Set Appreciation Post #14 - 2002 Bowman

When you think of Bowman sets from the early 2000s, what comes to mind?  Black borders were a must.  Tons of hype for a bunch of prospects that may or may not (ding, ding, ding) have made a significant impact in the Major Leagues.  This post is about the 2002 Bowman set, but it could really be about all the Bowman sets between 2002 and 2006.  

There is a theme for this post.  Let's try this meme.  

Base Set 

The set has a black border because it is a Bowman set from the early 2000s.  You were expecting something different.  Tisk, tisk.  I usually use the first card in the set, but it appears that I am missing my Adam Dunn card.  I have this set marked complete, so I did a little investigating to see where the card went.  

The story of where the card was is more interesting than the second card in the set.  I scanned this one when I started writing the post, just in case Adam Dunn was gone.  

The veteran cards in the set all have a red border to distinguish them from the prospect cards which have a blue border.  The pictures on the card are mundane.  The Roger Clemens card has him batting, otherwise, they are not interesting.  

The backs of the Bowman cards have changed little over the years.  These write-ups aren't exactly 1988 Score and the descriptions of the players are generous.  I threw up in my mouth a little bit when I read that "fluid shortstop" part.  

Remember that time Jeter dove into the stands at Yankee Stadium and smashed some old women and his face into one of the seats?  

There is nothing fluid about this catch. 

Derek Jeter getting an overly generous biography from a baseball card writer.  

A Lengthy Side Story About The Adam Dunn Card 

Over the pandemic, my 10-year-old spent a lot of time reading about baseball.  As a two-teacher household, it was hard to work with him while we were teaching our classes online.  My wife and I frequently told him to find a book to read for a short time when he got stuck.  He also dabbled in baseball videos on YouTube.  

He is one of those people who can read a book and can recite every fact back to you that he read.  While he generally sticks to topics like stadiums, Hall of Famers, Cardinals, and Durham Bulls players, we went through a phase last summer when he got really into reading and watching videos about players with odd careers.  

If you have never read anything about Adam Dunn, he's a weird player.  There is a Dorktown video about the weirdness of his career.  This is the preview screen for the video on YouTube.  

I could see where the video has appeal to the average 10-year-old.  

Anyway, he also killed time during the pandemic by looking through my old scorecards, ticket stubs, and baseball cards.  He'd ask me frequently about taking cards from my collection, most of which I was indifferent about.  

Apparently, the 2002 Bowman Adam Dunn card was one of them.  

"You can scan my card" is the line I got when I asked him about the card.  I tried trading back for the card, but he is currently demanding a Ji-Man Choi autograph.  That's a little steep for an Adam Dunn base card.  

Luckily, I am on vacation, so writing an extra side story in this post doesn't really matter. 

The World's Most Smudged Autographs 

In the early days of this blog, I actually worked on finishing off a set of 2002 Bowman autographs.  I had pulled several out of packs back in the day, decided it would be an easy project.  There are very few cards on the checklist, no real big names.  

It would have been really easy, but 90% of the 2002 Bowman autographed cards are smudged.  

One-time Durham Bull and drug test failer, Wilson Betemit with smudges.  

Art Howe's favorite first baseman who would not take a walk, Carlos Pena.  

My favorite card in the set belongs to former Cardinal outfielder Ryan Ludick.  

I spent some time, that I am never getting back, trying to find these autographs in good condition.  There are several of these cards that I have multiple copies of due to trying to upgrade.  No matter how hard you look, they are all smudged.  

Big mistake.  

Topps having quality control issues......

  

Best Non-Cardinal/Non-Durham Bull Card 

I like looking through old Bowman sets to see the prospects that did not make it almost as much as those who became something in the Majors.  This Ronald Acuna card makes me feel old.  He was a career Minor Leaguer with the Mets who got a baseball card in the 2002 Bowman set.  Little bit different player than his son, Ronald Acuna Jr.  

