FINALLY COMPLETE!! 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Autographs with variations & M.M.

[nephinfan]

It took me years of on and off dedication, but it’s finally done!

All 98 cards, including the 4-card Memorable Moments set, and all the variations.

The variations include blue ink versions of Berra and Oliva, red ink Concepcion, and Score ROY base auto.

Thanks for taking a look.

https://i.imgur.com/wjMyHC8l.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/raWtWx4l.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YLzj3zml.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YiOMhtXl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2GPhie9l.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lZfigf6l.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lENSdwfl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/gWn9QbOl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/8ZuzCK5l.jpg

[shanks25]

Nice work!!! Freaking amazing set. I love it! Those cards are beautiful!!!


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[discostu]

Impressive. Very impressive.

This is such a classic, clean set.

[kingofsnake]

Great accomplishment, OP. So many legends who are no longer with us. Thanks for sharing.

[metallicalex777]

And a jersey number match on the Nolan Ryan 34/99. That Puckett is a nice card, way to keep those autos' boldness well preserved!!!

[smanzari]

Such a great set - I had so much fun opening this as a kid. Good Job OP, they look good together!

[ddearing]

One of the greatest sets of all time.
Love the Puckett.

[Astros19]

Awesome set!
One of my all-time favorite designs.

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[PLB9eight]

Ridiculously amazing. Nice job, collecting at its best.


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[Wild West]

Now grade them all and try and keep them the same grade! LOL

[YourAvgSutton]

Wow. Just wow. Speechless :eek:

[corndog]

Beautiful set!

And legible too! :)!

[RiceBondsMT2Yng]

Congrats man, that’s amazing.

[ScooterD]

Congrats on the accomplishment, and thank you for having a great taste in sets to collect. As stated above - this set AND your completion of it is very impressive

[banosd]

Those signatures are much better than the Bowman slop we have been getting the last decade :)

[njsportscardguy]

IMPRESSIVE,...is not an adequate-enough, description! Nevertheless; IMPRESSIVE!!!

Congratulations!

[TBTC Baseball]

Amazing. Congratulations on the collection. Beautiful set.

[Flamethrower]

Hell Yeah! Now THIS is collecting. Way to go, congrats!

[HeritageKing]

This might be one of the greatest sets, if not the greatest autograph set ever put together. Are you going to do the Yankee clippings too?

[NYBBFAN]

What a great accomplishment! That set was an instant classic when it was released.

[HeritageKing]

Can you imagine opening these packs at 7 dollars per and the auto odds are 1:6.

[bblair_2002]

What a wonderful set! My sincere congratulations.

[7nohitter]

This is incredible! Gorgeous set!

[awz50]

Amazing!

[Thetruthisout]

Congratulations!!! Very nice.

I recall buying two hobby boxes when they were released and the thrill of looking for the autographs and the Yankee Clippings cards.

Congrats again.

[21Pittsburgh58]

Freakin' WOW!

Extremely well done :flex:

[PuddleMonkey]

Very nice set, minus all those Yankees of course.

[Tom Oates]

Congrats and welcome to the club!

Tom

[swabie2424]

Really amazing. Collecting nirvana!

[soey10]

First off congratulations on completing the set. It is a classic set. The thing that stands out to me most is that the autographs are legible throw that in with the fact that there are no sticker autos (because they had not been invented yet) and you have a beautiful set.

Topps should understand it’s collector base more because we want more designs and non sticker autos like this set.


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[nephinfan]

Thank you all for the wonderful comments! I'm really glad you all enjoyed the pics. I was looking forward to being able to share this set with the BO community.

[finfangfan]

That’s a nice looking set… congrats and thanks for sharing!

[MSU Bulldogs]

Wow, congratulations on the completion.

[no10pin]

One of my favorite auto sets, I definitely have a few of my PC guys, but this is amazing!

Just out of curiosity, what was the final card you picked up to finish the set?

[ld8759]

Congrats on a beautiful set! I love that the older players always wrote their full name out when signing. Some of the autos of today's players are so lazy, they are a joke.

[50thRoundPick]

Absolutely awesome.

[Mister2Bits]

Congrats I'm sitting at 33 autos for this set, but I doubt I'll ever finish it. I pick up a few here and there every year and try to grab 1 bigger name per year

[blackbears86]

absolutely beautiful set and ON CARD autos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MOONBASE1]

Quite an accomplishment. A great set.

