I started building the 01/02 Be A Player Signature Series Autograph set in the summer of 2004, and it took me two years, a lot of time, money, and hunting to finish the set off.  Well when I finally did, I shouted from the roof tops, and was lucky enough to be featured in the July 2006 issue of Beckett Hockey.  Over time I learned a vast amount about this set, and my goal here is to share as much of it as I can with you.

Breaking the packs:

Autographs fall 1 per pack.  SP Autographs fall about 1:25 packs (1 in 2 boxes approximately).  XSP Autographs fall about 1:960 packs (1 in 4 cases, 1 in 80 boxes).

Memorabilia cards fall about 1:25 packs (1 in 2 boxes approximately)

***NOTE: Boxes contained 12 packs, the reason I quote the odds at 1:25 is there were occasional deadbeat boxes that contained neither a memorabilia card or a short printed autograph***

The Base Autograph Set (1 - 250):

Most of the base 250 autographs (parallel to the base set) are very easily had, with a few exceptions.  The following list of autographs were distributed as redemptions, and intentional or not, were VERY short printed.

Anson Carter, Brent Johnson, Peter White (The hardest to find), Jiri Fischer, Jan Hlavac, Manny Fernandez.

A few other players seemed to be harder to come by than others, but none nearly as note worthy as these redemption SP's.  ITG Has announced that they will no longer honor these redemptions, so the few that are in circulation now are all that there will ever be.

The Limited Autograph Set (L Prefix, 40 cards):

This was a partial parallel based off of the Certified 100, 50, 1 insert series.  40 different autographs of NHL elite players, inserted approximately in every other box.  Much like the base signature set, these are had in varying quantities.  Some of the easiest players to find are Jason Allison, Kyle McLaren, and Donald Audette.  The more difficult players to find are understandably the higher quality players, guys like Paul Kariya, Joe Sakic, Luc Robitaille, and Brendan Shanahan.

Now I have spent many hours playing around with the numbers trying to estimate the quantity of each autograph, and the best I have come up with is approximately 200 - 400 copies of each limited autograph exist.  If anyone has more solid figures I would love to hear them.

The X-tra Limited Autograph Set (XL Prefix, 7 cards):

These are some of the hardest to find autographs on the market, and most sought after.  They are also a partial parallel to the last 10 cards in the Certified 100, 50, 1 set.  The checklist is a very interesting choice as it includes NHL Legends Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier, and Wayne Gretzky.  It also includes perennial All Stars Peter Forsberg and Dominik Hasek, but then they threw us a curve ball by including Owen Nolan and Mike Vernon.  These are all in such limited quantities that its impossible to guage if one is harder to find than the other since lesser players may find their way onto the market more than the big guns.

My calculations are very rough for these cards, but I have come to guess that there are anywhere from 25 - 50 copies of each card in existence.  Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux were issued as redemptions, so they are most likely in smaller quantities than the rest.  Also an unusual Mario Lemieux Variation became available on ebay through Mario's agent.  Instead of the traditional black signature that was available as a redemption, a blue signed variation became available and sold for significantly less.

The unauthorized Martin Brodeur Autograph:

There is not much known about this card, but here is what Ive heard... and its all unsubstanciated.  Rumors had it that Martin never returned his cards to ITG, instead he kept them and handed a few out to friends and family.  A few copies have leaked into the market, including the copy I own and was featured with in Beckett.

Other Unauthorized Cards on the Market:

The only other non pack inserted card I have heard that exists with this particular set is the Jason Arnott.  A few copies of the Gold Parallel signature card have surfaced, however they are unsigned.  If you have any other information you would like to see added, please be sure to let me know!

One Final Note:

Thanks for taking the time out to read this guide, I hope you found it helpful in one aspect or another.  Thanks again and happy ebaying!