Ronald Sr. had a career-high of 8 home runs playing for the Mets two A-Ball teams in the Florida State League and South Atlantic League. While he lacked power, Ronald stole 20 bases almost every season he played in the Minors and had several years where he crossed 30.  Ronald Sr. also has a card in the 2002 Bowman's Best set.  

I cannot find anything about what happened to Ronald Sr. after he stopped playing baseball outside of a ton of photos of him at Braves games (New Balance sweatshirt).   

Best Cardinal Card

This was such an easy pick for me.  The second I picked out this box from the stack, I knew the Cardinals card that I was going to pick for this post.  

So Taguchi was the first Japanese player signed by the Cardinals.  He was initially somewhat of a disappointment and ended up spending parts of his first seasons in the U.S. playing with the Cardinals Triple-A team.  In the end, he was a fourth outfielder for the Cardinals, but he was one of those lovable bench players. 

The back of his card was actually fairly accurate.  He was a spray hitter and superb defensive player.  The Cardinals ended up pairing him up with outfielders like Chris Duncan and Reggie Sanders, who could hit but had limitations on defense.  Frequently Duncan or Sanders would start the game, Taguchi would come in late as a defensive sub.  

While he was really known for his defense, I think his best moment in the Majors was his go-ahead home run off of Billy Wagner in Game 2 of the 2006 National League Championship Series.  The Cardinals lost the first game of the NLCS and were tied with the Mets late in Game 2.  I am sure that if the Mets win the game, go up 2-0, the series turns out differently.  

This is the home run.  

Taguchi ended up on the Phillies after his contract ran out with the Cardinals and he managed to pick up a second World Series ring with the team in 2008.  

Best Durham Bulls Card 

I chose a former Durham Bulls player pictured as a Blue Jays prospect.  Rich Thompson was a decade away from playing with the Bulls when this card was produced.  However, if you followed Triple-A baseball a while back, it was pretty hard not to know the name Rich Thompson.  He was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2000 out of James Madison University and was in Triple-A by the next season.  Such a quick riser would surely make it to the Majors, right?

Here is his well-earned 2002 Bowman card that was likely made due to his rapid climb through the Minors. Topps also put him in their base set as a prospect and in T-206.  

He disappeared from major baseball card products after 2002, but he continued to play in Triple-A.  

Right up on the back of the card seems fair.   

So, here is what happened to Rich Thompson:  

+He played a total of 13 years in the Minors, he appeared for a Triple-A team in 12 of those seasons.  

+He played for the Triple-A teams of the Blue Jays, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Phillies, and Rays. 

+He twice made the Majors.  Once in 2004 with the Royals where he played in 6 games, but only got 1 at-bat.  He did not have a hit.  The Rays called him up in 2012 where he had 2 hits in 22 at-bats.  His career batting average is under .100 and he has more stolen bases (7) than hits (2).  Rich Thompson still made it, that counts for something.  

+His final two seasons in professional baseball were spent with the Durham Bulls.  He was excellent on the 2012 team, hence the call-up to the Rays.  Thompson had a rough year in 2013 and retired after breaking his foot while fielding a ball.  

Some years Rich Thompson was on your team, some years Rich Thompson was not on your team.  He was a scrappy player who was easy to support.  Further, while the Minor League records can be a little sketchy at times, I would have to think that his 300 career steals at the Triple-A level would have to be pretty far up the list.  Overall, he has almost 500 steals in the Minors.  Again, that has to be far up the all-time leader's list.  

Thompson is still loved around the Minors almost a decade after he retired.  The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, Phillies Triple-A team, has given away multiple bobbleheads of Thompson and I have also heard there are pictures of him hanging in the front office of the team.  

How Does It Compare?  

This set is not really all that interesting, so it has to rank in the bottom half of the list.  This is post #14, so I will start at 2017 Topps Minor League Heritage and work down the list.

-Both 2017 Topps Heritage Minors and 2002 Bowman are prospect-driven sets.  While I am not a huge fan of the 1968 Topps design, a boring border with interesting cards is better than a boring border and uninteresting cards.  

