the next two sheets from the steve garvey binders mark the end of the century

sheet 28 in my first of two primary steve garvey binders picks up where we left off with sheet 27.  have a look:

those cards are:

1. 1994 upper deck all-time heroes 125th anniversary parallel
2. 1994 upper deck all-time heroes (heroes of baseball) 125th anniversary parallel
3. 1995 sonic baseball greats
4. 1994 upper deck the american epic
5. 1995 upper deck sp championship (october legends)
6. 1995 upper deck sp championship (classic performances)
7. 1995 upper deck sp championship series (october legends) die-cut parallel
8. 1995 upper deck sp championship series (classic performances) die-cut parallel
9. 1996 danbury mint

and so begins the glut of parallels.  it was great to have a couple of parallels to find back in the late 1990's, but it is quite tedious today.  i see that i have a card out of sequence on this sheet, but i'll fix that later.  lots of good stuff on this sheet, but the highlight may well be the pete rose card from the 1994 upper deck the american epic set (a companion set to ken burns' baseball documentary) that features garvey lurking in the background as rose celebrates hit number 4192.

here are the backs:

the next sheet includes the first certified garvey autograph cards, one of which is the first card i ever purchased on ebay. here's sheet 29:

those cards are:

1. 1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever
2. 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game
3. 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph
4. 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game cover collection (dodgers)
5. 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game cover collection (padres)
6. 1999 upper deck retro
7. 1999 upper deck retro gold parallel
8. 1999 upper deck retro inkredible auto
9. 2000 nabisco all-stars

garvey has been on the cover of sports illustrated four times, and three of those covers are represented on this sheet.  the first card features a cover from 1974 during the world series between the a's and dodgers.  that's garvey in the lower left corner of the montage.  the other two cards featuring covers showcase the 1976 and 1983 covers, respectively, with the '83 cover also being used for the autograph insert.  the only garvey si cover not used for a card is the april, 1982 baseball preview issue cover.

in other news,  the inkredible auto from 1999 ud retro was the first card i ever purchased on ebay.  i had gone onto the site to find a 1995 upper deck sp championship kirk gibson card that i had seen somewhere, and i discovered that the garv had an autographed card on the market.  the first of many, as it turns out.

here are the backs:

i appreciate fleer's bold coa on the back of the greats auto.

the 2000 nabisco all-star card was the last card of garvey in the 20th century, and it is the 36th post-playing career card in the binders.  that's an average of about 3 new garvey cards per year.  the 21st century would blow that ratio out of the water.  stay tuned.

gathering garveys - real, recycled, and otherwise

i've been working on getting the contents of my steve garvey binders scanned, as i plan to show the entire garvey collection on the blog yet this year.  during that time, i've put some cards away that had been in boxes rather than the binder, and i've also picked up a few new cards for the collection.  some, as you will see, are real cards, one is a recycled card, and some don't really exist.

2006 upper deck legendary cuts legendary materials platinum /15

this is a newer pick up to go along with my 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials silver /199

and of course the 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary materials bronze /225

there is also a gold /99 version, but i don't have that one.  i do have garvey's base card from the set - he got a numbered short print

i think there is a /99 version of this card, too.  i've added the missing jersey card to the nefarious 9, by the way.  

here's the recycled card i mentioned.  it's a 1975 topps mvp subset card featuring jeff burroughs of the rangers along with the 1974 nl mvp steve garvey

that embossed logo in the upper right means that this card was re-issued in 2014 topps as part of the 75th anniversary buyback inserts

here are some oddballs that are somewhat new-ish to my collection - first up is a 1982 permagraphic card

these are reminiscent of credit cards, and i think were only produced in 1981 and 1982.

1987 ralston purina cookie crisp

i think these were only available on sheets.  they differ from the regular ralston purina cards in that they don't have any text there in the upper right corner.

1996 danbury mint 22k gold card

i took this guy out of it's plastic case.

garvey has been absent from the recent topps archives sets, but he was included in the past.  here's his 2002 topps archives reserve card

which is just a really shiny version of his 1977 topps card.  i preferred getting new garvey cards, like this 2003 topps retired black parallel

here's an on card auto from 2003 upper deck sp authentic.

this card was part of the sp chirography set, in which there was a 'dodger stars' subset.  lots of good autos for dodger collectors like me, and believe me, i collected them.

these next two cards fall into the 'otherwise' and 'don't really exist' categories i alluded to earlier.  they are both part of the digital app/game called 'bunt' that topps started last year.  i just pulled the images from the web.  this one is from 2013

here's the back

and this one is from 2014

with the back

according to topps, over half of garvey's hits were solo home runs.

thankfully, topps is also making real cards featuring the garv in 2014, even if this 2014 topps museum collection /25 bat relic

is pretty much identical to the 2013 version

and then there is the garvey card that panini released as part of the 2013 panini elite extra edition bloodlines insert set

steve is on the back, and his son ryan is on the front

steve garvey is his padre, after all.

get ready for garvey overload over the next few months.  the binders are coming...