Sunday, January 19, 2020

1997 Upper Deck Legends

I recently picked up a lot of 1997 Upper Deck Legends football cards.  For $7 I received 170 cards with some being duplicates.  I wasn't familiar with these before but the set highlights retired legends.  The autograph checklist is pretty amazing.  That explains why boxes of this are over $500.  
Products like this are fun for finding players of the past on new cardboard and it seems as though this set was "ground breaking" in that regard.  Joiner and Bartkowski are two all-time favorites and there are a ton of personal collection guys like Lee Roy Selmon.
The design is fairly simple but it leaves plenty of room for the photos.  I do wish they had added a team logo.  Still this is a solid look.
Seeing all these players really was a walk down memory lane.  Who didn't like Jim Zorn back in the day.  His being a lefty and his ability to keep plays alive with his legs made him fun to watch.
The backs are great.  Nice big photos, career stats, highlights and a writeup.  The back photos are usually a cropped version of the front but not all cards are like that.  This Bubba Smith photo is different from the front.  I'm glad.  I really like this photo.  This Vince Lombardi Legendary Leaders cards is one of the two subsets.
I'm extremely happy with this buy.  For much less than the price of two fat packs I picked up tons of all-time greats and favorites.  Lots of fun here and I think I received plenty of bang for my buck.

The other subset is Super Bowl Memories like this Roger Craig card.  I'm a big fan of photos from actual championship games.

BREAKDOWN:
170 – Total Cards
7 – Super Bowl Memories by Walter Iooss

1 – Legendary Leaders

6 comments:

  1. Sometimes I wish we could purchase high-end boxes on the cheap, with the promise that any "hits" stay with the dealer. A set like this is one example. You got a lot of great cards for a nice, low price.

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    1. I think that is a good idea. Tons of great players here which are tough to get otherwise.

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  2. I'm building this set. I'd be interested in swinging a trade for dupes you might have.

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    1. Sounds good. I'll let you know what I have available.

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  3. This has to be one of the greatest autograph sets ever produced. And the base set is awesome too. I remember driving to all of the Walmarts in the area searching for these packs.

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    1. I wish I had been collecting at the time. These would have been so much fun. I would have done the same thing as you.

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