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

Checklist

Promos

PP1 Larry Walker
PP2 Roger Clemens
PP3 Frank Thomas

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 Dave 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 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
101 Juan Encarnacion PROS
102 Brad Fullmer PROS
103 Kris Benson PROS RC
104 Todd Helton PROS
105 Paul Konerko PROS
106 Travis Lee PROS RC
107 Todd Greene PROS
108 Mark Kotsay PROS RC
109 Carl Pavano PROS
110 Kerry Wood PROS RC
111 Jason Romano DP RC
112 Geoff Goetz DP RC
113 Scott Hodges DP RC
114 Aaron Akin DP RC
115 Vernon Wells DP RC
116 Chris Stowe DP RC
117 Brett Caradonna DP RC
118 Adam Kennedy DP RC
119 Jayson Werth DP RC
120 Glenn Davis DP RC
121 Troy Cameron DP RC
122 J.J. Davis DP RC
123 Jason Dellaero DP RC
124 Jason Standridge DP RC
125 Lance Berkman DP RC
NNO Checklist

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.

AS1 Greg Maddux
AS2 Randy Johnson
AS3 Tino Martinez
AS4 Jeff Bagwell
AS5 Ivan Rodriguez
AS6 Mike Piazza
AS7 Cal Ripken, Jr.
AS8 Ken Caminiti
AS9 Tony Gwynn
AS10 Edgar Martinez
AS11 Craig Biggio
AS12 Roberto Alomar
AS13 Larry Walker
AS14 Brady Anderson
AS15 Barry Bonds
AS16 Ken Griffey, Jr.
AS17 Ray Lankford
AS18 Paul O'Neill
AS19 Jeff Blauser
AS20 Sandy Alomar, Jr.

All-Star Memories

This 10-card set features highlights from the 1997 All-Star Game.

ASM1 Cal Ripken, Jr.
ASM2 Jeff Conine
ASM3 Mike Piazza
ASM4 Randy Johnson
ASM5 Ken Griffey, Jr.
ASM6 Fred McGriff
ASM7 Moises Alou
ASM8 Hideo Nomo
ASM9 Larry Walker
ASM10 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.

FAS1 Derek Jeter
FAS2 Andruw Jones
FAS3 Vladimir Guerrero
FAS4 Scott Rolen
FAS5 Jose Guillen
FAS6 Jose Cruz, Jr.
FAS7 Darin Erstad
FAS8 Tony Clark
FAS9 Scott Spiezio
FAS10 Kevin Orie
FAS11 Pokey Reese
FAS12 Billy Wagner
FAS13 Matt Morris
FAS14 Jeremi Gonzalez
FAS15 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 Mathews
10 Hal Newhouser
11 Gaylord Perry
12 Robin Roberts
13 Brooks Robinson
14 Enos Slaughter
15 Earl Weaver

Autographs

Rookie Reprint Autographs

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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.