-1995 Emotion XL is at least interesting and has good photography, even if some of the labels slapped on the players are really stupid.  Better than over glossed Derek Jeter bios.  

-1988 Donruss, while I don't love the borders, it's still more interesting than the 2002 Bowman set.  Plus, that set has a Tom Glavine rookie, which is better than any prospect card in the 2002 Bowman set.  Let's go down another spot.  

-2000 UD Ionix.  Now, we are talking about the right neighborhood.  Predictable short checklist with the same 2 or 3 players on each team getting cards.  Ionix has better autographs and some nicer high-end touches, but there is something nice about having the larger checklist of 2002 Bowman where you get cards of the players I put into this post.  

I am going with 10th place on my list.   

14. 2000 Pacific Paramount Update 

13. 2010 Topps USA Baseball  

12. 2000 Topps 

11. 2000 UD Ionix  

10. 2002 Bowman 

9. 1988 Donruss 

8. 1995 Emotion XL 

7. 2017 Topps Heritage Minor League

6. 1998 Topps TEK 

5. 1986 Topps Mini League Leaders 

4. 2001 Fleer EX 

3. 1979 Kellogg's 

2. 2002 Topps Super Teams

1. 1983 Topps 

Set Appreciation Post #2 - 2000 UD Ionix

Do you know how many complete sets I have assembled?  We are going to find out over the next few years.  The answer is in the hundreds.  I liked doing this post last week, and I am always trying to find ways to share out cards that are already in my collection.  Not just the new ones that are incoming.  I am going to make this a regular thing on my blog.  I stuck my hand in the closet, grabbed a box, and here is this week's set.

Play this music as you are reading.

It fits with the post.  

Basic Design 

How many sets did Upper Deck make like this in the late 1990s and early 2000s?  Plenty.  Relatively small checklist with a few short printed rookie cards at the end.  Glossy finish.  Mix in a few inserts, some "game-used" stuff, and a few autographs.  They did the same set over and over.

A few of them have their own flavor, but many feel really cookie cutter in some ways.

The base cards have a picture with the player in a box, their name on the left side of the card, and this 1980s school film strip thing running across the bottom.  Makes me want to search the closets at school and see if I can turn up one of those old projectors.  I will use it all the time.

Ping.  Move the film strip forward.  

The back of the card also has a color photo, which comes into play when we get to the parallel cards here in a second.  Really simple stat line, player name again, team logo, and the card number is printed really small at the top.  Besides being a repetitive set that Upper Deck made over and over again under different brand names, the cards feel really busy to me.  

Here is something I like about this set.  

The cards are shown top to bottom.  The parallel card is red, the blue card is from the base set.  No serial numbers, and there are not fifteen different colored parallels, just two.  The parallels just flip the front picture with the back picture and change the color.  Upper Deck did this in other sets too.  Seems like a simpler approach to a parallel set.  At least, compared to the current insanity of parallel cards.  

These were called "Reciprocals".  Based on my stack of cards, you got a couple from each box.  I think if they are going to use a math term for a parallel, they should have done more to incorporate the concept into the design.  The base card should be numbered 11.  The reciprocal card should be 1/11.  Fraction card numbers.  

Am I right?  Someone who knows something about math back me up in the comments.  

Favorite Former Durham Player

Hopefully you are playing the music from the top of the post.  

Upper Deck made an Austin Powers inspired insert set called "Awesome Powers"  

I have the Chipper Jones version of the insert.  

This feels like a let down.  A standard Upper Deck stat line on the back of an insert card?  They should have come up with some sort of 1960s pop culture reference.  Stop the music.  

Favorite Cardinals Card 

The choices in the base set were really sad.  

The reciprocal card for McGwire is slightly better.  

There is an Adam Kennedy prospects card too, but I did not even feel like is was worth the time to scan.  I am actually going to go with this insert card of Mark McGwire.  I guess if you are going to use math terms for the parallel set, mixing in some science on the insert cards is fair game.  Periodic Chart of Players and McGwire was given the Mc label.  

