Barry Larkin
Year: 1996
Brand: Leaf Signature Series
Card number: 42
The 1996 Leaf Signature Series set's main claim to fame is that each pack of the stuff came with a promised autograph. Sure, most of the autographs were "junk autos," but it was still a big deal for the era. The 1996 set also had another quirk: it was released in two series, with the second series being much rarer! Luckily, Barry's base card is in Series 1, so I didn't have much trouble tracking down a copy for myself. There is also a Gold Press Proof parallel of Barry's base card (which I also own and need to show off in a future Barry Larkin Collection post).
As for the card design, it's fairly standard Leaf fare. You get a variety of fonts, numbers, and text going every which way, yet it all coalesces into something adequate. Not great, but not terrible.
The autograph per pack era was very memorable. Although I don't think I opened any of this particular product, I did open up a lot of the Signature Rookies products and Be A Player packs (which was a hockey product).
ReplyDeleteThe Gold Press Proof parallels came with really low print runs. Looking forward to that post.
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