IS THERE GOLD AT THE END OF THAT RAINBOW? YEP, ALONG WITH A BUNCH OF OTHER COLORS AND CRAZY BACKGROUND DESIGNS

BY ANTHONY CALI

The author of this piece, Anthony Cali, has an impressive Gary Carter rainbow he has pieced together.

“One can enjoy a rainbow without necessarily forgetting the forces that made it.” –Mark Twain

In the sports card community, the completed rainbow of a specific card is a badge of honor. It’s that victory flag that confirms passion and fandom for a player or team. The bigger the rainbow, the harder the work, and therefore, the greater the satisfaction when completed. And much like a rainbow in the sky, completed rainbows rely on the help of many forces that must come together perfectly.

From the advent of sports cards through what some refer to as the “junk era” of the 1980s, rainbows were not a part of the card-collecting vernacular. Collectors chased full sets, team sets or specific players, but to have everything was a fairly attainable goal if you had the money.

The Donruss and Optic Reggie Jackson rainbow of collector Art Susi.

It was right around the turn of the century (yeah, that feels weird to say) that color and pattern variations became a thing. Sure, there were gold-foil parallels and some limited border color variations in the early-to mid-1990s, but they were small and fairly easy to acquire.

All of that changed in 1998 with Topps Tek, a set that featured 180 variations of the same card. Aft er that, the cardcollecting community never looked back. Although there are presently no rainbows as intense and complex as ’98 Tek, card sets like Topps High Tek and Panini Prizm continue to scratch that rainbow itch with 20, 30 and sometimes even 40 color, pattern and foil/sheen variations to chase.