Into a new millennium of cards...

How do you follow the 1000th card on the blog? Well, blogging my first millennium of cards reminds me of celebrating the Millennium 22 years ago.  Here are some cards from two early-noughties sets that just about everybody has forgotten about.

Card Number 1001: DonRuss Champions, 2003; #221

Tony tips his hat on the front of a card celebrating a batting title eight years previously. 

This was an odd set with a lot of parallels and large insert sets. However, DonRuss were struggling for photos because they reused the photo on the back. The one line stats box is from Tony's last active season, for some reason. He was retired by 2003 and it could have just had his career totals.  

Card Number 1002: Fleer Mystique, 2000; #105

Fleer included the set name in the logo on the front and right across the background of this shiny card.

Fleer opted for the full stats box on the back. Tony has a faint white aura around him in the photo. 

Someone is probably working on a history of the Fleer company because what little I know is, frankly, incredible. There was a slew of these strange sets released when the company was in private ownership during the last ten years of its existence. Three sets of Mystique were released, in 1999, 2000 and 2003. That gap in release years is intriguing, as is the return for just one year.

Total: 1002 cards