2000 Fleer Impact: A Review - Nachos Grande Style

Every year, many different sets are released - some such as Allen & Ginter and Heritage get a lot of "press time" on the blogs. My new blog series is going to take a look at some of the sets that you may have otherwise missed or overloooked, mostly sets from the 90s and the early 00s.

For the first entry, I present:

2000 Fleer Impact: A Review


In 2000, there a whole lot of card companies (Fleer, Upper Deck, Topps, Pacific) all putting out a whole bunch of sets - many of which were quite forgettable. However, occassionally a set was actually worth a look...one of which is 2000 Fleer Impact.

The 2000 Fleer Impact set consisted of 200 base cards, plus 3 insert sets. The first being cheesily titled "Mighty Fine in '99", the second "Point of Impact," and the third was a set of temporary tatoos featuring the logos of a major league baseball team.

The base cards feature your typical mix of stars, role players, and a few rookies - typical of any 200 card set. The set begins with #1 Cal Ripken Jr., and includes stars such as Jose Canseco, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, Derek Jeter, and Barry Bonds.

Each base card had an opaque border consisting of the main color of the player's team which is quite nice. It's also a bit jarring to see a Reds' player with a blue border or a Cubs player with a purple border. That doesn't happen in Fleer Impact. The front of the card usually had an action shot of the player and all fronts had the team logo and player position on the bottom of the card.

The back of the base cards lists up to the last 10 years of statistics for each player. For players with relatively little major league experience, some minor league statistics are given as well. The back of each base card also featured a close up picture of the player that was different than the photo on the front.

In addition to the regular base cards, there are also prospect cards scattered throughout the base set. Each prospect card had a colorful background featuring the team's main color and a left-to-right faded picture of a chain link fence with the prospect shown in front. The back of each prospect card gave a small write up praising the player in question.

I must have bought quite a few cards from this set in 2000, and I can see why. I really like the base set - the colors, the team logo, the different photos on the front and back, it all comes together well. The packs must have been relatively cheap (indeed, you can find unopened boxes on Amazon.com for under $25.00).

The inserts, however, are a bit lacking. I never understood the appeal of the temporary tattoo...but they are in a bunch of low-priced sets so someone must like them.

The "Mighty Fine in '99" insert set is a cheesy set, but at least the players featured did something of merit in the previous year. For instance, A-Rod's card informs readers that he was the "Youngest to 100 HR & Steals" and Ken Griffey Jr's card says he was the "1999 AL Home Run Leader." All in all, not great but not bad. I think these were 1 per retail pack.

The other insert set was called "Point of Impact" but I never pulled any of those. The image below was taken from seller "beenbeaned" and shows Derek Jeter (#5 of 10).



If you happen to have any of these cards for trade, I almost have the complete set - you can find the cards I need on my want list. All of the cards pictured in the write-up are available for trade (with the exception of the Jeter which I don't own).

The Bottom Line:
Card Design: 7/10 - A bit busy, colors match teams, different pictures on front and back.
Inserts: 2/10 - Blah, uninspiring, quite boring.
Overall: 65/100. A decent, low-end set. Not much to excite collectors, but a fun set to open regardless, especially if you like baseball cards (and not just relic/auto cards).