Introduction (This is a revision of an earlier posting from 3 years ago. I would like to thank an anonymous reader named Mike for alerting me to the foil-color-based identification of the manufacturer autographs)
As noted in previous posts, autographs are by far the scarcest
commodity in sports card collecting.
Obviously, card companies can make limited runs of game-used jerseys or
other types of unique, low-print run inserts, but the willingness of a player to sign his or her name
and is by far the most limiting aspect of card production.
Indeed, it is the scarcity of autographs that makes the 1997-98 Be A
Player hockey set so amazing to many die-hard collectors. Because most of the cards in the set had a
very large number of autographed parallel cards, it is possible to put together
almost the entire set with autographs.
I currently own all of the possible 249 cards with autographs that could
be pulled from packs. In this posting, I
will give a history of this set and discuss some of its quirks and great characteristics.
The early history of the “Be A Player” brand
The “Be A Player” brand is a property of the National Hockey League
Players’ Association (NHLPA). Back in 1993-94,
the NHLPA contracted with Upper Deck to produce the Be A Player brand without
NHL licensed trademark logos as a way to produce another revenue stream for the
NHLPA. (footnote 1) Because the NHLPA
and NHL have gone through a series of strikes and lockouts over the past 25
years, the brand was started largely a way to hedge some extra money for the
association and players in case of a work stoppage. In 1994-95 and 1995-96 Upper Deck produced
sets with the innovation of having one autograph card per pack. This was an insanely great bargain for
collectors at the time because the packs were actually not that expensive as a
mid-priced product. With the 1994-95
season starting with a long-planned lock out by the NHL owners, NHL players
probably had a lot of both time and incentive to sign cards for the first year of Be A Player cards.
The 1994-95 Be A Player set was 180 cards with one autographed parallel
card per pack. From what I know from
talking or emailing with people over the years, only 178 cards were available
in autographed form with common players signing around 2400 cards each and star
players signing less. Wayne Gretzky was
the key autographed card in the set, and Gretzky’s card was super-short printed (SSP). Upper Deck applied stickers to the back of
the autographed cards thus indicating their authenticity. Upper Deck expanded the set to 225 cards in
1995-96, but I do not know if any players’ autographs were missing from the
set (any help I can get here would be appreciated). Similar to the prior year, there
was one autographed card per pack, which was an insane bargain.
In 1996-97, the NHLPA shifted the Be A Player name brand to Pinnacle
Brands. Pinnacle expanded the set to
include insert cards that could also be found in autographed format. These insert series were titled “Biscuit In
The Basket”, “Link To History”, and “Stacking The Pads”. In what would become an ominous sign for the
future, Pinnacle did not put stickers or other authenticating marks on the
backs of the cards to indicate that the autographs were authentic. I do not know much about the numbers of cards
signed in this year and have not seem many cards from the set. I assume Pinnacle made it so that one could identify manufacturer autographs with the color of foil on the card.
The 1997-98 Be A Player set
By 1997, Pinnacle Brands was in a lot of financial trouble. They had entered the sports card industry
when it was booming in 1988, but the Junk Card Era of too many card manufacturers
was about to take Pinnacle as a victim.
This showed in their execution of the 1997-98 Be A Player set.
While the set was expanded to two series of 125 cards (Series A and
Series B = 250 total cards) plus inserts, the execution of the set left a lot
to be desired. Again, autographed cards
were inserted one-per-pack but did not have stickers or different back marking authenticity as a manufacturer autograph. The way that one tells manufacturer-autographed cards from other cards is by the color of foil used in the player's name and the Pinnacle logo. Gold foil indicates an autographed card that was certified by Pinnacle and pulled from a pack. Silver foil indicates a base card that should be without an autograph. If one finds an autograph card with a silver foil name and logo, the card is either a forgery or was signed in person after being pulled from a pack as a base card. This situation can make identification confusing as one comes across these cards. Because Pinnacle vanished into bankruptcy, there is no web site or published guidelines to tell collectors 20 years later about the foil color differences.
Caption: Eric Lindros #1 base card is on the left. Note the silver foil ink used to print his name and the Pinnacle logo. On the right is an authenticated Brett Hull autographed card. Note the gold foil ink used to print his name and the Pinnacle logo.
When Pinnacle ran into financial trouble in 1998, much of the production from Series B was left in limbo in boxes in the Pinnacle warehouse (footnote 1). This problem with Series B has actually been a blessing to collectors interested in completing the set today. Because these boxes were sold off to distressed merchandise liquidators and other parties, it took them longer to work their way into the system to be available to collectors. Indeed, unopened boxes of both series still sell for around between $55 and $100 on eBay (checked 12-9-2016) and are a bargain at 16 autographs-per-box, which is insane by today’s standards for a middle-market product.
