Box Break : 1997 Upper Deck

I wasn't collecting much in 1997, so I didn't have a chance to realize how great a set 97 Upper Deck really is. The Junior Junkie wrote a great piece (centered around Griffey, naturally) about it already, and if there's one thing I'm not, it's thorough, so I'll just show a few things that caught my eye and made me smile.

Because I'm all about smiles.

I could'nt put together a complete set just with the box, but since I'm only missing something like 16 cards for the Series 2 set, I'll probably put a want list up. Someday. Maybe. If I'm ever done sorting the tons of cards coming my way each month.

Upper Deck have always been great at designing inserts. They're never really flashy or mind-blowing, but always elegant and interesting. It's the case here, with a nice canvas-like background. (Vlady is reaaaaaaaaally skinny on that card)

More inserts of somewhat forgotten stars.

I like the Predictor concept. And I like even more the fact that I pulled a Griffey. As for the others, well, I'm very scared to scratch those predictions, just in case they might be right. Bonds, Caminiti, Gwynn...you may not like what the future holds for you.

 They used a lot (and I mean, a lot) of paper foil for their subsets. So much so that you can't even read the card, sometimes. But at least, you get another skinny Vlady ! The name Chouinard cracks me up...you could translate it by 'crybaby'. You don't want to be called that growing up.

Gold foil does give a small touch of class to a card.

Those are part of the base set, but are SPs (those are the only 4 that I pulled out of 10. Which means that 6 of the 16 cards I'm missing for the set are actually from the Griffey Hot List Sps). They look really great !

The one thing that stands out, of course, is the time stamp. You know exactly when the picture was taken and what the context was. Even the backs of the cards are interesting. If I'd been a kid in 97, I'd probably have spent a lot of time reading those cards again and again, maybe even playing with the timelines. I don't know. I had a lot of free time, as a kid...

UD sure love their multi exposure shots. The Chad Curtis one is an awesome idea, yet simple.

More foil, this time with those bronze, unreadable stamps. Nice fish. And great shot of Jeter.

 World Series cards, and you don't even need to create a subset for them !

And finally, the usual perfect photography used by Upper Deck.

So there you go, a very short analysis of 97 UD II. And I'm sure I could uncover some real gems by taking the time to look at each card carefully.