Friday Five: My Favorite Miggy Cards

I do not write about the Tigers often on this blog, but they have long been a team on my radar. My wife is a Michigan native, so my in-laws are all big Tigers fans. My middle schooler likes the Tigers (not you Javy Baez) and will watch their games. I have been fortunate enough to attend a few Tigers games over the years. They have a great stadium if you are ever in Detroit. 

The last Tigers game I attended was two summers ago and I was fortunate enough to see Miguel Cabrera one last time in person. I knew it was likely going to be the last time, so I took a few pictures......

In the end, Miggy walked off the Twins on an odd single that landed between the centerfielder and the shortstop. The Twins had actually been really aggressive with pinch hitting and had Nick Gordon, normally a second baseman or shortstop, playing in centerfield.  

On to the cards. I think I have a sneaky good collection of Miggy cards, so I thought it would be fun to do one of my Friday posts featuring some of my favorites of the future Hall of Famer.  

5. 2013 Topps Miguel Cabrera Triple Crown Relic 

Not sure where winning the Triple Crown ranks on Miggy's list of career accomplishments, but it feels like it should be up there. I also feel like it rarely gets mentioned when people talk about his career. I watched his last few games, not sure it really got brought up. Maybe the accomplishment has lost some of its luster in recent years with the push on using sabermetric stats. Do people really talk about batting average anymore? 

I love this card. It's die-cut, has a nice action picture of Miggy with a swatch of his jersey, and is better than anything else I have seen that recognizes him as a former Triple Crown winner. These have gotten pricey and hard to find over the last decade.  

T4. 2011 Triple Threads Miguel Cabrera Patch Card 

Two relic cards in a post is my limit in the year 2023. I do not really do relic cards, but this one is too good to not post on my list. I went all in on the 2011 Triple Threads set and have some great looking cards from this product. I could easily make a few posts on some of the cards. This is one of my favorites. 

I have never really tried to figure out all the patch pieces on here, but there is a lot of blue and orange. I think it's the Detroit script off of a road Tigers uniform, as the home uniforms do not have any orange..... 

The patch piece on the LL of the card is white, orange, and then a partial piece of blue. Looks similar to the top of Ts in the word "Detroit" on the road uniforms. 

T4. 2011 Triple Threads Miguel Cabrera Autograph 

I will fudge on the five card thing a bit in this post and go ahead and share one of the Triple Threads autographs I have of Miggy from the 2011 set while we are here. Yes, it's a sticker autograph, but it's a clear sticker on a really great looking card. 

3. 2012 Topps Five Star Miguel Cabrera Autograph 

I love Five Star. I don't open any packs of it, because they cost a second mortgage on your house. I just like when people sell their autographs that do not make them a profit on their $250 box of cards. You pulled a Miguel Cabrera autograph and need to sell it? I am listening.  

I have several Miguel Cabrera autographs that are not going to be included in this list. They are all really great cards that I am sure the average sane collector would love to have in their collection. This is my favorite Miggy autograph and it's the last one on this list. This Five Star is an on-card autograph and has really thick card stock. Yes, it's got a jersey and some art work, that's kind of an afterthought here. I wish I could scan the side of the card to show off the stock, it's impressive.  

2. 2001 Bowman Heritage Miguel Cabrera 

Huge fan of the 2001 Bowman Heritage set. Have a ever told you about how much I love the Albert Pujols card in this set? I don't love Miggy that much, but it's close. Is this considered a rookie card? I treat it like it's a rookie card. It's in a magnetic one-touch and everything. This is a great looking card and aesthetically probably my favorite card of Miguel Cabrera on the Marlins. 

1. 2000 Topps Traded Miguel Cabrera 

The 2000 Topps set is trash, but the Traded set is pretty nice. You've got rookie cards of Adam Wainwright, Ben Sheets, and Miguel Cabrera. That's more checklist depth than the 1982 Topps Traded set. If I had to make a list of the most important 2000s rookie cards, this Miguel Cabrera would be really high on the list. Great card. First ballot Hall of Famer wearing a teal Marlins uni, not sure how it gets better than that.  

The Pujols Parade - 2004 Bowman Heritage

If Albert Pujols had been on the Dodgers or Angels this year, there is likely no chance that I would write a series of posts about his baseball cards. Since he is on the Cardinals, I am going to write these throughout the season. Same general principle as the Ray Lankford posts. Nothing fancy, rare, or overly shiny. Just base cards.  

