The Colorado Silver Bullets were, to the general public, most likely nothing more than a novelty act running from 1994-1997. But the team featured some of the best women in US baseball, many who were top college softball stars. It wasn't until 1997 that they posted a winning record, but that may be due to playing lower-level semi-pro style teams instead of minor league teams.
Winning isn't really important, though, and I would have loved to have seen a game. A couple websites and promotional materials are all that really remain, along with the memories, and some video of course. The Silver Bullets have several team sets though, and the first one to show is this 1994 set.
I'm guessing it's 1994, actually, due to the text on the back and the other sets I now have. Speaking of the backs, these have blue ink backs that are relatively normal. The top half has biographical statistics like birthdates, with a paragraphical bio below. This text references the inaugural season, which tells me that it was issued late in the season, or at the end of the season.
Phil Niekro managed the team all four years, and as such is found in every Silver Bullets set issued over the four year span. I'm aware of six sets in all.
The complete set (as far as I know) is shown below, with 25 cards:
That is the complete set (as are the others I sent) but I couldn't tell you for sure what year any of them are from anymore.
ReplyDeleteI came across some sets including a 1995 one that's 27 cards in all - which I thought was this one, and I found more info on it and I think I missed some editing points! I'm pretty sure I have the years right now. Thanks again for the package! I'll be sending one your way in the somewhat-near future.
ReplyDeleteI sent you five sets, right? I thought that was all the Silver Bullets sets there were so I'd be curious to know what that sixth set you mentioned is. And I was thinking Niekro didn't manage them their last year but I could be remembering wrong.
ReplyDeleteI like forward to whatever you send me
There's a 1995 Coors promotional set, similar to the 1994 set. A WNBA card set dealer has them listed on their website along with images. I'm planning a follow-up post when I finish posting all of the sets you sent me to summarize all six known sets. Niekro is in all five sets, and everything online I've read said he was their only manager.
DeleteHey I recently got this set sealed from Ebay. The seller (and a few others who had this set available) didn't know exactly how many cards were in the set he guessed about 20. I also have 1994 Silver Bullets set that is often on Ebay of 9 cards that you blogged about earlier (post #900?) that set I've seen most often. I 've seen a checklist for another set from 95 that has 28 cards. I thought at first I might have been gypped a few cards, but noticed that 28 set is a different set.
ReplyDeleteI've just updated the title to reflect the text in the article - this is one of two 1994 sets that also includes that 9-card set - I've re-posted that set today with all nine cards. The 28 card set is from 1995.
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