Design Timeline: Upper Deck Black Diamond

This post is part of an ongoing feature The Great Griffey Base Card Project.

This is pretty low-hanging fruit as Design Timelines go, but I happen to have just enough time at this moment to handle a short timeline like this, so here we are. Plus I haven't done one of these in like FOUR YEARS, so maybe I need a little practice.

I'll be honest: I don't have a real handle on why Black Diamond exists. It always came out in December/January when there is no baseball, and there doesn't appear to be any one unifying theme to the base sets. They feel a little money-grabbish. 

I like to dream up the scenarios that may have led to the creation of totally indefensible sets like this. In this one an Upper Deck executive yells about the drop in sales during the winter months, and the head of the baseball division responds by correctly describing the baseball card market as seasonal, but the executive just isn't having it, so they drop a totally unnecessary set with a thinly-veiled winter reference (black diamond is a skiing term) at a time when everyone is focused on football.

Granted they did give us some memorable parallels and a number of incredibly cool inserts, but we are not talking about those today. Today is about the base cards. These came out in December 1998, January 2000, and December 2000, respectively. That is the kind of thing you can expect from a set that drops in the turn of the year - smooshed timelines - but at least they were released far apart enough from one another to be distinct.

Here are all three Upper Deck Black Diamond Griffeys:

1999 (December 1998):

This one rocks a simple, attractive vertical nameplate and little else save for an admittedly cool brand logo. The big highlight here is the etched foil that forms the photo background, an effect that I would agree deserves its own base set. A nameplate like this ought to let the photography do the talking, but that is a lot harder to pull off when the background of every photo is overtaken by etched foil. Still, it's holding its own.

2000 (January):

At first glance this appears to be a massive design shift, but there are remnants of the photo background here that are still obscured by etched foil albeit all patterned and orderly compared with its predecessor. The nameplate is as boring as a blind guy watching a silent movie, but the rest is...well it's less boring than that, at least. There is a parallel featuring die-cutting along the left edge that causes the design to make a lot more sense, but it also makes all the non-parallel cards (which is most of them) appear incomplete.

2000 (December):

We get another vertical nameplate here with a few extra lines, you know, for the sake of lines. I dig the new font, the gold foil, and the centered brand logo.

Then - and this is my favorite part - they bathed the etched foil background in blood (for every team, not just the red ones) so the player appears to floating in front of a gaping, fiery hellmouth complete with...bits of broken fence?

This one is weird, but it's also my favorite Black Diamond design, so I'm not saying it doesn't work. I am saying that if you take away the nameplate, the logos, and the player photo, what's left could be one of the fast-cut images projected in the Willy Wonka horror tunnel. I mean that as a compliment.

And that's all she wrote.

_______________________________________________________________

I feel like there was some valid reason for these sets that one sentence from an Upper Deck insider could clear up. Maybe the trademark on the name/logo would expire unless they used it, or it was a proving ground for new designs, or (my pick) they just wanted a sales bump in the baseball-less Winter months. It's funny how much of this hobby is business and marketing-related guesswork. How about a little transparency? We have questions!

One last time, here is every Upper Deck Black Diamond design:

The Great Griffey Frankenset: Page 19

Welcome to Page 19 of the Great Griffey Frankenset!

If you're not familiar with the idea of a frankenset, it is a customized set of cards properly sequenced by card number that all tie into a connecting theme. Some frankenset themes include whole teams, mini-collections, and even just generally great cards or photos. This is the first frankenset I'm aware of that is made up of just one player: Ken Griffey, Jr., the man of a million cards. I took the liberty of including things like inserts, parallels, cameos, and oddballs for the sake of variety and because it's just more fun that way. Enjoy!

Here is page 19 of the Great Griffey Frankenset:

Completeness of page: 9/9

Completeness of the Frankenset so far: 100% (171/171)

Team distribution so far: Mariners: 118/171 (69%), Reds: 49/171 (29%), White Sox: 2/171 (1%), No team indicated: 2/171 (1%)

Page 19 Notes: As we get higher you're going to see more of these multi-player cards - they make up a third of this particular page. Also the Reds cards are coming in strong, making up some ground in the team distribution. I'm getting all excited - will we make it to card #200 with no holes? Only time will tell...

