Topps Stars - remember those?

Back in the late 1990's, Topps Stars was one of the 1 million sets that Topps put out. As a 13 year old on 1997, I remember paging through Beckett when they came out and lusting after them. They were super high end though. When I did manage to get my hands on the Tino mMrtinez card, I loved it. The card felt like it was almost like a fabric...sort of had a canvas type feel to it. I did manage to buy one pack at a LCS (it probably ran close to $5), and I remember pulling a Vernon Wells RC that I sold for $5 a few years later online.

In fact, the 1997 Topps Stars '97 All Stars Tino Martinez card eluded me for years until I picked it up on eBay a few months ago.

In the years that followed, I wasn't too impressed with Topps Stars. They got caught up in the whole serial numbered and parallels thing, and it was hard to track. That first release in 1997 was special though.

I stumbled upon this Paul O'Neill 1999 Topps Stars Promo card and had to have it. It actually came with two of them, so if any fellow O'Neill fans out there need one for their PC, let me know. I liked the design of these with the Star, but again, the numbering and parallels turned me off from the actual set.