1998 SPx Finite Baseball

I thought I would throw a post together about one of my many long time projects, the Upper Deck 1998 SPx Finite set. My purpose is to show some highlights from the set, but this is also very much a plea for help in completing it. I’ve been working on this set, off and on, since it was issued back in 1998 and new cards have become increasingly difficult to come by.

I think this set was well thought out by Upper Deck. There are just enough quirks to make things interesting and the right amount of cards were produced. Even after all these years, I get the sense that the print run is limited enough to be challenging to put together, but not so scarce that I’ve gotten frustrated, to a point that I’ve ever considered giving up on it. There are three variations of every card (Base, Radiance, & Spectrum) with 180 cards comprising series 1 and an additional 180 cards in series 2. 360; a nice number divisible by three. The cards work really well in 9-pocket pages.

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I don’t know if it was premeasured this way, but each series fits perfectly in a binder.

http://[url=http://imgur.com/Jx7jQF9][/URL]

Each series had 20 different cards serial numbered to 50, as well as 10 cards serial numbered to 100. Those same 10 cards also had 1/1 versions. It is from these subsets that all my remaining needed cards come from.

Here are some of the cards serial numbered to 100:
Series 1:
http://[url=http://imgur.com/Ddilwl6][/URL]

Series 2:
http://[url=http://imgur.com/MrYkx8u][/URL]

And here are some of the cards serial numbered to 50.
Series 1:
http://[url=http://imgur.com/BOxLTpy][/URL]

http://[url=http://imgur.com/vl6TZxI][/URL]

Series 2:
http://[url=http://imgur.com/z3Wdi51][/URL]

http://[url=http://imgur.com/uhOkxoE][/URL]

At the time of issuance, there were four cards from series 1, which were not ready at the release date. Upper Deck placed four redemption cards into the packs instead. Unlike more recent redemptions, they actually sent back what they promised they would. Each one of these cards could be exchanged for a card of the featured player, serial numbered to 1,000 on the back. I have no idea how many redemption cards survived, or how many of the subsequent serial numbered cards made it into the collecting community. I have noticed that my serial numbered cards carry pretty low numbers. Suffice to say, there are probably just a few hundred of each version in existence.

http://[url=http://imgur.com/lyRczvy][/URL]

http://[url=http://imgur.com/HBGgbCI][/URL]

I’ve been able to put my hands on a few variations/errors. In the photo below, the intended, correct version of the card is in the top row. The variation is placed directly below it. These cards also give a glimpse into the production process of the cards. All these variations correctly feature serial numbers on the back. The back of the Alex Rodriguez card is identical to the back of a normal version.

http://[url=http://imgur.com/SWwFmSc][/URL]

In 1998, Upper Deck had signed Ken Griffey Jr. as the player representing the company. There were a couple of mass-produced “SAMPLE” cards (one for each series), but also some more limited serial numbered promos issued featuring Griffey Jr.. The green foiled card is serial numbered to 10,000, the blue foiled card is serial numbered to 5,000, the red foiled card is numbered to 2,500, and the black foiled card is numbered to 100.

http://[url=http://imgur.com/wmGLI4d][/URL]

Regarding the 1/1 cards, I’ve only been able to obtain one of them so far, and I feel fortunate to have gotten that one. I recently placed a substantial bid on one of the Cal Ripken Jr. 1/1 cards, but came away empty. I’ve got mixed feelings about missing out on it. It would be a nice card to have, but common sense regarding pricing has to prevail somewhere along the way. I see the term “rainbow” thrown around quite a bit. Here’s a unique Mike Piazza rainbow featuring his 1/1 card.

http://[url=http://imgur.com/0YuKOgC][/URL]

Every now and then, a damaged card would make it out into a pack. Upper Deck printed some extra cards and held them back to replace those damaged cards that got mailed back to the company. The damaged card would be destroyed and replaced with a hand-numbered version. I’ve got a few of these hand-numbered cards in the collection. Apparently, a potential replacement card was printed for each of the 1/1s. The suspicion is that only one of these replacements exists, since there would never be a need to have to have more than one available. I was very lucky to be able to obtain several of these. All of these cards are unnumbered.

http://[url=http://imgur.com/Xi6w5NE][/URL]

Now for my groveling, plea for help. Like all other collectors working on projects from the 90’s/early 00’s, I’m facing the same obstacles. There’s a good possibility that the cards I need are sitting in long-ignored boxes at the bottom of someone’s closet, are in collector’s private collections, or maybe in unopened product. Not counting the twenty 1/1 cards, there are a total of 1,060 possible cards in the set. I’m down to needing “only” 25 of them. There are still some big names on the list, but also some lesser guys. I’ve got this feeling the final card is going to be someone like Travis Lee or Charles Johnson. If you have any of the following cards available, please let me know. I could use some help.

