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| 2000 Upper Deck Black Diamond #76 |
In my
collection: 5 regular, 2 Diamonation, 2 Diamond Might
Griffey
looks: spiritually connected to his bat
Is this a
good Griffey card? Yes. The best base card from an OK set with some
bangin’ inserts.
The set: This
card features foil and chromium in more structured, geometric textures than that
in the previous year’s set. The horizontal
lines, bathroom-floor checkerboard tile, and a sad little nameplate don’t
exactly leap off the card, and the whole package end up coming across dark and
sterile. The coloring in the Tetris-tile
background helps a little though it doesn’t come out in the scan, and the
die-cut parallels are OK; but overall the base design is not a home run.
|
| Tetris, anyone? |
Junior appears to be on-deck here, or possible taking a moment in the batter's box. He is using this time to connect spiritually with his signature black bat like Pedro Cerrano from the Major League movies. No chickens were harmed in the making of this card.
This set
does have one remarkable redeeming quality: the inserts. They’re beautiful. Plenty of gleaming holofoil, shiny refracted
light, and effects in every color of the rainbow await you in a land of
prancing leprechauns and unicorn magic delights.
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| 2000 Upper Deck Black Diamond Diamonation #D1 |
Look at that. This is what God had in mind when He created the insert: absurdly cool, shiny, colorful, light-refracting, somehow-still-cardboard works of art. This thing reflects light in lovely and complex angles on the front like that laser web Catherine Zeta-Jones had to karate through in Entrapment. You can find this insert at several websites for cheap; go grab one of your favorite player.
In case you were wondering, Diamonation
means he will dominate you with diamonds.
He will throw diamonds at you until you submit, and diamonds are
sharp. He is a diamonator. We are dia-submissive-mond.
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| 2000 Upper Deck Black Diamond Diamond Might #M1 |
Check out
this rainbow sandwich. Holofoil, cool
lettering, gold foil all over the place - this is a seriously fun insert. And check out Junior calling his shot. He’s pointing with his bat as if to say “I’m
going to bunt, and the ball is going to land right there and hopefully not
bounce too far.” Let's hope the infield didn't notice.
Here are the
cards from 2000 Black Diamond I am missing:
#76 Final
Cut
#76
Reciprocal Cut
Barrage #B2
Constant
Threat #T1
A Piece of
History #JR
A Piece of
History Double #JR
A Piece of
History Triple #JR
Only one
more set would be made under with the Black Diamond brand. It would also come in 2000, but late enough
that 1) they got a shot of Junior on the Reds and 2) maybe collectors forgot
that this set already came out once this year?
It’s all very convoluted.
Join us next
time for 2000 Upper Deck Black Diamond: Part Deux.
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