CamaroDMD
Insert Cool Title
Every now and again, the card manufactures get it just right. They release a timeless set that becomes a standard by which other sets are judged. It is my belief that this set is one of those.
The set is: 1997 Upper Deck Legends Autographs
This set is as it is described, a collection of retired football legends. Upper Deck did a great job of compiling a set featuring a very large number of NFL greats. Even better, they managed to do so when the majority of those players were still living so an autographed insert set could be assembled. The result was a fantastic set that IMHO sets the standard for autographed sets. This can even be seen in other football sets as they have released "new" versions of this set...and have even branched out into basketball and hockey sets using this same design.
The autograph set was basically a a parallel set of the main base set...minus some cards. All told, the autographed set was 163 cards. However, there is a little wiggle room in that figure. Let me explain that.
First off, the set is numbered 1-178...so 15 cards from the base set were not autographed. There were several legendary coaches in the set and none of them have autographed cards. A few other players in the set failed to return their signed cards. There are also a few players who are known to have signed at least one example of the card but never returned them to Upper Deck. Those players were Fred Dean and Russ Francis. An authentic signed card of each is known, but neither was pack issued. Another known non-issued card was Mike Webster...who is the poster child for concussion injuries in football. He signed his cards, but never got around to returning them. Ultimately, they ended up in private hands and have been traded on the open market.
As far as I am concerned, I do not consider the Dean or Francis cards to be needed for a complete set...however, most master checklists list the Francis. I do consider the Webster to be part of the set as enough are known to exist that it can be easily obtained.
So...that would make a "complete set" be 162 cards...except for 1 variety. Card #24 is Donnie Shell...and 2 versions of that card exist. The way these cards were signed was...they were simply mailed to the players, they signed them and returned them. No Upper Deck representative witnessed the signings (it even says that on the back of the card). There are 2 very different signatures on the Donnie Shell cards. It is widely believed his wife signed about 2/3 of the cards and he signed the remainder...and that is why there are 2 versions. So, the complete set I am going for contains 163 cards after all.
There are also 18 known short prints in this set.
What even made this set better was autographs were not hard to find. They were inserted (some of which were redemption cards)...1 in every 5 packs. This meant every box had 4 autos in it. Even better, every single one was an on card auto.
This legendary set is a dream of mine...and I have 10 cards at this point. I don't have any of the major cards in the set, but in a set like this...even the lesser players were stars. I thought I would share those with you.
#AL-59 Joe Perry (Hall of Fame - 1963, Died -2011)
#AL-69 Randy White (Hall of Fame - 1994)
#AL-87 Wes Chandler
#AL-96 Ben Davidson (Died - 2012)
#AL-115 Mike Haynes (Hall of Fame - 1999)
#AL-151 Tommy Nobis
#AL-152 Babe Parilli
#AL-163 Mike Singletary (Hall of Fame - 1998)
#AL-172 Lionel Taylor
#AL-177 Jim Zorn
The set is: 1997 Upper Deck Legends Autographs
This set is as it is described, a collection of retired football legends. Upper Deck did a great job of compiling a set featuring a very large number of NFL greats. Even better, they managed to do so when the majority of those players were still living so an autographed insert set could be assembled. The result was a fantastic set that IMHO sets the standard for autographed sets. This can even be seen in other football sets as they have released "new" versions of this set...and have even branched out into basketball and hockey sets using this same design.
The autograph set was basically a a parallel set of the main base set...minus some cards. All told, the autographed set was 163 cards. However, there is a little wiggle room in that figure. Let me explain that.
First off, the set is numbered 1-178...so 15 cards from the base set were not autographed. There were several legendary coaches in the set and none of them have autographed cards. A few other players in the set failed to return their signed cards. There are also a few players who are known to have signed at least one example of the card but never returned them to Upper Deck. Those players were Fred Dean and Russ Francis. An authentic signed card of each is known, but neither was pack issued. Another known non-issued card was Mike Webster...who is the poster child for concussion injuries in football. He signed his cards, but never got around to returning them. Ultimately, they ended up in private hands and have been traded on the open market.
As far as I am concerned, I do not consider the Dean or Francis cards to be needed for a complete set...however, most master checklists list the Francis. I do consider the Webster to be part of the set as enough are known to exist that it can be easily obtained.
So...that would make a "complete set" be 162 cards...except for 1 variety. Card #24 is Donnie Shell...and 2 versions of that card exist. The way these cards were signed was...they were simply mailed to the players, they signed them and returned them. No Upper Deck representative witnessed the signings (it even says that on the back of the card). There are 2 very different signatures on the Donnie Shell cards. It is widely believed his wife signed about 2/3 of the cards and he signed the remainder...and that is why there are 2 versions. So, the complete set I am going for contains 163 cards after all.
There are also 18 known short prints in this set.
What even made this set better was autographs were not hard to find. They were inserted (some of which were redemption cards)...1 in every 5 packs. This meant every box had 4 autos in it. Even better, every single one was an on card auto.
This legendary set is a dream of mine...and I have 10 cards at this point. I don't have any of the major cards in the set, but in a set like this...even the lesser players were stars. I thought I would share those with you.
#AL-59 Joe Perry (Hall of Fame - 1963, Died -2011)
#AL-69 Randy White (Hall of Fame - 1994)
#AL-87 Wes Chandler
#AL-96 Ben Davidson (Died - 2012)
#AL-115 Mike Haynes (Hall of Fame - 1999)
#AL-151 Tommy Nobis
#AL-152 Babe Parilli
#AL-163 Mike Singletary (Hall of Fame - 1998)
#AL-172 Lionel Taylor
#AL-177 Jim Zorn
