1999 E-X Century

Description

1999 E-X Century was produced by Fleer/Skybox and was a 120-card set distributed exclusively to Hobby outlets. For a fourth consecutive year, this brand continued its theme of depth on a card through the use of multiple card stock layers. Similar to the previous year's set, acetate was the foundation for each base card: The "top" layer featured the player photo over a colored holographic crescent that accented the player's team colors. This layer was embedded in the the transparent, uncolored "bottom" acetate layer, which featured the player nameplate and position in silver holographic foil, his team's logo, and the "E-X Century" logo in etched foil; additionally, this same layer of acetate also featured a shadow of the player's nameplate and an enlarged shadow of the player's team logo that was offset to create the illusion of a 3-D effect on the acetate. Due to the majority of the card being acetate, the card back was a non-holographic mirror image of the front.

The set contained a 30-card Rookie short-printed subset (91-120) that was inserted at a rate of 1:2 packs. The only notable Rookie Card in the set was of Pat Burrell.

The numbering of the base set was subjectively arranged to have top current stars in the game featured first in the set, semi-stars next, minor-stars after, and the young stars featured last - this arrangement was key to the serial-numbering rationale for the Essential Credentials parallel sets.

Distribution

18 packs per box, three cards per pack (MSRP: $5.99). Hobby exclusive.

Inserts and parallels were usually the 2nd/middle card in the pack.

Reviews

Stale Gum (archived)

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Odds
Base	120	-	?
Short Set	90	-	?
Prospects	30	-	1:2
Essential Credentials Now	120	varies	?
Essential Credentials Future	120	varies	?
E-X Quisite	15	-	1:18
Favorites for Fenway '99	20	-	1:36
Milestones of the Century	10	varies	?
Authen-Kicks	10	varies	?

Checklist

Promos

A promotional sample card featuring Ben Grieve was distributed to dealer accounts and Hobby media shortly before the product's national release. This card resembled Grieve's base card but had "PROMOTIONAL SAMPLE" text printed across the back.

81 Ben Grieve

Base Set

• 1 Scott Rolen
• 2 Nomar Garciaparra
• 3 Mike Piazza
• 4 Tony Gwynn
• 5 Sammy Sosa
• 6 Alex Rodriguez
• 7 Vladimir Guerrero
• 8 Chipper Jones
• 9 Derek Jeter
• 10 Kerry Wood
• 11 Juan Gonzalez
• 12 Frank Thomas
• 13 Mo Vaughn
• 14 Greg Maddux
• 15 Jeff Bagwell
• 16 Mark McGwire
• 17 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 18 Roger Clemens
• 19 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 20 Travis Lee
• 21 Todd Helton
• 22 Darin Erstad
• 23 Pedro Martinez
• 24 Barry Bonds
• 25 Andruw Jones
• 26 Larry Walker
• 27 Albert Belle
• 28 Ivan Rodriguez
• 29 Magglio Ordonez
• 30 Andres Galarraga
• 31 Mike Mussina
• 32 Randy Johnson
• 33 Tom Glavine
• 34 Barry Larkin
• 35 Jim Thome
• 36 Gary Sheffield
• 37 Bernie Williams
• 38 Carlos Delgado
• 39 Rafael Palmeiro
• 40 Edgar Renteria
• 41 Brad Fullmer
• 42 David Wells
• 43 Dante Bichette
• 44 Jaret Wright
• 45 Ricky Ledee
• 46 Ray Lankford
• 47 Mark Grace
• 48 Jeff Cirillo
• 49 Rondell White
• 50 Jeromy Burnitz
• 51 Sean Casey
• 52 Rolando Arrojo
• 53 Jason Giambi
• 54 John Olerud
• 55 Will Clark
• 56 Raul Mondesi
• 57 Scott Brosius
• 58 Bartolo Colon
• 59 Steve Finley
• 60 Javy Lopez
• 61 Tim Salmon
• 62 Roberto Alomar
• 63 Vinny Castilla
• 64 Craig Biggio
• 65 Jose Guillen
• 66 Greg Vaughn
• 67 Jose Canseco
• 68 Shawn Green
• 69 Curt Schilling
• 70 Orlando Hernandez
• 71 Jose Cruz, Jr.
• 72 Alex Gonzalez
• 73 Tino Martinez
• 74 Todd Hundley
• 75 Brian Giles
• 76 Cliff Floyd
• 77 Paul O'Neill
• 78 Ken Caminiti
• 79 Ron Gant
• 80 Juan Encarnacion
• 81 Ben Grieve
• 82 Brian Jordan
• 83 Rickey Henderson
• 84 Tony Clark
• 85 Shannon Stewart
• 86 Robin Ventura
• 87 Todd Walker
• 88 Kevin Brown
• 89 Moises Alou
• 90 Manny Ramirez

Prospects

• 91 Gabe Alvarez SP
• 92 Jeremy Giambi SP
• 93 Adrian Beltre SP
• 94 George Lombard SP
• 95 Ryan Minor SP
• 96 Kevin Witt SP
• 97 Scott Hunter SP RC*
• 98 Carlos Guillen SP
• 99 Derrick Gibson SP
• 100 Trot Nixon SP
• 101 Troy Glaus SP
• 102 Armando Rios SP
• 103 Preston Wilson SP
• 104 Pat Burrell SP RC
• 105 J.D. Drew SP
• 106 Bruce Chen SP
• 107 Matt Clement SP
• 108 Carlos Beltran SP
• 109 Carlos Febles SP
• 110 Robert Fick SP
• 111 Russell Branyan SP
• 112 Roosevelt Brown SP RC
• 113 Corey Koskie SP
• 114 Mario Encarnacion SP RC
• 115 Peter Tucci SP
• 116 Eric Chavez SP
• 117 Gabe Kapler SP
• 118 Marlon Anderson SP
• 119 A.J. Burnett SP RC
• 120 Ryan Bradley SP

Parallels

Essential Credentials

Similar to the 1998 Essential Credentials set, there were once again were two types of Essential Credentials parallels: Now and Future. In total, each player had 121 serial-numbered Essential Credentials cards produced; however, the specific number of Now and Future versions produced for each player varied.

