2008 SP Authentic

Set Size: 100 cards

Design Notes: This design uses a lot of white card-space behind the player's photo; foil printing on the left side of the card has the player's name, team, and position in addition to the SP Authentic logo. An abstract combination of foggy/blurry haze in black and team colors plus geometric white lines cuts across the upper-middle portion of the card in the background. Backs carry over the geometric/foggy design at the top, where the player's name, vitals, and a headshot are located. A short highlight biography follows, and statistics are in the bottom half of the card.

Parallels and Similars: A gold parallel was randomly inserted into packs.

Distribution: 24 packs per box, with five cards per pack. One of those five cards is usually some form of insert.

Thoughts: Travis Hafner used to be one of my favorite players. I had him on my team back in 2003 and he did pretty well for me, and he was a pretty good ballplayer for a few years after that, but injuries have been plaguing him for the last five years.

The card design is mildly attractive, though in traditional Upper Deck fashion it's forgettable. The SP line is about autographs and hits, so I get the feeling that very little time was spent on creating the base cards. But then, perhaps some card designer from Upper Deck will read this blog post and see that comment and get upset because he spent a week making sure all the angles were pleasing and the blurriness/fogginess was just right to be indistinguishable but still noticed as being objects.

1997 SP Inside Info

Set Size: 25 cards

Design Notes: Most of the space on the front and back are taken up by player photos with etched foil backgrounds. A pull-out inside panel has a writeup, statistics, and biographical information. The cards are condition-sensitive and if you look closely at my card you'll notice chipped edges.

Parallels and Similars: None.

Distribution: Cards were inserted one per 30 packs.

Thoughts: This is a pretty novel concept and goes well with all the gimmick cards I've been showing lately. While I'm not a fan of foil backgrounds I can make an exception for a set with a pull-out stats section. Then again, if the set didn't have foil it would have looked that much better.

Additional Links: Capewood's Collections has images of a different card from this set, along with images of the inside card.

2007 SP Authentic Authentic Speed

Set size: 50 cards

Front Design: A color photo of the player is shown over a double ellipse design. The inner ellipse contains the background for the photo, while the outer ellipse has a closeup of the photo printed in a team color. The outer ellipse has a circle which holds the team logo; beneath that is the player's speed statistic (stolen bases). The set name and player name is in the lower left.

Back Design: The ellipse design repeats on the back with a short career highlights paragraph and a repeat of the player's speed statistic.

Parallels and Similars: The set has the same design as Authentic Power, issued in the same series (see yesterday's post). There are no actual parallels, relics, or autographs.

Distribution: Cards were inserted in 1:2 packs of 2007 SP Authentic. As such, each pack contained either an Authentic Speed or Authentic Power insert.

Thoughts: I might enjoy the Power version of the insert a little bit more because of the checklist - there are no players in this set that I collect.

Additional Images: card back:

2007 SP Authentic Authentic Power

 Set size: 50 cards

Front Design: The color player photo is placed over a double-ellipse design, with the inner ellipse containing the background and the outer ellipse containing a closeup of the photo printed in a team color. The team's logo is in a circle on the right and his power statistic is beneath it. The player's name and set name are in a box in the lower left.

Back Design: The backs repeat the ellipse design, which holds the set name, player name and team, power statistic, and a short highlight paragraph.

Parallels and Similars: There are no parallels, but a similar set called Authentic Speed was released in the same set.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into 1:2 packs of 2007 SP Authentic.

Thoughts: The set is fairly attractive, and was created without parallels, relics, or autographs in mind. It's not quite my collecting style, but the cards would be nice for my player collections (Pujols, Griffey Jr, Thomas, and Chipper are all in the set).

Additional Images: card back:

2005 SP Collection of Stars

Set size: 100 cards

Front Design: A cropped color photo is placed over its black and white background. The bottom of the card contains a tangent-arc design around the team logo. The team name and player's position are on the left of the logo; serial numbering is on the right. The set name in a pinched-banner design follows the bottom border.

