Why I Collect (ft. 2004 Fleer products)

What makes something stand out?

For me, it's newness. The feeling that  these variables and elements haven't been brought together in this way to my knowledge. Something I've never seen before and looks cool. This is why I've always loved players in new uniforms. Gerrit Cole as a Yankee? Zack Wheeler as a Phillie? Amazing! It's new to me on a card, and therefore it stands out.

How odd, how new, must it have been in 2004 to see cards of Vladimir Guerrero as an Anaheim Angel? A man who'd worn the same Expos uniform since 1996, made a career as an  Expos hero...now playing for the Angels. Done up in a red warmup jacket, like the one above.

Something like that, in 2004 or even now, has the power to stand out to the average collector. Fleer knew this would be one of their first Vlad Angels cards. This looks the part.

To me, to want to collect  something means that it looks new to me, and that it sticks in my mind. 2004 Fleer Classic Clippings has stuck in my mind for 14 years, but it has nothing to do with Vladimir Guerrero.

In 2006, I was in fifth grade. I had not yet begun to collect baseball cards. My dad had his collection 'round  the house, and when  I was bored I would sort his old 70s and 80s cards by team, by year, by position at times. The players meant nothing to me. I was amused by the colors, the designs, the contrasts. They were cool enough even if I'd run by them a million times.

My fifth grade classroom had a sort of device where if you did good things, impressed the teacher in some way, you get a ticket with  your name in the fishbowl. If your name gets called, you  pick from the prize bucket. Lots of assorted cool stuff in there. Appealed to many different people.

But sprinkled throughout that  prize bucket were...packs of baseball cards. But not usual packs, like sealed, retail packs. These were cello-wrapped selections from 2004 Fleer products. Apparently my  fifth grade teacher knew a guy who worked for Fleer who, when the company was bought by Upper Deck in 2005, had a number of leftover cello-pack samplers from 2004 products. So this was his way of getting rid of them.

The cello packs contained one  card each from:
-2004 Flair
-2004 Fleer Classic Clippings
-2004 Skybox LE
-2004 Skybox Autographics
-2004 Fleer Patchworks
-2004 Fleer Showcase

I didn't win in fishbowl very often, because a lot of probability went into that...but when I did, I remember going for those grab-packs of baseball cards. They spoke to me just from their contrast to the baseball cards I was familiar with from my dad's collection.

My initial quest was to chase the names I knew. From a childhood of playing 2003 Backyard Baseball, certain names were familiar to me. Todd Helton. Nomar Garciaparra. Andruw Jones. And seeing them in  packs appealed to my young sensibilities as a collector.

What I didn't yet understand was that I was looking at a picture of an MLB that didn't exist  anymore. The Expos were dead in 2007. The Red Sox had won a World Series, and would soon win another. Shawn Green and Richie Sexson were calming down. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez wouldn't rule the MLB for much longer.

Nomar and Vlad were outdated in these uniforms by the time this set came out. Not that I'd have known or cared. They were stars, right out of the video game. And they belonged in my now burgeoning collection.

Eventually, the people I began pulling cards of began to exceed my  grasp. Who was this big guy, Bartolo Colon, throwing smoke? Why was it such a big deal that Billy Wagner was pitching for my hometown Phillies? And who was this Josh Beckett guy, whose face I'd seen on the top of a pack, from Flair? Why was he so special?

It turned into me going through these packs with my dad. 'Is he good? Is he good?' And him rationalizing and saying that Reggie Sanders was DHing in Kansas City, not in St. Louis, and that Angel Berroa was slumping in KC, and that Doug Mientkiewicz was a backup at best. But that Mark Teixeira one might be good to hold onto.

I won a bunch of these. Stole a few and got caught. By the end of the year, a bunch were left in wrappers that were new to me, unknown to me, and I never got to see what was in them.

That might have been where the addiction began.