Starting out with a copy of Albert's card in the 2004 Topps Heritage set, which borrowed the design from the 1955 Bowman set. However, the card dimensions are normal, no oversized cards here like the original Bowmans.  

Front photo.  

Notice the "Color TV" on the bottom of the frame. There is a parallel set of photos for all the cards in this set that were "Black and White TV". They were not overly rare, I believe they were one per pack of cards. Maybe every other pack at worst.  

This is a supposed to be a Spring Training photo?

I don't think so.  

Leave it to somebody at Topps to airbrush a card that likely didn't need to be airbrushed.  

In 2004, the Cardinals always wore blue fielding hats on the road outside of Spring Training. Not the case these days, but in the early 2000s the Cardinals always wore blue road hats. Pujols is the only Cardinals veteran to have an action photo on his card in this set. Edgar Renteria, Larry Walker, Jim Edmonds, and Matt Morris all have posed photographs taken at the team's Spring Training facility.

Was Topps trying to keep the cards so they all looked like they were Spring Training photos? Did Albert stiff them on photo day?  

I swear Topps.  

Stop airbrushing cards.  

Here is the reason why I think this is an airbrushed card, beyond the fact that the person designing the card made Albert's hat, belt, and t-shirt all mismatched colors of red. 

The background of the outfield wall beyond Pujols on this card looks a lot like the corner of the left field bleachers and visitors bullpen in Busch Stadium II. The low wall with plexiglass windows and the green wall in the back of the bullpen all fit, along with the placement of the fans in the bleachers. If you look closely behind Albert's belt on the card, there is a slight dark spot, which is likely an advertisement for Ameren.  

Here is a photograph of Busch II.  

Back of the card.  

Albert is listed as an outfielder, which is where he played most of 2003. Many people do not remember those days, but the Cardinals moved him to left field after they traded for Scott Rolen.  Everyone remembers Albert was a third baseman, right?  The 2004 season was his first full year at first base after the Cardinals traded away Tino Martinez. 

Good riddance.  

The stats are great and Albert did some stuff that only a guy in the Hall of Fame did.  

Cards I Love Part 19 - 2001 Bowman Heritage(s) Albert Pujols

We have now reached the Albert Pujols portion of these posts.  I am not saying that the final 10 cards are all Albert cards, but there are several left.  I wanted to hold these cards off towards the end of the month, so that I would have a little bit more time to write and add on to the rough outline of the posts.  I started writing about baseball cards in 2012, the same year that Pujols left the Cardinals for the Angels. 

I was not really thrilled about it at the time, and I have probably not spent enough time on his cards during the past 7 plus years.  I had a huge collection of Albert Pujols cards while he was a Cardinal, many of them are still here.  I cut down on the volume when he went to Anaheim.  I would really like the chance to sit down and type out some thoughts on some of these cards. 

First up, my favorite Albert Pujols rookie card(s). 

The 2001 Bowman Heritage is one of the simplest Pujols rookies, which is what makes it so great.  The card has a black and white photo, a plain white border, and old school card stock.  Simple is better in this case.  Much better. 

I love modern cards as much as the next person. There are tons of Pujols rookie cards with serial numbers, autographs, die-cuts, foil, relics, and all sorts of other attributes that belong on a card made in 2001.  Many great cards, and a few really bad ones.  Yep, there are bad Pujols rookies. 

Donruss Class of 2001. 

Terrible. 

I do have one other Bowman Heritage Pujols rookie card, only this one has never made an appearance on the blog.  The Bowman Heritage card pictured above has appeared in a couple of other posts.  The other one is a bit of a hard card to find these days.  The card below was a promotional item that Topps gave out at the National Convention in 2001. 

Same basic concept with a different picture.  I don't know how many of these cards are around, I just know they have become rarer and rarer.  I find it to believe that a card given out a convention is somehow hard to find.  I could see Topps giving these out by the truckload.  Maybe not.  

The back of the card has a Topps advertisement at the bottom of the blurb.  Love the 888 customer service number on the back.  

The regular card is my favorite, but the promo feels a lot like it would be ranked 1A if I were making a list of all my Albert Pujols rookie cards.  There are so many good ones though, a few more of them this weekend.  

