Upper Decks bits and bobbleheads

Upper Deck's fun range, known as 'Collector's Choice' had a few gimmicky things like bobbleheads and various competition giveaways. Let's start with the second 'bobblehead' to feature on this blog and then go back in time to see some other bits and bobs...

Card Number 1021: Upper Deck Collector's Choice "push out", 1998; #23

I have some of the little bobblehead cards from 1999 (including one that has been pushed out), but I didn't realise that Upper Deck made these inserts in 1998 as well until Glenn sent me this a couple of weeks back. 

Upper Deck made sure Tony had his game face on for this bobblehead. It was only when I realised that Tony's disembodied head was in a batting helmet, that I realised the 1999 version is meant to show Tony fielding!

On the back are the intructions on how to assemble the bobblehead for display. 

These bobbleheads were in Series 2 of the Collector's Choice set and only appeared in 1 in 3 packs.

Upper Deck sometimes included odd things in their regular sets as well. In 1996, collectors had the chance of winning a shiny foil card.

Card number 1022: Upper Deck Predictors Redemption, 1996; #R57

There were 60 cards that could be exchanged for instant win cards found inside Upper Deck packs. 

For some reason I haven't got an overhead scan of this card in my folders, so this dirty desktop scan will have to do. Some of the marks on this card are dust and fluff on the scanner surface.

The back is relatively plain, but neatly laid out. The write up begins with Tony's incredibly low strike out rate. 88 times in 5 years!

This card arrived in a small box of cards from Gawain way back in November 2021. Six months later - thank you, Gawain!

Card Number 1023: Upper Deck Collector's Choice You Crash the Deck game piece, 1994; #unnumbered

You Crash the Deck (later Game) was a scratch off and win redemption thing that ran in Collector's Choice (with some adpatations) for several years.

There were 15 different varieties of this "game piece" each featuring two players. Tony shared the spotlight on this with Andres Galarraga from the Rockies.

This card sized 'game piece' folds out to reveal a large number of scratch off areas. The most important one is the one saying whether it's a winning card. That is the only bit that has been scratched off. 

And on the back are the huge list of terms and conditions in a tiny font.

Why were Canadians set a relatively simple maths question? I presume there is some rule about giveaway competitions that meant there has to be a quiz question. Otherwise that's just weird!

Total: 1023 cards

Leading the league in the middle of the 90s

I like cards that show 'league leaders'. They are usually relatively easy to find, and they provide a bonus card of certain players if those players happened to trouble the leader boards. Tony often did, so that often meant he had an extra card in sets issued in the 1990s.

Card Number 993: Fleer (league leaders insert), 1995; #6

The base cards in the set issued by Fleer in 1995 are all kinds of mid-90s crazy- when I blogged about Tony's card in the set I called it "the most 1995 card ever". Fleer toned their hyperactive designers down a lot for these inserts.

The write up on the back is how Tony had to "settle" for winning the batting title in 1994 with .394. The writer notes that Tony's average was rising at the point the season was curtailed. 

A couple of years later and Tony was picking up another National League title...

Card Number 994: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1997; #56

Of the eight batting titles that Tony won, his title in 1996 was the only one when he wasn't the outright winner across both major leagues. In 1996 he missed out to a young buck who was in his third season in the majors, Alex Rodriguez. Whatever happened to him, eh?

The way Upper Deck positioned the two photos makes it look like A-Rod is about to swing at Tony who is distracted by something else. 

There are a few names on the back that instantly jump out. And several that I'd never heard of before. Bernard Gilkey? Kevin Seitzer? 

Tony's team-mate, Ken Caminiti was sixth on the list. Ken was integral to the Padres National League West pennant win in 1996 and was also an All Star that year. 

But it's not just batting average that produces leader boards. In baseball, every statistic has leaders and sometimes the card companies decided to highlight some of those.

Card Number 995: Fleer Ultra [On Base Leaders insert], 1996; #3

This seems to be a weird stat for an insert set to focus on because it's very similar to batting average. The designer maybe felt the same way and it doesn't look like much care has been taken on the photo placement on the front. 

