2005 Fleer Cooperstown Tribute Jersey Relic card

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: Tradition

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Cooperstown Tribute Jersey

Card Number: CT/RY

Card Attributes: Relic

Relic Type: Jersey

Nothing like a plain gray swatch to celebrate the end of the regular baseball season.  The Brew Crew came so close to making it to the playoffs.  2005 would start the end of Fleer and in a couple years the company as collectors knew it would be gone.  But this was back when relics were labeled as Game-worn.  Not player touched, not player-worn, but used in an actual game.  Back when we had competition in the trading card market and companies had to try and give a damn.  (Get off my lawn you kids!!)

This set also has a patch parallel numbered to 10, the base card numbered to 1999 and a gold version of the base card unnumbered.

2003 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Classic Jersey Card

Year: 2003

Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Set: Sweet Spot Classic

Card Number: SJ-RY

Card Type: Insert, Relic

Card Set: Game Jerseys

Card Attributes: Relic

Relic Type: Jersey

I never personally opened any Sweet Spot product.  I'm cheap what can I say.  For me the risk / reward ratio is way too skewed.  But I've always loved the Sweet Spot Classic project, because its focus is retired players and HOFers that have had established careers.  And the checklist is chocked full of greats.  Here we have Robin's base relic in the set.  The overall design is pretty meh, but at least we get a muli-colored swatch which was what relic cards were all about in the early 2000's, that sweet pinstripe.  

2001 Upper Deck Legends - Legendary Game Jerseys Relic card

Card Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: Upper Deck Legends

Year:  2001

Card Number: J-RY

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Legendary Game Jerseys

Relic Type: Jersey

I remember the early 2000's really well. I won't say I got out of collecting, but it definitely was not one of my priorities. Having moved from Wisconsin to Alaska and spending the majority of my time in remote locations working really doesn't lend itself to card collecting.  Coupled with that I was pretty much homeless living out of  my suitcase, or duffel bag.  But right around 2002, I started settling down and spending more time in civilization. It also happens to be the time I found ebay and started buying cards.  So I missed the Relic revolution, but I caught up pretty quick.  And this was also the time that Upper Deck, Topps, Fleer, and Donruss all started putting out HOFer and retired stars cards. 1999 marked the year that Robin would be featured on baseball cards again. It had been 3 years since he had had any cards issued with his likeness, but getting into the Hall of Fame will change that. The early 2000's were littered with relic cards for Robin.  Of course sets featuring retired players and HOFers were all the rage too like the Upper Deck Legends set.  In the early days pieces like this that had some color were a premium, of course if you got a piece of patch, holy moley! But any kind of color that helped the card stand out from the thousands for plain color swatches was pretty cool.  Those first few years on of my ebaying I really went a little crazy, but I added a lot of great Yount cards to the collection.  

Of course now we have to wonder if this is actually a game worn piece of jersey, but honestly that's not what draws me to the card.  It's the man featured on it and even if it was categorically proven that the swatch was fake I would still want this card in my collection.

2001 Fleer EX Wall of Fame - Wall Relic Card

Card Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: EX

Year:  2001

Card Number:NNO

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Wall of Fame

Relic Type: Outfield Wall

I think there are far too few relics of odd ball stuff like this. The market is clogged with relics featuring pieces of clothing and bats, but rarely do they feature piece of walls.  I think we need more wall relics, and seat relics and just oddball relics in general.  It's interesting that Fleer states it's a genuine piece of a Major League stadium, but they don't say which one. Or course we're led to believe this is a County Stadium relic, but who can really say. There's also the game date on the back of the card, the day Robin got his 3,000th hit, does that mean this is a piece of County Stadium wall taken back in 1992?  Sigh. Who knows, but still a well designed card and a cool oddball relic. And you know I'm a sucker for oddballs.  Another odd thing about the card it's not numbered or labeled for reference. No WF-3 or WF-RY. Fleer did this on a bunch of it's relics like this for a while.

2003 Leaf Shirt Off My Back Relic Card

Card Manufacturer: Donruss

Card Set: Leaf Baseball

Year: 2003

Card Number: 12

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Shirt Off My Back

Relic Type: Jersey/Pants

One of the things that the early 2000's brought us was the flood of relic cards featuring not only current stars, but HOFers and retired stars.

This 2003 Leaf Shirt Off My Back relic card is from that onslaught and no one was happier than me that Mr. Yount was featured in the set. A great looking card with bright colors and a huge classic Brewers logo.  Not only that, but on the back there's even a picture of what we are led to believe is the actual jersey the relic came from.  This issue was numbered to just 500 cards and I'm wondering just how many little swatches can you get off of one jersey? 500? There is another relic insert in this set that parallels this one called Number Off My Back. Those cards are numbered to 50 and feature a piece of patch, I'm assuming a piece of the number. The few I've seen on ebay and COMC  have  huge price tags on them. So until I find a decent priced card this issue will have to do.  

2003 Leaf Shirt Off My Back Relic card #12 Serial Numbered  123/500