Weekend Countdown: Top 10 Albert Pujols Rookie Cards

It's hard to believe that it has been 18 years since Albert Pujols started his career with the Cardinals.  I went to the Cardinals home opener in 2001, but the team started the season on the road, so this was not his first game in the Majors.  First time I saw him, he hit a home run. 

I need to find the ticket stub. 

Nowadays, it seems like Albert is on the highlights every few weeks for passing up some Hall of Famer in an important category, or he is reaching some sort of plateau number.  I know on a day to day basis Albert is not the same player, but it's still amazing to see him pass up some of the all-time greats.  I think my favorite most recent milestone was his 3,000th hit last year against the Mariners.  

A few years back when he first signed with the Angels, I narrowed down my collection of his cards a bit.  A little bit of a knee jerk reaction to him being signed away from the Cardinals, but I have added a few cards back over the last year or two.  I would really like to spend some more time showing off my Albert cards at some point.  I started writing in this space in 2012, the year he left St. Louis, so naturally I have not written much about him.  I have thought about loop back and doing a few posts.   

Let me start out by showing off a few cards today.   

Here are this week's rules.  

• I am only using Pujols rookie cards, no other years outside of 2001

• I am only using rookie cards in my collection.  There might be Pujols rookie cards that are considered better than the ones on the list, but I do not own them.  

• The cards are in order of how I view them, which has a large sentimental factor, don't bother me about where I put his Bowman autograph.  

Go team.  

10. 2001 Donruss The Rookies - This was a mail in card that I got out of a box.  I lost the redemption coupon for awhile, but luckily I found it.  I like that he is a third baseman on this card, and not a utility player.  If you have never heard the story of Pujols making the Cardinals in 2001, it's out there somewhere.  Short version. The Cardinals signed Bobby Bonilla to be a utility player off the bench, he got injured at the end of Spring Training, and so Pujols made the team.  Third was his natural position at this point, although LaRussa did play him all over the place.  

9. 2001 Fleer Platinum - I always liked this set, which was to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1981 Fleer set, but there is something unappealing about this photo.  It's like Pujols had to get a picture taken by someone, and is trying really hard to seem happy to be there.  Reminds me of school picture day.  Not as a kid, but now as an adult.  The photographers don't distinguish the teachers from the kids, "Say school lunch!!!".  No, and I'd rather go hungry.  

8. 2001 Fleer Tradition - Always liked the Fleer base sets from the late 1990s and early 2000s.  I actually think this is one of the worst designs they had, it's still above average.  This was only sold in the factory set, which I did not want to buy, so I picked this one up at a local card shop in St. Louis.  Maybe the only low end Pujols rookie that I did not pull out of a pack.  

7. 2001 Upper Deck - Pulled this out of a pack back in the day.  Love the action shot of him hitting the ball.  The looks like it's in Coors, which is where the Cardinals started out the 2001 season, got to figure it likely from one of his first games.  

6. 2001 Bowman Autograph - It has always bother me that Bowman used the same Pujols picture on tons of cards in 2001.  I think it just felt that way.  It's a Spring Training photo, but you think they could have gotten a more updated picture at some point for their later products.  Considering where Pujols was at his career entering Spring Training in 2001, not supposed to make the roster, I suppose it's nice the Cardinals gave him a decent uniform number.  He could be wearing 72 or 89.  This autograph is terrible for Pujols. 

5. 2001 Topps Traded- Really nice card.  I always liked this update set.  There are some cool parallels where they played with the card stock, chrome parallels, etc.  It's well done.  Good clean card of Pujols.  

4. 2001 Topps Gallery - I liked this brand during the 1990s and early 2000s.  Of course, it's not nearly as good anymore.  The art was a lot better back in the day.  Love this Spring Training picture.  I would love to know if the Cardinals actually have a Coke machine on their Spring Training field, or if that's some sort of artist's addition?  I also miss the birds on the bat hats.  The Cardinals do not wear them enough.  

3. 2001 Bowman's Best- Pretty random choice here, but I have always liked this set.  Yes, it's really modern.  Yes, this is a batting practice photo.  Just something about the photo with Pujols following through on a swing.  Good looking picture.  

2. 2001 Fleer Premium - This was the first Pujols card that I pulled out of a pack.  It was actually a redemption card.  Always been in my top 2, ever since 2001.

1. 2001 Bowman Heritage - Just a great looking card.  It's been my favorite since it came out.  