Page 19:

163. 2010 Topps The Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT163 (1998 Topps Interleague Preview card)

Hall of Fame Class of 2016, together on one card 20 years before their co-induction. I pulled the original from a pack back in the 90's and always knew it was something special. It was great to see it make an appearance in the CYMTO insert.

164. 1995 Sports Stars USA Gold Replica Signature #164 (w/ Frank Thomas)

How perfect is this thing? And how wide are Frank's shoes? Geez, those things are like triple-E or something. Good for you, Big Hurt. I'm....not jealous at all.

165. 2002 Donruss Originals #165 (1984 Design)

Donruss Originals is in the running for my favorite throwback set of all time. A lot of Archives sets come close, but these old Donruss designs look great with fixed colors, better printing, and decent photography. Please bring this back, Panini. It's due for a reboot.

166. 2005 Topps Update & Highlights #UH166 Sporting News All-Stars

Just a gorgeous card for an incredible milestone. Gotta love sprawling crowd backgrounds, especially ones loaded with mouths agape at what they're getting to see. Zero defects. 14/10.

167. 1992 O-Pee-Chee Premier #167

What can you say about O-Pee-Chee Premier? Not much. 167!

168. 2003 Upper Deck Vintage #168

More of Upper Deck shamelessly ripping off Topps' vintage legacy, albeit beautifully. I love this card, but it's wrong wrong wrong.

169. 2000 Victory #169 Stat Leaders Checklist (w/ Freddy Garcia)

Poor Seattle - by the time this card was being pulled from packs they'd already lost one of their stat leaders AND his sweet flipped-up Gargoyles.

170. 1996 SP #170

One of the great card designs of the '90's bearing one of the great Griffey photos of the '90's. There are a few other decent #170's of the Kid, but do any of them have TWO backwards caps on the front? Absolutely not.

171. 2001 Ultra #171 Gold Medallion

Not just a base-running shot - a CRAZY one! Junior looks like a ballerina who just told a dirty joke. This needed to happen, though. That uniform is way too clean.

Here is the back of Page 19:

Thanks for reading, and look for Page 20 when, you know, I get around to it. Maybe.

The 2008 Upper Deck Documentary Challenge

[A quick personal note before we start: baby boy #2 is due ANY DAY NOW, assuming he hasn't popped out already (this post was scheduled 2 weeks ago). I've been trying really hard to keep up this once-a-week pace, but it may not continue. Not that anyone waits around every Monday morning with bated breath for my latest post to drop. Just know that it may be another four years before I can post with any kind of regularity again. OK, on with the show...]

It seems like competing brands sometimes get wind of each other trying out new ideas in the market and feel like they have to do it too just to stay competitive. This appears to be true even if the idea is not a good one. Cards in cans, antebellum throwbacks, lenticular printing, anything with Barry Bonds - we don't really need any of these things, but we got them anyway.

In 2008 the hot new terrible idea was the super-high-concept mega-set. Topps had released the absolute garbage Moments and Milestones (check that hot mess out right here), so of course Upper Deck got a case of the "us-too's" and started work an something even more ridiculous ambitious.

But Upper Deck had an ace up its sleeve in the spectacular 2008 SPx American Hero insert (which I wrote about just last week). They had shown they could also make something high-concept and make it work. Unfortunately it didn't really flesh out like they had hoped.

This set is BIG to say the least, so I’m just going to go nuts-and-bolts for a moment and give you the Baseballcardpedia description:

“2008 Upper Deck Documentary was a massive 4890-card set that ambitiously attempted to document every single game played in the 2008 MLB Season. The set was released December 18, 2008. Unfortunately due to the quick turn-around time involved, very few of the photographs used match-up to the game date in question -- in fact there are many instances of the player depicted on the front not even playing in the game.

Each of the 30 teams has 163 cards -- one for each game plus a season in review card -- meaning that each individual Major League Game played in the 2008 season actually has two cards in this set.

An additional 64 cards were inserted into packs of 2009 Upper Deck Series One.”