The back is much better. 

I had a Twitter conversation with Tim from Pennsylvania recently about the decision by Major League Baseball to ban the defensive shift, and we agreed that it just showed the reduced quality of hitting in the modern game. Would Tony have been curtailed by the shift? Unlikely, and this Fleer card from 26 years ago agrees.

I never think of Tony being the kind of player to draw a lot of walks, but his on base percentage of .404 suggests he got a few in the preceding season. A few blog posts back, I noted a stat on a Topps Gold Label card about walks, so pitchers sometimes opted to intentionally put him on base rather than risk a hit. And I don't blame them!

Total: 995 cards
 

Back to Base in Upper Deck week

You might be thinking, surely there aren't any Upper Deck base cards Jon hasn't blogged yet? Well, you'd be surprised...

Card Number 825: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1998; #480

This card is from the last year of  'Collector's Choice'. It became UD Choice in 1999 before being lost forever. As a swansong, that is a fantastic card photo.

On the back we have Tony reaching up to sign autographs. He was well-known for signing autographs, often staying behind long after his team-mates had disappeared into the changing rooms. Any regular readers of this blog will know the 'Did you know?' factoid. I comment on it a lot! (It's still remarkable.)

Card Number 826: Upper Deck Encore, 1999; #77

Encore was a parallel set that Upper Deck released, with shiny versions of their base cards from that year. (This could have been a Tuesday Twin card.) As is sometimes the case with these random sets, I've already blogged the two much rarer insert cards from this set. It's nice to add the base card!

The front is practically the same as the card from the regular set but has an additional 'Encore' on it. The back has half an additional 'Encore' on it. (At the top!)

Card Number 827: Upper Deck Ovation, 2001; #51

This completes my run of Tony's base cards in the Ovation sets, as I've already blogged the cards from 1999 and 2000. The central motif of these cards was the baseball 'stitching', which was embossed. The stitiching isn't in red on this card, but the embossing marks are quite clear on the back. 

Tony looks disappointed in the photo. Maybe it's because he knew this would be his last year in the Ovation set. The stats box has his figures from the previous two years. It's as if the years before Ovation sets don't count. 

Total: 827 cards

Tuesday Twins - seen in previous guises

The recent influx of cards into my collection has included quite a few parallel versions of cards that have featured already on the blog. Here are a few more from the various Upper Deck ranges. I've included links to where the other version was blogged.

Card Number 818: Upper Deck Collector's Choice Special Edition Silver Signature, 1995; #160

Base version was #354 on the blog.

Special Edition was Upper Deck's third release in its Collector's Choice Range, after Series 1 and Series 2. Like the rest of the cards in the range, parallel versions with silver foil and gold foil signatures were released. The gold foil signatures were a lot rarer. The 'Special Edition' logo (top right) was recolourised for this silver signature release. Ironically, the silver signature scans black!

The back has a photo that is definitely in the top ten photos of Tony on a cardback. You can almost hear him saying "Heeeyyyyy, you guys!"

If every parallel had a photo that good on it, I would have a lot more appreciation for parallels.

Card Number 819: Upper Deck UD Choice Starquest (Green), 1999; #SQ8

Base version was #129 here

Green shiny card! Lovely. 

UD Choice was Upper Deck's late 90s rebrand for Collector's Choice. It lasted for one year and was replaced the following year by the MVP range.

Every pack of UD Choice cards had one Starquest card in it. The base cards were blue. The green versions were inserted at a rate of 1 in 8 packets. There were also red versions inserted 1 in 23 packets and gold versions sequentially numbered to 100. 

The dull cardback is made up for by the shininess of the front. The sleeve logo of the Swinging Friar is quite prominent in the cropped version of the photo on the cardback. 

Card Number 820: Upper Deck Special F/X, 1998; #9

According to Baseballcardpedia, this set "partially-parallels 150 cards from the 1998 Upper Deck set". I blogged the regular version back in September (#745).

