Providing a quick update on our favorite Upper Deck Baseball set, I think we may finally be at a point where the checklist has all the expected VARs and there will only be a few new entries moving forward. It wasn't as simple as adding all five possible holograms (base 1991 text, 1990 Baseballs, 1990 Comic Ball, 1990-91 Crossed Hockey Sticks, 1992 Diamond Logo) to all 800 cards, as doing some pattern analysis revealed there are whole sections of the set that do not have a particular VAR.
1991 UPPER DECK (base)
-- #1-700: All listed!
-- #701-800 (Update): All listed!
1990 Baseballs
-- #1-200: All listed!
-- #201-260: None listed except random entries for #221, #225, #228, #246 and #258, none of which have back images for verification
-- #261-280: All listed!
-- #281-300: None listed
-- #301-700: All listed!
-- #701-800 (Update): Random entries
1990 Comic Ball
-- #1-300: Random entries
-- #301-500: All listed!
-- #501-700: Random entries, only two of which have back images for verification
-- #701-800 (Update): None listed
1990-91 Crossed Hockey Sticks
-- #1-200: Random entries
-- #201-600: All listed!
-- #601-700: Random entries
-- #701-800 (Update): Random entries, only one of which has a back image for verification
1992 Diamond Logo
-- #1-100: None listed
-- #101-200: Random entries
-- #201-400: None listed
-- #401-500: All listed!
-- #501-700: None listed except for random entry for #634 with no back image for verification
-- #701-800 (Update): All listed!
If we break the above VARs down into groups of 100:
#1-100: base, Baseballs, random Hockey Sticks
#101-200: base, Baseballs, random Comic Ball/Hockey Sticks/Diamond Logo
#201-300: base, Hockey Sticks, random Baseballs/Comic Ball
#301-400: base, Baseballs, Comic Ball, Hockey Sticks
#401-500: base, Baseballs, Comic Ball, Hockey Sticks, Diamond Logo
#501-600: base, Baseballs, Hockey Sticks, random Comic Ball
#601-700: base, Baseballs, random Comic Ball/Hockey Sticks
#701-800 (Update): base, Diamond Logo, random Baseballs/Hockey Sticks
Thoughts:
-- #201-300 is the only part of the original 700-card set that doesn't seem to have all 100 cards available in the Baseballs VAR, and I'm not sure why #261-280 has them but everything before and after doesn't. The random entries in that range don't have any back images to verify they exist, which makes me wonder if those cards were actually misidentified Hockey Sticks VARs.
-- It's interesting how the Diamond Logo VAR (the one used in High Series) has a whole section #401-500 but pretty much nothing else except for a few random cards in the #101-200 range in the original 700-card set. It looks like this #401-500 range is the only one that contains all five possible VARs.
-- It's possible the entire original 700-card set has Hockey Sticks VARs, but there isn't enough info yet to make that call. We'll likely continue to receive IRs requesting adds for these.
-- The Comic Ball VAR seems to be limited to mostly #301-500 with some randoms here and there in #1-300 and #501-700, and it doesn't seem that any exist in the High Series (update) range. We also haven't confirmed any in #1-100 (two random entries, no back images).
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Any L8s adding these to the existing checklist, please keep all the VARs in the same order throughout:
base (1991 UPPER DECK text) (no "a" or "VAR" necessary)
1990 Baseballs VAR ("b")
1990 Comic Ball VAR ("c" unless Baseballs isn't listed)
1990-91 Crossed Hockey Sticks VAR ("d" unless Baseballs and/or Comic Ball isn't listed)
1992 Diamond Logo VAR (last)
If you need to add a Comic Ball VAR or Hockey Sticks VAR, please update the subletter on any later VARs then place the new entry in the correct spot to keep things organized. Please don't simply add it to the end of the list. Admin is the only one that can resort this checklist.
* Ed * L8 * Cards in my personal Collection are unavailable *