Okay, clearly this has the potential to go off the rails a bit. We are all but guaranteed a post with way too many scans of what is essentially the same couple of cards over and over again (and yes, that is coming), but there is another aspect of this lunatic set that is worth a second look. Maybe even a double-take. It’s nuts.

First let's look at one base card just so you can see what we’re dealing with here:

2008 Upper Deck UD Documentary #73

The cards are dry and matter-of-fact, all done up in team colors and silver. They each sum up the game in a sentence or two with a basic box score on the back as well as divisional standings up to that point. Like Topps Total before it, these have team numbering in addition to overall set numbering. Griffey made it onto 41 cards in the base set within both the Reds and White Sox team subsets.

The part that sticks out the most here is that the subject of this "Griffey card" is rookie pitcher Johnny Cueto. His performance is praised in blurbs on both the front and back. So why, then, is Griffey on there at all? From what I can glean out of the small amount of data on here Griffey didn't contribute much at all to this win.

This part contains a lot of griping, so I stuck a TL;DR below in case you're not *really* on this journey with me.

In last week's 2008 SPx post I kept bringing up photo context, and here is the reason: the fact that 2008 Documentary and the 2008 SPx American Hero insert both came out in the same year raises questions.

The American Hero insert is an impressive feat in terms of card design, photo selection, and context; yet Documentary, which attempts something similar, doesn't even approach that insert's ability to build a timeline and assign appropriate photos to it. This is not an insert - it's an entire sub-brand we are talking about. And it's built on almost the same premise only on a larger scale (a whole career of one player vs. a whole season of, well, pretty much every player).

The problem is they picked only a handful of images for each team and recycled the daylights out of them. Even the card numbering drives this point home. Griffey is on cards 73, 76, and 79. Add 300 to each of those and you get the next three Griffey card numbers: 373, 376, 379. This simple "just add 300" formula applies all the way up to Junior's trade to the White Sox at which point Griffey shows up on card #4010, then every 90th card all the way to the end. His final card is #4900, the highest card number Griffey has ever had (that I'm aware of, at least).

In fact the 41 Griffey cards in this set use only FIVE different photos. Four photos in particular are used a whopping TEN TIMES apiece. Only the final card got a photo different from the rest. That is some hard-core, no-holds-barred, unapologetic, all-up-in-yo-monkey-face photo recycling.

What Documentary does well is pick out something worth mentioning from every single game - and that's great - but the blatant photo recycling, often including players who didn't even play in the game referenced on the card, is downright insulting. They might as well not have photos at all - they could just as easily have been flashcards with stats and team logos. How did this happen in the same year (and probably by a lot of the same cardboard engineers) who made the rock-solid American Hero insert?

This is starting to sound like another 2008 SPx post, but I feel like that oversized insert and this way-oversized base set have a lot to talk about. My theory is that the Griffey American hero insert did such a great job at portraying a timeline in an appealing way that somebody (possibly in a suit) had the idea to build a whole "season set" around it, but the nuts-and-bolts guys just couldn't pull it together in time; so they settled and put out what they could, namely a sentence or two about every game and a random, often only loosely-related photo to slap on there with the text. Or maybe it was a photo licensing issue and the costs grew too high. Either way it was either somebody's poor judgement or a blatant money grab that led to its release.

TL;DR: Photo context like that found in the 2008 SPx American Hero insert might have saved 2008 Documentary but it was either too much work or too expensive to accomplish, and yet it got released anyway.

Apart from being way too ambitious/difficult/expensive/whatever, this set was high-concept beyond practical marketability and, frankly, doomed from the start. I mean, who is it for? Set builders? Player collectors? Maybe team collectors would enjoy trying to get their favorite team’s entire season on cardboard, but come on. 163 games? That’s too many to fully appreciate IN REAL LIFE let alone on cardboard. They're not all going to be barn-burners.

0.82% of the total set

I can't even remember the last repack box I bought that didn't include at least one pack of '08 Documentary. 12 years later and they're still trying to unload packs. Ouch.

