30 Year Top 50: 2005 Bowman Chrome

#4- The 2005 Bowman Chrome set is the best collection of rookie autographed cards produced in the last 30 years.  There were many important rookie cards issued during the 2005 baseball card calendar.  Andrew McCutchen, Justin Verlander, Matt Kemp, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ryan Bruan, Billy Butler, and Jered Weaver just to name a few. A quick glance at some of the card sets from 2005 will show that many of the important rookie card players made it into some of the sets.  There are even a few sets that included an autograph or two from the spectacular list of rookie players.  However, this set has them all on cardboard and almost all of them have an on-card autograph in this set.

2005 Bowman Chrome Justin Verlander Autograph

Like many of the chrome re-hashes of Bowman and Topps base sets, I did not initially collect this set when it was issued in 2005.  Instead, I slowly picked up the cards over a few years.  My first card that I went after was this Justin Verlander autographed rookie card.  I did not follow the Tigers too much in 2006, Verlander's first full season, until the Tigers reached the playoffs.  I was impressed by what I saw and decided that a nice Verlander rookie card would be a good addition to the collection.  

2005 Bowman Chrome Ryan Braun Autograph

About a year later I added the Ryan Braun autograph when the Brewers called him up and I decided to just pick up the rest of the set.  The set was really well thought of when it was released in 2005, but in the years since it's release the cards have really taken off in value and popularity.  In my opinion, there are seven key rookie cards in the set: Ryan Braun, Justin Verlander, Matt Kemp, Andrew McCutchen, Jered Weaver, Ryan Zimmerman, and Jacoby Ellsbury.  

2005 Topps Chrome Matt Kemp Autograph

There are other good players in set and I've heard people argue the pros and cons of the Stephen Drew, Billy Butler, and Matt Garza cards too.  However, I think that the three aforementioned players fall short of being included in my group of seven key rookies from this set.  Spend a few minutes looking them up on Baseball Reference and there is clearly a line here between the elite players and good players.

2005 Bowman Chrome Jered Weaver Autograph

One of the best ways to rate a great set is to pick out the great cards in the set and then try to determine their effect on the rest of the set.  If a set is not dynamic or spectacular the key cards will stand alone in spite of the rest of the set.  With great sets, the key cards have heavy demand and value, but also drive the popularity, price, and demand on the rest of the cards.  

2005 Bowman Chrome XFractor Jeff Niemann Autograph

For example, one of my first cards I picked up after the Verlander was this Jeff Niemann card.  He was the third overall draft pick in the 2004 draft and was a highly thought of prospect in the lower minors.  I watched him for a year in Durham playing for the Bulls and he seemed like a solid pitcher, but nothing spectacular.  His rookie cards generally reflect Niemann's level of performance on the field.  Most sell for less than $5 and are pretty easy to find.  However, Niemann has an autograph in the 2005 Bowman Chrome set which regularly fetches over $10 and often has competitive bidding on Ebay.  The only explanation for this specific card being twice as valuable as the other Niemann rookie cards is that it is valued more because of the set, rather than the player.  

2005 Bowman Chrome Jacoby Ellsbury Autograph

This set can rarely be found for sale as a whole, but collectors can assemble the set card by card.  All of the cards are still available on the secondary market and haven't really dried up.  Most of the good rookie cards in the set sell north of $100 with paralleled serial numbered versions going much higher depending upon how limited the print run.  I worry about the health of Matt Kemp and Jacoby Ellsbury, so I could see a slight slide with their cards in the future.  However, players like Justin Verlander and Ryan Bruan are not going to get any cheaper and I think as the continue to compile good career numbers these cards will be harder to find and even more expensive.  

Two More Cards Shops In The Lou

I usually try to hit three card shops in the St. Louis area when I return home, but this spring trip has been really busy and I have only been able to hit up two different stores.  I will plug my third store this summer perhaps. 


First Stop: The Sports Card Dugout In Webster Groves, Missouri

I actually lived a few miles from this store for a number of years and kind of consider it to be my home store.  Every store has it's strengths and the best part about the Dugout to me is the selection of wax.  The owner, Randy, does have a lot of singles and will definitly help with lists and singles.  However, like most stores in St. Louis the store is extremely baseball heavy and there are premiums placed on Cardinals players.  I don't often buy single cards from the Dugout, but when I do, I focus away from the Cardinals and get some great deals. 

So, now for my wax plug.  Again, it's baseball heavy, but if you need a box of football, basketball, or hockey it's going to be there, or the owner will help you find it.  The owner does two things to make the wax shine: knowledge of product and competitive pricing.  When a known product comes out it is usually a great day to visit the Dugout.  Randy, the owner, will often bust open several boxes (or a case) and isn't shy about sharing details and opinions about the product.  He will show you some good and some ugly, but he will keep you away from bad boxes and steer you towards the great ones.  The pricing is also really good.  It's not going to beat the mega-stores on-line, but for a local store nobody can touch him. 

I walked in the other afternoon and was happy to see the store.  He had four different lines of baseball wax in stock: Topps I, Topps Heritage, Topps Tribute, and Musuem Collection.  He talked me through each box of cards and gave me the run down of pros and cons.  I eventually decided on a box of Heritage.  I was told that the boxes this year had great collation, great design, and I would get some good parallels, a jersey or autograph, and a few inserts.  I know I have pretty much put together my set, but I went ahead and got the box. 

So how did I do?  In the twenty-four packs I had zero doubles, a few inserts, and eight short prints.  My highlights are pictured below:

Top Row (L-R) 1963 Topps Craig Andeson, Recollection, Chris Ianetta Chrome, Joey Votto Chrome, and Vance Worley Chrome

Bottom Row: Matt Kemp Reverse, Jacoby Ellsbury Jersey

Second Stop: Southtown Sluggers In Saint Louis, Missouri

This is a great little card shop located in the southeast suburbs of the city.  The main thing you need with this store is time.  If you walk into the store looking for something specific you are going to be disappointed.  The store owner, Dave, is really helpful and will work hard to find what you want, but you have to give it itme.  If you go in, decide you are going to spend forty-five minutes looking and have X amount of dollars to spend you are going to be very happy.  The store literally has something for eveyone.  Like vintage?  He's got it.  Like shiny and new?  He's got it.  Cheap, expensive, and everything in between.  I use this store to find single cards that are hard to find.  I generally try to find cards to add to my Ray Lankford collection, fill in from recent Cardinals sets, and just generally good deals.  I probably looked through eight or nine five thousand card boxes, two or three large notebooks of autographs, and two eight-hundred count boxes of mateials cards.  I set my budget at $10.  You read that right.  Here's what I got:  

Three Ray Lankford Parallels: 2000 Topps Stadium Club First Day Issue, 1997 Topps Gallery Players Private Issue, and a 2000 Topps Finest Refractor.  The first two are serial numbered.  

2009 Donruss Brian Friday Autograph  

2011 Topps Heritage Dan Johnson Jersey

3 Cardinals Inserts/Parallels - 2001 Fleer Genuine Jim Edmonds High Interest, 2007 Topps Juan Encarnacion Parallel, 2011 Topps ALlen & Ginter Matt Holliday Insert

1998 SPX Delino Deshields.  I was missing this card to complete my Cardinals team seat. 

1988 Topps Danny Cox autograph