This pack rip is also featured on A Pack to be Named Later, my first entry on that great blog run by Matt F. of Heartbreaking Cards of Staggering Genius fame.
(Topps censoring Delmon Young’s face from younger collectors.)
2004. What happened in 2004? The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, made its maiden voyage. The final episode of Friends aired. New Jersey’s finest Jim McGreevey came out publicly as a gay man. One of the world’s worst natural disasters occurred when a tsunami struck Indonesia a day after Christmas. We lost Ronald Reagan, Marlon Brando, Christopher Reeve, Janet Leigh, Reggie White, Tug McGraw, and Johhny Ramone in 2004.
That’s great and all Nick, but what the hell does this have to do with you? 2004 is the year I started collecting baseball cards. And I haven’t looked back. I have many goals as a card collector, and one of them is to collect every baseball card set from 2004. Impossible you say? Yeah, no kidding. But it’s always fun to try, right?
I picked up this pack of 2004 Bowman 1st Edition a while ago and was saving it for a rainy day. These cards were made six years ago, an eternity in baseball card years. To add a little spice to this pack, let’s go through each card and see if that player actually played professional baseball in 2010. And away... we… go.
#93: Jason Phillips
Survey says… no. Phillips last played in 2007 with the Toronto Blue Jays. Great start!
First Year #169: Matt Moses
No. Moses last played in 2009 with the Minnesota Twins organization, a place he’s been since being drafted by the club in 2003.
#114: Marlon Byrd
Yes. Marlon played with the Chicago Cubs last year and has two more years left on the three-year deal he signed before the 2010 season. He made a splash at the All-Star Game with a fantastic catch.
#129: Andy Pettitte
Um… yes.
First Year #287: Ryan Hankins
No. Hankins last played in 2005… a year after this card was made. Ouch.
First Year #305: Sheldon Fulse
It’s never a good sign when Baseball-Reference takes you straight to the Minor League page after typing in a player’s name. Fulse hasn’t played since 2008.
First Year #174: David Aardsma
Yes. Aardsma was the closer with the Seattle Mariners in 2010, giving M’s fans heart attacks every time he stepped on the mound. He blew five saves in thirty-one chances, or a .839 save percentage rate. Yikes.
First Year #194: Dan Giese
No. Giese last pitched for the Oakland A’s in 2009. The name Giese sounded familiar, and I had to dig deep in my brain to remember that he pitched for the Yankees in 2008. And he didn’t do half bad either, going 1-3 with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.2 WHIP.
#53: Luis Gonzalez
No. Luis last played in 2008 with the Florida Marlins. Many fans remember his monster 2001 season as he, Randy Johnson, and Curt Schilling carried the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series championship.
#165: Tom Gorzelanny
Yes. A player drafted by the Pirates, that doesn’t play for the Pirates anymore? Really? Gorzelanny was shipped to the Cubs in 2009 and has been pitching for them since.
Well, we could have done worse. But not much worse. Four out of ten players in the pack were playing professional baseball in 2010, for the people keeping score at home. Damn Bowman First Edition. Sweet 2004 nostalgia.
(Topps censoring Delmon Young’s face from younger collectors.)2004. What happened in 2004? The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, made its maiden voyage. The final episode of Friends aired. New Jersey’s finest Jim McGreevey came out publicly as a gay man. One of the world’s worst natural disasters occurred when a tsunami struck Indonesia a day after Christmas. We lost Ronald Reagan, Marlon Brando, Christopher Reeve, Janet Leigh, Reggie White, Tug McGraw, and Johhny Ramone in 2004.
That’s great and all Nick, but what the hell does this have to do with you? 2004 is the year I started collecting baseball cards. And I haven’t looked back. I have many goals as a card collector, and one of them is to collect every baseball card set from 2004. Impossible you say? Yeah, no kidding. But it’s always fun to try, right?
