In the post about the Bowman’s Best Lamar Odom rookie, we mentioned the explosion in the number of sets in 1999-00 coming from the Topps company. Skybox was, thankfully, a bit more restrained than other companies. They went from four sets the previous year to five sets in 1999-2000 with Premium, E-X, Apex, Dominion and Impact.
E-X was the smallest of the Skybox sets. And good thing, because the cards topped the $1/card mark coming in three-card packs for $3.99. And they finally settled on the simplified “E-X” name after years of exploration. It started in 1994-95 E-Motion, then E-XL, E-X2000, E-X2001 and E-X Century. Single layer plastic instead of double layer from previous two years. There were only 90 cards, 60 vets and 30 rookies. And the rookies were limited and serial numbered to 3,499. We seem to have a “battle of the most limited rookie” starting this year. When E-X set the rookies at 3,499, they must’ve been thinking about the previous year’s SP Authentic Rookies which were limited to 3,500. These, especially the Vince Carter, were very popular. So E-X was thinking, “We’ll do you one better at 3,499.” Well, probably unbeknownst to them, SP cut it even further to 1,500 this year.
During 1999-2000, Lamar Odom, like Steve Francis, was a highly sought after rookie card. The 2001 Standard Catalog of Basketball Cards lists this #65 E-X Lamar Odom rookie card at $80. When chasing new players though, sometimes they increase in value, sometimes they drop. This particular card can be found for under $10 at the time of writing. The card still has some really neat design elements though. The photo on the back is literally the reverse of the photo on the front, so it’s like you actually are turning over the image when you turn over the card. And placing the stats, his one year at the University of Rhode Island, in an arch is a really neat idea. So my search for a variety of Lamar Odom rookies during this time didn’t work out value-wise, but I still really like this card.
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