Revision as of 05:11, 3 August 2010

1997 Topps Stars box

Description

1997 Topps Stars was released in late 1997. The 125-card base set was one of Topps’ higher end products up to that time. The cards were printed on 20-point stock with gold foil stamping with matte laminate and UV coating. Cards 1-90 feature veteran stars while cards 91-125 feature rookies and rising stars. An unnumbered checklist card was inserted into packs as an extra card.

Topps Stars was distributed exclusively to Hobby dealers who were part of Topps' then brand-new "Home Team Advantage" (or "HTA") network, and was their first "HTA-Exclusive" offering.

Rookie cards in this set include: Lance Berkman, Vernon Wells, Kerry Wood, and Jayson Werth.

Distribution

Boxes of 1997 Topps Stars contain 24 packs of 7 cards each. This product was hobby exclusive.

Reviews

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Hobby Odds
Base	125	-	?
Rookie Reprints	15	-	1:6
Always Mint	125	-	1:12
Future All-Stars	15	-	1:12
All-Star Memories	10	-	1:24
Rookie Reprint Autographs	14	-	1:30
'97 All-Stars	20	-	1:72

Checklist

Promos

Base Set

File:97toppsstarscal.jpg

1997 Topps Stars #3 Cal Ripken, Jr.

1 Larry Walker

2 Tino Martinez

3 Cal Ripken, Jr.

4 Ken Griffey, Jr.

5 Chipper Jones

6 David Justice

7 Mike Piazza

8 Jeff Bagwell

9 Ron Gant

10 Sammy Sosa

11 Tony Gwynn

12 Carlos Baerga

13 Frank Thomas

14 Moises Alou

15 Barry Larkin

16 Ivan Rodriguez

17 Greg Maddux

18 Jim Edmonds

19 Jose Canseco

20 Rafael Palmeiro

21 Paul Molitor

22 Kevin Appier

23 Raul Mondesi

24 Lance Johnson

25 Edgar Martinez

26 Andres Galarraga

27 Mo Vaughn

28 Ken Caminiti

29 Cecil Fielder

30 Harold Baines

31 Roberto Alomar

32 Shawn Estes

33 Tom Glavine

34 Dennis Eckersley

35 Manny Ramirez

36 John Olerud

37 Juan Gonzalez

38 Chuck Knoblauch

39 Albert Belle

40 Vinny Castilla

41 John Smoltz

42 Barry Bonds

43 Randy Johnson

44 Brady Anderson

45 Jeff Blauser

46 Craig Biggio

47 Jeff Conine

48 Marquis Grissom

49 Mark Grace

50 Roger Clemens

51 Mark McGwire

52 Fred McGriff

53 Gary Sheffield

54 Bobby M. Jones

55 Eric Young

56 Robin Ventura

57 Wade Boggs

58 Joe Carter

59 Ryne Sandberg

60 Matt Williams

61 Todd Hundley

62 Dante Bichette

63 Chili Davis

64 Kenny Lofton

65 Jay Buhner

66 Will Clark

67 Travis Fryman

68 Pat Hentgen

69 Ellis Burks

70 Mike Mussina

71 Hideo Nomo

72 Sandy Alomar, Jr.

73 Bobby Bonilla

74 Rickey Henderson

75 David Cone

76 Terry Steinbach

77 Pedro Martinez

78 Jim Thome

79 Rod Beck

80 Randy Myers

81 Charles Nagy

82 Mark Wohlers

83 Paul O'Neill

84 Curt Schilling

85 Joey Cora

86 John Franco

87 Kevin Brown

88 Benito Santiago

89 Ray Lankford

90 Bernie Williams

91 Jason Dickson

92 Jeff Cirillo

93 Nomar Garciaparra

94 Mariano Rivera

95 Javy Lopez

96 Tony Womack RC

97 Jose Rosado

98 Denny Neagle

99 Darryl Kile

100 Justin Thompson

1997 Top Prospects

101 Juan Encarnacion

102 Brad Fullmer

103 Kris Benson RC

104 Todd Helton

105 Paul Konerko

106 Travis Lee RC

107 Todd Greene

108 Mark Kotsay RC