There were other factors as well. My friend from down the road getting a complete set of 2005 Topps, with  even more newness and shared collaboration with the 2004 universe. Then around this time, I kept getting invited to Little League end of the year parties, and everyone would go home with a pack of Topps from 2007. And that  turned into me wanting  to expand the universe further and buy more packs, which led to me going crazy on 2007 Topps and Opening Day and Upper Deck and...cannonballing headfirst into the hobby.

But the 2004 packs were always my first, and they always stuck out to me. I wondered what the rest of them  that I didn't get looked like. How Carlos Delgado and Lance Berkman looked on 2004 Showcase. How the other Skybox Autographics portraits looked.

JustCommons finally uploaded some of them to their mega-catalog. So I figured, what the hell.

The results yielded some players I didn't recognize in these designs. Juan Pierre on  Classic Clippings? I only knew the Patchworks one.

The faces were the same as I remembered. Kerry Wood at his peak, Jeff Bagwell winding down, Eric Chavez healthy.

These were even more jarring. Thome, Halladay and Burrell in this set? Had I finally gotten those? And how could then even do a photo like Teixeira's on Classic Clippings.

The newness, and the cool detail, still got to me 14 years later. The set still lived and breathed like it did in  those packs from Fleer.

They had less of the Patchworks ones I needed, but seeing Kerry Wood and Eric Chavez in this set made it feel better. The finality, the closure of a lot of this...that helped immensely.

The Showcase ones really impressed me. Not only  because this  set looks and scans the best of the 3, but a lot of these players just look awesome in  this set. Alomar as a White Sox is in  this set. Final-year Edgar Martinez is in this set. All of this meant so much to me.

But not as much as these two.

In 2004, even in an MLB where Derek Jeter existed, Jim Thome was my favorite player. We'd been to Citizens Bank Park a few times after it opened, and Thome was undeniably the star, hitting like hell, and making it worthwhile. Thome was so much fun to watch, and he was an easy pick to collect in  this era.

In 2008, my last year of little league, due to my lack of hitting against 12-year-old pitching, my coach decided to use me as a pinch-hitter, a bunt-over kind of guy. My dad pointed me towards Juan Pierre, then with the Dodgers, just as a source of speed and bunting. Pierre quickly became one of my  favorites, even after his wonderful year in Philadelphia, and I realized I needed to collect him as well.

These two players were  benchmarks in  my  collection, and among  the many  reasons, along with 2004 Fleer Showcase, that I collect. To have  them finally felt right. It felt new, and special, and it felt right.

I've still got a few more singles left to track down for my collection from these sets, not even mentioning the 3 or 4 that weren't on there, but I'm optimistic. These took 14 years. Collecting takes time. Some cards, some collections, take more energy than others.

But almost all of them are worth it if you believe in them.

JustRebranding

I've posted several times on here about JustCommons, mostly because it's been aiding me in several of my set-building endeavors, as well as being a nice source of cards that are impossible to find at any old 10 cent bin. It's a nice little utility to have as a collector with social anxiety who sucks at doing trade requests (MORE ON THAT ANOTHER DAY!)

JustCommons, however, is not a thing anymore. It's a figment of the imaginations of every like-minded collector. Good news is the JustCommons guys are now doing the exact same thing that they were doing before, only with a COMPLETELY NEW NAME, 'CardBarrel', which is slightly more accessible but has less combinations in terms of snappy blog post titles.

Needless to say, I stocked a cart from CardBarrel recently, and...it went well. It went as well as any JustCommons order I've done, only now that JustCommons has vanished into the ether indefinitely and legitimately, it was...nominally different?

I'm monologuing. You don't want to see me monologuing, you wanna see the bloody cards. I can show those. I nabbed a Jim Thome from A&G 2007 specifically because I thought it'd be a good title image. Because nothing catches the eyes of scrolling collectors like a smiling Jim Thome card.

 Dudes I Collect:

Jack Morris is officially a Hall of Famer! That means I don't need to feel bad about collecting his cards. I mean...I never really FELT bad about collecting his cards, but I'm guilty about random things for the sake of snappy blog posts.

