1999 Skybox Molten Metal Set

I am still working on my reorganization project which I started several months ago.  These things always take a lot longer than you'd think they would and I probably have not been too great about giving enough updates here on my blog space.  If you follow my Twitter feed, and can stand me complaining about NC State's football team every Saturday, it's clear some days that I am sorting and organizing my cards as quickly as I can.  I even post pictures sometimes.  Here's the finish product for all of my 2001 sets. 

Somewhere along the line I started posting some of the completed sets I pulled out during the process and posting them in this space from time to time drawing attention to some of the cards I have enjoyed collecting during my thirty years in the hobby.  I think I even started posted the 2013 sets that I was working on and posted the completed set and favorite inserts when I finished them off.  Somewhere along the way I lost my footing and have disappeared from posting both updates of my reorganization project and the complete sets I am assembling out of the cards.  I will do a little better starting right now.  I have a few sets planned for the next few weeks and will post a few sets too. 

I am working on my 1999 cards at the moment and spent part of my day off working on sorting out the Skybox Molten Metal set along with the Pacific Private Stock.  More on the Private Stock set next week.  I bought my first box of Molten Metal cards while I was working my summer job after graduating from college.  My summer job was that cool.  I split a box with one of my bosses and loved the cards.  The base set is a total of 150 cards and is shiny and glossy like every good late 90s set.

1999 Skybox Molten Metal Jim Edmonds

 

The set really is not far off from several other Fleer/Skybox sets which were released around that time, but I just liked this set better than most of the others.  The base set had some of my favorite players like Jim Edmonds, Ray Lankford, Fernando Tatis, Mark McGwire, etc.  I was pretty much exclusively a Cardinals person at that point in my life.  The set lacked star power, in terms of the rookie cards, but there are still some solid rookie cards on the checklist. 

1999 Skybox Molten Metal A.J. Burnett

The rookie cards in the set mainly include guys like A.J. Burnett, Jeff Weaver, and Pat Burrell.  Solid Major Leaguers who enjoyed good solid careers, but you are not going to knock down the door to find or pay for their cards.  Burrell was really popular at the time the set released, but Burnett and Weaver caught up, if not passed him later on in their careers.  All three cards are now available for less than a dollar if you really want to pick up those cards. 

All the base set cards in the Molten Metal set are fine and good, but the real draw to this set is the inserts and parallels.  Fleer did it right.  Let's start with the parallel. 

1999 Skybox Molten Metal Xplosion J.D. Drew

The parallel set, Metal Xplosion, was a full parallel set to the base set made out of metal cards.  Leaf had done this a few years before with the Leaf Preferred Metal set, but these cards did not have a goofy piece of plastic wrap over the card and the Skybox Molten Metal cards are die-cuts.  There were no serial numbered parallels or rainbow color variations in this set.  Just really cool cards.  I have about two dozen cards from this parallel set, but have always thought it would be a cool challenge to assemble.  Maybe someday.  One more cool insert set. 

1999 Skybox Molten Metal Derek Jeter Supernatural Fusion

It's hard to tell from the scan, but the right-hand side of the card is a picture of Derek Jeter made out of little pin holes.  A card shop owner, who shall remain nameless once told me that these cards were an example of pointillism.  Hmmmm....

Not quite the same thing.  Anyway, the Jeter is a really cool card and is part of a fifty card insert set which Skybox seeded at a rate of two per box.  I actually did collect this set for awhile and got through about half of the set.  It's not too hard to find, but there are serial numbered version of the card which run at 500 and 50.  The 500 versions have a slight premium and the 50 can have a significant depending on the parallel.  Also could be a good future project, especially since I have half of the set already.  More 90s sets next weekend.