So of course there was a parallel, and for pretty much the remainder of this post that's all we are going to talk about. There is nothing intimidating about it on the surface where it seems like just another run-of-the-mill, even boring, parallel. And on the surface the stats reflect that. They’re one-per-pack, 24 per box like so many of their boring, everyday parallel brethren. Ho-hum, right?

Well with 4,954 cards in the checklist (that number is including the 64 additional cards seeded in 2009 UD Series 1), the game changes significantly. The total number of 2008 Documentary cards Upper Deck would have had to produce to get a scarcity level for golds comparable to other 1-per-pack parallels would be astronomical, something like 20 times the normal quantity produced for most non-flagship base sets. Since there is just no way they made THAT MANY, the full checklist of golds from this set should be and is absurdly difficult to complete.

And if you collect a popular guy who made it onto a lot of cards (again, that’s 41 for Griffey collectors), the amount of time and patience you would need to get them all is approaching obsessive.

I am obsessive, and yet I have only four of them, a hair under 10% of those I need to complete the full checklist of Griffey golds. And I have been actively looking for them for a while.

2008 Upper Deck UD Documentary #373, 376, 379, 2476 Gold

There's not much to them - just a foil "2008" stamp and a field of gold where the base cards are silver. The backs are identical to the base cards. Very unassuming for how few there probably are.

Now I often keep my mouth shut when it comes to difficult long-term Griffey-collecting objectives lest anyone weird enough to read this blog decide they, too, want to give it a go thus hampering my own efforts (it only takes two to make a bidding war). And while acquiring every Griffey gold from this set has been a side-project of mine for a few years now, I’ve decided that my time and money would be better spent on other goals. I simply don’t like the cards enough.

But I know Griffey collectors more obsessive than me, and I know some of them read this blog. So to them, consider this post a challenge. I want to see someone finish this sucker off. The first that does it AND e-mails me good-quality scans of all 41 Gold parallel Griffey cards, I’ll send you a box of Griffey goodies.

Maybe you already did it. Great – scan them and e-mail me. Maybe you’d be willing to throw money at the challenge. Great! There’s a guy on eBay selling the full team sets of golds for the Reds and the White Sox for $250 EACH. That’s $500 for 326 base card gold parallels, or $1.53 per gold, far less than they are worth in terms of scarcity. Right off the bat the buyer would win this challenge, but where’s the fun in that?

A simpler challenge is to build the entire base set, and here it is:

2008 Upper Deck UD Documentary #73, 76, 79, 373, 376, 379, 673, 676, 679

2008 Upper Deck UD Documentary #973, 976, 979, 1273, 1276, 1279, 1573, 1576, 1579

2008 Upper Deck UD Documentary #1873, 1876, 1879, 2173, 2176, 2179, 2473, 2476, 2479

2008 Upper Deck UD Documentary #2773, 2776, 2779, 4010, 4100, 4190, 4280, 4370, 4460

2008 Upper Deck UD Documentary #4550, 4640, 4730, 4820, 4900

This isn't as hard a build as it looks. The cards are pretty cheap despite the fact that with a base set this big they are likely more scarce than most regular base cards.

As for me, I’m throwing in the towel on 2008 Documentary. I’ll keep my 41 lil' base cards and 4 lil' gold parallels and call it a day.

There were also inserts for the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game that did not have Griffey in them, and one sticker autograph insert set that did. Without further ado here's the substantial list of cards I need from 2008 UD Documentary:

2008 Upper Deck Documentary #73 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #76 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #79 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #673 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #676 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #679 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #979 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #976 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #979 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1273 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1276 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1279 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1573 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1576 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1579 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1873 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1876 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #1879 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2176 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2176 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2179 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2473 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2479 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2773 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2776 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #2779 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4010 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4190 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4280 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4370 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4460 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4550 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4640 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4730 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4820 Gold
2008 Upper Deck Documentary #4900 Gold (in 2009 Upper Deck Series 1)
2008 Upper Deck Documentary Season Signatures Autograph #KG

Mostly golds, obvy. But yeah, you can have ‘em – I’m peacing on 2008 Documentary. Get thee behind me, Satan.

[Fun note: After completing this post I bought another gold. The hell is wrong with me?]