For example, Ken Griffey Jr. is card #17 in the set. Just like any player in the set, Griffey has 121 total Essential Credentials cards that are serial-numbered. Specifically, Griffey had 17 Essential Credential Nows (matching his card number in the set) and 104 Essential Credentials Futures (121 - 17 = 104) produced.

Essential Credentials Now:

The serial-numbering for the Essential Credentials Now parallel set mirrored numbering of the base set such that card #1 in the set was serial-numbered to 1, #2 was serial numbered to 2, etc. The arrangement of players in the base set placed the top current stars in the game first, semi-stars next, minor-stars after, and the young stars last - thus, the established players who were starring "Now" in the game featured the lowest serial-numbering in the Essential Credentials Now set.

Essential Credentials Now featured a silver theme finish to the card. For each player in this parallel, the team-colored holographic foil from the base design remained but the acetate layer was silver and opaque. Additionally, the player's nameplate, "E-X Century" logo, and position text were given a silver holographic "shading"-foil finish. "Essential Credentials Now" was printed on the back, along with the serial number.

Essential Credentials Future:

The serial-numbering for the Essential Credentials Future parallel was determined by subtracting the player's card number in the base set from 121. Again, due to the arrangement of players in the base set, the top current stars were featured first while the young stars were featured last - thus, the potential "Future" stars of the game featured the lowest serial-numbering in the Essential Credentials Future set.

Essential Credentials Future featured a gold theme finish to the card. For each player in this parallel, the team-colored holographic foil from the base design remained but the acetate layer was gold and opaque. Additionally, the player's nameplate, "E-X Century" logo, and position text were given a gold holographic "shading"-foil finish. "Essential Credentials Now" was printed on the back, along with the serial number.

For the sake of brevity, the individual serial-number production figures for each card are not listed here.

Inserts

E-X Quisite

This 15-card set featured some of the top young players in the game. Each card was printed on grey-black stock with an interior shadow-box die-cut design that revealed a transparent, sky-themed acetate. This design mimicked the design from the 1997 E-X 2000 base set.

• 1 E-X Troy Glaus
• 2 E-X J.D. Drew
• 3 E-X Pat Burrell
• 4 E-X Russell Branyan
• 5 E-X Kerry Wood
• 6 E-X Eric Chavez
• 7 E-X Ben Grieve
• 8 E-X Gabe Kapler
• 9 E-X Adrian Beltre
• 10 E-X Todd Helton
• 11 E-X Roosevelt Brown
• 12 E-X Marlon Anderson
• 13 E-X Jeremy Giambi
• 14 E-X Magglio Ordonez
• 15 E-X Travis Lee

Favorites for Fenway '99

This 20-card set featured players that had a strong probability of participating in the 1999 All-Star Game. Each card was composed of clear acetate, silver-blue etched foil on the front, and gold etched foil on the back. The center of each card featured a picture of Fenway Park - home of that year's ASG - printed on acetate.

• 1 FF Mo Vaughn
• 2 FF Nomar Garciaparra
• 3 FF Frank Thomas
• 4 FF Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 5 FF Roger Clemens
• 6 FF Alex Rodriguez
• 7 FF Derek Jeter
• 8 FF Juan Gonzalez
• 9 FF Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 10 FF Ivan Rodriguez
• 11 FF J.D. Drew
• 12 FF Barry Bonds
• 13 FF Tony Gwynn
• 14 FF Vladimir Guerrero
• 15 FF Chipper Jones
• 16 FF Kerry Wood
• 17 FF Mike Piazza
• 18 FF Sammy Sosa
• 19 FF Scott Rolen
• 20 FF Mark McGwire

Milestones of the Century

This 10-card set honored individual player records/statistical achievements accomplished in the 1998 season. Each card featured a color player photo and a silver-grey portion of the card that featured the insert name and the number representing the specific "milestone" - this number represented the serial-number that each player's card was numbered to.

• 1 MC Kerry Wood 20
• 2 MC Mark McGwire 70
• 3 MC Sammy Sosa 66
• 4 MC Ken Griffey, Jr. 350
• 5 MC Roger Clemens 98
• 6 MC Cal Ripken, Jr. 17
• 7 MC Alex Rodriguez 40
• 8 MC Barry Bonds 400
• 9 MC N.Y. Yankees 114
• 10 MC Travis Lee 98

Autographs & Game-Used

Authen-Kicks

This nine-card set featured top young players in the game with swatches of their game-worn shoes embedded in the cards beside black-and-white head shots of the player in purple-sky background. Each card is hand-numbered and the print run for each is listed below.

In addition, Fleer had J.D. Drew autograph 16 copies of his card; eight in red ink and eight in black ink.

• 1 AK J.D. Drew 160
• 2 AK Travis Lee 175
• 3 AK Kevin Millwood 165
• 4 AK Bruce Chen 205
• 5 AK Troy Glaus 205
• 6 AK Todd Helton 205
• 7 AK Ricky Ledee 180
• 8 AK Scott Rolen 205
• 9 AK Jeremy Giambi 205
• B1 AK J.D. Drew AU (Black Ink) 8
• R1 AK J.D. Drew AU (Red Ink) 8