Shaquille O'Neal 96-97 Flair Row 2 Legacy Parallel Card

The Legacy Collection that parallels the base card in 96-97 Flair is groundbreaking.

Why? Because it is the first basketball parallel set that featured serial numbering. Randomly inserted into packs at a rate of one in 30, each parallel single is machine-numbered to only 150. It is even rarer than the one that came next, the 96-97 EX-2000 Credentials which are numbered out of 499.

Fourteen years after they came out, I finally got hold of my first ever Shaquille O'Neal Legacy Collection card. This was included in my March 21-25 mail week.

It's a parallel of the Row 2 Style-themed base card. Unlike the basic set, which has several levels of collectibility, the parallel singles are all inserted at the same rate. Each player has three different cards corresponding to a theme row (Style, Grace, and Showcase) and section (Showtime, Showstopper, and Showpiece) with varying degrees of rarity.

FRONT

BACK - card is serial numbered 058 of 150

For the sake of comparison, at the left side is the regular Row 2 base card.

The card fronts contain a different color holographic background as well as the "Legacy Collection" stamp. The text is also colored baby blue for the Legacy and gold for the regular card.