The Great Griffey Frankenset: Page 18

Welcome to Page 18 of the Great Griffey Frankenset! I know it's been a while...

If you're not familiar with the idea of a frankenset, it is a customized set of cards properly sequenced by card number that all tie into a connecting theme. Some frankenset themes include whole teams, mini-collections, and even just generally great cards or photos. This is the first frankenset I'm aware of that is made up of just one player: Ken Griffey, Jr., the man of a million cards. I took the liberty of including things like inserts, parallels, cameos, and oddballs for the sake of variety and because it's just more fun that way. Enjoy!

Here is page 18 of the Great Griffey Frankenset:

Completeness of page: 9/9

Completeness of the Frankenset so far: 100% (162/162)

Team distribution so far: Mariners: 113/162 (70%), Reds: 45/162 (28%), White Sox: 2/162 (1%), No team indicated: 2/162 (1%)

Approximate retail value of this page: We are going to stop this bit. It's been years since last I posted one of these pages, and in that time Griffey prices have risen exponentially. Even in the last few weeks we've begun seeing massive increases. It's silly to even try to keep up at this point.

Page 18 Notes: Soooooo how you guys been? It's been over fifty months since we got a Frankenset page. My excuse is now four years old, and we are expecting another little bundle of excuse pretty much any day now. I am happy to report that we filled a hole a while back when 2018 DOnruss Optic released a Griffey card numbered 141. I've since gone back and updated the Frankenset, and we are back up to 100% card number saturation. It won't hold forever, though.

Page 18:

154. 2006 Fleer Tradition #154

This was my favorite of Upper Deck's spin on Fleer Tradition base cards. Nice and colorful, great use of a team cap in place of a standard logo, and it's just original enough to not be a direct rip-off of vintage Topps.

155. 2014 Panini Prizm #155 Camo

Down here in South Louisiana we see just about everything draped in camo at some point. I have a neighbor with "Team Realtree" tattooed across the rear windshield of his truck (just above the Yeti sticker). I miss the simpler days of Calvin pissing on another truck brand's logo. When did rednecks become such logo sluts? Was it Nascar? Anyway, sweet parallel.

156. 1990 Upper Deck #156

The Drew Hall card from this set always has me looking for (and missing) a big mouthful of braces.

157. 2000 Upper Deck MVP #157 Silver Script

Not a lot of base-running shots in this here Frankenset. Silver Script is cool, but it's no Silver Signature a la Collector's Choice.

158. 2003 Victory #158 Laying it on the Line

One of MANY failed baseball card gaming sets. They still count, dammit.

159. 2000 Victory #159

That photo gives us several of the most desirable Griffey photo tropes. Backwards cap + focus tongue + Home Run Derby + Mariners card after he had already been traded to the Reds? Fine, I like you, 2000 Victory #159

160. 2009 Topps Heritage Chrome High Number Series #CHR160 #/1960

1960 Topps is flat-out my favorite card design of the 60's. I wish Heritage would include retired player short prints or inserts - something. I just don't have a good reason to buy Heritage packs. I mean, who actually collects Mike Trout? No one I know.

161. 2008 Upper Deck Timeline #161 1994 UD All-Time Heroes

For a LONG time the White Sox had the same number of cards in the Frankenset as "Team Not Indicated." And I actively search for Griffey White Sox cards. There just aren't a ton.

162. 2002 Upper Deck UD Authentics #162 (1989 design) Reverse Negative

I had the regular version in this spot for a long time, but since I originally put the checklist together I acquired this fairly scarce reverse negative SP. This one is definitely better.

Here is the back of Page 18:

Thanks for reading, and look out for Page 19 in Summer, 2024!

2008 SPx Redux: the Worst One-of-One

In 2013 I wrote a post about 2008 SPx that was woefully incomplete and certainly premature (an adjective I hear far too often). I didn't even have the base card yet - what was I thinking? Today I make amends by giving you a much more complete version of what that post ought to have been had I waited until I had the cards in hand to show you like a responsible blogger.

There will be many scans. Many.