I picked up this pack of 2004 Bowman 1st Edition a while ago and was saving it for a rainy day. These cards were made six years ago, an eternity in baseball card years. To add a little spice to this pack, let’s go through each card and see if that player actually played professional baseball in 2010. And away... we… go.
#93: Jason Phillips
Survey says… no. Phillips last played in 2007 with the Toronto Blue Jays. Great start!First Year #169: Matt Moses
No. Moses last played in 2009 with the Minnesota Twins organization, a place he’s been since being drafted by the club in 2003.#114: Marlon Byrd
Yes. Marlon played with the Chicago Cubs last year and has two more years left on the three-year deal he signed before the 2010 season. He made a splash at the All-Star Game with a fantastic catch.#129: Andy Pettitte
Um… yes.First Year #287: Ryan Hankins
No. Hankins last played in 2005… a year after this card was made. Ouch.First Year #305: Sheldon Fulse
It’s never a good sign when Baseball-Reference takes you straight to the Minor League page after typing in a player’s name. Fulse hasn’t played since 2008.First Year #174: David Aardsma
Yes. Aardsma was the closer with the Seattle Mariners in 2010, giving M’s fans heart attacks every time he stepped on the mound. He blew five saves in thirty-one chances, or a .839 save percentage rate. Yikes.First Year #194: Dan Giese
No. Giese last pitched for the Oakland A’s in 2009. The name Giese sounded familiar, and I had to dig deep in my brain to remember that he pitched for the Yankees in 2008. And he didn’t do half bad either, going 1-3 with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.2 WHIP.#53: Luis Gonzalez
No. Luis last played in 2008 with the Florida Marlins. Many fans remember his monster 2001 season as he, Randy Johnson, and Curt Schilling carried the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series championship.#165: Tom Gorzelanny
Yes. A player drafted by the Pirates, that doesn’t play for the Pirates anymore? Really? Gorzelanny was shipped to the Cubs in 2009 and has been pitching for them since.Well, we could have done worse. But not much worse. Four out of ten players in the pack were playing professional baseball in 2010, for the people keeping score at home. Damn Bowman First Edition. Sweet 2004 nostalgia.
My first official rookie card of the great A-Rod. Although not as desirable as the SP RC, it’s sure a spiffy edition to the collection.
Here’s hoping he reaches the Hall as a pioneer. The surgery that saves pitcher’s careers is only coined after him for Chrissakes.
Tony Oliva of the Minnseota Twins. Wait, that’s not spelled right… ERROR CARD.
Beautiful design? Check. Elegant texture? Check. Memorabilia pieces? Check. Alex Rodriguez? Check. This card can easily go head-to-head with any other card in my collection, and the fact that I got this for a great price only sweetens the nectar of the card. I shall put this in four penny sleeves, two toploaders, and a bulletproof case and hire a 24-hour bodyguard to personally protect it from any harm. Or I could just drool over it and kiss it goodnight.
I have heard of Victory before but never possessed one until this card. It looks to be some sort of game-gimmick, and you know how mad those get me. Let’s ignore that and savor the obnoxious tie-die borders and the flimsy card material. Gee, I’m not liking Victory too much.
An oddball Mo card? Sure, why not? I’ve never heard of this MLB Showdown thing either, but it looks to be another sort of game-gimmick. Did I do something wrong Kerry?
Jorge is actually having a decent postseason, which is coming as a pleasant surprise. In fact, quite a 
Another first encounter from a particular set, this time 2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes. However, I’m really digging this set. The cards have beautiful designs and a nice feel to them, and after looking up the set, I have a strong interest in purchasing a box.
Another oddball card just for good measure. This was some sort of online code thing Pacific came out with in 1998 (did people even know what the internet was in ’98) and from the looks of it, it just seems like a pain in the ass. The photo’s nice, though.
For Card’s Sake favorite Mario Encarnacion. We first saw Mario in the 
Not one…
… but two numbered Halladay cards. The Heritage card also marks the first serial numbered card in my collection with Doc in a Phillies uniform.
