The Lean Years: 2003

 Hello Friends!

Another day to look into the lean years of my collection.. This time, 2003. 

Now, in 2003, I was living in Bridgenorth just outside Peterborough. I was working at Mac's and rarely got into town. When I did though I'd get the odd pack of cards. More came through repacks later in life. 

Flagship Bowman is represented by exactly one card. And I mean there's only so many ways to say "I can't make heads or tails of this product" 

Bowman Heritage, however, is a nice little throwback to Bowman sets from before they were Toppsified. 

I do like the cards, but as usual, just looking for the cards that fit my collections. 

I think the sets between 2003-2005 were the last gasps of the original Donruss. The set looks nice. I like it. Never saw a whole lot of it. 

Donruss Diamond Kings. Donruss started a separate set for just Diamond Kings cards. The cards are nice, but it's just odd to think of the progression of the DK cards from the set starters, to an insert, to a separate set. 

Team Heroes. Very odd set honestly. I think I like a later iteration of this idea where it actually had team heroes rather than the current roster. 

Fleer Platinum. To me it looks like 87 and 88 Fleer decided to mash themselves together. What we get is a 1970s Pirates style striping.. Also the space for the team name kind of bothers me. 

Fleer Tradition. I kind of like this set as well.. I'd consider maybe collecting it. 

Leaf.. School Picture Day... 

Stadium Club is again with a nice set. I like the cards, but I find they get too similar year to year.. 

Another year of similar Topps. I don't mind the look but I think I'd stick with the collections for it

Archives.. I honestly really like the Archives sets. I just never see enough of them to actually consider seriously collecting them. 

Opening Day. Slight colour difference from Flagship. Yay.. 

Topps Total. I love the concept of the set. I loved the execution when they first did it.. Then it disappeared.. And when they brought it back they ruined it by making it online purchase only and added other crap to it. 

Upper Deck. It's... Ok.. I don't think I can really say much more than that. 

Upper Deck 40 Man. So like Topps Total, Upper Deck did a set where they made sure everyone got cards. Just like the others, I only want what I collect from this. 

MVP going into hybrid mode here. I don't like it, but I don't hate it either. It exists.. 

Victory. I actually despise this set. It looks like it's trying too hard to be a collectible card game. 

Finally UD Vintage.. 

It's interesting to me that Upper Deck threw these vintage sets out when their whole company line was anti-vintage and ultra modern. 

I'm not even sure what set(s) it's "Borrowing" from.. 

I like the set but as usual, just the collections.. 

Small Trade Rant

 Hello Friends!

I'm sorry about this post, honestly. It's kind of a rant because I've run across something that really annoys me. 

Since I've turned trading back on TCDB, I've gotten a number of proposals. I was pulling cards Thursday for a while till my body physically said "Nope" 

I checked the site today and one of the proposals was withdrawn. I hadn't pulled their cards yet, so I'm not too upset about that.. What I am upset about? They sent it on the 29th and withdrew it on the First.. Two days.. 

Now.. I have a bit of a system to ensure I'm not accepting and then finding out I don't have the cards. I'll see the proposal, I'll pull the cards to make sure I have the cards.. Then I accept the proposal. Sometimes, it takes me a bit of time to get all proposals pulled, especially if I have to look in multiple places for the cards. 

I might need to update my message on my page (again) to say "Please realize I take a little time to get things done. I pull the cards before accepting to ensure I actually HAVE the cards you want before accepting" 

Sorry for the rant. It's a pet peeve that I needed to write out to let go of. 

The Lean Years: 2002

 Hello Friends!

I think this little series might go on until 2005. The early 2000s were a weird time for me. I followed baseball, but I didn't collect. Mainly because there was one store in town that sold baseball cards and they were pivoting more towards Magic and Pokemon and Warhammer. 

I didn't really get back into collecting until 2010.. I still collect now (obviously) but I'm less keen on the newer offerings. It could be the endless parallels, the endless inserts, the endless parallels of inserts.. Or it could just be nothing aside from one or two sets actually appeal to me anymore. 

Anyway...

Bowman. I both like and don't like this one. It's hard to read the name and what's under the fascimile autograph. It kind of reminds me of Bowman pulling a Donruss design from the mothballs.. 

Speaking of Donruss.. I'm not sure about this one. It doesn't speak to me at all, and having the diamond in all four corners seems a little odd. Missed opportunity for having the bases and home plate. 

Fleer. Back to a flagship Fleer set after a couple years away. It's something.. Another one that reminds me of Donruss.. Fleeruss? 

Fleer Platinum. Another one throwing back to the 1987 set. Incidentally, my second favourite Jays logo is on here. (The original/Current are first, this one, then the T with the Flexing Bird and Angry Jay are last)

Fleer Tradition. I know this throws back to a set from the 50s or thereabouts. I don't mind it. Though why it has an American flag on Jose's foot is confusing to me. Montreal and Toronto should have Canadian flags if it's for team origin.. 