1998 SPx Finite Need List

31 Mike Piazza spectrum #d to 50
37 Jay Buhner spectrum #d to 50
43 Manny Ramirez spectrum #d to 50
45 Frank Thomas spectrum #d to 50
47 Alex Rodriguez spectrum #d to 50
50 Ken Griffey Jr spectrum #d to 50
171 Greg Maddux radiance #d to 100
173 Frank Thomas radiance #d to 100
174 Jeff Bagwell radiance #d to 100
175 Mike Piazza radiance #d to 100
178 Ken Griffey Jr. radiance #d to 100
179 Alex Rodriguez radiance #d to 100
331 Matt Williams spectrum #d to 50
332 Andres Galaragga spectrum #d to 50
334 Joe Carter spectrum #d to 50
335 Pedro Martinez spectrum #d to 50
337 Travis Fryman spectrum #d to 50
342 Charles Johnson #d to 50
349 Jose Canseco #d to 50
354 Cal Ripken Jr. radiance #d to 100

Please let me know if you have any of these cards you would be willing to part with.
Thanks so much,
Ron

Great run sir , good luck finding the missing ones

Ryan

Ron,

I'm out of town right now but I'm 99% sure I have the Tim Salmon Spectrum #/50. E-mail me at [email protected] for most reliable response and I'll track it down in the middle of next week.

John

Fantastic build, effort and perseverance
Good luck with completing it

I have a few of the Griffeys, but PC right now but will keep you in mind

magicpapa said:

I have a few of the Griffeys, but PC right now but will keep you in mind

Click to expand...

"The tease"....

Ryan

RStadlerASU22 said:

"The tease"....

Ryan

Click to expand...

That Damn Michael Just Wont Sell

Thanks for the compliments, guys and the potential help, John. I've got a few of these huge, long-term projects that I'm close to completing. I appreciate the help.

Ron

I never knew that about the redemption cards (although now I see that Beckett does mention it, guess I missed it!), and it would explain why I can't ever find that Nomar card. Now I have an extra Nomar to chase down (the Trade Card)...Thanks Upper Deck!

Sweet collection. I remember when the All star game was here in Philly and i hit up the card show there. They were giving away packs of the Griffey Samples by the poundage because it was the last hour of the last day. I only got one black though.

Great post. I remember not being excited about that set when it came out but one day I was bored and bought a blaster box at Target. Then I bought another, and soon I had cleaned out my area of them. There is something strangely compelling about the set with all the different designs, numberings, parallels, etc. It was sort of like the Leaf Fractal Axis business except not totally confusing. I never got any of the really rare parallels, maybe one #/100 card. But I did clean up on Magglio Ordonez rookies when he had a brief moment of heat, as SPx was his only numbered RC, as I recall.

RStadlerASU22 said:

"The tease"....

Ryan

Click to expand...

Nah, it isn’t really a tease. There’s a reason why I still need so many of the Griffey cards. Candidly, throughout his career, I always thought he was an overrated punk and I’ve always been unwilling to overpay for his cards.

He put up his best numbers while playing in a very homer friendly park in Seattle, then left town as soon as it looked like they were going to get an adult-sized stadium, running off to another easy home run ballpark in Cincinnati. Even in Cincinnati, despite all of his amazing greatness, he was only able to break the 100 RBI mark once. Early in his career, his smiling face was plastered on all the magazines, but he wasn’t a fan-friendly guy, very rarely signing autographs for the fans who ultimately paid his salary.

Those same fans voted him into the All-Star game each year, and seemingly each year he would waffle back and forth on whether or not he would attend or if he would participate in the Home Run Derby. It was ridiculous that he would have to be asked multiple times before making his decision. Personally, I’ve always thought he was the perfect example of how a self-absorbed athlete takes things for granted.

The set will go uncompleted before I overpay for this clown.

Gotta Love Freedom of Speech

1998 SPx said:

Nah, it isn’t really a tease. There’s a reason why I still need so many of the Griffey cards. Candidly, throughout his career, I always thought he was an overrated punk and I’ve always been unwilling to overpay for his cards.

He put up his best numbers while playing in a very homer friendly park in Seattle, then left town as soon as it looked like they were going to get an adult-sized stadium, running off to another easy home run ballpark in Cincinnati. Even in Cincinnati, despite all of his amazing greatness, he was only able to break the 100 RBI mark once. Early in his career, his smiling face was plastered on all the magazines, but he wasn’t a fan-friendly guy, very rarely signing autographs for the fans who ultimately paid his salary.

Those same fans voted him into the All-Star game each year, and seemingly each year he would waffle back and forth on whether or not he would attend or if he would participate in the Home Run Derby. It was ridiculous that he would have to be asked multiple times before making his decision. Personally, I’ve always thought he was the perfect example of how a self-absorbed athlete takes things for granted.

The set will go uncompleted before I overpay for this clown.

