Remember opening early 2000s Fleer products?

[Boredlawyer]

Recently picked up a Series 1 “Rack Pack” Box of 2001 Fleer Platinum. Pre-bankruptcy Fleer was super wonky with the unmarked buybacks. I didn’t open any of this product in 2001 so I'm cobbling information together from Beckett, BBCardPedia, and COMC.
I definitely do not remember any of the “Rack Packs” variations when this was sold.

Long story long, Series 1 of 01 Fleer Platinum was released in several box type variations, including the 8 pack/45 card “Rack” variation, which included no relics or patches, which were included in the hobby and jumbo releases, but advertised a “one-per-pack” Rack Pack Autograph. This is a little bizarre because 8 autographs in a box was high in 2001—but Platinum did this in some subsequent years, so whatever. These Rack Pack autographs weren’t included in the other box variations.

What caught my eye is the checklist for these buybacks is wild; per BBPedia:

This 21-card set is one of the real highlights of the group of insert sets in 2001 Fleer Platinum. The cards are buy-backs from other Fleer releases (mostly from the late-90s Sports Illustrated sets) that were hand signed and inserted into Series One Rack Packs. Most of the cards were hand-numbered on the card front; however, none of the cards are marked as coming from Fleer Platinum.
Four rather generic looking cards with 1997 copyright dates that were not released as part of any 1997 set (Paul Konerko, Ben Grieve, Wes Helms, and Jose Cruz, Jr.), were included as part of this set.
In addition to the cards listed below, autographs from the 1992 Fleer Roger Clemens Career Highlights and the 1998 E-X 2001 Signature 2001 sets were also inserted. These too, were not marked or embossed as coming from 2001 Fleer Platinum.
• Steve Garvey 87F 15
• Ben Grieve 97 (No Brand) 100
• Wes Helms 97 (No Brand)
• Paul Konerko 97 (No Brand) 135
• Jose Cruz, Jr. 97 (No Brand)
• Hank Aaron 97 SI 90
• Willie Mays 97 SI 115
• Kirby Puckett 97 SI 105
• Cal Ripken, Jr. 97 SI 5
• Frank Robinson 97 SI 115
• Alex Rodriguez 97 SI 94
• Alex Rodriguez 98 Promo 150
• Lou Brock 98 SI T&N 15
• Roger Clemens 98 SI T&N 125
• Bob Gibson 98 SI T&N 300
• Tony Gwynn 98 SI T&N 125
• Harmon Killebrew 98 SI T&N 300
• Willie Mays 98 SI T&N 120
• Brooks Robinson 98 SI T&N 40
• Scott Rolen 98 SI T&N 150
• J.D. Drew 99 SI OTW 10

And naturally.. the featured picture is of Circa 1997 Andruw Jones numbered to 200, who is not featured on the checklist, and isn’t part of the Fleer EX Set.

A handful of the guys were missing serial numbers; on Ebay I see a Jose Cruz, Jr. numbered to 250, as well as an unnumbered one.

If the 21 card checklist was comprehensive, and we assume there are 250 Cruz’s and ballpark an additional 250 Helms, for whom can’t find any information
total serial numbered autographs to ~2600
~roughly 325 total rack boxes produced

The fly(s) in the ointment being… the unknown quantity of “1998 Fleer EX Signature 2001” autos inserted which are largely garbage, we have no clue if Andruw Jones /200 is a mistake or outlier, and we don’t know if there’s a large number of unnumbered Cruz autos.

Terapeak is not helpful, there’s only a handful of autographs sold over the last three years, almost all of which are the high profile names. The failure by Fleer to stamp/properly reissue these means there's rack pack pulled-autos floating in the ether, listed as Sports Illustrated, 1998 EX cards, etc.
Can’t find any box breaks of this product.

Anyone remember this product, or opened any of it? If there’s actually a high chance at a Puckett, Mays or Aaron auto, this would be a fun break. If it’s 99% 1998 Fleer EX Signature 2001 junk thrown in as an afterthought, or 3000 copies of unnumbered Jose Cruz autos, I’m less compelled to open it.