Aside from being shiny holofoil, this card doesn't have the little logo denoting 'Ken Griffey's Hot List' that is on the regular card. The presentation marks the first time the Padres played at Edison field in Anaheim. The Angels player presenting the award is Eddie Murray.

Apart from the set number, the back is exactly the same as the regular release.

Card Number 821: Upper Deck SP (die-cut), 1994; #130

Base version was #316 on the blog.

In addition to all 200 cards in the inaugural SP set being holofoil, there were die-cut parallels inserted at a rate of 1 in every pack. It's not the most imagintaive die-cut, with just a chunk taken out of the top of the card. This is an overhead scan. If you want to see how dark this would look on a flatbed scan, then that's what I used when I blogged the normal version of this card. 

SP went for the minimalist approach on the card back. The photo has been cropped so tightly the base path Tony is running on isn't visible. 

And that's the Tuesday Twins for today! 

Total: 821 cards

SE Stat-urday

I am reaching the end of my stockpile of Tony Gwynn cards and seem to have ended up with a few odd ones that don't really fit into a themed post, like these Upper Deck cards.

Card Number 543: Upper Deck Collector's Choice Special Edition, 1995; #140

Collector's Choice was Upper Deck's other main set, and Special Edition was a smaller additional set of Collector's Choice, like a spin-off of a spin-off.

The stat leaders card is relevant to this blog because it commemorates Tony's .394 score in 1994. The blue foil SE logo marks this out as part of the Special Edition set.

On the back we have all the leading hitters across both leagues in 1994. Tony was .026 more prolific than Jeff Bagwell, who had the next highest average.

Looking down the list of other players, it feels very odd seeing Wade Boggs listed as a Yankee, but he spent five seasons and won the World Series with them in 1996.

Card Number 544: Upper Deck UD3, 1997; #35

UD3 was a high end card range brought out by Upper Deck that went heavy on emphasising its use of "unique technologies" on its cards. Tony's card was a PROmotion [sic] card that featured "Light-FX" - an effect that doesn't scan very well. 

This wonky photo captures the colourfulness of the cardfront better.

The cardback isn't treated with the same coating. It predicts Tony has a place reserved in Cooperstown - he entered the Hall of Fame ten years later!

There were only 60 base cards in this set, which sold at $3.99 for 3 cards. If we adjust for inflation, the retail price for packs of three cards would be $6.47 in 2020.

Card Number 545: Upper Deck Past Time Pennants, 2005; #76

This set from Upper Deck was composed of retired players. There were 90 cards in the set and 69 of them were Hall of Famers, or have been elected since the set was released. Tony was included in the set two years before he was elected.

The cardback lists Tony's five best seasons and it's notable that three of them were grouped between the 1994 season and the 1997 season. 

Although I sometimes comment negatively about truncated stats boxes on cards, this works really well in this kind of set that features legends of the game. 

Total:545 cards

Friday fun with Upper Deck

Let's end the week with some slightly unusual cards from Upper Deck.

Card Number 461: Upper Deck, 1996; #116

The "Young at Heart" subset were 18 cards within the main range dedicated to players who had been playing a while and still performing at an elite level. Tony is in catching mode on the front.

There's a photo on the back from early in his career.

The factoid about Tony's .394 season eschews the comparison with Ted Williams recording .406 in 1941 (which occurred in the American League) and takes Tony's record back another five years, to 1936 and Bill Terry's .401 average in the last season of his career. "Memphis Bill", as he was known, played for the New York Giants from 1923 to 1936. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1954. The Giants organisation retired his uniform number in 1984. As ever, Tony is in illustrious company!

(Also, "Young at Heart" gave me a Bluebells earworm!)

'Card' Number 462: Upper Deck Collector's Choice Stick-Ums, 1997; #19

Given how these are still widely available, did anyone ever, um, stick a Stick-Um? 

19 bonus points for giving Tony Stick-Um number 19!  The number indicates that this was from a hobby pack rather than a standard retail pack, as those Stick-Ums weren't numbered.

