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When was the first serial numbered parallel cards issued for Baseball cards?

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raddison1972

Member
Jan 4, 2013
63
0
Pearland, Texas
I'm not sure I know the answer to this question and thought the fine people on this board would have some good input.

By the way, I'm aware of 1996-97 Hockey and Basketball issues from Flair that had them (Blue Ice and I think Row 0 Showcase or something like that).

I'm not sure the 1996 Flair Baseball had those serial numbered parallels yet.

By the way, I'm thinking parallel only meaning identical card picture and maybe something different like color and a sequential serial numbered added to the card. I know Donruss had those /10,000 cards that were impossible to find in a pack unless you went to see them at a card show back in the day.

Thanks for reading and sharing any knowledge you've got!
 

gracecollector

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
6,559
215
Lake in the Hills, IL
I'm not sure I know the answer to this question and thought the fine people on this board would have some good input.

By the way, I'm aware of 1996-97 Hockey and Basketball issues from Flair that had them (Blue Ice and I think Row 0 Showcase or something like that).

I'm not sure the 1996 Flair Baseball had those serial numbered parallels yet.

By the way, I'm thinking parallel only meaning identical card picture and maybe something different like color and a sequential serial numbered added to the card. I know Donruss had those /10,000 cards that were impossible to find in a pack unless you went to see them at a card show back in the day.

Thanks for reading and sharing any knowledge you've got!

I remember them starting in 1996, with Bowman's Best Refractors / Atomic Ref, Fleer Circa Rave/Super Rave, Topps Gallery Player's Private Issue. But I think there were some off-brands that did it earlier for true parallels (Scoreboard?).
 

Brewer Andy

Active member
Aug 10, 2008
9,634
21
1990 Upper Deck has the Reggie autos hand numbered right? Not sure about machine numbered. I pulled a Chuck Knoblauch auto stamped to /3000 or something in 1992 Score. Gotta be something earlier though I’m guessing


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app
 

bstanwood

Well-known member
Sep 24, 2016
3,666
332
Mystic, CT
I know you're looking for answers and not just guesses but 96 is as early and I can think of off the top of my head. Circa Rave for sure, I'm fairly certain there were a few others.
 

raddison1972

Member
Jan 4, 2013
63
0
Pearland, Texas
Thanks guys, I was looking for more heads and not really the answer as I'm not sure anyone could say without a doubt when it was. I did forget about the Circa Raves. I've got many of the Jermaine Allensworth cards from that year and forgot about him! Don't tell my Boilermaker buddy I forgot him though!

That Juan gone card fits with a true parallel if it was actually found in packs that way. Nostebor, do you know if these could be pulled from the packs in 1993 or some redemption or other way to obtain. I could see where a nefarious bad guy could grab 43 cards he had and asked for Juan to sign them and just add the serial number yourself later. I'm not saying this happened, but it could easily be done.
 

nosterbor

Well-known member
Jun 20, 2010
6,099
431
Sunny Florida
Pack pulled. the back of the cards that were autographed had a gold foil 'B' in the upper right corner. No gold foil B and they are not real.
 
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bstanwood

Well-known member
Sep 24, 2016
3,666
332
Mystic, CT
Pack pulled. the back of the cards that were autographed had a gold foil 'B' in the upper right corner. No gold foil B and they are not real.

I don't want to hijack the thread as this is off topic, but what did the gold foil B stand for?? "Big ass pull"?? In 93 that was pretty close to as big as it could get. Despite the joke this is a serious question.
 

raddison1972

Member
Jan 4, 2013
63
0
Pearland, Texas
I don't want to hijack the thread as this is off topic, but what did the gold foil B stand for?? "Big ass pull"?? In 93 that was pretty close to as big as it could get. Despite the joke this is a serious question.

Funny, I saw the Big B and thought it was an internet watermark, like COMC puts on all it's images. Good to know they did something to formally distinguish the card! Thanks for sharing! Now I wanna go open some 1993 Ted Williams!
 

gracecollector

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
6,559
215
Lake in the Hills, IL
I remember them starting in 1996, with Bowman's Best Refractors / Atomic Ref, Fleer Circa Rave/Super Rave, Topps Gallery Player's Private Issue. But I think there were some off-brands that did it earlier for true parallels (Scoreboard?).

The set I was remembering was 1992 Classic Best. It had autographed hand-numbered parallels of the cards for:

Ken Griffey, Jr.
David McCarty
Nolan Ryan
Mike Schmidt
Brien Taylor
Royce Clayton

14,000 total autographs among those 6 players. The Ryan's were numbered out of 3,100 for instance.

s-l900.jpg



And it turns out 1991 Classic Best had a Mike Schmidt auto parallel of the base card.

s-l900.jpg

s-l900.jpg
 
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banjar

Well-known member
Mar 22, 2015
2,540
883
Lafayette, Colorado
Good question. I had never thought about that. For what it's worth, here are the earliest ones from my collection...

1993 Donruss Elite Jumbo /5000

But this isn't an identical card since it's oversized. And also not pack-pulled, if that matters.

The first true pack-pulled serial numbered parallels I have are from 1996:

Circa Rave /150

Topps Gallery Players Private Issue /999 (although they didn't actually print the "999" on the back, meaning card #394/999 was just marked "394".
 

zyceoa

Active member
Sep 2, 2012
270
42
The earliest example I know of would surprise most people here and I claim it's the auto version of card #1 (#/5000) from the 1982 ASA Mickey Mantle set.
 
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