Attributes of the Set
The hit rate per pack for auto and inserts was:
Autographs 1:1 (These are autographs on any version of the
card, regular or die cut)
Die Cut Autographs 1:7
Prismatic Die Cut Autographs - 100 sets made
One Timers 1:7
Stacking the Pads 1:15
Take A Number 1:15
However, this is where things get a little weird and you have to know something
about the set. First, none of the “One
Timers”, “Stacking the Pads”, or “Take A Number” insert cards were autographed. This was a change from previous years. Second, certain cards were extremely
short-printed. Basically, Eric Lindros
only autographed the Prismatic Die Cut cards, so there are only 100 Lindros
autographs in existence in this set. (This observation on Lindros comes from an old card dealer with whom I have emailed. I have never seen it written anywhere.) Die cut cards have the word PLAYER cut in them along the right border. Prismatic die cuts are harder to find than foil die cuts with a print run of 100. When Lindros #1 autographed 1997-98 Be A Player prismatic die cut cards occasionally change hands on eBay, they go for hundreds
of dollars despite Lindros never making it to the Hall of Fame due to
injuries. Again, set makers know the Lindros Die Cut Autograph is
the scarce card in the 1997-98 Be A Player set. Indeed, you can buy an Eric Lindros certified autographed card from other sets for
under $5.00.
Caption: Eric Lindros #1 Prismatic Die Cut is the hardest autographed card to get in the series. Only 100 were produced. I had the Lindros autograph authenticated by SGC along with all the Hall of Fame caliber players' cards because they do not have stickers or holograms guaranteeing their authenticity.
Another anomaly in the set is that no known factory-autographed version
of #18 Bryan Berard has ever surfaced in regular or die cut format. There is no known reason for this omission. 1997-98 was several years before Berrard
received a horrible eye injury that cut short his playing career, and he was
not between teams that year. One just
has to believe that Berard never signed his cards or that Pinnacle never sent
them to him. They may have thought they
would insert them in Series B, but financial trouble kept them from following
through. Who knows?
What makes the 1997-98 Be A Player autograph set fun to try to piece
together is (1) it can be done (with the exception of Berard’s and to some
extent Lindros’ cards) on a relatively tight budget and (2) that it was such an
insane undertaking in 1997-98 by today’s standards. Getting so many autographs from so many
players would likely cost a fortune today and the prices of packs would have to
be astronomical.
Overall, one can build a series of most of the common autographed cards
in this series on eBay quite quickly, even in 2016. The series is stacked with lots of minor
players who signed a ton of cards. I
have seen 100 autogrpahed card lots go for $30 plus shipping. The tougher autographs, outside of the
Lindros Die Cut, in the series are Martin Brodeur, Brett Hull, Joe Sakic, Al
MacInnis, Ray Bourque, and
Ed Belfour. I believe that all of these
cards, except maybe for Al MacInnis, were short printed. There are lots of semi-stars in the set like
a young Joe Thornton and Tomas Holmstrom but their cards are pretty
plentiful. Since Pinnacle is not in
business, only people that have the original print run specifications for the
set, who might have been dealers, would know.
Caption: Ray Bourque #248 and Martin Brodeur #2 are short-printed autographs in the set. They are still surprisingly affordable on eBay at around $30.
In buying 1997-98 Be A Player autographed cards on eBay, bidders should
take care. Because the cards do not have
stickers, holograms or printing on the back saying they are an authentic
autograph, there is the chance of forgery. Make sure that the autographed card has a gold foil ink name and logo and not silver foil ink. An autographed silver foil card is very likely a forgery. However, any die cut cards' autographs must be genuine because die cut cards (either foil or prismatic) were not issued without autographs.
The good news for most players' regular-issue cards in the set is there is not much economic incentive to forge signatures because the players were not major players and they signed a ton of cards. There are plenty of the cards around for little money of these players. For the bigger names, look for the gold foil or try to pull them directly from packs yourselves. Since you can still find boxes of 1997-98 Be A Player cards around, this is possible. Also note that all 1997-98 Be A Player autograph hockey cards were signed with black permanent sharpie-type ink with a relatively thin pen line. Several cards have slightly wider pen signings, but still in black color.
The good news for most players' regular-issue cards in the set is there is not much economic incentive to forge signatures because the players were not major players and they signed a ton of cards. There are plenty of the cards around for little money of these players. For the bigger names, look for the gold foil or try to pull them directly from packs yourselves. Since you can still find boxes of 1997-98 Be A Player cards around, this is possible. Also note that all 1997-98 Be A Player autograph hockey cards were signed with black permanent sharpie-type ink with a relatively thin pen line. Several cards have slightly wider pen signings, but still in black color.
Also, never purchase an Eric Lindros #1 autographed card that is not a prismatic, die cut card. If anybody owns a gold foil regular issue Lindros card, please send me a scan, and I will update this posting. While that situation is possible, any buyer should be wary. All other cards in the set are available in autographed format in their regular version (e.g., not a foil die cut or prismatic die cut).
Postscript
After Pinnacle’s Bankruptcy, the Be A Player brand was shifted by the
NHLPA to a company started by Dr. Brian Price and was produced in 1998-99
before the NHLPA decided to change the name of their authorized brand to “In
the Game”, which eventually became the name of Price’s company. In 2005, the Be A Player brand was
resurrected when the NHLPA broke away from the In The Game company and
re-signed with Upper Deck. However,
Upper Deck has not produced Be A Player branded cards since the 2009-10 series.
End Note
Like all other posts, please feel free to make comments. I review all comments before they are posted in order to reduce spam and keep things on topic. Also, it may take me a few days to review comments.
Footnotes
