the 1999 upper deck century legends cards that should have been

one of my favorite sets of all time is the 1999 upper deck century legends set. tied to the sporting news' list of the top players of all time, this set has it all - hall of famers, (then) active greats, (then) top prospects, inserts highlighting famous moments and milestones, etc. the only thing it didn't have were cards for the number 11, 25 and 26 players of all time. pete rose's ineligibility, along with licensing issues surrounding joe dimaggio and sandy koufax, meant that upper deck couldn't produce cards for these players. i have had empty pockets in my set binder for 10 years - placeholders for these cards that i knew i would eventually get around to creating.

so, without further ado, here are the 1999 upper deck century cards that should have been:

number 11 joe dimaggio

number 25 pete rose

number 26 sandy koufax

i wish that upper deck would have made at least make the dimaggio and koufax cards sometime over the past few years, since they had the players' licensing rights. now, with their signing of pete rose, maybe they can at least do his card.  doubtful, but...

there were some really great subsets in the release as well, including 'century memories' commemorating various highlights and achievements of the 1900's.  there was one card that was never issued - #126 - which i assume was meant to recognize one of dimaggio/rose/koufax's many achievements [update - according to baseballcardpedia, card 126 was meant to be a dimaggio card. his death in early 1999 triggered a clause that put a halt to the use of his likeness for a year, so that's why his cards were pulled].  naturally, i took a shot at that as well:

number 126 joe dimaggio century memories:

the end of the streak.

number 126 pete rose century memories:

i love this photo.  it is, of course, taken after rose singled for career hit number 4192, breaking ty cobb's record.  with steve garvey lurking no less!

number 126 sandy koufax century memories:

celebrating sandy's perfect game.

any one of those 3 would have been a great addition to the set, and until upper deck produces all 4 missing cards, i will fill the empty spots with these cards that should have been!