God I miss Ultra. And not that Ultra "SE" crap, but Fleer Fuckin' Ultra. So I was pleased to have found a pack of the 1999 edition in the TemDee dollar box.Unfortunately, the design of 1999 Ultra looks a lot like '97 Ultra. And 2004 Ultra. And 2005 Ultra. And 2006 Ultra. And 2007 Ultra.....
Ok, Ok. So, design was never Ultra's main selling point. (How many ways can you possibly design a full-bleed card?), but something more important was: brand consistency. Year in and year out (2007 Ultra SE, notwithstanding), you knew what you were getting with Ultra: A 250-300 card base set (with 30-50 SPs), a one-per-pack Gold Medallion parallel, and collectible inserts.
Something interesting on the back of each card is a feature called "DARE TO COMPARE." Wedged between the player's stats and a Did You Know? snippet, D2C paired that player's stats with a retired star at the same point in both of their careers.
Listed besides each player is the legend Fleer "Dared to Compare" stats with.
Base:
Fatolo Colon
DARE TO COMPARE: Ralph Terry
Craig Counsell
DARE TO COMPARE: Davey Lopes
Mike Piazza
DARE TO COMPARE: Yogi Berra
Henry Rodriguez
DARE TO COMPARE: Bo Jackson
Rondell White
DARE TO COMPARE: Gary Matthews
Andy Benes
One of the few cards without a D2C.
Mike Lansing
DARE TO COMPARE: Davey Johnson
Frank Thomas (Checklist)
Parallels
Gold Medallion (one-per-pack): Royce Clayton
Another one without a D2C
Insert
The Book On... (1:6): Andruw Jones
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