There is an actual Mc element.  

It's a synthetic metal.  Synthetic things and Mark McGwire.  I think there is a joke there somewhere.  

Favorite Non-Cardinals Card 

MLB had this really bad promotion in 1999 where all of the teams wore "Turn The Clock Ahead" uniforms.  Several of them appeared on baseball cards around this time.  Truly amazing that anyone thought these were a good idea.  Beltran is pictured here wearing a Royals "Turn The Clock Ahead Jersey", but they actually had two different versions.  The other one was far worse, and is shown in the highlight video below. 

You don't even have to watch the video, just look at the picture on the preview.  It's terrible.    

Those Mariners jerseys in the video look similar to the Diamondbacks uniforms from two or three years ago.  Whatever your favorite team, go hunt down pictures of these jerseys if you have not seen them before.  

The "Turn The Clock Ahead" uniforms also gave us a classic Albert Belle moment.  He had three home runs wearing his futuristic duds, but got hit by a pitch at the end of the game with a chance to hit a fourth homer.  Belle stood at home plate and pretended the ball did not hit him.  

Classic.  Albert Belle.  

I imagine at some point future generations of baseball fans will look at cards like this Beltran and wonder what he is wearing.  "Gather around grandkids, let me tell you about baseball uniforms during the 1990s....."  

Probably won't actually happen.  I am glad that Upper Deck captured these uniforms on a baseball card for posterity.  I like to look at it and chuckle.  

Autographs, not inserts.  

I could write about a bunch of the inserts that Upper Deck included in the packs of Ionix, but I won't do that today.  Let's talk about the autographs instead.  These were actually kind of a tough pull at roughly one autograph per case.  

I have a Jeter autograph from this set.  Pulled it out of a pack of cards.  

It's the only one in my collection.  If he were as good as someone, say Alan Trammell, I would probably be willing to own another one of his cards.  

The design is not great, but it could be a whole lot worse too.  I am not sure why there is a gigantic bar going across the card with the player name, position, and team logo written in really tiny font on the inside.  Seems like Upper Deck is filling space for the sake of filling space. 

I also have a Rolen autograph from this set.  

I did not actually pull this out of a pack of cards.  I just bought it.  Love the flip down sunglasses.  

So How Does It Rank?  

Think about all the pros and cons on this set, along with all the other sets I have featured on the Set Appreciation Posts, I can confidently say that this set ranks second.  So far.  

1. 1986 Topps Mini League Leaders

2. 2000 UD Ionix 

This list looks lame at the moment, but just wait a year and it will be better.  

Did you collect this set?  Do you have a favorite card?  

Cards I Love Part 16 - 1979 Topps Ozzie Smith

In my last post, I showed off my 1986 Topps Vince Coleman card.  It was my dream card in 1986, and I worked hard to track down a copy of the card.  Actually, I just opened a bunch of packs throughout the summer until I got one. 

I did have one card I wanted badly as a kid, but never managed to track one down.  In fact, at some point it became sort of an after thought.  I skipped over getting a copy year after year.  I am not sure how this happened, but I did not own a copy of an Ozzie Smith card until 2006. 

It's true. 

I was living and working in Durham at the time I picked up the card.  The school I worked at was not too far from a card shop in Durham that was on Duke Street.  I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the shop, but when you went inside, it was mainly filled with Magic and Pokemon card players.  Still, they had a decent number of single cards and baseball boxes. 

I had gone into the store with the intention of purchasing a 2006 Topps Heritage box one day after school, but my plans quickly changed when the employee running the store noted that I was wearing a Cardinals jacket, and they had some Cardinals singles they were looking to "unload".  That was the term he used.  When I think "unload", I take it to mean you are going to give me some sort of discount or deal.  I still listened to his pitch, flipped through the cards.  Base Topps and Upper Deck Pujols rookie cards for $100 is not really following through on "unload" though, so I passed. 

Except, there was one card that had a price that interested me. 

