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.
- 1 Babe Ruth
- 2 Willie Mays
- 3 Ty Cobb
- 4 Walter Johnson
- 5 Hank Aaron
- 6 Lou Gehrig
- 7 Christy Mathewson
- 8 Ted Williams
- 9 Roger Hornsby
- 10 Stan Musial
- 12 Grover Alexander
- 13 Honus Wagner
- 14 Cy Young
- 15 Jimmy Foxx
- 16 Johnny Bench
- 17 Mickey Mantle
- 18 Josh Gibson
- 19 Satchel Paige
- 20 Roberto Clemente
- 21 Warren Spahn
- 22 Frank Robinson
- 23 Lefty Grove
- 24 Eddie Collins
- 27 Tris Speaker
- 28 Mike Schmidt
- 29 Nap Lajoie
- 30 Steve Carlton
- 31 Bob Gibson
- 32 Tom Seaver
- 33 George Sisler
- 34 Barry Bonds
- 35 Joe Jackson UER NNO
- 36 Bob Feller
- 37 Hank Greenberg
- 38 Ernie Banks
- 39 Greg Maddux
- 40 Yogi Berra
- 41 Nolan Ryan
- 42 Mel Ott
- 43 Al Simmons
- 44 Jackie Robinson
- 45 Carl Hubbell
- 46 Charlie Gehringer
- 47 Buck Leonard
- 48 Reggie Jackson
- 49 Tony Gwynn
- 50 Roy Campanella
- 51 Ken Griffey, Jr.
- 52 Barry Bonds
- 53 Roger Clemens
- 54 Tony Gwynn
- 55 Cal Ripken, Jr.
- 56 Greg Maddux
- 57 Frank Thomas
- 58 Mark McGwire
- 59 Mike Piazza
- 60 Wade Boggs
- 61 Alex Rodriguez
- 62 Juan Gonzalez
- 63 Mo Vaughn
- 64 Albert Belle
- 65 Sammy Sosa
- 66 Nomar Garciaparra
- 67 Derek Jeter
- 68 Kevin Brown
- 69 Jose Canseco
- 70 Randy Johnson
- 71 Tom Glavine
- 72 Barry Larkin
- 73 Curt Schilling
- 74 Moises Alou
- 75 Fred McGriff
- 76 Pedro Martinez
- 77 Andres Galarraga
- 78 Will Clark
- 79 Larry Walker
- 80 Ivan Rodriguez
- 81 Chipper Jones
- 82 Jeff Bagwell
- 83 Craig Biggio
- 84 Kerry Wood
- 85 Roberto Alomar
- 86 Vinny Castilla
- 87 Kenny Lofton
- 88 Rafael Palmeiro
- 89 Manny Ramirez
- 90 David Wells
- 91 Mark Grace
- 92 Bernie Williams
- 93 David Cone
- 94 John Olerud
- 95 John Smoltz
- 96 Tino Martinez
- 97 Raul Mondesi
- 98 Gary Sheffield
- 99 Orel Hershiser
- 100 Rickey Henderson
- 101 J.D. Drew CP
- 102 Troy Glaus CP
- 103 Nomar Garciaparra CP
- 104 Scott Rolen CP
- 105 Ryan Minor CP
- 106 Travis Lee CP
- 107 Roy Halladay CP
- 108 Carlos Beltran CP
- 109 Alex Rodriguez CP
- 110 Eric Chavez CP
- 111 Vladimir Guerrero CP
- 112 Ben Grieve CP
- 113 Kerry Wood CP
- 114 Alex Gonzalez CP
- 115 Darin Erstad CP
- 116 Derek Jeter CP
- 117 Jaret Wright CP
- 118 Jose Cruz, Jr. CP
- 119 Chipper Jones CP
- 120 Gabe Kapler CP
- 121 Satchel Paige MEM
- 122 Willie Mays MEM
- 123 Roberto Clemente MEM
- 124 Lou Gehrig MEM
- 125 Mark McGwire MEM
- 127 Bob Gibson MEM
- 128 Johnny VanderMeer MEM
- 129 Walter Johnson MEM
- 130 Ty Cobb MEM
- 131 Don Larsen MEM
- 132 Jackie Robinson MEM
- 133 Tom Seaver MEM
- 134 Johnny Bench MEM
- 135 Frank Robinson MEM
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
- AC1 Babe Ruth
- AC2 Ty Cobb
- AC3 Willie Mays
- AC4 Lou Gehrig
- AC5 Jackie Robinson
- AC6 Mike Schmidt
- AC7 Ernie Banks
- AC8 Johnny Bench
- AC9 Cy Young
- AC10 Lineup Sheet
Epic Milestones
Card EM1 does not exist.