Card Number 463: Upper Deck Collector's Choice Memorable Moment insert card, 1997; #5

There's always something fun about a die-cut card.

The Memorable Moments cards were only inserted into 6-card retail packs. There were 10 in each series of Collector's Choice cards released, although they don't have the Collector's Choice logo on the card. This one is from the Series 2 release, because it had bronze foil. The Memorable Moments cards in Series 1 had gold foil. Both releases were numbered 1-10, just to add a little bit of confusion to things.

On the back, the "memorable moment" is about Tony securing his seventh batting title.

The text layout is awkward on the back. It's rare to see right-justified text on a baseball card and it's not easy to read. On yet another occasion, Tony is compared to famous Hall of Fame inductees.

Total: 463 cards

Choosy collectors chose this collection

Upper Deck cards were originally marketed as 'The Collector's Choice'. But then in 1994 Upper Deck decided to launch a range called Collector's Choice. These were large card sets with numerous parallels and insert series, including Stick-Ums, push-out bobbleheads and confusing card games. As a result, Collector's Choice cards occupy a decent-sized portion of the Upper Deck part of my collection, even though the range ceased in 1998. 

Card Number 352: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1994; #344

This is the Team Checklist for the Padres in the set. I've previously blogged about Tony's base card and its parallel.

The back is notable for having the 1994 Opening Day roster list. There aren't many memorable members of the starting line up.

During the first few years of Collector's Choice, all the cards had parallel versions with 'silver signatures' in foil on them. Even the checklists.

Card Number 353: Upper Deck Collector's Choice - Silver Signature, 1994; #344

Unfortunately, the silver foil scans black.

This is one of the cards in my collection that I will hopefully upgrade one day as it has a little bit of damage on the right hand side. 

The back of the card is the same as the regular base version.

Just a note on that factoid. That .358 batting average that saw Tony achieve second place in the hitting tables in 1993 would have won him the National League batting title in 1985, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1992, as well as in 2001 (his final season) and 1983 (his rookie season), although he might not have made enough plate appearances in either of those seasons to qualify. (Since 2007, players have to make 502 plate appearances to be in contention for the title. However, I don't know what the rules were in the 80s and 90s.)

So, discounting the two years at either end of Tony's career, that batting average would have brought him a National League title in another five seasons and the overall Major League title in four of them. As it was, he was second in 1993 with that total.

Card Number 354: Upper Deck Collector's Choice Special Edition, 1995; #160

This range was a supplementary set released towards the end of the season. It included a number of rookie cards and also noted who made the All Star team that year. Tony had an All Star card.

The cardback has a better photo. This is Tony being The Fonz.

Bit of a boring stats box with the record-breaking .394 batting average tucked away in tiny font underneath it. It was commemorated on another card in the set though.

Card Number 355: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1996; #290

Tony is bursting out of the card but the 3D effects would be better if his arm was over the Collector's Choice logo as well.

There's a quiz question on the back! That's about the best thing on the cardback.

Tony was also chosen as the player on the Team Checklist in the set too.

Card Number 356: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1996; #408

Visually, this card looks very similar to the 1994 card I kicked off the blog post with.

Comparing this checklist to the 1994 one, most of the team had been replaced.

The factoids are about the Padres season in 1995. Given that this year San Diego has been nicknamed Slam Diego, one of the factoids is surprisingly relevant.

The 1996 Collector's Choice series also had "You Make the Play" game cards - both versions are in this post.

Card Number 357: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1997; #210

When I do a blog post like this there is always one card that has a weird choice of photo on the front. This is the weird (collector's) choice photo card in this post.

The 1996 All Star game was played at Philadelphia. Tony was elected to the starting line-up but didn't actually play. The National League won 6-0 without his input, though.

The little cartoon chap who was asking the baseball quiz questions on the cardbacks in 1996 was back with a 'Did you know?' section. It's not the most interesting tidbit of knowledge.

And that's the end of the run-through of the cards that Upper Deck claimed collectors would choose.

Total: 357/394