109 Carl Pavano

110 Kerry Wood RC

Draft Picks

111 Jason Romano RC

112 Geoff Goetz RC

113 Scott Hodges RC

114 Aaron Akin RC

115 Vernon Wells RC

116 Chris Stowe RC

117 Brett Caradonna RC

118 Adam Kennedy RC

119 Jayson Werth RC

120 Glenn Davis RC

121 Troy Cameron RC

122 J.J. Davis RC

123 Jason Dellaero RC

124 Jason Standridge RC

125 Lance Berkman RC

Parallels

Always Mint

The product's lone parallel, each Always Mint card features foil on both sides of the card. Despite its name, Always Mint cards are very tough to find in mint condition and as such command a premium.

Inserts

'97 All-Stars

This 20-card set features the starting lineups of the 1997 All-Star Game. Alex Rodriguez, who was the American League's starting shortstop, was not under contract to Topps at the time and his place in the checklist was filled by All-Star Game MVP Sandy Alomar, Jr.

1 Greg Maddux

2 Randy Johnson

3 Tino Martinez

4 Jeff Bagwell

5 Ivan Rodriguez

6 Mike Piazza

7 Cal Ripken, Jr.

8 Ken Caminiti

9 Tony Gwynn

10 Edgar Martinez

11 Craig Biggio

12 Roberto Alomar

13 Larry Walker

14 Brady Anderson

15 Barry Bonds

16 Ken Griffey, Jr.

17 Ray Lankford

18 Paul O'Neill

19 Jeff Blauser

20 Sandy Alomar, Jr.

All-Star Memories

1 Cal Ripken, Jr.

2 Jeff Conine

3 Mike Piazza

4 Randy Johnson

5 Ken Griffey, Jr.

6 Fred McGriff

7 Moises Alou

8 Hideo Nomo

9 Larry Walker

10 Sandy Alomar, Jr.

Future All-Stars

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1997 Topps Stars Future All-Stars #12 Billy Wagner

This 15-card set features players who were expected to be fixtures in the All-Star Game for the next ten years. As of 2010, seven out of the 15 players have yet to appear in an All-Star Game.

1 Derek Jeter

2 Andruw Jones

3 Vladimir Guerrero

4 Scott Rolen

5 Jose Guillen

6 Jose Cruz, Jr.

7 Darin Erstad

8 Tony Clark

9 Scott Spiezio

10 Kevin Orie

11 Pokey Reese

12 Billy Wagner

13 Matt Morris

14 Jeremi Gonzalez

15 Hideki Irabu

Rookie Reprints

This 15-card set features reprints of Hall of Fame players’ Topps rookie cards. These types of insert sets would become a staple of many Topps releases in the late 1990’s. The cards have been re-sized to modern, standard-sized cards.

1 Luis Aparicio

2 Richie Ashburn

3 Jim Bunning

4 Bob Feller

5 Rollie Fingers

6 Monte Irvin

7 Al Kaline

8 Ralph Kiner

9 Eddie Matthews

10 Hal Newhouser

11 Gaylord Perry

12 Robin Roberts

13 Brooks Robinson

14 Enos Slaughter

15 Earl Weaver

Autographs

Rookie Reprints Autographed

File:Slaughterauto.jpg

1997 Topps Stars Rookie Reprint Enos Slaughter Autograph

This 14-card set parallels the Rookie Reprint set. Richie Ashburn died before he was able to sign and is the only player from the Rookie Reprint set not included. This was one of the first sets to feature on-card autographs of Hall of Famers, and were very popular at the time of their release. The Eddie Mathews and Hal Newhouser cards are particularly notable due to the passing of the two stars before the autograph insert card explosion of the 2000’s.