There was an Ozzie rookie with a sticker that originally read $80 in black ink, but there were several red lines marked through the price.  The new price was $25.  It was in really good shape.  I bought it. 

A little off center, but not too bad.  Great price for a great card, but my budget for the 2006 Topps Heritage box was obviously blown.  The shop did have several older boxes of cards that were marked 50% off, and some of them were decent products.  One of them was a 1999 Topps HD box marked all the way down to $35.  That's $60.   

I have pulled one Derek Jeter autograph in my life, which is somewhat incredible given the number of autographs he has signed, versus the number of packs of cards that I have opened during that time frame.  The one autograph?  

It was in the box of 1999 Topps HD.  

Pretty good day.  

If I Had A Hall of Fame Ballot

It's time for my annual Hall of Fame post.  Feel free to argue at the bottom of the post, no name calling.  I really liked the format I used last year, so I am keeping it this year.  Voters can pick up to ten players on their ballots out of a total of 32 retired players.  There are ten players on this year's ballot that I would vote for, so lets start out by getting rid of the 23 players I would not support, or need a little more time to ponder. 

Go. 

1. Heath Bell 
2. Jose Valverde 
3. J.J. Putz 
4. Adam Dunn 

I am going to give Adam Dunn a baseball card on my list.  He was a fun player who either hit a home run, struck out, or walked on the majority of his career at-bats.  Sure, that describes a lot of players in baseball today, but back in the early 2000s it was far less common.   Sorry, can't have Adam Dunn in the Hall of Fame. 

5. Raul Ibanez 
6. Brad Penny 
7. Chone Figgins
8. Carlos Pena 

Is there a Hall of Fame for really cool autographs?  If there was, I would vote for Carlos Pena in my Top 10.  Unfortunately, there is no such Hall of Fame.  Carlos Pena was also in the Moneyball book.  Billy Beane trades him to the Detroit Tigers to force Art Howe to play Scott Hatteberg at first base.  Sorry Carlos, there is no place for you in Cooperstown.  Don't buy his 2002 Bowman autograph like I did. 

9. Brian Roberts 
10. Josh Beckett 
11. Omar Vizquel 

I cannot believe that there are people who think Omar Vizquel is a Hall of Famer.  Last year, I did not give him a card, just a stock photo of a clown.  This year, I am not giving him a card, just a stock photo of a clown. 

12. Eric Chavez 
13. Rafael Furcal 

Rafael Furcal won a World Series with the Cardinals in 2011, so he gets a card in this post. I appreciate his efforts in getting the Cardinals their 11th World Series Championship.  In particular, he hit a lead off triple against Roy Halladay in the first inning of Game 5 of the NLDS, and ended up scoring the only run of the game. Still not a Hall of Famer though.

14. Cliff Lee 
15. Andy Pettitte 
16. Paul Konerko 

I liked watching Paul Konerko.  Not a Hall of Famer, though there are probably a few White Sox fans who think he should be in Cooperstown.  Just a really good player.  Worthy of a baseball card. 

17. Jason Giambi 
18. Jeff Kent 
19. Alfonso Soriano 
20. Billy Wagner 

I am not a big fan of putting relief pitchers into the Hall of Fame.  If I could restart the Hall of Fame, take people out, there are several relievers who would get the heave ho.  However, nobody is going to let me restart the Hall of Fame, so let me just say that I like Billy Wagner more than I like a few of the more recent elected closers.  Specifically Lee Smith and Trevor Hoffman.  I have some good Lee Smith blown save stories for a different post.  I would not vote for Billy Wagner, but I am sure there will likely be a day where he gets into Cooperstown. 

21. Bobby Abreu 

I really like Bobby Abreu. I am not sure that many people realize how good his career numbers are, or how good he was during his career.  If you like WAR, WAR7, JAWS, and some of those other metrics to measure careers, than Bobby Abreu is in line with Vladimir Guerrero and Gary Sheffield.  I also like that he has almost 600 career doubles, and also 400 stolen bases.  I am putting Bobby Abreu outside of my top 10, but he's a player who at a minimum deserves a little bit more dialogue. 

