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The Barry Larkin Experiment: Round 1O

The last couple of rounds of Larkin voting were a bit lacking in terms of total number of votes (more on that in a second) so I thought perhaps a little bit of a break was in order.  However, I would love to get the Experiment moved into the second round before the college semester is over (and thus before work is over for the summer)...so let's hope that Round 1O has a better voter turnout!

Speaking of voter turnout, Round 1M saw only ten votes...

Our winner, though hardly by a landslide, is the 2006 Fleer Greats of the Game - Reds Greats insert card of Larkin.  I was surprised to see that the regular insert card took first place but the same insert except with a relic in it finished third (and thus was eliminated).  The 1994 Topps base card beat out the jersey card...  The one good news is that the 2000 Upper Deck Ultimate Victory card garnered exactly 0 votes - which is precisely the amount of votes that that hideous card deserved.

I usually try to stagger the votes, but as I said I spaced out the recent round in an attempt to avoid voting fatigue amongst my readers.  As such, Round 1N is also in the books.

As you can see, Round 1N had a slightly better voting turnout (by 3 votes) but we still ended up with a card completely shutout of votes.  In this case, it was the 1991 US Playing Card which seems fair.  The winner of the round, the 1999 Fleer Tradition card edged out the runner-up '92 Post Cereal card by 2 votes.

And with that, we are now caught up in the voting - so let's open up the next round!

Round 1O:

2001 Fleer Triple Crown:
 
The Fleer Triple Crown card has a lot of things working in its favor.  The card seems a bit more "high end" when held, so it passes the tactile test.  The back of the card is full of statistics - plus the chalk base line at the bottom of the card is a nice little touch. The front photo is also ok (not great, but ok).  Unfortunately, the card suffers from "vertical text syndrome" which, to me at least, almost never looks good.  It also has random foil bars on the front of the card which are hideous at best.  Will the pros outweigh the cons for this card or will Triple Crown find itself on the bench when round 2 comes along?

1994 Fleer Flair:
 
I've had a few Fleer Flair boxes in my recent group breaks (from around the turn of the decade) so it is kind of fun to take a look back at the set's predecessor.  As for this card, while it's fancy it's not exactly classy.  I don't like the gold foil L shield on the front, and the double image is almost a bit creepy.  It looks like Larkin is running through himself which I'm fairly certain would land him on the disabled list.  In terms of the vote, my prediction is that this card will find itself either second or third - the question is, which group of blog readers will show up and vote, those that love simplicity or those that love crazy mid-90s cards?

2000 Topps base:
 
If there was ever a "regular 'ol base card" that I'd like to see move on to the next round, the 2000 Topps base card is a definite contender.  Ever since I first got this card, I've loved the photo on the front.  The flying dirt (coupled with the Giant who is out at second) makes for a great piece of cardboard.  I also like the simple sentence on the back of the card "Barry has been chosen for 10 of the last 12 All-Star Games."  Elegant and to the point:  Larkin's awesome.

2001 Fleer Platinum:
 
The final card of Round 1O is from the 2001 Fleer Platinum set.  If I happened to have a thing for 80s Fleer cards, then I would love this set as it's a fun remake of older Fleer stuff.  However, I wasn't much of a fan of early Fleer and so this card doesn't do anything for in terms of nostalgia.  It does, however, feature some fun bar charts on the back of the card which I like.  That in itself is probably enough for me to move the card on to the second round.

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