[kingchromium24]

I opened quite a bit of this product chasing the Pujols and ichiro stuff—believe they had multiple cards in there with the green border subset…
I bought 6+ rack boxes and most boxes had multiples of Jose Cruz, grieve, Konerko and helms
I believe out of 6 rack pack boxes I pulled 2-3 better autos (rolen and a-rod for sure and I think my other may have been a Ripken)

The guys you listed were probably inserted 1 per few cases of the rack pack boxes. Also if I recall a couple of the guys weren’t actually ever included—Garvey and maybe Puckett?? Memory gets fuzzy that far back

[Boredlawyer]

Originally Posted by kingchromium24

I opened quite a bit of this product chasing the Pujols and ichiro stuff—believe they had multiple cards in there with the green border subset…
I bought 6+ rack boxes and most boxes had multiples of Jose Cruz, grieve, Konerko and helms
I believe out of 6 rack pack boxes I pulled 2-3 better autos (rolen and a-rod for sure and I think my other may have been a Ripken)

The guys you listed were probably inserted 1 per few cases of the rack pack boxes. Also if I recall a couple of the guys weren’t actually ever included—Garvey and maybe Puckett?? Memory gets fuzzy that far back

That is helpful. Should have known better than to think there were decent odds at those HOFs!

[mlbfan10]

That's sick. I always wanted a rack pack 2001 Fleer Platinum box! Thanks for the nostalgia!

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

[Boredlawyer]

I opened this for science's sake.
Truly the weirdest product. I knew things would get weird when Aubrey Huff was the first.

All serial numbered autos, most being 2000 Fleer Autographics /50.

The autos were totally uncorrelated with any information on Baseball Card Pedia.

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[tkraft24]

Nice, love those old Fleer Autographics cards.

[Boredlawyer]

Originally Posted by tkraft24

Nice, love those old Fleer Autographics cards.

Konerko (14/50) and Delgado (25/50) both being their jersey numbers, for whatever that's worth. What a totally weirdo break.

[ewokpelts]

Originally Posted by Boredlawyer

I opened this for science's sake.
Truly the weirdest product. I knew things would get weird when Aubrey Huff was the first.

All serial numbered autos, most being 2000 Fleer Autographics /50.

The autos were totally uncorrelated with any information on Baseball Card Pedia.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

looks like they dumped older autos in the packs.

[mrmopar]

Found this thread after digging for any additional information regarding the Garvey card. I would have been disappointed with that select of autographs, but it does help explain a little more. The checklist was stacked, but most cards were such low print runs that hitting one had to have been a tough pull.

i heard the Andruw Jones pictured was part of the Emerald Autograph program that Fleer did, although clearly it is not one of them.
Being there at the time helps when it comes to this type of thing, for sure.
I was buying cards in 2001, but not really diving into new, unopened packs, just chasing the cards I wanted on ebay. My knowledge outside of Garvey stuff tended to be much less.

Originally Posted by Boredlawyer

I opened this for science's sake.
Truly the weirdest product. I knew things would get weird when Aubrey Huff was the first.

All serial numbered autos, most being 2000 Fleer Autographics /50.

The autos were totally uncorrelated with any information on Baseball Card Pedia.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[mfw13]

2004 Fleer Platinum is still one of my favorite baseball products ever.

It's a redo of the 1984 Fleer design except with the color bands matching the team colors instead of being all blue.

[PuddleMonkey]

Fleer/Skybox might be the GOATs

[BostonNut]

Any and all early-mid 2000's products were just AWESOME.

We had no idea how good we had it. All the company's cared and were all trying to out-do each other. DLP stuff was just spectacular. Fleer/SkyBox was innovative. Topps releases were the least exciting but they still put out great stuff.

Oh to go back to those days. I really think that era of cards is so underappreciated.

[ewokpelts]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonkey

Fleer/Skybox might be the GOATs

My stepdad owned a store for years. The early 2000’s fleer was pretty pro-hobby stores then. They were the lone company that sold excess product to hobby stores versus dumping at a distributor. We would get cases at rock bottom prices. As a result I ended up pack pulling a sweet frank Thomas’s patch card out of a box fleer discounted to us.

[corockies]

I still need a Todd Helton All-Star Platinum /21 from '01 Fleer Platinum for my team set. I don't remember if I've ever seen a copy of this card out in the wild. All of the serial #ed/21 Platinums from this set are tough finds.

[bounty37h]

2000 was when I graduated college and got my first real job with disposable income. There was a card shop near me, the owner would call me every week to let me know what releases they got in, I spent WAAAAAAYYYYYY too much money on crap Fleer cards those couple years.