One thing I AM....genuinely guilty about is not having a ton of Morris post-dufex-era Tigers issues. My binders have a ton of Blue Jays, Twins and EVEN INDIANS cards of Morris, so I need to replenish the post-retirement Tigers supply...as well as quench my meandering thirst for UD Goudey, which was a very nice set. This card accomplishes both.

 Three late-career Morris'. Mostly Indians issues, but one rad '93 Leaf Jays one in there, solely because I also really like that set.

 Also, seeing as I should collect at least one 1993 Philadelphia Phillie that isn't a pompous ass on ESPN...or a pompous ass on Twitter, I might as well nab some Darren Daulton cards, because not only is he a great hitter and player, but there's no possible way he can disappoint me with his post-career inclinations (except for dying).

I dig the 1997 UD one, because it mentions that he's changed position from catcher to outfield, in an endearing and not-at-all 'your career is nearly over' kind of way.

Collecting Dutch means enduring his more unfamiliar moments, such as his ring-winning but dignity-sacrificing turn as the 1997 Marlins' backup catcher and first baseman. I do really like the 1998 Topps card, because it's an example of the several instances of great photography in there.

 Another collection I'm trying to spruce up is Kenny Lofton, because he's one of the more fun players of his time, and one of the more prominent base-stealers of an era. Yes, he's not a Hall of Famer, but...neither is Daulton and I still collect him.

Some evidence of Lofton's year-long stay in Atlanta here, especially the well-thought-out 98T one.

 Lofton also played for both sides of Chicago in the span of a year, with several other uniforms in the middle. Both cards show instances of bunting, which reminds me of Juan Pierre....another guy who wore both Chicago uniforms and bunted.

 Late career Lofton. I think around this time, ESPN or somebody did an ad about Kenny Lofton changing teams every five seconds, which was a nice touch.

 Of course, thanks to the recent HOF vote, I figured I needed to let some more Vlad Guerrero into the book. I obviously have a ton of Angels issues of his in my collection, because he was huge in Anaheim by the time I started collecting. This 2010 A&G release of Vladdy in his sole, but still memorable, year in Arlington, was one of the many, including...

PENSIVE, STATIC EXPOS MOMENTS!

FUN, AUTO-SIGNING EXPOS MOMENTS!

And SPRING TRAINING SHOTS IN 2010 PRODUCTS!

I mostly did this to bolster my Expos collection of his, as he's probably going in as an Expo (right?? RIGHT??) but still.

 Random Needs:

The one thing you can do on JustCo- UH, I MEAN...UHHHH... CARDBARREL...is you can look in sets you don't hear about very often and find cards you didn't know were awesome, like this 1997 Pinnacle issue of Jim Edmonds.

These two legends also had 97 Pinnacle issues, and they're both pretty cool as well, with emphasis on the Eck.

 Also, here are some from (GASP) 2003 TOPPS TRADED??? Some random guys I collect from that set, including the rare sight of Roberto Alomar in a ChiSox uniform, and Juan Pierre and Aramis Ramirez' first cards in classic uniforms.

 Also, they had some First Pitch cards I didn't have, and...eh, might as well. Jim Caviezel is best known for...wait, shit he's done a TON of things. He was in The Count of Monte Cristo, the Passion of the Christ, Person of Interest. Veteran, respected character actor. Also, he was in Frequency, which is a really cool movie that you should see.

 Mariners had a ton of good ones last year,  including Death Cab for Cutie's Ben Gibbard (a must-have), and Iron Chef Morimoto.

These Chicagoans were the high points. Anthony Rapp is, and forever will be, Mark from Rent. And Ty Pennington will forever be that goofball that ran around a construction site yelling "WE'VE GOT TWENTY-FOUR HOURS! TWENTY-FOUR HOURS!" on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition for 7 years.

 Set Needs:

These two Yankee pitchers marked off two more set needs for the 2008 Topps Trading Card History insert set, a classic by all means. Getting down to the wire on that one.