Friday Five: Top 5 Sets From 2006

5. 2006 Bowman Heritage

I miss Bowman Heritage.  I get to talk about this set one more time on one of these Friday Five posts and then it is gone.  Sort of wish there were more cool old Bowman sets that Topps could rehash, but the original Bowman products did not stick around too long.  I will wait patiently until they decide to rehash the 1989 Bowman set, hopefully there is a Royce Clayton autograph in the set.  This set was a 300 card with the majority of the high numbers over 200 being short printed.  I believe that the "official" Prince Fielder rookie card is in this product, but I always give the nod to the Upper Deck Prospect Premiers card in spite of the fact that the 2006 cards, across all brands, had that cheesy rookie card logo.  In fact, the vast majority of the players in this set with the rookie card logo had rookie cards in previous card years.  The most egregious rookie logo cards in this set were players like Justin Verlander and Jared Weaver who not only had rookie cards made in prior years, but they were also Bowman cards.  A cool design helped this set make my list.  

4. 2006 Topps 52

The 1952 Topps set is a classic.  Sometimes Topps goes to that well a few too many times.  At the time this set was released I kind of thought it stunk and I completely ignored the product.  A few years later I found a really cheap box somewhere online, busted open the box, and was hooked.  Sure, there are some not so great names floating around this "rookie card" product, but there are enough cool players in here to make the product worth while.  Let's not forget the fact that the set is also loaded down with all kinds of cool on card autographs.  

Boxes are still floating around and are not too expensive if you want to press your luck looking for a cool autograph.  The singles of most of the autographs can be found pretty on Ebay and are pretty affordable.  The other highlight in this set is the Mickey Mantle card which has different variations based on the background color of the card.  There are half a dozen different versions of the card, which make it a pretty reasonable variation to find, and complete the set.  Definitely a set that has grown on my over the years.  

3. 2006 Topps Heritage

This was a pretty fun set to put together and I really like the simplicity of the 1957 Topps set.  The short-prints in the set were concentrated in the middle of the set, 300s, with a few scattered around the low numbers.  As a Cardinals fan I consider this set a really important set for one reason: It marked the last really high quality Stan Musial autograph.  Stan still signed autographs for a few more years, but his signature really seemed to decline after this product. Do I own a Stan Musial autograph from this set? 

The coolest thing in the world is when you buy a box and get a big hit card from a team or player that you collect.  This is the last Stan autograph I pulled out of a box and it is definitely a really cool one.  I bought this box from a card shop on Duke Street in Durham, it's long gone, and was incredibly happy to land this one.  Unfortunately I was surrounded by a bunch of high school kids playing Pokemon cards.  Probably why the card shop is gone.  This is a must have for any Cardinals fan.  

2. 2006 Upper Deck 

This was most of my summer card collecting in 2006.  The Upper Deck set went giant that year with a 1,250 card base set which was put out in three parts.  There were two 500 card series with a 250 card update that was issued later in the year.  The boxes were not too expensive and there were some above average autographs in here too.  I also like this design with the borderless look and the player name printed across the bottom in the middle.  The foil team logo gives it that Upper Deck feel.  This card also features the dreaded rookie card logo I was talking about above. 

Which leaves the no-brianer......

1.  2006 Allen & Ginter

Easily the best set of 2006.  Incredible first set with an equally awesome autograph checklist.  

Friday Five: Top 5 Sets from 2004

5. 2004 Fleer Showcase- I bought this box for my birthday during spring of 2004.  I remember rolling into 1,000,000 Baseball Cards in Ballwin, Missouri and picking up a box of this product.  It was National Trading Card Day and I was up for some free baseball cards, but while I was there I was not going to walk out empty handed.  This product had a cool looking design, decent autographs, and some cool insert sets like the Hot Gloves.  I got in on this product towards the end of its run, but unfortunately this was the end of line for this product.  Really cool product and my favorite fleer product from their later years (I am not counting the Upper Deck rehash).  

4. 2004 Topps Cracker Jacks- I love this set.  Is it the red backgrounds?  The minis?  Autographs?  Not sure, but I put together this whole set and have a bunch of the autographs and relics out of the product too.  The design is based on the 1914 Cracker Jacks set and has a lot of little quirks that were in the original: Writing on the back of the card upside down, old time players like Nap Lajoie, and Surprise Packs inside the boxes.  Not the most expensive set, and not the nice throwback set that Topps has ever put out, but still a very good product worth checking out.  

