Gary Sheffield was one of my favorite players growing up. Like him I played 3rd base. Unlike him I didn't have the strength to put the bat over my head preswing or the bat speed to get the bat barrel to the ball during my swing.
His run at a triple crown in 1992 was so fun to watch the boxscores each day and when he eventually got traded to the Florida Marlins, a young expansion team, I was really taken with rooting for him.
With all the recycled designs these days for Panini Products and Topps products, I thought it might be fun to show off some "comparison time" of my All-Time Favorite player, Andrew McCutchen, and one of my first players I enjoyed collecting, Gary Sheffield.
Today I will look at the Select En Fuego inserts.
En Fuego was an insert from 1996 Select that featured a lot of etched foil with a flame like background and used technology similar to the Dufex stuff in Museum.
The insert series was resurrected in 2013 Select with some etching, a chrome printing process, and a bit of a Refractor look. It also had 2 parallels to chase (Gold /25 copies and the 1/1 black)
The 2013 rebranding had a checklist consisting of 30 cards.
The original has an additional posed photograph of the player with a flame that at first glance appears to be differwnt than the one used on the front. The back also features a writeup by Dan Patrick of ESPN fame.
I will continue with this series in future blog posts (maybe once a month?) if there is interest in it.
Here are some other cards I may look at in the future as I have both a Cutch and Sheff card of each:
Team Pinnacle
Team 2020 vs Team 2000
1991 Studio
1991 Topps
1992 Topps
1994 Topps Finest
If you have any Gary Sheffield cards that you don't want anymore, I will happily take them.
Since Gary Sheffield played on so many teams in his career (many teams with strong followings too) what are your thoughts on him?
If I remember correctly, he hit his 500th career HR as a Detroit Tigers player... wearing #3...that was bad enough, then he was found to have taken steroids. I've kinda look at him as a great young player with the Marlins, such a feared hitter. His Topps Living Set card is awesome.
ReplyDeleteNo, he hit #500 as a member of my New York Metropolitans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLEuFxohTeg
DeleteHe left the Tigers at 499.
Changing the topic, but was the winner of the Lou Brock card (October 25) ever announced? Did I miss the post of that? I don’t expect to win but was curious.
ReplyDeleteThanks, now back to your regularly scheduled program.
He was good for the Yankees, although the team should have signed Vlad over him.
ReplyDeleteI think of Sheffield as a Brewers. I liked him best then; he was fierce as a Yankees. Though. His at bats in the 2003 and 2004 post season always left me petrified.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of Sheffield... I think of four teams: Brewers, Padres, Marlins, and Yankees. That 1992 season was awesome. And he'll always be the guy who brought Trevor to the Padres.
ReplyDeleteSheffield absolutely crushed HRs during his stay with the Dodgers. He had the most devastating swing I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I have Sheffield Dodgers extras if you're into that.
I would very much appreciate that
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