What I like about the retro sets is that there is usually a historical insert, and being a major history buff, I can’t complain. My favorites are the inserts with the oddball historical events (the first radio contest?).
Okay, so Jeff Francis isn’t exactly the most desirable guy… but the framed autos are just too nice to pass up.
This is a neat card that comes from a set within a base set. The back of the card has a blurb that serves as a great reassurance that stats can be easily deceptive (hence the term “Inside the Numbers”). Says Peter Gammons: “Forget the 7-15 record last year; he got the worst run support of any pitcher in baseball. Abbott’s start-by-start performance in 1991 could have earned him the Cy Young; he has a 2.83 ERA the last two years.”
This little subset was featured in UD’s Series 1 release to commemorate… you guessed it, the closing of Yankee Stadium. Of course, UD went on to (much) bigger inserts to celebrate the occasion.
Another collectable insert from 2007 Topps. I just love the inserts from that year… hint, hint.
The lure of a low-numbered card in every pack drew me to the 2008 set… and now I see why it is hated amongst the collecting community. How annoying, these things are!
Baseball cards aren’t the same without a license… and baby if it isn’t licensed it isn’t fun. Oh, oh, oh.
I love getting excited over rookie card! Didn’t you already know 
And the first card of the box is… a hyped rookie that everyone wanted to desperately collect in 2008. Reminds me of someone…
And the second card of the box is… a short print of a Yankee! Box breaks recover oh so quickly.
And the third card of the box is... a hit! Volquez has a nice lookin’ signature and of course nothing beats on card.
I love this picture. Not to mention its bordered and a short print. Holla!
Two Griffeys in a row? Two short prints in a row? I’ll take it. By the way, I love this picture.
Case hit! Case hit! Case hit! Case hit! Sweeeeeeet. I was fortunate enough to pull a Chien-Ming Wang a few years ago from a pack of Sweet Spot, but accidentally chipped the border while trying to stuff it in a top loader. It’s nice to pull another one, this time without damaging it. While Lyle isn’t the biggest name to come out of the checklist, he’s still an important part of Yankee history and a great addition.
Yup, these are here again. Not as exciting as pulling a memorabilia card, but it satisfies this Yankees fan.
Dominate against the Yankees, mediocre against other teams. Seriously look up the splits, it’s ridiculous.
We now know that Evan Longoria investors are far smarter than Stephen Strasburg investors.
I’m not sure how this picture is even possible. At what angle could Freddy Sanchez be on deck and nothing but Pittsburgh’s skyline is in front of him? If anyone could provide some insight, it would be greatly appreciated.
Cover boy alert!
“I guess everybody’s happy that I threw at Jon Kruk.”
You’d think a nice red bordered card would be numbered… but alas. Actually, the red bordered cards that are numbered are 1/1s, so you may guess I was pretty excited to pull a red bordered SP. Regardless of its numbering, or lack of, it’s nice to pull a legend like Mr. Cub.
Interesting choice to depict Winfield on the Blue Jays. Sure he won a championship with them and had a good season… but do people remember Winfield as a Blue Jay?
Roy! I think I already have a black border of Doc, but you can’t have too many of those.
Do Sox fans get pissed when people can’t spell or pronounce Yastrzemski?
Oh man… definitely a candidate for “Unintentionally Hilarious Cards”.
Double alert! Double alert! And the first card in the pack again. And the first card in the pack again. C’mon UD… C’mon UD…
Okay, UD, I may understand Winfield, but why in God’s name do you put Lou Brock in a Cubs uniform? Why, why, why? Name me three people that remember Lou Brock in a Cubs uniform. I dare you.
Holy snikes that’s sexy! This card is extremely thick… the way I like my women. The jersey piece actually has some sort of originality; a stitch is going straight through the middle with the upper part looking like mesh. Nice to get the original Pudge instead of… Kelly Johnson. Yikes.
I don’t know what I’m going to do when Mo retires. Honestly… I’m scared.