Open a set of 1999 Topps soccer playing cards and you will find a little bit of every little thing…
Corridor of Fame rookie playing cards.
Corridor of Fame superstars.
Corridor of Fame retirees.
Even Corridor of Fame snubs.
The 357-card guidelines is loaded with historical past.
It was an thrilling time within the NFL as among the most legendary careers had ended and others had been simply getting began.
To assist shut out an thrilling decade, Topps delivered a stable flagship soccer set in 1999.
And on this information, we’ll check out the 15 most precious.
Let’s soar proper in!
1999 Topps #60 Dan Marino
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $150
The Dan Marino chapter of the Miami Dolphins’ historical past guide got here to a detailed in 1999.
At 38 years previous, the legendary quarterback suited up in aqua and orange for his seventeenth season with the franchise.
Via the primary 4 weeks, Miami was sitting fairly with a 3-1 document.
Nonetheless, issues turned unexpectedly in Week 5 in opposition to the Patriots when Marino left with a shoulder damage after making an attempt solely three passes.
A type of was a traditionally vital eight-yard completion that put Marino over the 60,000-yard profession passing mark.
After lacking the subsequent 5 video games, Marino lastly returned in Week 12 with the Dolphins sporting a glistening 8-2 document.
Shockingly, they received solely one among their last six video games.
Their 9-7 document put them at third within the AFC East and was barely sufficient to squeak into the playoffs.
Marino threw for 196 yards and a landing within the Dolphins’ Wild Card win at Seattle, giving the Corridor of Famer his solely postseason street win of his profession.
Issues could not have gone any worse within the Divisional Spherical in opposition to Jacksonville as their neighbors in North Florida blew them out 62-7.
Marino’s time in Miami was up, and although he had provides from different groups to play in 2000, he determined to retire.
1999 Topps #200 Barry Sanders
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $125
From 1989 to 1998, Barry Sanders placed on an unforgettable present.
Voted 1989 Offensive Rookie of the 12 months, Sanders hit the bottom working (pun meant) throughout his first season, racking up 1,470 speeding yards and 14 touchdowns.
He continued delivering 1,000-yard seasons for the remainder of his Corridor of Fame profession.
However after the 1998 season, Sanders needed to determine whether or not he needed to play within the NFL anymore.
The Lions had been reasonably profitable throughout his ten seasons in Detroit, making 5 playoff appearances.
Nonetheless, 4 of these postseason affairs led to one-and-done Wild Card losses.
Exterior of the 1991 season, the place they had been in the end routed by the Washing Redskins 41-10 within the NFC Championship, the Lions had by no means discovered actual success.
And Sanders grew uninterested in it.
Forward of the 1999 season, he questioned if the Detroit group was ever actually severe about placing collectively a profitable crew.
Finally, with a authentic likelihood of setting the all-time speeding document, Sanders shocked the NFL and retired.
1999 Topps #269 Jerry Rice
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $125
After seven consecutive playoff berths and sixteen straight years with ten wins or extra, the San Francisco 49ers ran head-first right into a wall in 1999.
The Niners regarded okay sufficient within the season’s first quarter, placing a Week 1 blowout loss in Jacksonville behind them with three straight wins.
Nonetheless, the wheels had been already falling off.
Steve Younger was knocked out for the 12 months in Week 3 with a career-ending concussion.
Jeff Garcia did his finest in Younger’s appreciable shadow, however it was removed from sufficient.
The 49ers misplaced eleven of their final twelve video games to complete with a jarring 4-12 document.
One among GOAT wideout Jerry Rice’s most disappointing seasons was buried within the muck of all this.
Rice struggled to get on the identical web page with Garcia, catching simply 67 of 124 targets for 830 yards.
His 54% catch price was his worst as a Niner, as had been his 5 receiving touchdowns.
It was the start of the top of Rice’s time by the Bay.
He’d find yourself a (bewildering) wage cap casualty following the 2000 NFL season.