- EM2 Jackie Robinson
- EM3 Nolan Ryan
- EM4 Mark McGwire
- EM5 Roger Clemens
- EM6 Sammy Sosa
- EM7 Cal Ripken, Jr.
- EM8 Rickey Henderson
- EM9 Hank Aaron
- EM10 Barry Bonds
Memorable Shots
- HR1 Babe Ruth
- HR2 Bobby Thomson
- HR3 Kirk Gibson
- HR4 Carlton Fisk
- HR5 Bill Mazeroski
- HR6 Bucky Dent
- HR7 Mark McGwire
- HR8 Mickey Mantle
- HR9 Joe Carter
- HR10 Mark McGwire
Autographs & Game-Used
Epic Signatures
Each card is available in a "Century" parallel, hand-numbered to 100 copies.
Four players signed only a fraction of their allotted signatures. As a result, some of those players had autographs that were BOTH live in packs AND redemptions. Collectors who pulled a redemption had until December 31st, 1999 to exchange it for an autograph.
- AR Alex Rodriguez
- BB Barry Bonds
- BD Bucky Dent
- BF Bob Feller
- BG Bob Gibson
- BM Bill Mazeroski
- BT Bobby Thomson
- CF Carlton Fisk SOME EXCH
- DL Don Larsen
- EB Ernie Banks
- EMA Eddie Mathews
- FR Frank Robinson
- FT Frank Thomas
- GM Greg Maddux
- HK Harmon Killebrew
- JB Johnny Bench SOME EXCH
- JG Juan Gonzalez
- JR Ken Griffey, Jr.
- MS Mike Schmidt
- NR Nolan Ryan
- RJ Reggie Jackson
- SC Steve Carlton
- SM Stan Musial
- SR Ken Griffey, Sr.
- TG Tony Gwynn
- TS Tom Seaver
- VG Vladimir Guerrero
- WMC Willie McCovey SOME EXCH
- WS Warren Spahn
- YB Yogi Berra SOME EXCH
Jerseys of the Century
- DW Dave Winfield
- EM Eddie Murray
- GB George Brett
- GM Greg Maddux
- MS Mike Schmidt
- NR Nolan Ryan
- OZ Ozzie Smith
- RC Roger Clemens
- TG Tony Gwynn
Legendary Cuts
NOTE: Each is a one-of-one
- BR Babe Ruth
- CY Cy Young
- LG Lefty Grove
- MO Mel Ott
- RC Roy Campanella
- SP Satchel Paige
- TY Ty Cobb
- WJ Walter Johnson
Artifacts
Each Artifact is a redemption card good for the item listed. Each card is a one-of-one.
- 1960 Ernie Banks / Bob Gibson / Johnny Bench AU Balls
- 1900 Ty Cobb Framed CUT
- 1910 Babe Ruth Framed CUT
- 1920 Roger Hornsby Framed CUT
- 1930 Satchel Paige Framed CUT
- 1950 Willie Mays / Mickey Mantle / Hank Aaron AU Balls
- 1970 Mike Schmidt / Steve Carlton / Tom Seaver AU Balls
- 1980 Ken Griffey, Jr. / Nolan Ryan AU Balls
- 1990 Ken Griffey, Jr. AU Jersey