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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

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

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

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.