3.  2004 Diamond Kings- I like the Diamond Kings sets.  Donruss ran them several years in the early 2000s until the company came to an end in 2005.  The boxes are fun to open and there are a lot of cool serial numbered cards in this product.  Relics, autographs, lots of possibilities for player and teams collectors.  How many parallels made up this set?  It's huge and I am not sure that I have ever seen a collector put them altogether on a player.   The autographs are sticker autographs, which is a bummer, but many are inexpensive and pretty easy to find.  

2.  2004 Topps Heritage- This one is an easy one.  Hard to believe it only came in second on my list.  The Heritage set in 2004 was based on the 1955 Topps set.  One of my favorite old time sets.  Topps threw in a handful of short prints and some old logo variations.  Like all Heritage sets there are the usual autographs, relics, and serial numbered parallels.  Really great looking set.  

1.  2004 Bowman Heritage- 1955 was a great year for baseball cards.  The Bowman Heritage set was a redo of the 1955 Bowman set.  The television framed cards are a classic.  There are also some cool variations with black and white pictures.  Again, there are autographs, but one of my favorite aspects of this set was the fact that Topps added umpire autographs.  There have been a few umpires included in sets here and there, but this set had a really good run of umps.  

My Top 50 Players on Cardboard-#37 Joe Mauer

My Top 50 Players On Cardboard
#37
Joe Mauer


2002 Bowman Heritage Joe Mauer RC

Hobby Impact-
Mauer started off in the baseball card hobby as a very desirable and highly sought after player.  The statement is somewhat true today, but Mauer has definitely lost a little bit of his steam around the hobby.  I am sure that a big chunk of the reason for the drop in Mauer's popularity has to do with the fact that he plays for Twins.  In my opinion, while I view Mauer as a very good player, I think he's someone that people in the hobby overestimated and have therefore cooled on.  I am sure that many collectors were think Mike Piazza when they first laid eyes on Mauer, but instead they got something different.  Different is not always a bad thing, which some collectors have failed to realize in this case.

Mauer still has a very strong hobby following, and while prices on his cards have tailed off during the past decade,  you are still going to pay a pretty good price when you run across a nice Mauer card.  One of my first decent Mauer pulls, outside of his rookie cards, was a 2004 Upper Deck Etchings autograph.  I do not even remember what it was numbered out of, but everyone who signed for that set signed a ton of cards.  Which is a good thing with Mauer's hobby presence.  He does have a ton of cards including a wide selection of autographs, relics, and low print runs.  My favorite autograph of Mauer in my collection:

2004 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Joe Mauer Autograph 

Generally, premium Mauer cards are going to sell and sell high.  I nice autograph of the Twins catcher can easily approach $50 with a low print run.  Most common autographs settle somewhere in between $25 and $40 based on brand quality, sticker, non-sticker, etc.  Again, Mauer has a healthy stock of autographs floating around on the secondary market with many being on-card.  If you want a cheap sticker autograph, those are out there too.  Pretty good price for a Hall of Fame autograph.

On The Field Impact-
Mauer is one of the best hitting catchers of all-time.  Before I get into the numbers with Mauer, let's not forget that Mauer is only 30 and still has plenty of time to add to the numbers that he's posted during the first part of career.  Whether or not he remains a catcher or not almost does not matter at this point.  Given where Mauer ranks among catchers currently, and his company on those lists, point me in the direction of him being a shoe-in for Cooperstown.

I have really been digging the JAWS ratings on the baseball-reference site.  If you have not clicked the link on the bottom of a player's page you should check it out for sure.  The JAWS rating for catchers places Mauer as the thirteenth best catcher of all-time at the mid-point of his career.  The players in front of him include Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Pudge, Bill Dickey, and Yogi Berra.  There are a few non-Hall of Famers on that list like Ted Simmons, but a lot of those are errors the Hall of Fame writers should correct.  Translation: Tell me again why Ted Simmons isn't in the Hall?  Mauer is a better average hitter than anyone on the list, but lacks some of the pop that players like Bench, Berra, and Piazza possessed.

