http://www.sportscollectorsdigest.com August 16, 2019 / Sports Collectors Digest 35
Fleer/Sports Illustrated combined effort
in 1999. Fleer produced Greats of the
Game product in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
In 2003 it continued as Fleer Flair Greats
and in 2004 with the “Greats” series and
the “Cut Signature” series. Upper Deck
released a Greats of the Game set using
the Fleer logo in 2006.
This set originally caught my attention
when I was involved in sending autograph
requests through the mail to current and
former players. The heavy card stock and
light backgrounds made for a perfect sur-
face for the players to sign. I am also a bit
of a baseball historian and this type of set
still appeals to me. I also favor the Topps
All Time Fan Favorite sets and the Topps
1953 and 1954 reprint editions.
I am also intrigued by who is not
represented in this set. I’m sure licensing
issues kept them away, but the follow-
ing baseball greats are missing: Mickey
Mantle, Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, Don
Drysdale, Pete Rose, Satchel Paige, Wil-
lie Mays and Joe DiMaggio.
There are two cards that I have never
seenphotosorexamplesof.Theyarethe
PhilRizzuto(GBA-PR)autocardthatI
previouslydiscussedandtheCarltonFisk
(GOT-CF2)game-usedbatcardfromthe
GloryoftheirTimesubset.
Asformysuccesswiththisset,I am
missingjustoneGBAcard– PhilRizzuto
(GBA-PR).I dohavethebasecardsigned
througha privatesigning,butI amstill
huntingfortheGBAversion.I amalso
missingfouroftheBatteryMatesdual
cutautographs(whichareeach/10),and
fiveoftheGloryOftheirTimememora-
biliacards;onepatchcard(Ripken),three
goldfoilgame-usedcards(Skowron,
RyanandRizzuto)andthatelusiveFisk
game-usedbatcard.
Yup,takeawayallofthesupershort-
printcardsandI’mjusttenelusivecards
shy of a complete Greats of the Game
“regular guy’s” master set.
Something tells me that the last ten
may be the most challenging.
Now take a breath, as we still have the
Cut Signature edition to profi le. The Cut
Signature edition article will appear in the
Aug. 30, 2019 issue of Sports Collectors
Digest. ◆
Scott McKenzie is a baseball card
collector. He can be contacted at mcken-
Pictured are a variety of variations of the Glory of Their Time subset in 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game
Baseball.
Pictured are two of the variations of the Steve
Carlton and Tim McCarver Battery Mates subset
card from 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game Base-ball.