 These two knocked off some 2014 Stadium Club base needs, as i'm still building that one, as it's surprisingly manageable (rookies notwithstanding)

 And these four, minus the Buxton which I already had, go toward the 2016 Archives set, which is slowly coming along.

And these three head towards the 1994 Stadium Club set. Now, if you think that's a minuscule amount of Stadium Club...

...THEN GET A LOAD OF THIS CRAP!

I needed ALL OF THESE for my 1995 Stadium Club set. Most of these came from Series 1 of the set, which has now balanced itself to looking more manageable, like the Series 2 set. Here are the highlights:

 Curt Schilling in a 90's-era-alt-uni
A super-cool dirt-facing shot of Carlos Sanchez

 Two INSANELY COOL POSED SHOTS. The Brewers had a TON OF awesome posed shots in this set, rivaling the Diamondbacks of current years. This Spiers is definitely a highlight, right next to the Pat Listach from this set.

 Two team heroes- squatting Biggio, pile-driving John Franco.

 Assorted static shots. Arocha and Delgado are in stadium moments, while Klesko, and his background, are pretty awesome.

 From the Statistical X-TREME subset, Bret Saberhagen and Carlos Baerga.

 Another insanely cool posed Brewer, and a nicely-zoomed shot of Derek Bell sliding.

 Lots of blue sky here. The Bones and Merced are great, as those two had some great cards, but the Lopez is the classiest of the bunch.

And, as is tradition, we end on one last Darren Daulton to bring this post full circle.

That was my CardBarrel haul. Might do another one in a little while, as they're still very helpful.

JustSnowbound

Right now I'm kind of stuck in my dorm room. But, arguably, for the best reason possible.

There's got to be at least 10 inches of snow outside. Probably fourteen. I'm not going out there with a ruler, mostly because, other than to trek all the way to the crappier dining hall later today, I don't feel like going outside much today.

So, thankfully, a JustCommons order arrived just yesterday for me to sift through. It all kind of works out.

As I'm up at college, no scanner, but there is the usual array of iPhone photos set to my bedspread. It's not wonderful, and it makes the blog look second rate, but...I mean, look at it, it's already pretty damn close to second rate as it is. But, I digress.

I focused a bit less on set-completion here, even though I did slide some in, and more on player-collections and stuff I wanted to invest in.

But before we get to that, the aforementioned...

 SET NEEDS:

As you can see, I'm still making progress on completing quite possibly one of the most ubiquitous sets of the 1980s (besides 1987 Topps, which, thankfully, I already completed). 1988 Donruss is slowly coming along, and I got a great deal of the set through this order.

 I picked out four highlights. Yes, there is a Hall of Famer here, but also, Keith Hernandez was still a Met, Jeffrey Leonard was still playing, and Rafael Palmeiro hadn't bulked up yet.

 I picked out 4 needs from 1995 Stadium Club as well. I didn't go for a ton of SC needs this time around, but Lee Smith was at least a nice touch.

 Also...this card arriving means I have OFFICIALLY completed the 1990 Topps set. It took a bit longer than I would have liked, but...it's done. Finished. Kaput. Along with 1986, 1987 and 1988 Topps...I've completed Topps sets from scratch...which is pretty nice.

 PLAYER COLLECTIONS:

Yeah. Here we go. I wanted to focus on some guys I either wanted to focus more on, or...already was focusing a ton on and wanted to replenish. Dexter Fowler was one of those guys I was fringe-collecting, even though I wasn't sure whether or not he'd be good. Now that he's a definite standout with Chicago, now St. Louis, I figured I'd go harder, with some Rockies and Astros issues.

 This one's a little less serious, but these two John Lackey cards are from sets I love, so it kind of made sense to throw these in, as i didn't have enough Lackey-Angels issues.

 Raul Ibanez will always be a sentimental favorite for his time in Philly, but I wanted to get these two late-career issues just because I could. I didn't know they made an Angels issue in Gypsy Queen, either.