1999 Topps #349 Edgerrin James Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $75
In 1994, first-year Indianapolis Colts working again Marshall Faulk gashed his solution to the league’s Offensive Rookie-of-the-12 months Award.
His alternative (and fellow Corridor-of-Famer) 5 years later did the identical.
The Colts offered excessive on Faulk two days earlier than the 1999 NFL Draft, transport him to the St. Louis Rams for a second and fifth-round choose.
His price ticket was about to skyrocket after a second-team All-Professional nomination, and Indianapolis noticed the chance to go youthful and cheaper.
It was a smart transfer that paid off large time.
The Colts pivoted to Edgerrin James with the fourth choose of the Draft, a six-foot, 219-pound bruiser constructed for the crew’s run-heavy energy scheme.
It took zero time for James to lock into place.
The College of Miami product was an ideal counterbalance to Peyton Manning, and his sturdiness was one of many most important the reason why the Colts reversed data from 3-13 in ’98 to 13-3 in ’99.
His 1,553 speeding yards positioned him fourth on the all-time record for rookies, and his 2,139 yards from scrimmage nonetheless place second all-time for first-year backs.
Nonetheless, he ran out of fuel in January.
James lacked explosiveness within the Divisional Spherical in opposition to Tennessee, speeding 20 instances for simply 56 yards in a gutting 19-16 residence loss.
1999 Topps #354 Champ Bailey Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $75
A consensus All-American out of the College of Georgia, Champ Bailey was a ready-made #1 cornerback when he reported to his first NFL coaching camp.
Picked seventh total by the Washington Redskins, Bailey shortly asserted himself as the most effective participant on an in any other case sketchy Skins protection.
His athleticism and palms made the younger star a nightmare for receivers of all sizes.
And his uncanny capacity to smell out routes blew up passing performs from the soar.
On October seventeenth in opposition to the Arizona Cardinals, Bailey put all of it along with probably the most impactful recreation by a rookie nook in NFL historical past.
The youngest participant to document three picks in a single contest, the 21-year-old singlehandedly annihilated the Playing cards in a 28-3 rout.
Bailey completed the 12 months with 5 picks, 80 tackles (73 solo), 19 passes defensed, and a sack.
The league’s second-best offense pushed the Redskins excessive and right into a Wild Card spot.
The protection responded in form, surrendering simply 27 whole factors in two playoff video games in opposition to Detroit and Tampa.
In his first two playoff contests, Bailey recorded 4 tackles and an important Wild Card Spherical choose.
Satirically sufficient, the offense in the end failed Washington in a brutal come-from-ahead 14-13 Divisional Spherical loss to the Bucs.
1999 Topps #90 John Elway
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $70
John Elway saved the most effective for final.
Regardless of enduring three Tremendous Bowl losses within the Nineteen Eighties, the Corridor of Fame quarterback remained steadfast and decided.
However his probabilities at championship glory began wanting fairly slim within the 90s.
After a disappointing 1991 AFC Championship loss to the Buffalo Payments, the Broncos’ subsequent likelihood at postseason success led to a 1993 Wild Card loss to the Raiders.
A disheartening 27-30 Divisional Spherical loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars through the 1996 season made issues look extremely bleak.
After which, abruptly, the Broncos had been back-to-back Tremendous Bowl Champions in 1997 and 1998.
After years and years of inching and crawling, Elway lastly acquired his championship rings.
However at 38 years previous, he opted in opposition to making an attempt for a three-peat.
A number of weeks after his second Tremendous Bowl victory, Elway introduced his retirement on Might 2, 1999.
Elway left a legacy as one of many winningest and most legendary quarterbacks in NFL historical past.
Years after his induction into the Corridor of Fame in 2004, Elway joined the Broncos in a number of managerial and operational capacities.
1999 Topps #343 Torry Holt Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $60
It is no coincidence that the opening of the “Best Present on Turf” got here in Torry Holt’s first three years as an NFL receiver.
One of many pioneers that paved the best way for a brand new technology of speed-first wideouts, the seven-time Professional Bowler is maybe the sport’s most obvious Corridor-of-Fame snub.
