2003 Topps Shoebox

2003 Topps Shoebox was similar to the Topps All-Time Fan Favorites but took the idea to a complete concept.

The cards were sold as a complete set and came in a box which was shaped like a shoebox. There were 12 8-card packs, 3 packs for each decade from the 1950s through the 1980s. Each pack came with a generous piece of gum in a plastic wrapper.

Inside the box were 4 bays, with the decades separated into separate bays. Sitting on top of the bays was a plastic holder with four original cards, one from each decade, inside. The cards are surrounded by a black frame such that you can see the front and back of the card. The frame is held together by screws. The holder is as long and wide as the box. There was the possibility of getting a rare card in this holder but the best card I got was a 1987 Tom Seaver card that I already had.

The frame is wrapped in tissue paper, so when you open the box, it's like you've opened an actual shoebox with brand new shoes in it.

The selection of cards is excellent. If you owned the originals of these cards it would be the a great baseball card collection.

Most of the cards are either reproductions of rookie cards or, at least, cards from early in a player's career. The reproductions are very good and except for the gold shield on the front and a little strip on the back which gives copyright info, they look like the original cards.

That being said, there are some quirks. Many player's rookie cards have them appearing with one or more other players.



Use the Mike Schmidt card as an example. Schmidt appears with Ron Cey and John Hilton on his rookie card. What Topps did for the Schmidt Shoebox card, is to take just the picture of Schmidt and make it into the whole card. This is the one thing about the set I don't like.

There are a number of cards from the 1960s and 1970s where they did this. In some cases, the small picture of the player doesn't enlarge well (especially if the original photo wasn't very good) and the Shoebox card looks a bit blurry.

Right now, a lot of these cards are being offered on eBay for about a dollar. I paid about $40 for the set when it was new. There are several complete sets, with unopened packs, selling in the $40-$50 range. These are pictured as opened boxes on the auction pages so I expect you won't find a great old card in the holder.

My set is missing a card (I don't remember which one) but I got a double. I'll have to look through these auctions to see if I can get my missing card. I've kept the whole set together, including the wrappers, the gum (still in their wrappers), the card holder, the cards and the tissue paper in the original box.

2008 SP Legendary Cuts Legendary Memorabilia

I'm a sucker for Mike Schmidt cards. Michael Jack Schmidt apparently remains popular in the hobby as there are a lot of his cards produced every year. I usually try to buy a good sampling of them. Actually I try to buy all that I can afford but am limited by what actually shows up on eBay.

Here are two cards I bought in July. Do they look different to you? First off, you must notice that the back ground of the lettering on the bottom of the card is colored differently. The first card is a tan color, the other, some version of red

The really sharp-eyed will notice that the top card is serial numbered to 99, while the other card is serial numbered to 35. There are 3 other versions of this card, numbered to 25, 15 and 10. I guess each is colored differently although I expect I'll never see one of them. None of them are currently available on eBay.

I like the cards. I had 9 Schmidt jersey cards before I bought these and none of them feature the powder blue away uniform the Phillies used to wear

2005 Prime Patches Hall of Fame Materials Double Swatch Prime

Game-used socks!

Or at least that's what the eBay listing said. The top swatch is actually from a game-used stirrup. That's not the same as a sock but it's worn on the same part of the anatomy.

Like the 2004 Donruss Diamond Kings I posted a few days ago, this is another set which is full of inserts. There were 209 inserts with this set. There were 89 cards in the base set and 4,345 different insert cards. All of the insert cards had either an autograph, a relic, or both. Many cards have more than one relic, some have as many as 4. All were serial numbered.

I never saw a pack of these cards in the wild. According to Beckett, there were 2 inserts per pack, so I'm guessing the packs were expensive. They cards are not hard to find on eBay and some of them are reasonably priced. I paid $14.32 for this Schmidt card. I probably wouldn't spend so much for any other player.

In recent weeks I've managed to buy 6 cards from this set: J. D. Drew Prime Patches Major League Materials Triple Swatch (actually I got this a year ago, the card has a bat, a jersey and a shoe); Tony Gwynn Prime Patches Portraits Jumbo Swatch (this card has about the largest jersey patch I've ever seen, it's more than half the card); Jim Thome Prime Patches Portraits Team Logo Patch (bonus, he's a Phillie on this card); Moises Alou Prime Patches Portraits Triple Patch (bonus, he's an Astro on this card even though he left the Astros in 2001. It has 2 jersey pieces and a bat), Jeromy Burnitz Prime Patches Portraits Quad Swatch Prime (it has 4 jersey patches, 2 white, 1 black and one gray with a piece of patch on it). I paid less than $6 a piece for these (not counting the Schmidt). Not bad considering that two of them are surefire future Hall of Famers. You can see my whole collection of these here.