Click to expand...

That's an absurd amount of hate to have for a guy if that's the only argument you have to support it. All you can come up with is that they had to ask him multiple times to participate in the Derby before he would commit? And that he left Seattle to fulfill his dream of playing for his hometown team? An obvious case of someone grasping for straws to fit a narrative.

Dude that's a lot of hate for a guy whom about 99.999% of baseball fans think is a great person....

If you walk down the street and meet an a-hole, they're the a-hole. If you walk down the street and EVERYONE you meet is an a-hole....

I guess if you don't sign a lot of autos you should frown on the magazine covers to be consistent.
Not sure what you mean by refusing to overpay, its worth what ebay sales say its worth, and Griffey is the key player of that era so it's going to be high.

As for Kingdome the playing conditions cost him a lot of homers later on by absolutely destroying his knees. He left too late if anything. That M's upper management was terrible, Arod/Griffey/Randy leaving tells you something right away. . plus trading Tino and trying to trade Edgar to the Mets.

Keyser Soze said:

That's an absurd amount of hate to have for a guy if that's the only argument you have to support it. All you can come up with is that they had to ask him multiple times to participate in the Derby before he would commit? And that he left Seattle to fulfill his dream of playing for his hometown team? An obvious case of someone grasping for straws to fit a narrative.

Click to expand...

I don't hate Griffey. I do think he is extremely overrated and his offensive numbers were padded by the Seattle ballpark. Candidly, as a Reds fan, I wish he would've accepted the deal that the Mariners had worked out with the Mets or the Pirates, instead of going to Cincinnati. I don't remember the Reds winning any World Series during the Griffey years. Come to think of it, I don't remember Griffey ever being in the World Series; I think he only made it to the ALCS once during his career. Maybe he is overrated...let's take a closer look.

Now I realize that several factors come into play when it comes to team performance, but in each of these cases, the cast of characters largely remains the same. The success of a team is often directly associated with their star player, who typically has the largest salary. In 1999, with Griffey, the Mariners went 79-83, making the move away from the Kingdome to Safeco Field in July that year. Griffey goes to Cincinnati in February of 2000. During the 2000 season, without Griffey, the Mariners improve to 91-71, beat the White Sox in the playoffs before losing to the Yankees. In 2001, without Griffey, the Mariners would accomplish the best record in the baseball history, going 116-46, again winning the ALDS, before losing to the Yankees in the ALCS.

Meanwhile in Cincinnati, without Griffey, in 1999 the Reds go 96-67, but missed the postseason after losing a one-game playoff to the Mets. With Griffey on the roster in 2000, the Reds fall to 85-77, failing to make the postseason. In 2001, while the Mariners are making baseball history, the Reds drop all the way to a dismal 66-96. Griffey is hurt that year, but still manages to play in almost 70% of the teams games.

The Mariners flourish without Griffey, while the Reds go on to struggle. Maybe Griffey isn't a winner after all...is it just possible, that maybe he is overrated?




gpenko826

Dude that's a lot of hate for a guy whom about 99.999% of baseball fans think is a great person....
If you walk down the street and meet an a-hole, they're the a-hole. If you walk down the street and EVERYONE you meet is an a-hole....

I don't hate Griffey. I've heard Griffey referred to as a great ballplayer, but this is the first time I've ever heard anyone refer to him as a great person. I'm guessing your 99.999% number is probably a little high.
I'm not sure what you are implying by the second part. Personally, I don't feel that many people are a-holes. I actually tend to like the majority of people I meet in life. That being said, I don't think Griffey is worthy of all the hero-worship he receives.​

JVHaste

I guess if you don't sign a lot of autos you should frown on the magazine covers to be consistent.

Of course he wouldn't be frowning on the magazine covers! What I'm saying is that his public image isn't consistent with his behavior when the camera is turned off. I've seen this guy act like a jerk on multiple occasions when some kid asks for his autograph. Stories went around in Cincinnati about how displeased Griffey was when Josh Hamilton was with the Reds, signing autographs for anyone who would take one. I know it isn't written into their contracts (although maybe it should be), but I personally feel, if an athlete/public figure is willing to accept the riches, they should also be willing to make an effort to be friendly and accommodating towards the fans. I witnessed time and time again, where this wasn't the case with Griffey Jr.


You guys can disagree with me all you want, but my feelings are based on what I've observed personally and on well-documented team/player records. Maybe I've been unlucky and somehow missed all the fan-friendly Griffey experiences, so commonly associated with guys like Brandon Phillips and Cal Ripken Jr. Griffey's team performance and away from the camera behavior doesn't justify the hero status that has somehow been placed on him, thus my feelings towards his card values and his being overrated.​

I don't think Griffey was a bad dude, but I do think that he had a big ego and if he would have learned his way around a gym might have had a much better career. And I agree that he is a lot less fan friendly than he is given credit for.