Stadium Club Murphy Jeter RC: 1992 issue or 1993?

Case for it being a 1992 issue as I understand it:

1992 Stadium Club design
Continuation of the 1992 set.
Released and available for sale in late 1992
Says 1992 on the box? Not sure, is this true?

Case for it being a 1993 issue as I understand it:

Becket says so.
Grading companies who grade it say so.
Hobby has more or less accepted it as a 1993 issue.

Now that being as I understand it, I'm sure there is more to the story and I'd like to hear it if anyone knows it.

Is this card (and this set) a 1992 issue or a 1993?

If it's a 1993, nothing really changes it's just another Jeter RC like his SP or his Bowman but if it's a 1992 issue, then things change dramatically the way I see it it. First, it becomes Jeter's ONLY legit RC and the status of his 1993 cards must therefor go from RC to 2nd year cards.

Either way, I think the card is the best investment in Jeter as an RC because it's Topps, it's a great looking card, it's Jeter, and maybe Topps limited the printrun somewhat?

I'll consider it for the sake of discussion and logic, but the 1993 Jeter to me is still the crown Jeter rookie card.

Actual years of a product mean less and less as the market has shifted to "best early card" (IE: a 2008 autograph over a 2007 first card).

For me, best rookie cards will follow in order of importance listed below...

1. Brand (Bowman Chrome, Elite, etc...)
2. Attributes (serial-numbering, parallels, etc...)
3. Year (2007, 2008, etc...)

Basically, when things are equal (IE: no autographs, same year, etc...) brand is most important. Brand can be trumped by autographs, (IE: Donruss Elite autograph will beat out a non-autographed Bowman Chrome). Year is virtually meaningless to me as "prospect", "first year" or "rookie" seem to run in various years.

As for the actual classification as for the year, I don't know. I do know that most people consider it a 1993 RC. As for the production being limited, it has been stated before that there are 10,000 sets produced. So take that for what it is worth when thinking about being limited. From that time frame in the 90's 10,000 is limited, especially when nobody knows how much SP, Bowman, Topps, Score, Pinnacle ect was made then..

~AJ

If there are only 10K of this card out there, I would be willing to bet that number is significantly smaller than the printruns of any other Jeter RC from 1993, and demand for this card could easily outweigh the supply if more hobby attention turned towards this card, of course the value would then increase. How many 1993 SP's out there? 100K? Bowman? 100K?

It should have been a 1992 XRC, but Beckett chose to call it a 1993 RC for some reason. Probably so Jeter would still have 1993 RCs instead of just one 1992 RC. Imagine the value of that card if it was Jeter's ONLY true RC and it was limited to 128,000. Oh my lord.

The 1992 version (should be 1991) of the Manny Ramirez is in the same boat.

fitefansho said:

If there are only 10K of this card out there, I would be willing to bet that number is significantly smaller than the printruns of any other Jeter RC from 1993, and demand for this card could easily outweigh the supply if more hobby attention turned towards this card, of course the value would then increase. How many 1993 SP's out there? 100K? Bowman? 100K?

Click to expand...

That is what I was trying to get across. With the stated run of 10K, there is no way his other rc issues can come close to being that limited. I think it is the best looking rookie of Jeter by far. I would love to get one for a PC someday. Hopefully a BGS or PSA 9.

~AJ

ajbraves25 said:

fitefansho said:

If there are only 10K of this card out there, I would be willing to bet that number is significantly smaller than the printruns of any other Jeter RC from 1993, and demand for this card could easily outweigh the supply if more hobby attention turned towards this card, of course the value would then increase. How many 1993 SP's out there? 100K? Bowman? 100K?

Click to expand...

That is what I was trying to get across. With the stated run of 10K, there is no way his other rc issues can come close to being that limited. I think it is the best looking rookie of Jeter by far. I would love to get one for a PC someday. Hopefully a BGS or PSA 9.

~AJ

Click to expand...

Were did this 10K number come from? There were 128,000 of these sets.

sportscardtheory said:

It should have been a 1992 XRC, but Beckett chose to call it a 1993 RC for some reason. Probably so Jeter would still have 1993 RCs instead of just one 1992 RC. Imagine the value of that card if it was Jeter's ONLY true RC and it was limited to 128,000. Oh my lord.

The 1992 version (should be 1991) of the Manny Ramirez is in the same boat.

Click to expand...

True, well apart from the fact that Manny is a juicer and the card is ugly.

This Jeter card is beautiful, depicts a first ballot HOF'er and an immensely popular NY Yankee.

ajbraves25 said:

fitefansho said:

If there are only 10K of this card out there, I would be willing to bet that number is significantly smaller than the printruns of any other Jeter RC from 1993, and demand for this card could easily outweigh the supply if more hobby attention turned towards this card, of course the value would then increase. How many 1993 SP's out there? 100K? Bowman? 100K?