If you have any 2008 SPx cards in your collection, odds are good they are Griffeys. That's not me assuming everyone hoards Griffey cards as jealously as yours truly - it's a mathematical fact. Upper Deck had the nerve to give Junior his own sprawling insert, "American Hero," consisting of 100 cards in multiple parallels with relics, patches, autographs - you name it. Hence there are A LOT of 2008 SPx Griffeys in the world.

After quite a bit of digging I made a list of (hopefully) all the Griffey cards from the set. Just reading it boils the very blood.

#23
SSS-KG - Superstar Signatures
SSS-KG - Superstar Signatures Parallel
WM-KG - Winning Materials - #/150
WM-KG - Winning Materials - Autograph Parallel - #/20
WM-KG - Winning Materials - Die-Cut Parallel - #/150
WM-KG - Winning Materials - 3 Diamond Parallel - #/125
WM-KG - Winning Materials - Jersey # Parallel - #/125
WM-KG - Winning Materials - MLB Logo Parallel - #/99
WM-KG - Winning Materials - 3 Baseball Parallel - #/99
WM-KG - Winning Materials - MLB Team Letters Parallel - #/99
WM-KG - Winning Materials - Position Parallel - #/20
WM-KG - Winning Materials Rare - Patch Parallel 1 - #/99
WM-KG - Winning Materials Rare - Patch Parallel 2 - #/50
WM2-KG - Winning Materials 2 - #/75
WM2-KG - Winning Materials 2 - Jersey # Parallel - #/35
WM2-KG - Winning Materials 2 - Team Letters Parallel - #/25
WM2-KG - Winning Materials 2 - Position parallel - #/20
WM2-KG - Winning Materials 2 - 3 Baseball Parallel - #/20
WM2-KG - Winning Materials 2 Rare - Patch Parallel 1 - #/50
WM2-KG - Winning Materials 2 Rare - Patch Parallel 2 - #/25
WM3-KG - Winning Materials 3 - Parallel - #/99
WM3-KG - Winning Materials 3 - Team Letters - #/15
WM3-KG - Winning Materials 3 - SPx Parallel - #/10
WM3-KG - Winning Materials 3 Rare - Patch Parallel - #/15
WM3-KG - Winning Materials 3 Rare - Autograph Parallel - #/5
WT-GJP - Winning Trios (w/ Jeter & Pujols) - #/75
WT-GJP - Winning Trios (w/ Jeter & Pujols) - Parallel 1 - #/25
WT-GJP - Winning Trios (w/ Jeter & Pujols) - Parallel 2 - #/15
WT-GJP - Winning Trios Rare (w/ Jeter & Pujols) - Patch Parallel - #/25
KG1 through KG100 - Ken Griffey Jr American Hero - #/725
KG1 through KG100 - Ken Griffey Jr American Hero - Memorabilia Parallel - #/25
KG1 through KG100 - Ken Griffey Jr American Hero - Signature Parallel - #/3
KG1 through KG100 - Ken Griffey Jr American Hero - Box Score Parallel - 1/1

Don't be discouraged by all the 1/1's at the end there - they are not really 1/1. I'll get to that.

Let's just jump right in with the base card:

2008 SPx #23

It was literally years before I even knew what the base cards looked like let alone owned one. They are hella scarce. And they should be - you don't want to lay down 2008 SPx pack money and end up with a fistful of base cards. You were in it for the autos, relics, and the one-per-pack serial-numbered Griffeys.

That being said, the base design is crazytown. All shiny and die-cut and befoiled in all the right places. It's a damn cool baseball card and a real shame that the base set is so overlooked in the grand scheme.

Okay, let's overlook the base set now and jump straight to the fun shit.

When I wrote the original post I had just 22 of the 100 American Hero insert and nothing else. Now I have the base card, a jersey relic, a patch relic, the entirety of the American Hero insert, and five 1/1's for a total of 108 cards. We are going to begin at the relics like the base card doesn't even exist because that is what everybody else does.

2008 SPx Winning Materials Jersey Relic #WM-KG 3 Baseball Parallel #/99

I think this is the "3 Baseball Parallel" but I have no assurances that is the case apart from the three baseballs on the front of the card.