[MotorboatJones]

Incredible!

[Tom Oates]

Chiming in a second time here. I am curious to hear your take on the Jeter autograph. As I understand it, the Jeter 2000 Greats autograph was issued a couple years after this set as a redemption replacement from a different set. Originally I dug in my heels and refused to buy one since it was not a "true" part of this set. However my OCD got the better of me and I caved and bought one. What is your opinion?

[Thor34]

Nice!

[ZappBrannigan]

Wow nice job.

[caster513]

Great set and awesome checklist, well done!

[Scarlet Knight]

Not much I can say, but.... man, that is beautiful! Congrats!

What was the last card you needed to complete the set?

[nephinfan]

One of my favorite auto sets, I definitely have a few of my PC guys, but this is amazing!

Just out of curiosity, what was the final card you picked up to finish the set?

Not much I can say, but.... man, that is beautiful! Congrats!

What was the last card you needed to complete the set?

The last card I picked up was the Stan Musial. I feel like they used to pop up all the time, and I always passed them up for others I thought were more difficult at the time. For whatever reason, it took a while for one to pop up recently without a crazy BIN price.

[nephinfan]

Chiming in a second time here. I am curious to hear your take on the Jeter autograph. As I understand it, the Jeter 2000 Greats autograph was issued a couple years after this set as a redemption replacement from a different set. Originally I dug in my heels and refused to buy one since it was not a "true" part of this set. However my OCD got the better of me and I caved and bought one. What is your opinion?

Very good question. I've heard people say that it was a redemption replacement, but I believe that Fleer actually had a cross-brand promotion going where they recreated several Jeter autos from previous brands and included them as limited releases across several brands.

I would not mind adding the Jeter, but my focus was on pack-pulled only cards, since that was how the set was intended. This is the same reason I don't necessarily pursue the Stan Musial "Player Sample" card with his "Stan the Man" sticker on the back and blue ink on the front. However, just like the Jeter, I wouldn't mind adding it if I came across a copy I felt I couldn't pass up. The problem I have with the Jeter is the border is different, and doesn't even have the Yankees logo on the front. That has always bugged me.

Now, I have a question for you, and I have researched this forever. Do you know if there are any Ron Guidry Purple Border Memorable Moments cards? I remember reading something years ago, that he had only signed his gold-bordered cards. The problem is, I can't find where I read that anywhere. However, I've NEVER seen a purple-border Ron Guidry card. Curious if you have or know more about the specifics.

[Tom Oates]

Very good question. I've heard people say that it was a redemption replacement, but I believe that Fleer actually had a cross-brand promotion going where they recreated several Jeter autos from previous brands and included them as limited releases across several brands.

I would not mind adding the Jeter, but my focus was on pack-pulled only cards, since that was how the set was intended. This is the same reason I don't necessarily pursue the Stan Musial "Player Sample" card with his "Stan the Man" sticker on the back and blue ink on the front. However, just like the Jeter, I wouldn't mind adding it if I came across a copy I felt I couldn't pass up. The problem I have with the Jeter is the border is different, and doesn't even have the Yankees logo on the front. That has always bugged me.

Now, I have a question for you, and I have researched this forever. Do you know if there are any Ron Guidry Purple Border Memorable Moments cards? I remember reading something years ago, that he had only signed his gold-bordered cards. The problem is, I can't find where I read that anywhere. However, I've NEVER seen a purple-border Ron Guidry card. Curious if you have or know more about the specifics.

Never seen the Guidry Purple. However, I have seen many of the regular Guidry autograph where scammers have added the inscription. The Y and G's are a dead giveaway when you compare the loop in Y in Guidry to the Y in Cy Young.

Back in the day someone listed singles in purple border for the entire set. No autographs, just the base cards with purple borders. Maybe a backdoored test run?

I have a Brock "missing autograph" and a Jim Rice autograph "Missing foil" in my set.

Tom

[Tom Oates]

Some sample images of the purple borders that I squirreled away.

https://i.imgur.com/G9OiDkPl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/tNMdpXPl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/brmb04Zl.jpg

[Dacubs]

thats great!

[nephinfan]

Never seen the Guidry Purple. However, I have seen many of the regular Guidry autograph where scammers have added the inscription. The Y and G's are a dead giveaway when you compare the loop in Y in Guidry to the Y in Cy Young.

Back in the day someone listed singles in purple border for the entire set. No autographs, just the base cards with purple borders. Maybe a backdoored test run?

