1998 TOPPS TEK MIKE PIAZZA
Travel back with us if you will to the days of pre-millennial anxiety, when Y2K fears had the world convinced that computer systems would crash, underwear bands would snap, and society would crumble to dust when the clocks struck 2000.
Topps reacted to the general fin-de-siecle unease by releasing their initial Tek offering in 1998. Clearly, this set was designed for the dark days of collapse, meant to provide a healthy diversion for those long nights that we were sure to be spending in our dank cellar shelters huddled over cans of chipped beef and powdered milk.
The Tek cards were produced on a sturdy apocalypse-proof acetate stock, and the set contained a total of 90 players. Each of these players was then available with 90 distinct patterns on the card fronts, making for an 8,100-card behemoth of a set.
The nominal intention was for collectors to either focus on compiling a complete set of 90 player cards with a single background, or to attempt to collect all 90 patterns of a specific player. So for example, if you acquired patterns 18, 68, and 81 of Hall-of-Fame snubee Mike Piazza, your Piazza set would be a bit over 3% complete…
Topps released dumbed-down versions of Tek in 1999 and 2000, but when we crossed over safely into the third millennium, they mothballed the line.
In a bit of accelerated nostalgia, the set returned in 2014 as High Tek, with a host of numbered parallels and autographed inserts.
I was aware of the Tek brand but had no idea what it was about, so I feel enlightened now – thanks.
For the era in question, I don’t think the concept was a bad one. But certainly 90 different version of 90 cards is way, way out of control.
With a nod towards those collectors/dealers who display everything in sheets, I probably would have done nine versions of each card, with one being an SP.
That seems like an awfully idea to me. Not only is that a near impossibility to collect, but the patterns are pretty terrible. Another example of 90s hucksterism.