[WSCards5]

I still buy 2001-2004 Fleer Sealed boxes. I haven’t opened any yet. Just working in a nice stockpile. Also buy lots of Donruss and Leaf boxes as well.

[worldtravel00]

Originally Posted by WSCards5

I still buy 2001-2004 Fleer Sealed boxes. I haven’t opened any yet. Just working in a nice stockpile. Also buy lots of Donruss and Leaf boxes as well.

I buy them as well but supplies of those boxes seems to be dwindling as getting more expensive.

[Saraste]

Originally Posted by corockies

I still need a Todd Helton All-Star Platinum /21 from '01 Fleer Platinum for my team set. I don't remember if I've ever seen a copy of this card out in the wild. All of the serial #ed/21 Platinums from this set are tough finds.

I completely agree on how tough they are. I have never seen the Jared Sandberg/Toby Hall card I need for my Sandberg PC.

[blackbears86]

Originally Posted by BostonNut

Any and all early-mid 2000's products were just AWESOME.

We had no idea how good we had it. All the company's cared and were all trying to out-do each other. DLP stuff was just spectacular. Fleer/SkyBox was innovative. Topps releases were the least exciting but they still put out great stuff.

Oh to go back to those days. I really think that era of cards is so underappreciated.

100% Agree.

Especially the years 2001-2005. This was the peak IMO. Innovative products with signed balls, boxes packed with HOFers. I can't get enough of 2004-2005 stuff. I'm constantly searching ebay for unopened to add to my collection.


and it's not just baseball. Football/basketball was stacked in those same years.

[bblair_2002]

Dug out my Mets collection and here's a pic of the Willie Mays:

Untitled by Brett Blair, on Flickr
Untitled by Brett Blair, on Flickr

[marl1220]

2000 Fleer Tradition has been my favorite release/design since 2000.

[BlowoutBuzz]

Originally Posted by marl1220

2000 Fleer Tradition has been my favorite release/design since 2000.

You mean 1954 Topps? LOL.

[Boredlawyer]

I also miss 2001 Pacific Private Stock... hint, hint, if anyone has Game Gear patches from the set, I'll pay a premium.

2002-2005 remains my favorite era, the ending being when Topps re-classified the "rookie card" in 2006, creating a 5 year lag effect for guys we previously treated as rookies. I wasn't interested in a 2008 Joey Votto RC when I had his 2002 XRC.

2004 was my favorite. For folks that weren't around collecting, Bowman Draft only had 10-15 first year autographs. UD, Donruss and Fleer each got one-time licenses to produce "draft" products. The UD and Donruss sets had a huge number of autographs with 2nd-8th rounders, which was unheard of for Bowman Draft. Created a fun scenario where some highly touted prospects didn't have Bowman Draft cards, including non-auto'd base, but had relatively limited autographs in these other brands, OR they had rare Bowman Sterling cards, but no Bowman Draft cards. The most notable of these guys were Hunter Pence and Dustin Pedroia. Neither had Bowman cards their rookie year, but had serial numbered autographs in these other products.

What puts a damper on that excitement was none of those prospects--Nate Schierholtz and Reid Brignac come to mind--never panned out. Was fun for a while though!

2005 was also a really fun year for draft because there were a number of high ceiling bats in the first round. Draft had 15 chrome autographs, and half of them were really exciting hits. The base set had a bunch of really high profile bats like Jay Bruce, McCutchen, Tulo, along with some guys that didn't pan out, but carried weight for that first year. Felt like every box was returning a big name.

[shanks25]

I'm a huge fan of 2000 Fleer baseball products as the Club 3000 set was inserted across all baseball products that year at a rate of one card per hobby box. I've slowly but steadily built this insert set to the point where all I need are just a few of the triple game-used cards (bat-hat-jersey) to finish.

[ewokpelts]

Originally Posted by blackbears86

100% Agree.

Especially the years 2001-2005. This was the peak IMO. Innovative products with signed balls, boxes packed with HOFers. I can't get enough of 2004-2005 stuff. I'm constantly searching ebay for unopened to add to my collection.


and it's not just baseball. Football/basketball was stacked in those same years.

It was bonkers for a bit. Leaf had absolute memorabilia that at one point offered signed balls, glass plaques with autos or relics, and then framed “jerseys”’with a card and auto.
Fleer had signed hats
Topps had balls and mini helmets.
I’m not sure what is had but they were right there too.