2008 SPx Winning Materials Rare Patch Relic #WM-KG Patch Parallel 1 #/99

I think - and it's all guesswork with this monster - this is the "rare" version of Winning Materials given the "Limited" indicator combined with the numeration and relic type which suggests this is Winning Materials and not Winning Materials "2" and the moon is in Pisces and my elbow itches just a little. There's a ton I could be wrong about and dozens of other cards that look A LOT like this one, so it's anybody's guess, but I'm probably close?

Anyway, sweet card. Tri-color!

Now for the part my fellow Griffey getters can appreciate: the entire American Hero insert in one photo:

And again in one massive 12gb JPEG

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG1-KG100 #/725

If this post took a long time to load it was because of this image (um, twice). The fact that I will also include additional scans of the American Hero insert in its entirety at the end of this post probably slows things down a bit, too.

This insert was not necessarily new - they had just done a similar one the year before for Cal Ripken, Jr. that looked like this:

I have no intention of looking at every individual card card here as our time on Earth is precious. But we will be looking at two cards: the first one and the last one.

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG1 #/725

The cards are very pretty and positively gleam in person. The scans do not capture this and the photo only kind of does. The foil they used is perfect. There is an American flag waving in the backdrop that you can't really make out in the scans of the front (it is more visible on the back scans). The fancy font that makes up the insert title is imprinted fairly deep into the card surface. So far so good.

The photo selection is excellent and even appears to be card-specific. This shot of very young Junior at the plate, for example, really does look like it was taken from his first game and could even pass as the moment he blasted that career-launching double. I don't know for sure if that is the case, but if it is that would be pretty impressive. A sign of quality to come.

The portrait on the back remains identical right up until the trade to Cincy. This portrait with the "resting Griff face" graces every Mariners-era card, specifically cards KG1-KG65, the bulk of his career and - let's be honest - most of the good parts.

The cards in-between follow Junior's career in the form of a timeline with cards dedicated to great moments such as a timely Grand Slam in '92, the 56th home run of his storied MVP season in '97, his then-final game as a Mariner, and his 500th home run. As the set rolls on, every photo continues to appear contextually appropriate to the card blurbs.

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG100 #/725

The last card in the set (which only goes up to 2007 for obvious reasons) is kind of a mix between "he's still got it" and "what have you done for me lately?" The blurb on the front sounds like just another great offensive showing, but its appearance in the timeline and historical context become obvious with the addition of the blurb on the back.

One kind of funny aspect of the set is that they bothered to include his position in the same spot on every card. You could flip through every single card one-by-one and....yep, still playing outfield. Well, I thought it was funny.

As gushy as I am about how truly excellent the American Hero insert is, I'm equally annoyed at the the thousands of 1/1's.

You read that right - thousands of 1/1's. No two of the inset "box scores" are the same. There are, in fact, a whopping 2,378 1/1's out there, one for every game Junior had played in up to the set's release.

Here are a few of mine:

Oh, geez. That's not a very good one, guys.

What? Are any of these good? Or even, like, just breaking even?

Good Lord this one is downright upsetting. How did I end up with this one? Out of his whole career? It even manages to make it personal. WTF?

They're not all wine and roses. Desirability of each 1/1 is determined by the content of its box score with home runs and milestones fetching higher prices (which explains why mine are so terrible - I've never paid more than $20 for one).

I'll admit I do like the idea of every game being represented in the set, the good and the bad. I try not to read the bad ones, though. If I wanted to get depressed I'd go driving around for hours looking for toilet paper (by the way is all that still going on? I wrote this on April 27th - is it gone yet?).

So I have five 1/1's from the American Heroes insert. and for any other set that would be pretty impressive. But it's not here, and not everybody knows this. I have seen people getting excited about finding one of these in a lot or scooping one up for "only" 60-70 bucks, then getting bummed out when they discover there are actually thousands of them. They feel a little duped.

The root of the problem is simple: they put "1 of 1" on the card. And it's not that simple, unassuming, three-straight-lines little "1/1" - it's that thick, stylized, eye-grabbing, ego-stroking "1 OF 1" with the fancy script we all know and love/resent. It is a seriously boastful "1 of 1." Come on guys, at least a slightly more subdued font or something damn.