Picked seventh total by the St. Louis Rams within the 1999 Draft, Holt joined a deep offensive unit helmed by QB Trent Inexperienced.
The Rams appeared primed for a giant turnaround one 12 months off a tough 4-12 marketing campaign.
All of it fell aside when Inexperienced went down with an ACL tear within the preseason.
Enter Kurt Warner.
Warner’s Cinderella story pushed the Rams to the franchise’s first Tremendous Bowl title.
And Holt was a pivotal contributor to the narrative.
A 12 months earlier than his breakout as the sport’s high receiver, Holt caught 52 balls for 788 yards and 6 touchdowns.
With Isaac Bruce and Marshall Faulk topping 1,000 receiving yards every, the NC State alum was a harmful third possibility for the league’s high passing assault.
Holt proved simply as regular within the crew’s three-game run to a Tremendous Bowl XXXIV victory, catching 20 of 27 targets for 242 yards and a rating.
1999 Topps #50 Emmitt Smith
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $50
As the point of interest of the Cowboys dynasty that lasted for a lot of the 90s, Emmitt Smith hoped to guide his crew to 1 extra Tremendous Bowl within the decade.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t meant to be.
With an 8-8 document and a second-place end within the NFC East, Dallas’s higher days had been clearly behind them.
However they weren’t horrible by any means.
Sporting the fifth-best protection and eleventh-best offense, the Cowboys misplaced 4 of these video games by 4 factors or much less.
And so they nonetheless managed to limp into the playoffs.
Nonetheless, they had been overmatched within the Wild Card in opposition to Minnesota, shedding in a 27-10 blowout.
For his half, Smith did all he may, speeding for 99 yards and a landing.
All through the up-and-down season, Emmitt Smith was as regular as ever.
In 15 video games, the Corridor of Famer rushed for 1,397 yards and 11 touchdowns whereas including 119 yards and a couple of scores by way of the air.
For the eighth and last time in his storied profession, Smith earned Professional Bowl honors.
1999 Topps #245 Troy Aikman
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $50
Troy Aikman’s eleventh season because the Dallas Cowboys’ beginning quarterback began with a Week 1 shootout in opposition to the division rival Washing Redskins.
At halftime, Aikman and crew headed to the locker room down 13-14.
And so they got here out flat within the second half.
Washington owned the third quarter, scoring three straight unanswered touchdowns.
All of a sudden, with the flip of a change, the Dallas Cowboys roared again within the fourth.
After Emmitt Smith ran one in from the one-yard line, Aikman hit extensive receiver Michael Irvin for a few scores to ship the sport to extra time.
Aikman struck once more in extra time, hitting Rocket Ismail on a 76-yard bomb to win it.
It was additionally the one five-touchdown recreation of his profession.
Amazingly, he threw simply 5 extra touchdowns over the subsequent seven video games earlier than sitting out Week 10 and 11.
After suiting up once more in Week 12, Aikman would lead the Cowboys to a 20-0 win over the Miami Dolphins earlier than ending an up-and-down season at 7-7.
The Cowboys landed a Wild Card spot, however the Minnesota Vikings shortly knocked them out with a 27-10 victory.
1999 Topps #329 Ricky Williams Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $45
All-American Heisman winner Ricky Williams had an iconic school profession for the College of Texas Longhorns.
As a senior, Williams established a then-record 6,279 speeding yards.
With each pace and energy, the San Diego native was seemingly unstoppable.
As you’d count on, the hype surrounding him was unbelievable heading into the 1999 NFL Draft.
Surprisingly, he wasn’t the primary working again taken off the board.
Indianapolis Colts normal supervisor Invoice Polian took Edgerrin James at quantity 4 as an alternative, sending shockwaves all through the draft.
What occurred subsequent will eternally stay in draft historical past.
In a shocking transfer, the New Orleans Saints traded all their picks plus a primary and third-round choose the next 12 months to Washington to maneuver up within the draft.
It was an unlimited price ticket to seize Williams with the fifth choose.
However one they had been prepared to pay.
