Completed insert set – 2003 Topps Red Backs

As promised – I finished up another insert set from 2003 – I got the Red backs done the same time I got the Blue Backs finished.  So back-to-back posts for these.  This is the third insert set I’ve completed from 2003.

Info about the set:

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Set description:  Topps didn’t reprint old cards in the flagship set for 2003.  Instead, they piggy-backed off of the Heritage theme that had gotten skipped when they started with 1952 Topps (in 2001 Heritage).  Paying homage to the 1951 Red Back & Blue Back sets, Topps issued Blue Back cards in series 1 and Red Back cards in series 2.  The cards are standard size – unlike the 1951 Playing card size set.  They also deviated from the OG by only making 40 cards in each series (the originals had 52).

Set composition:  40 cards, 1:12 Topps series 2

Hall of Famers:  12.  Ichiro, Guerrero, Jeter, Piazza, Rolen, Randy Johnson, Chipper, Thome, Ivan Rodriguez, Bagwell, Larry Walker, Pedro, Maddux

Ken Griffey Jr. was swapped out of this series

How I put the set together:

• 3 cards from the s2 HTA box I opened
• 2 cards from the National Sports Card Convention (2015)
• 1 card from another card show
• 10 cards from trades
• 7 cards from Sportlots
• 6 cards from Beckett’s Marketplace
• 11 cards from COMC

Thoughts on the set:  Same as the last post!  Pretty cool set at the time, sucks they printed it on the same cardstock and not Heritage card stock.  Also sucks they made it a different card size than the original.  Also sucks they didn’t make the easy jump to make it a 52-card set.  And finally – sucks they didn’t number it!

I like this set a bit more – the photos are cropped to not be as close up.

Card that completed my set:  Albert Pujols

I got this one on COMC on Black Friday, which showed up at just at the end of last year.  The Captain for the Blue Backs, the Machine for the Red Backs – so I think I was holding out on a few of the more expensive ones.

Best card (my opinion):  Carlos Delgado

Love the Blue Jays cap from then and this is a pic that fits with this set.  As I said – I like the focus on these being a little further back from the Blue Backs set.

My Favorite Reds card:  Adam Dunn

He’s the only one in this series after they pulled Griffey and Austin Kearns.

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These cards have no number on the back – but there is an order that both Beckett and Baseballcardpedia follow.  For tracking purposes while I was trying to finish this set – I used that.

See my rant on not numbering these cards in the previous Blue Backs set post!  Here’s a scan of the set.

Any other tidbits:  In addition to Griffey & Kearns, Bernie Williams, Eric Chavez, Eric Hinske, Jimmy Rollins, Kas Ishii, Mark Prior and Richie Sexson were not in this series after being in the Blue Backs set.  They were replaced by Barry Zito, Brian Giles, Delgado, Garret Anderson, Magglio Ordonez, Manny Ramirez, Mark Prior, Miguel Tejada and Torii Hunter.

Here’s the breakout of “events” in this set – a lot more Balls and Strikes compared to the Blue Backs

• Ball – 12
• Strike – 8
• Single – 3
• Stolen Base – 3
• Foul Ball – 3
• Out – 2
• Fly Out – 2
• Bunt – 2
• Home Run – 1
• Triple – 1
• Double – 1
• Hit By Pitch – 1
• Bunt (sacrifice) – 1
• Balk – 1
• Foul Out – 0

Completed insert set – 2003 Topps Blue Backs

This is only my second completed insert set from 2003 – though there’s another one coming up next!

Info about the set:

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Set description:  Topps didn’t reprint old cards in the flagship set for 2003.  Instead, they piggy-backed off of the Heritage theme that had gotten skipped when they started with 1952 Topps (in 2001 Heritage).  Paying homage to the 1951 Red Back & Blue Back sets, Topps issued Blue Back cards in series 1 and Red Back cards in series 2.  The cards are standard size – unlike the 1951 Playing card size set.  They also deviated from the OG by only making 40 cards in each series (the originals had 52).

Set composition:  40 cards, 1:12 series 1

Hall of Famers:  13.  Jeter, Guerrero, Griffey Jr., Piazza, Chipper, Ivan Rodriguez, Bagwell, Thome, Pedro, Randy Johnson, Larry Walker, Maddux, Rolen

How I put the set together:

• 6 cards (3 each) from the s1 hobby and HTA boxes I opened
• 3 cards from the National Sports Card Convention (2 in 2013, 1 in 2015)
• 2 cards from trades
• 15 cards from Sportlots
• 8 cards from Beckett’s Marketplace
• 6 cards from COMC

Thoughts on the set:  Pretty cool set at the time, sucks they printed it on the same cardstock and not Heritage card stock.  Also sucks they made it a different card size than the original.  Also sucks they didn’t make the easy jump to make it a 52-card set.  And finally – sucks they didn’t number it!

