2004 marked my return to collecting after nearly a decade away. But my sole focus that year was trying to complete the 1975 Topps set, the set that first drew me into the hobby nearly 30 years prior. Aside from one particular set that I'll get to in a moment, I had no idea what current cards were like in 2004. I didn't care about them and for all I knew, the only companies offering up cards at that time were Topps, Donruss, Fleer and Upper Deck (I was essentially right, but ask me the same question any year between 1995 and 2004 and you'd get the same four companies for an answer. I didn't know Pacific was a card company until probably 2008). However, looking 15 years back on the hobby now, I have to say that 2004 was somewhat of a high-water mark for collecting over the past 20 years or so, probably even longer. When I look back on some of my favorite card sets of the last 30 years, it's amazing how many of them were created in 2004. I think you can attrib...
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