I loved the late 1990s Skybox EX sets. They are one of the best acetate cards sets ever produced and I was really sad when the product moved to a more standard baseball card in 2000. The standard baseball card trend continued in 2001 and 2002 when the product transitioned over to the Fleer brand. Luckily, Fleer produced one final acetate EX set in 2003.
These are not quite as good as the 1998 and 1999 sets, but it's in the same neighborhood.
Here is the front of the card.
The background is transparent, while the Cardinals logo, player name and number are all translucent. The squares and player picture are all solid. Just a really nice looking card. I love the action shot of Pujols hitting. The colors are nice too. The two background squares have a reflective finish that has a warm glow in the light that matches the gold and red color used for Pujols name at the bottom of the card.
Back of the card.
The stats on the back are a little bit odd with them just being placed in a list on the square area. Still I understand the need for the design given the square shape is the one constant on all of the cards in this set. I also like the lower group of stats showing the career highs for the player. Pujols had only played two years at this point, but the career high numbers are still really impressive.
I love this card.
I was out of the hobby in 2003... but had I been collecting, I definitely would have been buying packs of this product. Love the EX sets that utilize acetate.
ReplyDeleteI actually bought a box of these prior to the pandemic for $45. It's crazy, but they've jumped up to almost $200 a box and I don't think there is a single important rookie card in the set and the Essential Credential cards, which make the late 1990s version popular, have a really high print run. Wish they'd come back down, I could open these packs all day long.
DeleteI really liked the late 90's EX sets for basketball, though they look a lot less special when you see one that's begun to yellow.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful that my EX cards have not started to yellow. Agree, it's sad that has happened to those cards over time. Such a great looking set.
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