bad photo, but not in the Stadium Club class.
- Bio on the back: "The 2000 season marked the seventh straight year Jim slugged at least 20 homers. That tied the club record set by Larry Doby between 1949-55." Jim would crush 49 HRs in 2001 to break the record.
- Career homer #251 was one of Jim's 13 career walk off taters, a 3 run shot hit in the bottom of the 10th inning off of Milwaukee's Ray King. The Indians won 5-2, and made a winner of reliever Bob Wickman.
- Robert
- Don't think I'm going to hit the 397 posts that I completed on the blog in 2016, but 375 is a good target for 2017. Right around 50 more posts this year should get me there. Some 2 a days are in order.
- This card looks much better than this morning's card. The bronze coin suits it quite well. Still need the silver and gold versions.
- The only copy currently on COMC is priced at $2.88, maybe a tad expensive but I do remember that these cards were a bit pricey when they first came out.
- Robert
- I imagine that there's a coin somewhere that fits in the hole that you see.
- Going through recently and entering more cards from my Sakic collection into the Trading Card Database, I realized just how disorganized my Sakic cards were. This and the next card you'll see tonight are 2 more examples. I had them with my 97-98 cards...
- How popular was Joe at the time? His likeness appeared on the Colorado phone directory. Remember those?
- Robert
- Normally, cards #50 or #100 are bat or jersey cards on this blog. Unfortunately, I've already showed what I have as far as relic cards go for Cutch. You get an insert instead.
- This is definitely an older card; the first line on the back refers to Andrew as "primarily a leadoff man in the Craig Biggio mold". It's been a few years since Cutch hit leadoff.
- Cheap! 33 cents on COMC, you won't find prices much lower than that on the site.
- Robert
- Still learning: thought that this card was from the 98-99 season. Wrong. Must have been released late in the 97-98 season to have the 1998 copyright on the back.
- Added this card to the Trading Card Database. The site is getting close to the 2.1 million card mark. Still doing my part.
- Stats on the back: Interesting numbers on the back, with Sakic's average season over the first 9 years of his career (34G 57A) against 44 hall of fame centers (21G 28A). The big difference is Joe averaged 73G per year while the other 44 averaged 50 per season.
- Robert
- If I was smart, I would have saved this for card #100, oh well no matter.
- I love these hometown cards; I think it was a great idea to show the state flags/home country flags as a parallel. I don't think that I'll get tired of these.
- 8/13/03 was the date of Andrew's 99th career homer, hit off the Cardinals Adam Wainwright. It was a 2 run shot to get the Pirates going in the first inning, but the Cards wound up winning 4-3 in the 14th inning. Andrew would wait 20 days before hitting the milestone 100th HR.
- Robert
- Every 50 cards for a player I've decided to show some kind of "fancy" card for that player. Card 250 is a game-used bat card that I managed to purchase last year off COMC for just $1.65. Cheapest one on COMC right now is $4 more than that.
- I'm at card 250 now for Thome; it's still 85 more to go before I can recount the first homer of Jim's stay in Philadelphia. I was surprised to see that Jim only hit 101 HRs as a Phillie.
- And yes, I added this to the Trading Card Database. I never did partake in any packs of Playoff during the early 2000's, but this set had a few variations to keep you guessing (OK it was me that was guessing).
- Robert
- I remember buying packs of this a long time ago and seeing the player images with sort of a 3D look when you turned the card at a certain angle. I always liked this set...
- I need the green parallel version of this card, which is serial #'d to 269.
- Career homer #249 came just 1 day after the previous one, 6/10/2001. Chris Reitsma of the Reds was the pitcher, but by the time Thome's 2 run shot was hit, the game was out of reach. The Reds won 9-3
- Robert
- Do we need the back of the card? Stats, player name and team, the front has got it all!
- I really like the photo on the front. You can see the dirt being lifted from Thome's cleats, he's just releasing the bat from his hands, and the dirt on his left knee is even prominent. Appears to be a spring training game as well, as it looks like Jim is wearing one of those short sleeved windbreakers.
- Career homer #248 was hit 6/9/01 vs. Osvaldo Fernandez of the Cincinnati Reds. It was a solo shot that put the Indians up 5-0 on their way to a 10-2 win. Dave Burba was the beneficiary, getting his 8th win of the season.
- Robert
- Kind of disappointed how the emerald portion on the right scanned. In hand, it is an amazing look.
- Been a while since I've done a two a day post. Have to get back into this habit again.
- Still need the copper, gold, ice blue and dark gray versions of this card. Standard late 90's Pacific parallel overload.
- Robert
- Can't remember if I've ever gone more than a week without posting a Joe Sakic card. Been so focused on cleaning off my desk that I've been posting cards of Andrew McCutchen all week.
- This was one of my favorite sets of the late 90's. Unfortunately I'm not sure where all the cards I have from this set have gone...
- Love the 3 panel look, although the grainy foil photo on the right could have been a bit better.
- Robert
- Was very glad to read this evening that the Pirates picked up the option on McCutchen's contract for 2018.
- Doing my part: Added this to the Trading Card Database. Serial #'d 240-500
- Love how the sweat bands and hair tie match the blue border of the card.
- Will be glad to see Andrew get his 1500th career hit as a Pirate. 37 hits left to reach that milestone.
- Robert
- This version of the Topps 60 insert for Cutch shows him as 6th all time in Pirates history for OBP in the first 2 seasons of a players career (.365). I was surprised to see Jason Kendall quite a bit ahead of Andrew, 17 points to be exact.
- The autographed version of this card (which I don't own) features the 2010 At-Bats Per Grounded into Double Play leaders. Andrew was also 6th on this list, with a GIDP every 95 ABs. Nyjer Morgan was far and away the leader with a 254.5 AB/GIDP.
- Bought this for a very inexpensive 46 cents on COMC. Saw a few ebay auctions selling this card by itself for 99 cents. I honestly wonder sometimes how well auctions of single cards from the early 2010's do on the bay.
- Robert
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| Serial #881/2015 |
- They also could have named this card "The straws that stir the drink". Definitely a different lineup if one of these two aren't in it.
- Picked this up dirt cheap on COMC, just 68 cents. Most auctions on ebay I saw were in the $1.50-$2 range. Add shipping and I saved a pretty penny.
- Raise the Jolly Roger! Love hearing Greg Brown say that after every Pirate win. I hope that the Pirates can turn it around in 2018 and hear that phrase on telecasts more often.
- Robert
