What We Pulled:
Packs: 10
Cards Per Pack: 5
Total Cards Expected: 50
Total Cards Received: 50
Base Set Completion: 80% (40 out of 50 Cards)
Duplicates: 0
 | |
| 1997 SPx Subset Card |
Inserts:
SPx Rookie Auto Jersey (1:10 Packs): 1 - Tyler Eifert #/30 (Autograph Patch)
Autographs (1:5 Packs): 2 - Rookie Signatures Cierre Wood #/299, Redemption of a Rookie Signatures of Sheldon Richardson #/299
SP Finite Rookies (3:10 Packs): 2 - Mike Gillespie #/899 Marcus Lattimore #/10 (Spectrum)
SP Finite Legends: 1 - Barry Sanders #/899
1996 SPx Subset: 2 - Earl Campbell, Aaron Dobson
1997 SPx Subset: 1 - Joseph Randle
SPx Shadow Box: 0
Memorabilia Cards (1:10): 1 - Eddie Lacy #/250
Design - This is a simple design for the cards. The main team color on top and an arrow on the bottom with gold outline for the different aspects of the card and the picture in the middle. The pictures are basically only of the player which is refreshing. There are some black and white pictures which only enhances the set.
Player Selection - You know most if not all the players in the base set. It is nice to see some of the players you might forget like Steve Owens. Also included are players that did not go on to have stellar pro careers like Charlie Ward and Tommie Frazier. I would like to see some more players that did not have stellar pro careers included in future sets. Use the set as a way to reach those people that don't necessarily know the history of college football to expand what they know.
Inserts - Too many insert subsets. Auto Rookie Jerseys, 1996 SPx, 1997 SPx, Rookie Auto Jerseys: Tier 1, Rookie Auto Jerseys: Tier 2, Rookie Signatures, SPx Finite Legends, SPx Finite Rookies, Shadow Box, Shadow Box Signatures, Shadow Box Dual, Shadow Box Dual Signatures, SPx Signatures, Super Scripts Autographs, UD Rookie Premier Auto Jersey: Tier 1, UD Rookie Premier Auto Jersey: Tier 2, UD Premier Auto Jersey, Winning Big Materials, Winning Big Materials Patch Auto, Winning Materials Combos, Winning Materials Combos Patch Auto, Winning Materials Trios
That is 22 insert sets. That does not all the parallel sets. That is just too many subsets to even think about collecting. And some of the subsets are at least 30 cards big. I believe that Upper Deck would do themselves a favor to cut back on the inserts and expand the base set.
Price: At $70.00 for the box, I thought that the value wasn't there. I believe the biggest reason for that is the redemption for the autograph that I received. If you are going to have a large batch of autographs which is your call, then have the cards that need autographs ready to go before the redemptions need to be packed. I will need to wait between 12 and 16 weeks before I can expect that card. That is unacceptable.
Final Thoughts: Upper Deck used to be the king of cards last decade. You would open an Upper Deck product and be in amazement at what you had. It isn't like that any more. This release shows how far they have fallen. They need the NFL license. I like Barry Sanders and others that have retired, but not featured year after year. Expand the base set to 100 and have 7 cards per pack with the same amount of inserts (3 Autos and 1 piece) for a $70.00 price tag and I think most people could stomach it. That is $7.00 per pack. The card companies are losing collectors. And unless they can figure out how to bring good value to their product, they will continue to lose them.
Box Value 2.5 out of 5.