Flagship Topps. Again a similar looking set to prior years. I do like the manager cards. And this one shows the logo I was trying to explain above. 

Opening Day. The bargain brand Topps.. Slightly different coloured border and a giant Opening Day foil stamp. 

Upper Deck. I don't know what to say about this. It's kind of bland. I think Upper Deck after a while leaned too into the "futuristic" look and just became industrial or corporate looking, if that makes sense. 

40 Man.. I loved this set. Yeah a lot of them are just the guy posing for picture day like in school, but it gave guys who wouldn't get cards normally cards. 

This one is really a Phantom Jay. He was traded to Toronto for David Wells, was injured and never pitched in the Majors again. 

Finally Victory. Another set I enjoyed. I think I liked the offshoot Upper Deck more than I enjoyed Upper Deck proper... 

Again, it's something we've seen but the photography is nice and everything is legible. 

All of the sets listed above are basically collecting the collections. No sets to be made from these. 

The Lean Years: 2001

 Hello Friends!

Another day, another look at one of the lean years in my collection. As before, I'll take a look at the sets and give my thoughts. 

Bowman was Bowmaning along at this point. I think this was around the time Bowman in general became so convoluted I don't even think about it much. 

Also, here we have Mr Jade Cargill, Brandon Phillips, as an Expo. 

Donruss.. After a couple years away from making cardsm they returned with this offering (plus many others) I wonder if this was the inspiration for Topps' Independence Day cards later on.

Honestly, the stars are distracting. 

Fleer Focus. Similar to last year'sbut slightly different fonts I believe. Still have that white fuzzy outline around the player that almost makes them look like they were superimposed onto the image

Fleer Platinum took design elements from a couple sets from the 80s. The front reminds me a lot of 1981

The back reminds me of 1987 but with more graphs.. 

The set itself isn't bad. I do like it, but I stop short of saying I want more than just my collection goals from it. 

Fleer Tradition. I get they're trying to pay homage to one of the really early sets here, but this is just weird looking to me. Big photo headshot and it looks like a Starting Lineup figure in the background. I'd get the collections for it but the whole set is a miss for me. 

Stadium Club. I don't have words.. I'm not sure what I could even think to say for this one. It's very boring to me. 

2001 is the middle of the similar style, different border colour streak for Topps. Again, kind of boring. Odd to see Irabu as an Expo, after he flamed out in New York, having Steinbrenner call him a Fat Toad. 

Topps Heritage flashing back to 52. I like it, though at the same time, why does it look like Carl Pavano is in the depths of Hell? 

Ultra. As usual, nice photography but the design is very samey.. 

Upper Deck. It's ok. Foil team logo gets tough to read. 

MVP with another samey looking set. I don't get it, really.. 

Finally Victory. I do like this set. This one does remind me of the Collector's Choice from the mid 90s. I believe this was the spiritual successor. 

I think this would be a set I'd look to complete. .

The Lean Years: 2000

Hello Friends!

As the calendar turned from 1999 to 2000, all sorts of things were happening. Of course, the Y2K bug was a big talking point. People wondering if computers were going to suddenly rise up or completely malfunction like a dystopian Terminator hellscape, or if things were going to be just another day.. 

*26 years late spoiler... Nothing much happened* 

The only thing I had to do for my computer was run a program to change the BIOS to read the year as 4 numbers rather than 2.. 

Well, with all that going on, there was still baseball to be played! Cards to be collected!

I think honestly, 2000 is the year I have the least from since I started collecting in 1992. 

Another kind of samey set from Bowman. This was also when they started the Draft Picks and Prospects sets 

It's a decent look, if not looking like it's more of a picture frame than a card. 

Fleer Focus. Again, there was no base Fleer set. Just things like Focus, Mystique, etc. 

I like this one, but I don't know. I don't know how I feel about this set. 

Stadium Club with another full card photo. As always the photography is great on the set. The names are easy to read and I'm just not sure about the foil logos. 

2000 Topps.. It seemed from 1998 to 2002 most of the changes in the set were border colours and slight reworkings of the nameplates. 

Bonus for this card since it had both Michael Barrett and Willis Otanez on it. 

Ultra reminds me of a future version of Stadium Club mixed with the late 90s Fleer base when they were done. 

The cards themselves are nice. Dare I say, I prefer Ultra over SC in 2000. 

2000 Upper Deck. The Star Rookie cards and the MVP set cards look very alike. The remainder of the base is fine, but again... Am I weird for just not liking much of what Upper Deck offered in general?

MVP. Similar to previous years and even to the flagship rookie cards. Just felt very lazy

Finally, Victory. I don't mind this set. The half and half thing is a little weird to me, but at the same time, it's nothing much different from some Score offerings in the early 90s. Not a fan of the second photo on here being a headshot of the main picture. 

Yeah.. 2000 in cards was a very forgettable year for me. Almost all the sets left zero impression on me. It took me a bit to think of more than just "Meh!" for this whole post..