FFF - Seeing Stars with Fleer Ultra

Some of my Fabulous Fleer Fortnight posts have had a lot of cards in. So today is just a couple of cards with a starry theme.

Card Number 943: Fleer Ultra All-Star, 1995; #8

This card uses two photos on the front to create an interesting effect. 

The back of the card talks about Tony's setting the modern batting average record in 1994, and notes a few other areas where Tony led the leagues. I will always, always highlight how difficult it was to strike Tony out when he was in his prime, so look at the final two lines of the write-up.

Given that Tony had 54 multi-hit games in 1994, you were twice as likely to see him hit twice or more in a game than see him strike out, if you went to a game at random. That is just incredible, really. 

Card Number 944: Fleer Ultra, 1996; #580

The 'Ultra Stars' was a subset towards the end of the 600-card Fleer Ultra set in 1996. I have a panchant for cards that actually feature stars on them, even just stylised ones. 

The only quibble I would have is that, given the amount of photoshopping the designers are doing here, why didn't they remove the tiny amount of the catcher's glove that is just creeping into shot?

Tony's expression on the back would turned into a meme these days. 

You know which meme I'm referencing.

I wonder what Tony was looking at...

Anyway, the write up on the back is right on the money. Whoever wrote it had clocked Tony's renaissance in the latter half of his career, noting how he was improving as he headed into the decade. There is a mention of Tony's extensive study of other players on video - which was less of an innovation by the mid-90s than when he first started doing that in the 80s. 

So those are some starry cards for Saturday. I hope you like them too.

Total: 944 cards