Williams began 12 video games in New Orleans his rookie season, averaging 73.7 yards per recreation with solely 2 touchdowns.
A pre-season candidate for Offensive Rookie of the 12 months, Williams additionally had 3 times extra fumbles than touchdowns.
He’d go on to have a number of nice seasons however solely as soon as made the Professional Bowl.
1999 Topps #300 Peyton Manning
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $40
In his rookie 12 months with the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning was handed the keys to a crew with a damaged engine.
The son of two-time Professional Bowler Archie Manning, Peyton appeared to have the arm and the sector consciousness to surpass his dad.
Manning completed second within the NFL Offensive Rookie of the 12 months balloting however compelled a league-high 28 interceptions making an attempt to jump-start a lifeless horse.
1998 was a wash.
In 12 months two, Indianapolis surrounded him with the appropriate items for a shocking sophomore season.
Manning helped elevate fourth-year receiver Marvin Harrison to Corridor-of-Fame heights.
He additionally benefited vastly from Edgerrin James’ monster rookie 12 months.
The offense soared from nineteenth to third in scoring, and the crew reversed a 3-13 mark in ’98 to a 13-3 document in ’99.
Manning was the catalyst, ending second within the league’s MVP race and third within the league’s Offensive Participant of the 12 months balloting.
He accomplished 331 of his 533 passing makes an attempt (62.1%) with 26 touchdowns in opposition to simply 15 interceptions.
Nonetheless, he stalled out within the crew’s 19-16 Divisional Spherical loss to Tennessee, finishing underneath 50% of his passes for 227 yards and a lowly 66.7% passer score.
1999 Topps #250 Brett Favre
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $35
After 4 years of dominant performances, Brett Favre and the Inexperienced Bay Packers took a step again in 1999.
Favre aired it out all season lengthy, main the league in makes an attempt (595) for the primary time in his profession whereas tossing for 4,091 yards.
Nonetheless, his accuracy suffered closely.
Exterior of his 2006 marketing campaign, Favre’s 57.3% completion share was the bottom he’d ever produced.
At instances, the Corridor of Famer regarded rushed and like he needed to power issues greater than standard.
A lot to his disappointment, he ended the 12 months with extra interceptions (23) than landing passes (22).
Positive, he was often called a gunslinger.
However even gunslingers are bothered when their picks outpace their touchdowns.
As for the remainder of the crew, the Packers began robust with a 4-2 document, however a collection of three-game shedding streaks resulted in an 8-8 end.
Mediocrity wasn’t one thing Inexperienced Bay was accustomed to at that time.
Whereas a .500 document was sufficient to inch the Dallas Cowboys into playoff competition, the Packers weren’t so fortunate.
Finally, Brett Favre missed the playoffs for the primary time as a starter since 1992.
1999 Topps #341 Donovan McNabb Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $35
Within the second, the Philadelphia Eagles’ third consecutive shedding season drained the group and followers alike.
On reflection, it turned out to be a fortunate break.
Philadelphia misplaced 4 in a row to open the ‘99 marketing campaign, stumbling aimlessly into Week 10 with a 2-7 document.
The plan was to maintain Doug Pederson because the starter for so long as doable, permitting second-overall choose Donovan McNabb to ease into the league in a part-time function.
After scoring 17 factors or much less in seven of their first 9, head coach Andy Reid sped up the timeline, inserting McNabb as QB1 for a wanted shot within the arm.
The previous Syracuse Orangeman was removed from a completed product.
He lacked polish as a pocket passer, as evidenced by his 49.1% completion price and 7 interceptions in 12 video games (seven begins).
But, there was plain electrical energy to his each motion, particularly as a speeding menace.
McNabb carried the ball 47 instances in his debut season for 313 yards, a formidable 6.7 yards per carry.
He adjusted on the fly, utilizing his sudden promotion as an important studying expertise.
The 23-year-old was not fairly prepared to guide the 5-11 Eagles again from the lifeless, however he was already forward of his time.
