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

Accessing the Archives

Topps Archives first appeared between 2001 and 2005. It was branded Archives for the first couple of years of release then rejigged as 'All Time Fan Favourites' for the next three years. The 'ATFF' cards used Topps templates with different photos in them, a habit that Topps has continued to this day. I've already blogged about Tony's ATFF card from 2005, which reused the Topps 2000 template and kept the year 2000 on the front.

Archives then went on hiatus and returned in 2012 featuring players in classic card designs. That's the range that has continued up to this year, and will probably carry on. Tony's Archives card from 2020 was featured in a Modern Monday post at the end of September.

Card Number 456: Topps Archives, 2003; #106

Bizarrely, Topps decided to use their template from 2001 for this card released in 2003. That's an even shorter gap between a set release and a template being reused in an Archives set than the one in 2005 that used the template from 2000. Annoyingly, I don't have the original 2001 base card it's based on - I have two parallels and this, so that's three cards in this template without owning the actual base card.

Batting donut bonus point! Given that Tony is in a game uniform, I think this must be a closely cropped photo of him 'on deck' waiting for his turn at the plate. 

I feel there must be some kind of story behind the image on his wrist. Perhaps someone can shed some light on it.

(Is that meant to be a drawing of him?)

The back is laid out like the back of a card from 2001, including the Topps 50th celebration logo. The green strip up the side explains that it's an Archives card.

Card Number 457: Topps Archives, 2012; #660 (original cardback version)

This is a straight up reprint of Tony's card from 1985.  

The back is a slightly different colour, because it's printed on a much better card stock. There's also a little bit of blurb underneath.

Here's the back of the original card from 1985 for comparison. 

There weren't 660 cards in the 2012 Archives set. There were 241 cards in the base set and then the reprint inserts were just given the same card number as the original cards. There were two #160 and two #164 as a result, for example, besides the base card with that number as well. 

Card Number 458: Topps Archives 2013; #190

Tony got a card in the 1990 template with a different picture on the front. He's dropping his bat having hit the ball.

For reference, here's Tony's card from 1990.

The 2012 card is a better print. The photos look at first glance like they could be from the same game. But if so, then  it's an early photo for a 1990 card, anyway. The black letters RAK on the sleeve were worn in honour of the late Padres owner Ray Kroc, and appeared on uniforms from 1984 to 1986. 

That begs the question, was the photo on Tony's card in 1990 actually from 4 years previously? Knowing how slapdash Topps were with their photography, it wouldn't surprise me. It looks like a different bat handle though, in the original card, so maybe they're not from the same time period.

This is the cardback from the Archives set. It has the same fonts as the card from 1990.

Topps could have given Tony the number 19 card. But number 190 is reasonably close.

Card Number 459: Topps Archives 2014; #105

Topps didn't worry about trying to get a photo from anywhere near the right era for Tony's Archives card in 2014. This is a picture from towards the end of his career, set into the 1986 template.

 

There's a lot of love out there for the 1986 template with it's bold lettering for the team names. Personally, it doesn't do much for me. I have a sentimental fondness for the 1987 design, and the 1984 and 1985 card designs are both lovely, so this is one I don't really look at too much.

In the stats box Topps only included Tony's stats up to 1998 - an arbitrary cut off point. Maybe they went for how it looked, not expecting anyone to read the back. But it annoys me and I'm going to ding a point off this card for it. (Because I can be arbitrary too!)

I hope you enjoyed this visit to the Archives.

Total: 459 cards

 

Hitting the sweet spot

Upper Deck released several ranges that were themed around relic or autograph cards. The "Sweet Spot" sets featured autographs on pieces of leather cut from baseballs. The autograph was in the 'sweet spot' between the seams of the baseball. Like all sets with high-end collectibles inserted into them, the base cards for this are effectively just pack filler. However, they are still nice cards.

Card Number 443: Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic, 2003; #84

In 2003 there were two 'sweet spot' sets, Upper Deck Sweet Spot, and Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic. The 'classic' range featured retired players, while the regular range featured active players.

The card is printed on slightly heavier stock than usual and the foil edging at the top and bottom has a milled edge.

The back is very neatly laid out and outlines Tony's batting achievements.

While I appreciate it's traditional to have a stats box on the back of a baseball card, this is an odd choice as it shows the final 5 years of Tony's career. If they were going to show an excerpt of his career, they could have shown his stats from 1994-1997, which are the years mentioned in the write-up. That would have made more sense.

Card Number 444: Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic, 2005; #89

As a retired player, Tony featured in the Sweet Spot Classic set again in 2005. The photo is printed in black and white, which is in keeping with a lot of photos in the set. A lot of the other players featured are from an era when only black and white photos exist.

At first glance, I thought Tony was holding a bat in his left hand, but actually the handle of his bat in in his right hand. The bat that looks like it's in his left hand, with the batting donut on it, is being held by his team-mate Ken Caminiti, who is standing on the on deck circle behind him. That would date the photo to sometime between 1995 and 1998, as Caminiti left the Padres after the 1998 World Series. Based on the arm patch, I think this is a photo from 1998.

It's also a bit poignant that when this card was released in 2005, Ken was sadly deceased. He died in 2004 at the tragically young age of 41 from an overdose, on the same day that Superman actor Christopher Reeve passed away. He is in the San Diego Padres Hall of Fame, having achieved one honour that always eluded Tony. In 1996, Ken was the National League MVP. 

The stats box on the back has the stats for five seasons when Tony won the batting title. It doesn't say that. They aren't the highest scoring seasons, though - that would be his four title-winning seasons in the 1990s and his .370 average in 1987. It seems they have picked his first title season, his last title season and the three highest ones in-between.

Total: 444 cards

One card only - mini retro relic

Continuing on from the retro theme of yesterday, here is another example of a card company producing a retro card that borrows its look from another company. This time it's Topps who replicated the classic T206 design that was printed by British American Tobacco from 1909-1911 and distributed in various products of the company. 

The original T206 cards are highly collectible. One thing they didn't have was relics.

Card Number 290: Topps 206 Relics (Season 3), 2003; #TR-TG

It's a 'mini' card that's more the size of the original tobacco cards, and comes in a frame.

Where this differs from most other relic cards is the tiny piece of fabric can be seen from the back of the card as well.

There's a holograph on the back as well as a mark of authenticity. Unlike the original T206 cards, though, there wouldn't be much money to be made in forging this one. Trading Card Database currently values it at $1.67.

There are three different versions of this card, and as this is from 'series 3' it might explain why the copyright notice is for 2003 when the set is listed as 2002 on Trading Card Database. I'm listing it here as a 2003 card because that's what it says on the card and while I'm used to cards being copyrighted in the previous year to the set being released, it feels silly to list this as a 2002 card when it's copyrighted a year after that.

Total: 290/394