2001 Fleer Ultra Greatest Hits: A This Card Is Cool Feature

This Card Is Cool brings you the sets I find worth collecting. This is sixth in the series.

I have an infatuation with cards printed on plastic. In fact, this is only my sixth TCIC feature and yet it's the second featured card set made from acetate. (Here's the first.)

 The Greatest Hits set features ten players in regular and platinum (serial numbered to 10) versions. The cards are made of sturdy plastic, and die cut on the "CD" or "record" side of the card. As you can see from the images, the card is meant to replicate a record album falling out of its cover.

 Keeping with the theme, two "feature songs" are advertised on the front of the card, and many of the songs are actual hits by other artists. Griffey Jr. features Thriller, Jim Edmonds rocks out to baseball classic Centerfield, and McGwire is the Sultan of Swing.

Five cards are shown here - missing are hitters Alex Rodriguez, Cal Ripken, Todd Helton, and Derek Jeter, and the only pitcher in the set, Pedro Martinez.

 The card backs continue the musical theme, with short paragraphs explaining how "rocking" each player is on the field.

While the concept is done as a tongue-in-cheek cheesy homage to classic album covers, it's a unique concept that is well executed.

This is not the first card to follow a music theme. Leaf released a CD-inspired Frank Thomas Greatest Hits set in the 1990s, and baseball cards that were actual playable records were released in the 1980s (and probably before).

If someone were to revisit this set today, who would be in it, and what would their two songs be? I think Tim Lincecum, were he in the set, could have the hits "Light My Fire" (Giants fans will get the double reference - if you know both reasons why I picked this song comment below) and "Freak Out".