Click to expand...

That is what I was trying to get across. With the stated run of 10K, there is no way his other rc issues can come close to being that limited. I think it is the best looking rookie of Jeter by far. I would love to get one for a PC someday. Hopefully a BGS or PSA 9.

~AJ

Click to expand...

I had it PSA9 a few years ago and sold it, now I want it back. :mrgreen:

It's a 1993 set for the same reason Topps Debut boxed sets.

Both have designs similar to the previous years base design. But they were released in the following calendar year

JoshHamilton said:

It's a 1993 set for the same reason Topps Debut boxed sets.

Both have designs similar to the previous years base design. But they were released in the following calendar year

Click to expand...

Can this be proven?

It's my understanding it went live (as intended) in 1992, as a 1992 product. It says 1992 on the box.

fitefansho said:

JoshHamilton said:

It's a 1993 set for the same reason Topps Debut boxed sets.

Both have designs similar to the previous years base design. But they were released in the following calendar year

Click to expand...

Can this be proven?

It's my understanding it went live (as intended) in 1992, as a 1992 product. It says 1992 on the box.

Click to expand...

I remember the 1992 Dome set being released in late January of 1992. I'm sure I could go dig up my old Becketts and scan the set writeups if you want

The 1992 Dome set was supposed to be released in late 1991, but it was delayed and ended up being released in 1992. Thus it shares the 1991 Stadium Club design.

For some reason I think Topps pushed the 1992 Murphy set to release in January 1993 to avoid confusion and not have three different Stadium Club sets in the same year. But that was 17 years ago so my memory is a little fuzzy.

Here is some information from the site that shall not be named:

This 200-card boxed set features 1992 All-Star Game cards, 1992 Team USA cards, and 1992 Championship and World Series cards. Topps actually refers to this set as a 1992 issue, but the set was released in 1993. This set is housed in a replica of San Diego's Jack Murphy Stadium, site of the 1992 All-Star Game. Production was limited to 8,000 cases, with 16 boxes per case. The set includes 100 Draft Pick cards, 56 All-Star cards, 25 Team USA cards, and 19 cards commemorating the 1992 National and American League Championship Series and the World Series. Notable Rookie Cards in this set include Derek Jeter, Jason Kendall, Shannon Stewart and Preston Wilson. A second year Team USA Nomar Garciaparra is featured in this set as well.

On a side note: I really liked these sets, I wish Topps had continued to produce them. It would be a great concept for a high end set now. Current crop of All-Stars, Playoff teams, and Prospects. Sounds good to me!

I have the same old Becketts, but thanks. To me, it seems that Beckett is (was) part of the problem here, part of the confusion over this set & this card and they made this "executive decision" to call it a 1993 issue (in spite of the facts, or hobby norms at the time) back when collectors apparently needed to be spoon fed information about cards, sets and prices. Now given that Beckett is all but obsolete in today's hobby climate, and collectors can think for themselves and classify for themselves and price cards for themselves, let's take Beckett out of the equation and decide for ourselves what this issue is, 92 or 93. If it's a 1992, why do YOU think it's 1992? If it's 1993, why do YOU think it's 1993? Who cares what Beckett says...

The way I see it:

The collector interprets the issues put out by the card manufacturers.

Beckett, in turn, interprets and reports what the collectors buy and sell the cards for.

Or at least that is how it's supposed to be.

Manufacturers use to try and get there product out early before everyone else. I can remember 1990 Score being released in September 1989 about a month before 1990 Topps came out. Some products have been held back due to production issues and were distributed in January or later when they were labeled as a product from the previous year (Ex: 2004 Bowman Chrome AFLAC Redemptions). I think you have to go by what the manufacturer labels the product as.

I consider a RC the first MLB card of that player. I consider the players first professional card to be what it is.

A first card to me is the players FIRST card, wether it be USA or a prospect card from a major manufacturer

The first Dome set was supposed to come out around November 1991. But it didn't actually hit until about March 1992. I remember first seeing it when I was on Spring Break in 1992, and people were confused what to call it. It had the 1991 design, and it was supposed to be basically an update set for 1991 TSC, but some people thought you couldn't have a product come out THAT late and still come under the heading of the previous year. Those people won. IIRC, it was limited to 12,000 sets.

I can't recall exactly when the Murphy set came out, but it followed a similar pattern, though I don't think it was as late as the previous set. I think they both could be "1992" sets. Maybe it came in January 1993.

Back when the avalanche of sets was just starting, there was a lot of controversy over release dates. 1993 Select was actually in November, around Thanksgiving. Then the late year sets would come out a month or so after the World Series, making a card 'season' really a year-round thing. It really upset some people, a card company putting out a set for year X, but then a month later there would be a set from them for year X-1.

Anyway, Jeter's Murphy card is pretty much settled as a 1993 card, even if it came out in calendar year 1992, which I'm not sure it did.