100 Days of Barry Larkin

[todeen]

Day 61: 1998 Topps Chrome Super, in person auto. Although I don't really like oversized cards, I did like the oversize refractors. Not sure why.

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[OhioLawyerF5]

For my first post in 1998, I thought I'd share the 1998 version of the Circa Rave that I just shared. In 1998, Skybox changed the brand name to Circa Thunder. But the rave parallel /150 stayed. They also added a Super Rave parallel /25. I don't have it. I just missed one that was recently listed, but someone snapped it up immediately before I saw it. While I like them, it's hard to pay the price that they go for when it isn't a really shiny or cool looking parallel. They look like the base cards, just with different foil.

[bnorth]

Awesome thread. So nice to see all those cool 90s cards.

[todeen]

Day 62: 1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated Extra Edition "First Edition" 1/1. Long title! Possibly the best card in my collection. My only playing days 1/1, this was obviously a last second decision to make a 1/1. No difference on front of card to differentiate from normal insert. Back of card has 1/1 printed in purple. I was lucky enough to win this in an auction, and submitted to PSA myself. I knew it wouldn't come back pristine. But I got a playing days 1/1, which checks a box on my collection. You just don't ever see late 90s 1/1 come up for sale!



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[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by todeen

Day 62: 1998 Fleer Sports Illustrated Extra Edition "First Edition" 1/1. Long title! Possibly the best card in my collection. My only playing days 1/1, this was obviously a last second decision to make a 1/1. No difference on front of card to differentiate from normal insert. Back of card has 1/1 printed in purple. I was lucky enough to win this in an auction, and submitted to PSA myself. I knew it wouldn't come back pristine. But I got a playing days 1/1, which checks a box on my collection. You just don't ever see late 90s 1/1 come up for sale!



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Oh boy!!!

The only word to describe my emotions is envious!

Awesome card!

[OhioLawyerF5]

For today I'll share the 1998 Bowman International Refractor. In 1997 they just had a flag behind the player of the country they were from. But in 1998, they put a map dhowing their city. The cool thing about Larkin is he is a hometown kid, born and raised in Cincinnati. So this card prominently shows Cincinnati on the map in the background (1999 will take this to a whole new level, but we'll get there eventually).

[todeen]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

).

The international refractors are so cool. Always loved them. I need to grab them, but then I always see something else more pressing! More money, more problems.

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[OhioLawyerF5]

Happy Thanksgiving, Larkin fans!

Since we are probably all busy with family, I'll hold off on the longer posts I have planned for 1998, so I'll just post a card I think is pretty.

1998 Elite Status /100

The foil and die cut make these tough to find in good grades.

[todeen]

Day 63: 1998 Topps Gallery "Gallery Proof" /125. Gallery had some beautiful cards, including this one.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


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[OhioLawyerF5]

1998 Gold Label Red Labels. The Gold Label set had 3 Classes. The Red Label parallels were numbered progressively lower as the Class went up. I have the Class 1, which is 100, and the Class 2, which is /50. There is a Class 3 /25 that I would love to own.

[todeen]

Day 64: Topps Gallery "Players Private Issue" /250. Very similar to Gallery Proof, slightly different. I like the border colors on the Proof better.


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[OhioLawyerF5]

Earlier in this thread, I posted the 1997 Essential Credentials. It was /99 and had a less rare counterpart, Credentials, /299.

In 1998, they introduced a numbering system that they would use for several other years. They made a Future and Now version of the Essential Credentials parallels and did away with the Credentials.

There were 100 cards in the set. The checklist was basically organized as a ranking system where the top players were near the beginning of the checklist, and the younger players were toward the end of the checklist.

So, the way the Essential Credentials set worked was the Now version was numbered to the card number that player was in the set. Card #1 in the set was a 1/1, card number 2 was /2, and so forth until you get to the last card in the checklist /100. The Future version was the opposite. The young players got the really rare cards, and the stars got the less rare version. The Futures were numbered to 101 minus the card number. So card number 100 in the set was a 1/1, whereas card number 1 was /100. Meaning each player had 101 total Essential Credentials.

Barry Larkin was card #25. Therefore, his Essential Credentials Now was /25, and his Future was /76.

The cards themselves were multi-layer, as the previous year, with acetate and foil coming together to make a shiny masterpiece. Below is the Barry Larkin Essential Credentials Future. I do not yet have the Now version, but am on the hunt. I will do a separate post when we get to 1999, but they used a similar numbering system that year as well.