How good of a hitter is Mauer?  One of my favorite, non-numbers, factoids about Mauer is the fact that he has broken up three different no-hit bids in the ninth inning.  I am not sure if anyone else has every accomplished such a feat in MLB history, but it's a cool enough factoid that Major League Baseball has put the three hits into a video montage on YouTube.



Mauer is also an above average defender behind the plate and has captured a total of three Gold Gloves.  Some of his defensive work has taken a hit recently with injuries and knee issues, but he still shows off every once in awhile.  One of the coolest meaningless catches I've ever seen in a game:



Pretty good grab there.

Favorite Card-
It was a toss up, for me, between the 2011 Topps base set card and his 2002 Topps T206 variation card.  I am actually going to side with the 2011 Topps base card here, but the 206 card is pretty sweet if you are a Mauer or Twins collector looking for a good card to track down.

2011 Topps Joe Mauer

I love this card, because it shows Joe Mauer doing what Joe Mauer does best: Hitting.  This action shot shows a good picture of Mauer's great looking left-handed swing and I like the background too.  You get a little glimpse of the limestone in Target field just above Mauer's bat too.  Great card by Topps.

30 Year Top 50: 2004 Bowman Heritage

#46-The fact that this set borrowed it's design from the 1955 Bowman set almost single-handly placed it on my list of great card sets from the past thirty years.  The 1955 Bowman set is one of the great vintage sets of all times and has some great cards, even Don Mossi appears in the set.

1955 Bowman Don Mossi 

The 2004 Bowman Heritage sets does have a few other positives beyond the really cool design.  If you have been following my countdown you will notice that many of the sets on this list have been included because they were either innovative in some manner, or they contained a key rookie.   My most important reason for owning this set is the Felix Hernandez rookie card.   Hernandez is one of the better pitchers currently playing, but unfortunately he plays his games in Seattle and not seen by half the country.  Okay, maybe three-fourths.  

2004 Bowman Heritage Felix Hernandez RC

The 2004 Bowman Heritage Felix Hernandez rookie is a short printed rookie card and raw copies can be easily found for less then $20.  Need persuasion to buy one?  Hernandez has spent the eight years of his career playing for a team that has frequently finished near the bottom of the AL West.  Despite having a lack of talent around him, Hernandez has put up almost 100 wins and 1,500 strikeouts.  Check out his comparable player list on Baseball Reference and you will turn up the Eck, Catfish Hunter, and Don Drysdale.  Not bad for a guy who is just 26. 

The 2004 Bowman Heritage features a few other really quality rookies that would be solid additions to your card collection.  My personal favorite as a Cardinals fan is the Yadier Molina rookie.  Most people over look Molina as a player and as a target for their card collection.  I blame it mainly on his brothers and people who watched him take an at-bat the first few years he played.  

2004 Bowman Heritage Yadier Molina RC

Molina first appeared for the Cardinals in 2004 as a defense first catcher.  He certainly played like that for his first few years in the majors, but more recently he has dramatically improved his offense.  While maintaining his reputation as one of the best defensive catchers in the league, Molina has quietly hit over .300 the past two seasons.  In fact, this year he among the league leaders in batting average, has over twenty home runs, and is tied for the National League lead in WAR with Ryan Braun and Andrew McCutcheon.  Not bad for a guy who hit .216 a few years ago.  

You can also find the rookies for Carlos Quentin, Neil Walker, Wade Davis, Phil Hughes, and Kurt Suzuki.  The set also has some sweet umpire autographs if you are looking for something a little bit unique and different to hunt down.  Bruce Froemming included.  

Like the 2004 Bowman Heritage Set?  Not in my countdown is the 2005 Bowman Heritage set.  The 2005 set might ultimately have more important rookie cards then the 2004 release, but it falls short in two areas.  First, the design is borrowed from the 1956 Bowman set and is not really anything great.  Second, the two biggest rookies in the set, in my opinion, are Matt Kemp and Justin Verlander.  Both have more important rookie cards than the Bowman Heritage issue.  Don't worry, both will appear on the countdown in a few weeks.    

2005 Bowman Heritage Justin Verlander RC

2005 Bowman Heritage Matt Kemp RC

Beyond these two rookies there are plenty of other rookie cards in the set for Ryan Zimmerman, Little Weaver, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Andrew McCutchen.  However, just like the Kemp and Verlander rookies, most of the star players in this set have other more important rookie cards.  Still a great set to own, but I give the nod to the 2004 set.