2002 SP Authentic

Description

2002 SP Authentic is a 230 card set was released in two separate series. The basic SP Authentic product (containing the first 170 cards) was issued on September 10, 2002. The final 60 cards (#171-#230) were distributed within packs of 2002 Upper Deck Rookie Update in mid-December, 2002. The product is notable for containing the first ever, certified autographed trading cards of Mark McGwire.

Cards #1-#90 featured veterans while cards #91-#170 were part of the Future Watch subset. Future Watch cards #91-#135 are serial-numbered to 1999 copies; while cards #136-#170 were signed by the player. Most of the autographed Future Watch cards were serial-numbered to 999 copies; while cards #146, #152 and #157 were printed to only 249 serial-numbered sets.

A typical 24-pack SP Authentic box should yield two Future Watch cards, one autographed Future Watch card, either an autographed Prospect or a Chirography card, at least one USA Future Watch insert, and a game jersey card.

There only notable rookies in the SP Authentic set are of Reed Johnson and Aaron Cook.

Rookie Update cards #201-#230 continued the Future Watch subset (focusing on rookies and prospects) and each card was serial-numbered to 1999.

Among the notable rookies in the Rookie Update series include Cliff Lee and Freddy Sanchez.

Distribution

SP Authentic Series: 24 packs per box, five cards per pack (MSRP: $4.99). Hobby only.

Rookie Update Series: 15 packs per box, four cards per pack. Hobby only.

Reviews

Old School Breaks

Insertion Ratios

SP Authentic Series

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Odds
Base	170	-	?
short set	90	-	5:1
Future Watch	45	1999	1:12
Autographed Future Watch	35	varies	1:24
Limited	170	125	?
Limited Gold	170	50	?
USA Future Watch	22	1999	?
Game Jersey	38	-	1:24
Game Jersey Gold	38	varies	?
Prospects Signatures	12	-	1:36
Chirography	27	-	1:72
Chirography Gold	25	varies	?
Big Mac Missing Link	5	25	?
Signed Big Mac	10	varies	?
Excellence	1	25	?
Signs of Greatness	1	one-of-one	?
Autographed Joe DiMaggio Poster Redemption	1	800	1:1100

Rookie Update Series

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Odds
Base	60	-	?
short set	30	-	1:1
Future Watch	30	1999	1:7

Checklist

Base Set

SP Authentic Series

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic') AND (num < 91); </sql2wiki>

Future Watch

Each Future Watch is serial-numbered to 1999 copies.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic') AND (num BETWEEN 91 AND 135); </sql2wiki>

Autographed Future Watch

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic') AND (num BETWEEN 136 AND 170) ORDER BY num +0 ASC; </sql2wiki>

Rookie Update Series

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic') AND (num BETWEEN 171 AND 200); </sql2wiki>

Future Watch

Each Future Watch is serial-numbered to 1999 copies.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic') AND (num > 200); </sql2wiki>

Parallels

Each of the 170 SP Authentic Series cards (including the Future Watch and Autographed Future Watch) are available in the following parallels.

• Limited (serial-numbered to 125 copies)
• Limited Gold (serial-numbered to 50 copies)

Inserts

USA Future Watch

This 22-card set features members of the 2002 USA National Team. The design is similar to that of the base set Future Watch cards, but since none are sequentially-numbered as part of the base set, none are to be considered "true" rookies. Each card is serial-numbered to 1999 copies.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic USA Future Watch') ORDER BY (SUBSTRING(num FROM 4)) +0 ASC; </sql2wiki>

Autographs & Game-Used

NOTE: All autograph and game-used cards listed below were inserted into SP Authentic packs.

Game Jersey

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Game Jersey'); </sql2wiki>

Gold

Each of the 38 Game Jersey's is available in a Gold parallel. The Gold cards are serial-numbered to the player's uniform number and is listed below.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Game Jersey Gold'); </sql2wiki>

Chirography

Each Chirography is serial-numbered to the production figures listed below.

NOTE: Four players: Bret Boone, Tony Gywnn, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa, packed out as exchange cards which expired September 10, 2005.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Chirography') ORDER BY num ASC; </sql2wiki>

Gold

Each of the 27 players (except Bret Boone and Tony Gwynn) are available in a Gold parallel. The Gold cards are serial-numbered to the player's uniform number and listed below.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Chirography Gold') ORDER BY num ASC; </sql2wiki>

Prospects Signatures

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Prospects Signatures'); </sql2wiki>

Big Mac Missing Link

These autographed Mark McGwire cards are all in the style of SP Authentic Chirography sets from 1998-2002. McGwire had never signed for a trading card company before coming to terms with Upper Deck in 2002. Each card is hand-numbered to 25 copies.

For some reason, Upper Deck decided to include a Missing Link card in the style of the 2002 Chirography set, even though a McGwire was already included in that set (see above).

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Big Mac Missing Link'); </sql2wiki>

Signed Big Mac

This set features 10 Mark McGwire autographed cards. Each card is serial-numbered to the production figures listed.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Signed Big Mac'); </sql2wiki>

Excellence

Randomly inserted into packs was an exchange card good for a card featuring six on-card autographs of Upper Deck spokemen. Only 25 exchange cards were produced and expired September 10, 2005.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Excellence'); </sql2wiki>

Signs of Greatness

Randomly inserted into packs, this "book" card features six autographs and only one copy was produced. An exchange card with a redemption deadline of September 10th, 2005 was placed into packs whereby the lucky collector received the card directly from Upper Deck via mail. The three dead players are all cuts; the three living players are on-card autographs.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Signs of Greatness'); </sql2wiki>

Joe DiMaggio Autographed Poster

Randomly inserted into packs was an exchange card good for an autographed Joe DiMaggio poster. A total of 800 exchange cards were inserted into packs and expired August 8, 2005. DiMaggio died in 1999 and the posters were originally signed for Upper Deck Authenticated.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Poster Redemption'); </sql2wiki>

Hawaii Trade Conference Sign of the Times Duke Snider Autograph

This Duke Snider autograph card was distributed by Upper Deck at the 2002 Hawaii Trade Conference. Each attendee received either this signed Duke Snider card or a signed card of NFL legend John Riggins, both of which were hand-numbered to 500 copies in blue ink -- although it should be noted that, unlike similar Hawaii Trade Conference giveaways, this card is not marked as having been distributed at the conference.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2002) AND (setname = 'SP Authentic Hawaii Sign of the Times'); </sql2wiki>

SP
SP Era: 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996 - 1997
SP Authentic Era: 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2010
SP Legendary Cuts: 2001 - 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005 - 2006 - 2007 - 2008 - 2009 - 2011
SP Top Prospects: 1995 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001
Other SP Brands: 1995 SP Championship Series - 1999 SP Signature Edition - 2001 SP Game Bat Edition - 2001 SP Game Bat Milestone - 2001 SP Game Used - 2004 SP Game Used Patch - 2004 SP Prospects - 2007 SP Rookie Edition - 2012 SP Signature Edition