[todeen]

Day 66: 1999 Fleer Ultra Gold Medallion. Of all the cards out there, I find the gold parallels the most attractive. 1999 was Larkin's last big career year, and a magical year for the Reds as they won 96 games. He recorded 5.1 WAR in his age 35 season, but the Reds lost game 163 to the Mets, and they missed the postseason. At the time, I believe they were the first 90 win team to miss the playoffs under the new wild card playoff format. While other 90 win teams have missed the playoffs more recently, the 1999 Reds still hold the dubious distinction of most wins without making the playoffs. The Mets got there at together in 2000, and made the World Series, remembered more casually as the Subway Series.

The 1999 season would end Larkin's peak years, which started in 1988. Only showing WAR, here are his numbers:
1988 = 7.0 WAR (All Star, Silver Slugger)
1989 = 3.8 WAR (AS, SS)
1990 = 5.7 WAR (AS, SS, MVP7)
1991 = 6.1 WAR (AS, SS, MVP17)
1992 = 5.6 WAR (SS, MVP12)
1993 = 3.8 WAR (AS)
1994 = 4.0 WAR (AS, GG)
1995 = 5.9 WAR (AS, SS, GG, MVP1)
1996 = 7.2 WAR; first shortstop 30-30 season (AS, SS, GG, MVP12)
1997 = 3.5 WAR (AS)
1998 = 5.7 WAR (SS)
1999 = 5.1 WAR (AS, SS, MVP22)


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[OhioLawyerF5]

Larkin has some beauties in the 1998 Flair Showcase set.

Here is the Row 0, the precursor to the current mojo refractor design:



Here is the Row 1 Legacy Collection:



And here is the Row 3 Legacy Collection:

[OhioLawyerF5]

I'm going to post a bit early today, because I've been excited to get to this one. It is one of the rarest and most interesting cards I own.

I found it at that National this year in Cleveland. A dealer had it that mostly sold vintage oddball stuff like pins and buttons and other trinkets. I saw it and immediately knew it was coming home with me. I asked him how much he wanted for it, and he said I was probably the only person in the building who even knew what it was, and since it wasn't his specialty, he quoted me a super low price. I couldn't give him the cash fast enough.

The card is a 1998 Topps SportzCubz test issue. This entire set is a mystery as it never made it past the prototype phase.

The description on baseballcardpedia.com says, "1998 Topps SportsCubz were plastic 3" square "cubes" apparently issued by Topps as a test issue. The fronts have a player photo set against their team's logo with the words "Topps SportzCubz" on the bottom left and the player's name located on the bottom right. The backs have biographical information as well as season and team stats. Any further information about these cards is appreciated."

It is rare that even baseballcardpedia doesn't have much information on a set.

According to an article on sportscardinfo.com, there are rumored to be 5 total sets produced. The article states, "Very little is known about 1998 Topps SportzCubz. The main reason for this is because it never made it past the test phase. About five prototype cards are rumored to have been made for each player. Then the idea was canned. What the end product would have looked like is a mystery. Judging by the prototype, it looks as if it would have been wrapped around something. I guess we’ll never know."

A user on collectors forum and freedom cardboard named frankhardy seems to have the most information on the set.

In response to a statement in a thread on collectors forums in 2017 that said "I have two of the five Mark Grace's. I say five because that's the rumored total pop. I know two sets sold in 2014, and three more sold in 2016-- by a son of a former Topps employee. I assume the three from 2016 were independent of the other two... if so that would account for the five," frankhardy had this to say:

"I don't think that the sets in 2014 were independent of the other 3. I am certain that those sets that were sold in 2014 were sold by the same son of the Topps employee. He sold one of those sets in 2014 to a guy in Texas. I know, because I bought the near set from the guy in Texas (he kept 3 of the cards....Griffey, Bonds, and Alomar). I bought the near set from the guy in Texas AFTER I dealt directly with the son of the Topps employee.

"Here is how it all went down....

"In May of 2016, I bought my first set from the son of the Topps employee for the sole purpose of keeping the McGwire for my Cardinals collection. I sold off the rest individually. He contacted me again in October of 2016 wanting to sell another complete set and another near set (22/25). I purchased them, along with some other nice Topps items like wax pack wrapper proofs, uncut sheets, etc.

"Ironically, the very next week in October, I saw where a guy was selling 3 Sportzcubz on Ebay. I thought, "That's just great"...after I thought I had pretty much cornered the market so to speak, here are 3 more cards. So, I contacted him in Texas to see what he had. He had a complete set, but he wanted to keep a few. He agreed to pull the 3 he listed on Ebay and he sold me all but the Griffey, Bonds, and Alomar. He confirmed to me that he bought them from the son of the Topps employee (who had passed away a few years ago).