 Brandon McCarthy's another cool fringe player that I'm contemplating collecting, so getting some early-career issues with Chicago is definitely a nice touch. That '06 UD one is pretty great, posed shot notwithstanding.

 Scott Rolen...yes, he's not a Hall of Famer, but he's a former Philly player, so...I got to. I don't have a ton of his stuff on the Reds, even if, All Star gigs aside, he was slowing down a bit. I do like the '11 Heritage one.

 And...never enough Konerkos. He's that good. 2007 SP Rookie Edition is a 'new to me' set that apparently exists, and it's simple enough. The '07 Heritage one is a sentimental favorite, because...so is that set.

 Also, since Rich Hill has burst onto the scene as one of the most amazing comebacks in baseball, I'd figured I needed some earlier Cubs issues of his. Lots of Upper Deck ones from 2008 though.

 Carlos Ruiz will be likely playing backup for the Mariners this year, but...in my mind, he's always gonna be catching for the Phillies. That Bowman one is a pretty fantastic one, even if it is, well a Bowman release.

 Never enough Adrians though. NEVER ENOUGH.
The '07 Ultra one is great because...yeah, those throwbacks are awesome.

 Wanna know one of the reasons why I miss Upper Deck?
If somebody was traded in the offseason...they'd get a first new-uni issue like THIS ONE. Spring Training, great colors, dynamic shot. Dan Haren looked pretty damn cool, even if he hadn't even pitched a game for Arizona yet.

 More Harens. He looks kinda drunk in the '08 Heritage one, but the '08 Goudey is pretty great. Also, a reminder that he played for the Nationals.

 Jim Thome was 8-year-old Jordan's favorite player. Made me like the Phillies for a spell. I have so much appreciation for his 3 years in Philly, however short they were. Again, that '03 UD issue was our first taste of Thome as a Phillie, though the '04 Ultra one is freaking awesome.

 Later-career Thome. I dig the '06 Upper Deck one, mainly because I'm just figuring out now how awesome that set was.

 Speaking of Phillies I'll never stop collecting, some Cliff Lees. I do have a soft spot for the period in 2010 when card companies thought he'd be sticking around in Philly for a bit, like the UD issue down below.

 Verticals. the 2011 Topps Chrome one is great because it's a different shot from both the flagship base and the update base, as the signing happened in between. it's an example of Chrome using a different photo because they bloody well can...and there's a reason why I bring that fact up.

 But...we can't have a segment on player collections without at least mentioning one of my favorite players to collect, Juan Pierre. So many amazing cards of this guy. This '04 Ultra one is so deep.

 Dodger Pierre. More '07 SP Rookie Edition, though I do adore the Bowman Heritage one, showing off his #1 trait of a quick bunt.

 Later career. I'm sorry, but his stuff in Philly for 2012 was absolutely fantastic, and so much fun to watch.

 HALL OF FAMERS:

First of all...how could you not love that card? It's just fantastic all-around.

I figured I'd nab a ton of Raines cards, which turned into fine-tuning collections of Hall of Famers in general.

 Sox Raines. I know he didn't do anything to rival his stuff in Montreal, but the point is he didn't especially have to. He was already an outstanding player, and his White Sox, and later career, numbers were just icing on the cake. The Pinnacle card is a pretty nice one though.

 THIS, however, takes the cake.

The sky looks beautiful, the fields look green, and Tim Raines never looked more optimistic. 1993 Upper Deck has a ton of outstanding shots like these.

 I also went for some Eddie Murray, because...why the hell not, really? His Dodgers stuff is always great, but it's also great to see him as a Met.

 Later career Murray. The Pinnacle one is a great card, and the Circa one, as frenzied as it is, is a great design for Murray's late-career trip to Baltimore.

 And finally, pictures of two Hall of Famers in the last stages of their careers. Ivan Rodriguez as a National, for 2010 T206, and Jeff Bagwell's last hurrah as an Astro for 2006 UD.

