1999 Upper Deck Century Legends
Description
1999 Upper Deck Century Legends is a skip-numbered 131-card set released in June, 1999. One of the more popular and influential products of the era, Century Legends was one of the first products to combine current players with retired Hall of Famers.
Cards 1-50 come from The Sporting News' countdown of the 50 greatest players of the 20th Century, while cards 51-100 are TSN's picks for the best 50 active players. The set winds up with the "21CP" and "Memorable Shots" subsets.
Cards 11, 25, 26, and 126 do not exist. Players 11, 25, and 26 on The Sporting News' list were Joe DiMaggio, Pete Rose, and Sandy Koufax, respectively. Upper Deck were unable to come to terms with DiMaggio or Koufax, so their cards were excluded. Due to his lifetime banishment from baseball, UD could not include a card of Pete Rose, and so cards #25 and #126 were pulled.
Curiously, despite also being banned for life from baseball, "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was included in the set.
Each 24-pack Hobby box yields on "Epic Signatures" autograph.
Distribution
24 packs per box, 5 cards per pack (MSRP: $4.99). Hobby only.
Reviews
Insertion Ratios
| Cards | Total Cards | Numbered To | Hobby Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 131 | - | ? |
| Century Collection | 131 | 100 | ? |
| Century Legends MVPs | ? | 1 | ? |
| All-Century Team | 10 | - | 1:23 |
| Epic Milestones | 9 | - | 1:12 |
| Memorable Shots | 10 | - | 1:12 |
| Epic Signatures | 30 | - | 1:24 |
| Epic Signatures Century | 32 | 100 | ? |
| Jerseys of the Century | ? | - | 1:418 |
| Artifacts | ? | 1 | ? |
| Legendary Cuts | ? | 1 | ? |
Checklist
Base Set
The set is tiered as follows: (1-100) Basic, (101-120) 21st Century Phenoms, (121-135) Century Memories
In addition, the first 50 basic cards coincide with the top 50 on The Sporting News list of Baseball's Greatest Players (1998). Thanks to the omissions of Joe DiMaggio, Pete Rose, and Sandy Koufax, this set is missing cards 11, 25, 26, and 126.
<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1999) AND (setname = 'Upper Deck Century Legends'); </sql2wiki>
Foil Logo Variations
At least three of the base cards #4 (Walter Johnson), #35 (Shoeless Joe Jackson) and #58 (Mark McGwire) have foil-stamped logos on their backs. It is unclear how, or why, these cards came into being. It is known that the McGwire is available in both foil-stamped and non-foil-stamped versions; with the foil-stamped logo being the most common. It is unclear if non-foil versions of the Johnson and Jackson exist.
Parallels
Century Collection
Each of the 131 base cards are available in this holographic-foil parallel. All cards are serial-numbered to 100 copies with a dot-matrix printer.
Century Collection MVPs
This is a 100-card partial-parallel of the 1999 Upper Deck MVP set. Each card is a one-of-one.
C1 Mo Vaughn
C2 Troy Glaus
C3 Darin Erstad
C4 Randy Johnson
C5 Travis Lee
C6 Chipper Jones
C7 Greg Maddux
C8 Tom Glavine
C9 John Smoltz
C10 Cal Ripken
C11 Charles Johnson
C12 Albert Belle
C13 Nomar Garciaparra
C14 Pedro Martinez
C15 Kerry Wood
C16 Sammy Sosa
C17 Mark Grace
C18 Frank Thomas
C19 Paul Konerko
C20 Ray Durham
C21 Denny Neagle
C22 Sean Casey
C23 Barry Larkin
C24 Roberto Alomar
C25 Kenny Lofton
C26 Travis Fryman
C27 Jim Thome
C28 Manny Ramirez
C29 Vinny Castilla
C30 Todd Helton
C31 Dante Bichette
C32 Larry Walker
C33 Gabe Kapler
C34 Dean Palmer
C35 Tony Clark
C36 Juan Encarnacion
C37 Alex Gonzalez
C38 Preston Wilson
C39 Derrek Lee
C40 Ken Caminiti
C41 Jeff Bagwell
C42 Moises Alou
C43 Craig Biggio
C44 Carlos Beltran
C45 Jeremy Giambi
C46 Johnny Damon
C47 Kevin Brown
C48 Chan Ho Park
C49 Raul Mondesi
C50 Gary Sheffield
C51 Sean Berry
C52 Jeromy Burnitz
C53 Brad Radke
C54 Eric Milton
C55 Todd Walker
C56 Vladimir Guerrero
C57 Rondell White
C58 Mike Piazza
C59 Rickey Henderson
C60 Rey Ordonez
C61 Derek Jeter
C62 Bernie Williams
C63 Paul O'Neill
C64 Scott Brosius
C65 Tino Martinez
C66 Roger Clemens
C67 Orlando Hernandez
C68 Ben Grieve
C69 Eric Chavez
C70 Jason Giambi
C71 Curt Schilling
C72 Scott Rolen
C73 Pat Burrell
C74 Jason Kendall
C75 Aramis Ramirez
C76 Mark McGwire
C77 J.D. Drew
C78 Edgar Renteria
C79 Tony Gwynn
C80 Sterling Hitchcock
C81 Ruben Rivera
C82 Trevor Hoffman
C83 Barry Bonds
C84 Ellis Burks
C85 Robb Nen
C86 Ken Griffey Jr.
C87 Alex Rodriguez
C88 Carlos Guillen
C89 Edgar Martinez
C90 Jose Canseco
C91 Rolando Arrojo
C92 Wade Boggs
C93 Fred McGriff
C94 Juan Gonzalez
C95 Ivan Rodriguez
C96 Rafael Palmeiro
C97 David Wells
C98 Roy Halladay
C99 Carlos Delgado
C100 Jose Cruz Jr.
Inserts
All-Century Team
<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1999) AND (setname = 'Upper Deck Century Legends All-Century Team'); </sql2wiki>
Epic Milestones
Card EM1 does not exist.
<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1999) AND (setname = 'Upper Deck Century Legends Epic Milestones'); </sql2wiki>
Memorable Shots
<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1999) AND (setname = 'Upper Deck Century Legends Memorable Shots'); </sql2wiki>
Autographs & Game-Used
Epic Signatures
Each card is available in a "Century" parallel, hand-numbered to 100 copies.
<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1999) AND (setname = 'Upper Deck Century Legends Epic Signatures'); </sql2wiki>
Jerseys of the Century
<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1999) AND (setname = 'Upper Deck Century Legends Jerseys of the Century'); </sql2wiki>
Legendary Cuts
NOTE: Each is a one-of-one
<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1999) AND (setname = 'Upper Deck Century Legends Legendary Cuts'); </sql2wiki>
Artifacts
Each Artifact is a redemption card good for the item listed. Each card is a one-of-one.
<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1999) AND (setname = 'Upper Deck Century Legends Artifacts'); </sql2wiki>