Back Design: The tangent-arc design carries over to the back, where the player's name, position, and prior years (up to five) and career stats appear. A career highlight appears beneath the totals.

Parallels and Similars: Jersey and autograph versions exist.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of SP Collection, which combined SP Authentic and SPx. The set is serial-numbered to 299 total cards issued of every subject.

Thoughts: Completing the set is a decent challenge based on the checklist alone - in fact, at 100 cards, it is just as large as the SP Authentic or SPx base set (not including update additions). Being limited to 299 cards means it's a tougher set finish than most parallels. The design is attractive enough for an insert (at least on the front).

1994 SP Holoviews

Set size: 38 cards

Front Design: A color player photo appears with a multicolored band along the right side containing the player's name, while an identically styled banner across the bottom half surrounds a hologram containing a portrait of the player and a cloudy sky.

Back Design: Another photo is placed over a large "Holoview FX" cloud logo containing the players name, team and position; a short highlights writeup is on the right side of the card.

Parallels and Similars: A die-cut version parallels this set.

Distribution: Cards were inserted one in five packs of 1994 SP.

Thoughts: Upper Deck's hologram sets usually look good, and this is no different. A larger hologram would put this set on my want list, but for this issue the hologram is secondary to the rest of the card. As far as SP inserts go, this shouldn't be too difficult to find. Many SP inserts were inserted one per box or tougher.

Additional Images: card back:

1994 SP Previews

Set size: 15 cards

Front Design: The design is identical to the 1994 SP set, with a color photo on foil cardstock. The player's name, position, and team appear in a black banner, set sideways along the right side, with a gold band of SP logos taking up the far-right border. The region of distribution (see below) appears in the bottom right corner of the photo where the team name is located on the regular issue.

Back Design: Again, the design is the same as the 1994 SP set. A color photo uses most of the card back, with a black border on the left side containing the player's name and a career highlight; the card number is in the upper-left corner with an ER, WR, or CR prefix. The bottom of the card contains vitals and best and recent season and career stats.

Parallels and Similars: The set is identical to the regular SP set except for the region on the front and card number on the back. There is no die-cut parallel for these previews, though there was for the base set.

Distribution: Cards were inserted into Upper Deck Series 2 at a rate of one in 35 packs. The fifteen card set was divided into regions; west, central and east regions contained five cards each of regional stars. In order to complete the set, one would need to buy from or trade with people in other parts of the country.

Thoughts: I remember when these first came out. At the time, I was living in Atlanta and purchasing boxes from a store in San Jose, so I was one of the few with western region previews on the east coast. I don't remember what I did with the cards - they're probably still sitting in my collection in George. I tend to dislike foil cards like this because it detracts from the quality of the image, though the SP logo on the right side looks nice.

Additional Images: card back:

1999 SP Top Prospects

Set size: 126 cards

Front Design: A color photo is surrounded by a "dried marker line" border and a thick white border; the player's team name appears at the top; the SP Top Prospects logo, his name, position, and team logo appear across the bottom. The card fronts are foilboard.

Back Design: The player's name and vials appear at the top. A color portrait in a similar "dried marker" border and a short career highlight and team logo fill most of the card. The bottom of the card contains recent and career minor league stats.

Parallels and Similars: A parallel with holofoil instead of standard foil exists, called the President's Edition. These are extremely rare, serial numbered to 10.

Distribution: Cards were issued in 8-card packs for about $5. There are a few insert sets including an autograph set.

Thoughts: I could do without the foil board. It makes the card feel like a failed ancestor of 2010 Bowman Platinum. Otherwise, the design is nice and simple. The border is surprisingly attractive and unique, though there is too much white (foil?) space around the photo. Russell sure looks sexy with that slick hairstyle, though. Maybe he gave Upper Deck his modeling head shots for his card. You know, in case baseball didn't work out. The only thing I really don't like about this set is the lack of team affiliation. The Akron Aeros mean nothing to me if I don't know to whom they belong.