1998 Aurora was an awesome release! 1999 was missing a little bit of what the '98 set had. I think the background of this set was just off a bit and took away from the appeal. Pacific struck out on that and the Aurora brand died. It really is too bad though. Aurora was the first release that I recall being thicker than the average base card.
Pacific was definitely an innovator in the sports card world from the mid-90's thru the early 2000's. It's unfortunate that they lost the MLB license and eventually went under in the mid 2000's. I blame the MLB itself AND Topps for causing the collapse of the modern MLB trading card industry. Topps' monopoly is the entire reason I stopped buying new MLB products in 2010! The Topps Company is horrible now and that is sad b/c they are why I got into collecting back in 1987!!! Competition back then was only 3 companies, but they all pushed each other to be better. In the mid-1990's, competition was fierce and led to LOTS of AWESOME cards being released. Then, every company flooded the market with TOO MANY releases. All of that led to the downfall that continues to this day. MLB thought they would fix it by limiting the # of companies allowed to make cards. They should have limited the # of releases by each company!!! Instead, they decided that Topps should have an exclusive license. We see how well that is going. :P
When Topps loses its "exclusive" license, I might return to buying MLB cards again.
NO PWE's EVER!!! PLZ PM me 1st before sending any offer. ONLY selling cards as of March 2024. No trades or purchases right now.
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Largest total PC card collections by Team, then Athlete (as of 3/22/24):
STL Cardinals (MLB) - 8810; Carolina Panthers - 2888; GB Packers - 1790+ cards
Mark Martin (NASCAR) - 2038 cards; Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR) - 1875 cards; Jeff Gordon (NASCAR) - 1594; Ricky Rudd (NASCAR) - 839; Ozzie Smith (MLB) - 707
