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Barry Larkin Collection 694: 2002 Fleer Platinum - #7

Barry Larkin
Year:  2002
Brand:  Fleer Platinum
Card number:  7

The 2002 Fleer Platinum set is an homage (of sorts) to the 1987 Fleer set - a set that just so happened to contain one of Barry's rookie cards.  I also happen to like the 1987 Fleer design so by extension I dig the 2002 Fleer Platinum set design as well.  In fact, I kind of like that Fleer took an old design of theirs and then modeled a new set around that motif.  If Topps were to do that with sets like Topps Archives rather than poorly trying to exactly mimic their old sets, I imagine collectors would be more forgiving and/or more interested in the product.

As for the card itself, I have to admit that this is one of the sadder photographs of Barry that I've seen on a card.  I mean, the card pretty much screams "melancholy" and that's hard-to-do given that melancholy isn't exactly something scream-able.  That said, I love the bar charts on the backside of the card - and I love the weird stats that the charts convey.  "Ahead in Count" and "Two Strikes" aren't numbers that you usually see on the back of a card and for that 2002 Fleer Platinum gets high marks from me.

In terms of the rest of the set, Barry has a Glossy parallel (#/202) and that's it.  For once, I kind of wish Barry had a relic card in a set since I like the looks of most of the 2002 Platinum relics.  Unfortunately, it was fellow Red Sean Casey that appeared to get the relic "love" from Fleer in this set.


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