1999 Topps #330 Daunte Culpepper Rookie Card
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $30
Over 4 years as a quarterback for the UCF Knights, Daunte Culpepper broke almost each college document possible.
Not solely did he possess a cannon for an arm, however he may additionally run.
By the top of his senior season, Culpepper joined an elite membership of gamers with greater than 10,000 passing and 1,000 speeding yards.
Quickly after, the Florida native would go away the sunshine behind and head north to Minnesota.
Although they already had a Professional Bowl quarterback in Randall Cunningham, the Vikings regarded to the long run and drafted Culpepper with the eleventh choose of the ’99 Draft.
Nonetheless, Culpepper regarded to have a shot at beginning a lot ahead of anticipated.
Regardless of ending second within the 1998 MVP race and main the NFL with an eye-popping 8% landing price, Cunningham struggled mightily.
Over the primary six video games, he threw 8 touchdowns in opposition to 9 picks, and the Vikings had been 2-4, together with losses to division rivals Inexperienced Bay, Chicago, and Detroit.
Minnesota benched Cunningham.
However as an alternative of Culpepper, the crew turned to back-up Jeff George to proper the ship in direction of a 10-6 end.
Nonetheless, starting in 2000, Culpepper could be their starter for six seasons.
1999 Topps #318 Randy Moss
Estimated PSA 10 Worth: $30
Following his outstanding rookie season with the 15-1 Vikings, extensive receiver Randy Moss stepped into his sophomore season with an air of anticipation.
Followers and critics alike eagerly awaited his subsequent transfer.
In 1998, Moss wowed the NFL with one of many league’s finest rookie receiving performances of all time.
He did not simply carry out, he dominated.
Like a seasoned veteran, he torched opposing secondaries, amassing a formidable 1,313 yards and an NFL-best 17 touchdowns.
Was it a fluke?
Or was he the true deal?
In 1999, Moss answered that query with one other resounding show of receiving fireworks.
Although his yards per catch dipped from 19 to 17.7, his targets and catch price each improved.
In consequence, Moss reeled in 80 passes for 1,413 yards, one of many highest totals of his profession.
He wasn’t fairly the scoring machine he was the earlier season, together with his touchdowns dropping from 17 to 11.
However a lot of that was because of his Vikings teammate, Cris Carter, who led the NFL with 13 landing catches.
All collectively, Moss’s second 12 months within the league was successful, incomes him a second journey to the Professional Bowl.
1999 Topps Soccer Playing cards In Overview
The rookie card class on this set needs to be one of the crucial memorable of the Nineteen Nineties.
On the time, Ricky Williams appeared just like the man who would find yourself with the largest rookie card within the set.
However, it wasn’t meant to be.
Whereas he nonetheless had a stable profession, fellow rookies like Edgerrin James and Champ Bailey had unbelievable Corridor of Fame careers.
And guys like Torry Holt and Donovan McNabb in all probability acquired snubbed from Canton.
Apart from the rookie playing cards, the Barry Sanders and John Elway playing cards are additionally essential, given they had been their final base playing cards are additionally key.
Throw in Dan Marino’s final base card from his taking part in days and you have a heck of a guidelines.
Different details about this set contains:
Guidelines: 357 playing cards
Distribution: One Sequence
Subsets:
- Transactions (all through guidelines)
- Season Highlights (#314 – 323)
- Enlargement Draft (#324 – 328)
- Draft Picks (#329 – 355)
Insert Units
- All Matrix
- Autographs
- Corridor of Fame Autographs
- Corridor of Fame Class of 1999
- Corridor of Fame Class of 1999 Foil Banner
- Jumbos
- MVP Promotion
- Thriller Chrome
- Thriller Chrome Refractors
- Image Good
- File Numbers Gold
- File Numbers Silver
- Season’s Finest
I get pleasure from this set for the rookie playing cards and all the historic context surrounding it.
Large modifications had been occurring within the NFL in 1999 and this set is an effective way to relive it as you scan by way of the 357-card guidelines.
It is a first rate worth given how a lot historical past is packed inside.
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