22. Gary Sheffield

I like numbers.  I do not always like to rely on my opinions of players during their career as a barometer of whether they are Hall worthy or not.  Gary Sheffield is in that same neighborhood as Bobby Abreu.  There are some numbers that are really good, like he has more than 500 home runs.  He's also one player, my opinion from watching him play, who feels like he should have better numbers.  Plus, that bat waggle was sort of scary as a Cardinals fan.  I would not have a problem with Sheffield being in the Hall, but I have 10 players I like more. 

That brings me to my Top 10 players I would vote for if I had a Hall of Fame ballot.  Each of them gets a blurb. 


10. Derek Jeter 

I would vote for Derek Jeter.  I think he's a Hall of Famer.  I also don't think he is as good as Ozzie Smith or Cal Ripken.  Does ARod count as a shortstop, because he was not as good as him either.  Also Robin Yount.  Yep, Derek Jeter is a Hall of Famer.  Probably a good thing he was on the Yankees, otherwise he would be sitting around for the next two decades like Alan Trammell. 

9.  Sammy Sosa 

I do not really care about steroids.  There were a lot of players who took them, and it did not guarantee players success.  You still had to be talented enough to actually hit the ball.  See Adam Piatt.  Sammy hit 600 home runs, which included three seasons with more than 60 home runs.  He should probably get a "Thank You" card from Major League Baseball for the whole 1998 home run race.  Baseball was very good to Sammy, let's do a little better.  Put him in the Hall. 

8. Andruw Jones 

Let me tell you about modern centerfielders from the 1990s and 2000s.  Kenny Lofton should be in the Hall of Fame, but he was off the ballot in a year.  Jim Edmonds should be in the Hall of Fame, but he was off the ballot in a year.  Andruw Jones has done better.  I know there are many people who do not like Andruw Jones.  There are two halves of his career.  The Braves half was Hall of Fame worthy.  The Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox, and Yankees half was not.  In conclusion, Jim Edmonds and Kenny Lofton should be in the Hall of Fame. 

7. Manny Ramirez 

I am a big fan of Manny.  He has 555 home runs, 2,500 hits, 1,800 RBIs, a .585 slugging percentage, and a .996 career OPS.  Manny also helped the Red Sox win two World Series championships.  Have I ever mentioned that his rookie cards were photographed at Duke?  I know the answer is yes.  Pretty cool local connection. 

6.  Scott Rolen 

Rolen does not have the counting numbers that are essential for many Hall of Fame voters, but I still think he is worthy of a place in Cooperstown.  Even without great counting numbers, there are many metrics that place him amongst the top dozen or so third baseman.  Rolen's peak years with the Phillies and Cardinals were very good, in line with many of the already enshrined at his position.  I do not really care if ended up getting traded out of every city he played, put him in. 

5. Todd Helton 

I had Helton outside my 10 players last year on my Hall of Fame post last year.  Yes, there are some problematic numbers with Helton, especially his home and road splits.  However, I am not going to penalize him for playing half of his career in Coors.  Many players have been on the Rockies, but few are Hall of Fame worthy.  He only had 369 home runs, which might seem low with a long career at Coors, but he also had almost 600 doubles.  Throw in a batting title, along with a great career slashline, and I am fine with Helton being in the Hall. 

4. Curt Schilling 

I have a lot of problems with Curt Schilling the person.  There are plenty of other players in the Hall that have said and done plenty of questionable things.  Curt Schilling the baseball player is Hall of Fame worthy.  Great Postseason player. 

3. Larry Walker 

I have posted a lot about Larry Walker in the past.  I feel like it's all been covered.  I also feel like he is going to make it into the Hall this year.  Just a feeling. 

2.  Roger Clemens 

Clemens has 350 wins and more than 4,500 strikeouts.  He's the greatest right-handed pitcher that I have seen in person.  Yes, he was on steroids.  No, I do not care. 

1.  Barry Bonds 

Barry Bonds is a Hall of Famer.  That's the blurb.