I have a Brock "missing autograph" and a Jim Rice autograph "Missing foil" in my set.

Tom

I have seen a lot of those as well. One story I've been told, was that Guidry returned some cards, and Fleer may have had employees add the inscription and the numbering on the back. The writing style of the numbering on the back matches the style on the other players' inscription cards. Does your Guidry "Memorable Moments" card match mine? The one I have was the one I felt was most convincing from the others I've seen. I believe every inscription I've seen looks different than his actual auto, so it was the style of numbering on the back that convinced me.

I never knew purple border cards existed for the entire set. That's amazing that you have those! Thanks for sharing those.

I'm also curious as to whether or not you always knew there was a Tony Oliva blue ink. I didn't know that until about a year ago.

[creasecollector]

Sweet set, congrats!

[Gidtheson]

Exceptional! An amazing set to choose to complete.

[eye4talent]

I don’t know you, but I’m proud of you.


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[eye4talent]

Do you know if there are any Ron Guidry Purple Border Memorable Moments cards? I remember reading something years ago, that he had only signed his gold-bordered cards. The problem is, I can't find where I read that anywhere. However, I've NEVER seen a purple-border Ron Guidry card. Curious if you have or know more about the specifics.


The Beckett online checklist only shows the base and the Cy Young /78. Beckett certainly has its flaws, but I generally find the checklists to be reliable.


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[Tom Oates]

I have seen a lot of those as well. One story I've been told, was that Guidry returned some cards, and Fleer may have had employees add the inscription and the numbering on the back. The writing style of the numbering on the back matches the style on the other players' inscription cards. Does your Guidry "Memorable Moments" card match mine? The one I have was the one I felt was most convincing from the others I've seen. I believe every inscription I've seen looks different than his actual auto, so it was the style of numbering on the back that convinced me.

I never knew purple border cards existed for the entire set. That's amazing that you have those! Thanks for sharing those.

I'm also curious as to whether or not you always knew there was a Tony Oliva blue ink. I didn't know that until about a year ago.

1) The Guidry "Cy Young" that I have was purchased before I caught on to the forgeries. The "Y" in Cy Young appears to match the "Y" in Guidry.

2) To be clear, I don't own those base set purple parallels. I just saved off copies of the auction images.

3) I saw the Oliva blue autograph for the first time last night so I guess it's time to start looking for additional variations again. In the 1997 and 1998 Donruss Significant Signatures sets, many platers have black and blue autograph variations. I'm guessing one sharpie starts to run out of ink and the player just grabs whatever color sharpie they have available to complete the signing.

[crdboy]

W O W what a beautiful collection. Do you plan on displaying it in anyway? I'd want to show it off as much as possible. Thanks for sharing!

[worldtravel00]

Congrats on the completion of the set. Definitely not easy set to complete.

I've been trying to collect this set, 2001, 2002, and 2003. It's been slow progress since their releases.

[bavariancream]

Quite a feat- nice work!


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[DragonWagon]

Bravo on a huge accomplishment!


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[nephinfan]

W O W what a beautiful collection. Do you plan on displaying it in anyway? I'd want to show it off as much as possible. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you! I actually have one of those old jewelry glass cases that have the trays that rotate up or down when you push the button. I'm going to refinish the trays and paint the case. The plan is the be able to display them in that once it's finished. This way, I can scroll through them and see them all any time.

[90sIcons]

This set is ICONIC. 4 autos per box, on card autos, amazing design. Simple design is better. They didn't need 10-30 levels of auto parallels. Perfection. This set will only continue to age well and become more collectable.

2000 Greats of the Game is a 107-card set released by Fleer in late March, 2000. Fueled by a now-legendary collection of autographs, the Yankee Clippings game-used jersey cards, and the superior design of the base set, the product turned out to be one of the most popular releases of the 2000 calendar.

http://baseballcardpedia.com/index.php/2000_Greats_of_the_Game

[kingchromium24]

As someone who dabbled with putting the Greats of the Game sets, this is a huge accomplishment. People dont realize how hard the Short Prints were to find in the 99-02 sets. Add in some were redemptions and then the various ink versions/SPs as well.

This set rivaled the Upper Deck Legends Epic Signatures from the same time period, just great stuff. Really wish we had more of these type of sets than we do now. We get some included with the extremely high end stuff like gilded, sterling, and five star but they are few and far between now.