I'm showing the backs to give you an idea of the drastic color difference between the gold regular cards and the green-tinted "1 of 1's." It's there. I kinda like it, I guess. Whatever.

Apparently Rick Seifert likes the box score abuse:

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG1-KG100 Box Score 1/1 courtesy of Rick Seifert

That would be a complete run of all 100 Box Score 1/1's or as I call it, "2008 SPx Level 2." I've never seen Level 3, that being a complete run of all 100 #/25 American Hero relics. I do know of one guy who got pretty close to Level 4, all 100 #/3 autographs. I don't know what the hell constitutes Level 5, but if you reach it Griffey himself comes to your house and cooks you, like, a really nice spaghetti dinner. Garlic bread, broccoli au gratin - the works.

So allegedly I have 0.21% of all the 2008 SPx 1/1's, and I suspect mine is the most tragic 0.21%. I have no desire to chase any of the "good" ones, though. I love you, American Hero insert, but these booger-green, potentially-bum-you-out "1 of 1's" can suck it. For real.

Not having a complete understanding of which cards are which, it's hard to make a concrete list of the cards I need from 2008 SPx, but I can rule at least a few things out.

Griffeys I need from 2008 SPx:

SSS-KG Superstar Signatures
SSS-KG Superstar Signatures Parallel
WM-KG Winning Materials #/150
WM-KG Winning Materials Autograph Parallel - #/20
WM-KG Winning Materials Die-Cut Parallel - #/150
WM-KG Winning Materials 3 Diamond Parallel - #/125
WM-KG Winning Materials Jersey # Parallel - #/125
WM-KG Winning Materials MLB Logo Parallel - #/99
WM-KG Winning Materials MLB Team Letters Parallel - #/99
WM-KG Winning Materials Position Parallel - #/20
WM-KG Winning Materials Rare - Patch Parallel 2 - #/50
WM2-KG Winning Materials 2 #/75
WM2-KG Winning Materials 2 Jersey # Parallel - #/35
WM2-KG Winning Materials 2 Team Letters Parallel - #/25
WM2-KG Winning Materials 2 Position parallel - #/20
WM2-KG Winning Materials 2 3-Baseball Parallel - #/20
WM2-KG Winning Materials 2 Rare Patch Parallel 1 - #/50
WM2-KG Winning Materials 2 Rare Patch Parallel 2 - #/25
WM3-KG Winning Materials 3 Parallel - #/99
WM3-KG Winning Materials 3 Team Letters - #/15
WM3-KG Winning Materials 3 SPx Parallel - #/10
WM3-KG Winning Materials 3 Rare Patch Parallel - #/15
WM3-KG Winning Materials 3 Rare Autograph Parallel - #/5
WT-GJP Winning Trios #/75 (w/ Jeter & Pujols)
WT-GJP Winning Trios Parallel 1 #/25 (w/ Jeter & Pujols)
WT-GJP Winning Trios Parallel 2 #/15 (w/ Jeter & Pujols)
WT-GJP Winning Trios Rare Patch Parallel #/25 (w/ Jeter & Pujols)
KG1 through KG100 - Ken Griffey Jr American Hero Memorabilia Parallel #/25
KG1 through KG100 - Ken Griffey Jr American Hero Signature Parallel #/3
KG1 through KG100 - Ken Griffey Jr American Hero Box Score Parallel 1/1 NO MA'AM

This set does have a lot going for it, so let's end on a positive note: completing the American Hero insert (or "Level 1") is a rite of passage for any Griffey collector, so if you're considering giving it a go you have my wholehearted blessing. Oh, and the base card kills - grab that, too.

As promised, here is a detailed scan of all 100 Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero insert cards:

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG1-KG9 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG10-KG18 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG19-KG27 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG28-KG36 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG37-KG45 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG46-KG54 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG55-KG63 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG64-KG72 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG73-KG81 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG82-KG90 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG91-KG99 #/725

2008 SPx Ken Griffey, Jr. American Hero #KG100 #/725

Yep, still playing outfield.