1981 Perma-Graphic Credit Cards Reggie Jackson

Set size: 32 cards, shaped, sized, and made of the same material (plastic) as credit cards.

Front Design: A color photo is on the left of the horizontal card, with the player's name, position, and team in the white space on the right. A black line border surrounds the photo and text on the otherwise white card.

Back Design: The backs are black-on-white, and are designed similar to a regular trading card. Vital stats, career statistics, and career highlights fill the back, except for an empty black-bordered box for autographs. The card number appears in the bottom-right corner - this is card number 7 in the set. Note the TCG copyright in the middle of the bottom line of text.

Parallels and Similars: Perma-Graphic issued a few sets in this style between 1981 and 1983, but this set has no parallels and can be distinguished by its design and the 125- prefix in the card number.

Distribution: Sets were sold for about $40 in 1981.

Thoughts: The design is quite plain, with the photo on the front of the card taking up a very small amount of space, and plenty of white space left around it. Future designs are more interesting. The company still exists, by the way, manufacturing similar (generally non-collectable) cards.

1996 Assets Phone Cards $1,000 Promos Cal Ripken Jr.

Set size: 5 phone cards, approximately the same size as a credit card.

Front Design: A full-bleed color photo fills most of the card, with the Assets logo and player name in a band across the bottom. The denomination of the phone card is at the top in gold foil. The promo version is distinguished by the word "PROMO" running up the left side of the card in grey.

Back Design: The back contains information on how to use the phone card. The promo card has information about the upcoming set.

Parallels and Similars: There are several phone card denominations in 1996 Assets, all with essentially the same design. As noted above, this promo is easy to distinguish from the authentic $1,000 phone cards, especially by checking the back.

Distribution: The $1,000 phone cards were randomly inserted into packs of 1996 Assets, a Classic set.

Thoughts: Chase phone cards were all the rage back in the mid-90s, if you were a company like Classic. Although phone cards didn't make the full push into MLB sets, they were a way of adding actual value to minor league and five-sport sets as this. The $1,000 set contains one player from each of the five sports, but pulling one of these cards was almost guaranteed not to happen. As a somewhat-unique marketing tool, phone cards are a fun variation to collect, and a reminder of how people tried to avoid long distance charges fifteen years ago (remember 10-10-220, or whatever that code was?).

2004 Bazooka Stand-Ups

Set size: 25 cards

Front Design: A color picture of the player is placed over a two-toned background. His name, team, and position are at the bottom, and a facsimile signature is placed over the lower half of the photo. The card is scored and die cut such that the top color portion can be folded to make a pop-up style card.

Back Design: The backs are mostly blank, except for legal information and the card number at the bottom.

Parallels and Similars: This set has no parallels. However, Topps issued stand-ups in 1964, Bazooka issued stand-ups in 2003, and 2011 Lineage included stand-ups. All these issues have the same style, with minor differences in color and design.

Distribution: Cards were inserted 1:8 hobby packs and 1:24 retail packs of 2004 Bazooka.

Thoughts: As with the other issues, the Stand-Ups are a fun way to bring some simple interactivity and displayability to cards. That is, of course, if you decide to "damage" the card by folding it out.

1998 Metal Universe Universal Language

 Set size: 20 cards

Front Design: A color photo is placed over a global map with a baseball seam shadow. The player's name and set name appears in foil along the side and the cards are die cut at the top and bottom.

Back Design: A portrait appears at the top, with the player's name and team beneath. A biography about the player fills the middle of the card and is printed in the player's native language. The card carries the global map design from the front by presenting longitudinal and latitudinal lines.

Parallels and Similars: None.

Distribution: Cards were inserted 1:6 packs of 1998 Metal Universe.

Thoughts: This is a great looking set. The coloring gives it an antique map look, and the card has a matte finish that meets that illusion. The foil is minimal, readable, and appropriate. The use of different language on the back based on the player's country of origin is a nice touch (but the effect is lost when the home language is English, like with Jeff Bagwell). Among a sea of foil and shine, this set does insert design right. Fleer consistently provided great insert concepts and designs.

1998 Donruss Elite Craftsmen

 Set size: 30 cards

Front Design: Blue bands at the top and bottom of the card border a color photo over a metallic foil background highlighted by random geometric shapes.

Back Design: The blue background carries over the geometric shapes from the front of the card, with a second color photo appearing in a semicircle. A short biographical paragraph appears on the card. The number and serial numbering appear in the upper-left.

Parallels and Similars: A red-bordered parallel titled Master Craftsmen was also issued.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 1998 Donruss Elite, and are serial-numbered to 3500.

Thoughts: This set has the typical Elite feel - foil and shape-based designs on inserts that don't have a "baseball" inspiration, which is why I don't collect any of the Elite sets other than the "Elite Series" continuity insert set.