When you look back in time throughout the 100+ years sports card collecting has been around, the year 1997 sticks out like a sore thumb. In 1997 there were significant releases in the hobby that made an impact that continues to this day.
To start off, Upper Deck released the first memorabilia cards that the hobby had ever seen. To this day the 1997 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr jersey card still sells for around $150.00. That’s not too bad considering its not even serial numbered and contains only a small teal colored piece of cloth. As the year went on, Upper Deck did release more jersey cards for football, hockey, and basketball.
Football collectors went crazy over the 1997 Upper Deck Legends set. Every box contained four autographs of legendary players such as Dick Butkus, Walter Payton, Franco Harris and much more. Some of these autographs are extremely difficult to find and some of them were never even released, a group which included Sid Luckman. One of the big reasons why this set is so popular is because all the autographs are on card and the checklist of players is unbelievable. In addition to the autographs, this set has some great insert cards like Big Game Hunters and Marquee Match-ups. Boxes of this product skyrocketed in price and now cannot be found for less then a few hundred dollars.
What is better than an autographed card? How about an autographed card that you can see through? That is what 1997 Pinnacle Inscriptions introduced to football card collectors. Many of these autographs are serial numbered into the hundreds even thousands, but back then that was very limited. The checklist contains players such as Favre, Marino, Elway, and Sanders.
One of the highest end products in 1997 was Pinnacle Totally Certified which was made for baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Every card in the set featured a “peel off” sticker that protected the very condition sensitive surface. Collectors love, even to this day, to hunt for the rare parallel versions of the base. Personally, I think the Mirror Gold inserts look the best.
I guess you could say that “prospecting” received a huge surge during 1997 because Topps released their first version of Bowman Chrome. In the years before, Topps made regular Bowman cards but the new Chrome set gave collectors new parallels and refractors to collect. Some key rookie cards from 1997 Bowman Chrome would include Kerry Wood, Lance Berkman, Vernon Well, Eric Chavez, and Miguel Tejada. Out of all the years Bowman Chrome has been produced, I think the 1997 version has the best looking refractors.
In 1997 Tiger Woods shook up the game of golf after winning the Masters, and people were on the hunt for his cards. One of his few cards at the time was the 97-98 Grand Slam Ventures Masters Collection card.
1997 was such a big year for the sport card collecting hobby, and I wish that we would have more years like it. Just like a lot of things, the first version of a product is the best.
Andrew Chrisman runs Sports Card Info, http://sportscardinfo.wordpress.com/
A blog that provides hobby news, stories, thoughts, and fake card information.