"So, to sum it all up, of the 5 sets or partial sets known to exist, I have owned 2 complete sets and 2 more near sets. I still own the complete set in BGS slabs and I still own 2 partial sets. As I stated earlier, I broke the first set and sold individually (keeping the McGwire). As for the 5th set......I don't have any information on it....or whether there are any more out there."

As you can see, other than information that these sets came from a former Topps employee, not much else is known. If you have any information on the set, please share.

Here is a photo of the front and back of the card. They appear to be some sort of 3D puzzle, when joined with other cards they made a 3" x 3" cube. The backs of the cards say "Product Prototype" on the bottom right. They are made of plastic rather than card stock.

[todeen]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

I'm going to post a bit early today, because I've been excited to get to this one. It is one of the rarest and most interesting cards I own.

I found it at that National this year in Cleveland. A dealer had it that mostly sold vintage oddball stuff like pins and buttons and other trinkets. I saw it and immediately knew it was coming home with me. I asked him how much he wanted for it, and he said I was probably the only person in the building who even knew what it was, and since it wasn't his specialty, he quoted me a super low price. I couldn't give him the cash fast enough.

The card is a 1998 Topps SportzCubz test issue. This entire set is a mystery as it never made it past the prototype phase.

The description on baseballcardpedia.com says, "1998 Topps SportsCubz were plastic 3" square "cubes" apparently issued by Topps as a test issue. The fronts have a player photo set against their team's logo with the words "Topps SportzCubz" on the bottom left and the player's name located on the bottom right. The backs have biographical information as well as season and team stats. Any further information about these cards is appreciated."

It is rare that even baseballcardpedia doesn't have much information on a set.

According to an article on sportscardinfo.com, there are rumored to be 5 total sets produced. The article states, "Very little is known about 1998 Topps SportzCubz. The main reason for this is because it never made it past the test phase. About five prototype cards are rumored to have been made for each player. Then the idea was canned. What the end product would have looked like is a mystery. Judging by the prototype, it looks as if it would have been wrapped around something. I guess we’ll never know."

A user on collectors forum and freedom cardboard named frankhardy seems to have the most information on the set.

In response to a statement in a thread on collectors forums in 2017 that said "I have two of the five Mark Grace's. I say five because that's the rumored total pop. I know two sets sold in 2014, and three more sold in 2016-- by a son of a former Topps employee. I assume the three from 2016 were independent of the other two... if so that would account for the five," frankhardy had this to say:

"I don't think that the sets in 2014 were independent of the other 3. I am certain that those sets that were sold in 2014 were sold by the same son of the Topps employee. He sold one of those sets in 2014 to a guy in Texas. I know, because I bought the near set from the guy in Texas (he kept 3 of the cards....Griffey, Bonds, and Alomar). I bought the near set from the guy in Texas AFTER I dealt directly with the son of the Topps employee.

"Here is how it all went down....

"In May of 2016, I bought my first set from the son of the Topps employee for the sole purpose of keeping the McGwire for my Cardinals collection. I sold off the rest individually. He contacted me again in October of 2016 wanting to sell another complete set and another near set (22/25). I purchased them, along with some other nice Topps items like wax pack wrapper proofs, uncut sheets, etc.

"Ironically, the very next week in October, I saw where a guy was selling 3 Sportzcubz on Ebay. I thought, "That's just great"...after I thought I had pretty much cornered the market so to speak, here are 3 more cards. So, I contacted him in Texas to see what he had. He had a complete set, but he wanted to keep a few. He agreed to pull the 3 he listed on Ebay and he sold me all but the Griffey, Bonds, and Alomar. He confirmed to me that he bought them from the son of the Topps employee (who had passed away a few years ago).

"So, to sum it all up, of the 5 sets or partial sets known to exist, I have owned 2 complete sets and 2 more near sets. I still own the complete set in BGS slabs and I still own 2 partial sets. As I stated earlier, I broke the first set and sold individually (keeping the McGwire). As for the 5th set......I don't have any information on it....or whether there are any more out there."

As you can see, other than information that these sets came from a former Topps employee, not much else is known. If you have any information on the set, please share.

Here is a photo of the front and back of the card. They appear to be some sort of 3D puzzle, when joined with other cards they made a 3" x 3" cube. The backs of the cards say "Product Prototype" on the bottom right. They are made of plastic rather than card stock.

Very awesome post. 5/5 stars. I think SportzCubez have been mentioned on Net54 before. Otherwise, I'm not sure how I would know about them. Maybe Twitter. Very cool to see a picture of one.

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