 BRIEF MISCELLANY

Just a few cards of players in odd uniforms I felt like getting. Adam Dunn as a D-Back! Yoenis Cespedes as a Tiger!

 Heck, 2009 Heritage High Numbers had a few of these, from Coco Crisp's Royals stint to...Bartolo Colon's initially career-ending tenure in Chicago.

 This one's more important, I think.

I don't think anyone remembers that Orel Hershiser played for the New York Mets. Upper Deck apparently did, giving him a base card of that in 2000 Topps. Again, he was near the end of his career, and he was giving up a few too many runs, but...still. It's Orel.

COOL SETS:

I'd like to talk for a moment about 2008 Topps Chrome.

You're all asking why.

2008 Topps Chrome is a great set, at least in my eyes, because it gave collectors something rarely found in a Chrome set- effort. A good 70% of the photos in this set are different from the ones in Flagship Topps, even for players who hadn't changed uniforms. For someone who'd been used to the sameness in 2008 Topps for years, this is an amazing change of pace, and leads to some really nice moments. It's just a pleasing set for me...so I just got a shit-ton of it.

 Hall of Famers. Glavine's photo is a Spring Training one...and I do not care. Even if 2008 was his last season, he still did his best to keep the team afloat.

 Retired Stars. Bobby Abreu's stint in New York wasn't exactly memorable...but it's still Bobby Abreu as a Yankee, so...I got to. And, of course, Jim Thome's shot is pretty great.

 More recent-retirees. Again, if that Haren shot would have been used in 08T, it'd be a ton better than the airbrushing. The Konerko and Burnett are just more out-there shots than the standard, unmemorable ones we were getting in 2008.

 Active but Irrelevant players.
Josh Hamilton and Nick Swisher's photos aren't just airbrushes of Reds and A's photos! Carlos Ruiz' photo here is a completely different one, not just the exact same one as his 2007 Topps issue. Jered Weaver's looks cool. I mean, this is what you get when you have to design a set in May rather than December.

 Active but not-as-powerful. VICTOR MARTINEZ CATCHING! Maybe it's been so long, but I forgot that was a thing.

 Active stars. Again, if Miguel Cabrera's first Tigers issue was this, instead of the airbrushed one we got, wouldn't we all breathe a bit easier? This difference is clear, guys.

 I also nabbed a few cards from Topps' 2010 Topps Retired Legends set, throwing Hall of Famers into anachronistic but cool sets. This Seaver in 2007 one is one of the better ones.

 Not all of them are its, and the '81 set looks kind of awkward here, but when it works, it's kinda cool, even with the Smith and Ott.

 Even if I'm not a huge fan of the Bunt concept, the tangible Bunt set that came out last year was a pleasant, inoffensive idea. A few base highlights, at least for my collections' sake. I rather like the Maik.

 And, of course...Ichiro. I couldn't not.

 Also, in honor of the World Baseball Classic, a few reminders of the actually-kinda-nice 2008 Topps subset. Chut and Adrian are pretty nice here.

 Ortiz is probably my favorite, because you have to imagine how pumped he had to be to play for the DR team, and give back to his roots.

 And, finally...because it's me, here are a few cards from the new 2017 Topps First Pitch set. I actually pulled this Joan Jett out of a pack a few days ago, but...hell, I'm fine with having two. it's Joan Jett!

 Actors in uniforms. It saddens me that such a great actor like John Goodman is a Cardinals fan. At least he looks great here.
Keegan Michael Key's Dodger card makes him the first Whose Line is it Anyway cast-member to appear on a base card...though, not the only one in this set...

Just...just look at this.

This is iconic. This is a pretty amazing card, even if it is just just of Stephen Colbert. Like the real Colbert, you can't not love the card, especially the over-the-top nature of the costume. Just a great addition to the First Pitch set this year.

That brings this JustCommons order to a close. I'll be spending the rest of the day avoiding going out in the snow.