After a few years of releasing cards branded as SP, Upper Deck rebranded the range as SP Authentic. Presumably, to differentiate it from all those pirate SP brands out there.
Card Number 320: Upper Deck SP Authentic, 1998; #170
Upper Deck went back to foilboard for the picture in this range, which is why it doesn't look great on the scan.
The back is just a massive stats box with a big section of black space.
Card Number 321: Upper Deck SP Authentic, 1999; #70
Despite the sepia look this card looks fresher than the 1998 card.
The card number is hard to read on the back, but otherwise this is a vast improvement on the big black stats box and blank space on the card from the previous season.
The cardback also notes Tony achieving his 1000th career RBI, something that was mentioned on his Fleer Ultra card in 1999 as well. The stats box is missing a couple of years, which is really strange. I guess the designer could only fit 15 lines of season stats in the box.
Card Number 322: Upper Deck SP Authentic, 2000; #74
The blue tint on the card offsets the blue Padres uniform really well.
Card Number 323: Upper Deck SP Authentic 2001; #76
This card arrived last week from Andy in the Baseball Cards UK Facebook group. The flecks on it are part of the design not dust on my scanner flatbed, honest!
At first glance I thought the positions on the left was a height chart!
Even more SP cards tomorrow!
Total: 323/394
I remember in the late 90's buying a pack or two of SP Authentic in hopes of pulling the Sign of the Times autographs. Didn't give much thought to the base cards until I returned to the hobby nearly a decade later.
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