Card that completed my set:  Derek Jeter

I got this one on COMC on Black Friday, which showed up at just at the end of last year.  Their shipping times are coming back down!

Best card (my opinion):  Todd Helton

The flipped up sunglasses for Helton was the coolest photo in my opinion.

My Favorite Reds card:  Adam Dunn

This was a fun time to be a Reds fan.  Griffey was still there and we hoped for some prime production for him, Sean Casey was the mayor, and Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns were young up-and-comers!  Griffey and Kearns also had cards in this set.

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These cards have no number on the back – but there is an order that both Beckett and Baseballcardpedia follow.  For tracking purposes while I was trying to finish this set – I used theirs.

I will say – I hate when cards aren’t numbered.  It’s like Topps is saying “we don’t think of this as a set you should try to complete”.  And the original ones had card numbers on the front – so it doesn’t even go with the history of their company they’re trying to pay homage to!

Soap box rant over.  Here’s a scan of the set.

Any other tidbits:  Here’s the breakout of “events” in this set:

• Single – 5
• Out – 4
• Ball – 4
• Strike – 4
• Fly Out – 3
• Foul Ball – 3
• Stolen Base – 3
• Home Run – 3
• Double – 2
• Hit By Pitch – 2
• Foul Out – 2
• Bunt – 2
• Bunt (sacrifice) – 1
• Triple – 1
• Balk – 1

Completed set – 2003 Topps

Another one I’ve had in the queue but not for nearly as long as the 2004 set.  I completed this one in December last year with a Greg Maddux card purchased form Sport Lots.

I now have 24 flagship Topps sets from the Lifetime Topps project completed, still not a full string with 2002 missing.  But I have 1980-2001 and then 2003-2004.

Info about my set:

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How I put the set together:

• 274 cards from the series 1 HTA jumbo box
• 319 cards from the series 2 HTA jumbo box
• 62 cards from trades
• 31 cards from Sportlots

Card that completed my set:  #694 – Greg Maddux AW-GG (purchased on Sportlots)

I missed this card in late 2021 so had just this one open for a while for this set.  I purchased a bunch of cards on Sportlots on Black Friday last year and this arrived in December.

Set composition:  720 cards (526 individual ML player cards*, 30 First Year cards**, 10 Future Stars dual player cards, 10 Prospect dual player cards, 15 Draft Picks, 26 Managers***, 12 League Leaders, 23 Sporting News All-Stars, 24 Award Winners, 5 Season Highlights, 9 Postseason Highlights, 30 Team Checklists)

*The 526 individual player cards include 10 All-Star Rookies

**I’m including the First Year cards as a subset – but one player did actually play in 2002 (Cliff Lee)

***There are 4 teams without managers and Topps just randomly filled in those gaps in the numbers for the manager subset with player cards.  Kind of weird how many that is.

Representation of ’02 MLB season:

Out of the 526 player cards, 3 players did not play in the 2002 season.

• Jose Contreras was in series 2 despite not making his MLB debut until 2003.
• John Franco & Darren Dreifort both had Tommy John surgery and missed all of 2002.

No players have two regular cards in the set, a phenomenon that cropped up in the 2001 set.

With the above and the Cliff Lee card from the First Year subset, that leaves 524 different players represented.  In addition, there were 15 players in the Future Stars subset (Brandon Puffer and Jung Bong on the same card) who did play in the 2002 regular season.  And the Prospects subset had 2 players who made the Majors in 2003 – including a guy who would have an NFL start at QB in his future (Drew Henson).

So now that leads to 545 players who were in 2003 Topps and played in the 2002 MLB season.  The 545 players represent 44.7% out of the 1,219 players who played in MLB in 2003.

Earliest active player from this set:  #72 – Rickey Henderson, #279 – Frank Robinson (if you include non-active players)

Again, two answers to this.  2003 Topps was the final base Topps card for Rickey Henderson (during his playing career), so this is the last time he is the earliest active player.  He made his debut by playing both games of a doubleheader on June 24, 1979.

If you include subsets, etc., and retired players – Frank Robinson gets the nod as the Expos manager.  Robinson made his debut for the Reds on Opening Day 1956.

Last active player from this set:  #200- Albert Pujols

There are no currently active players in this set.  Oliver Perez pitched a few games in April of last year for the Diamondbacks before being released, so Pujols holds the latest player distinction via his incredible retirement tour last year with the Cardinals.  La Maquina played his final regular season game on October 4, 2002, notching a single to plate 2 runs in the third inning for this final play of the regular season.  The Cardinals lost both games of the Wild Card Series to the Phillies, the final game being October 8, 2022.  Pujols did go 2-4 in that game, pulled for a pinch runner in the 8th after his last single in the 2-0 loss that ended St. Louis season and his career.

Player with the most cards in the set: 

Alex Rodriguez – 6 cards – #1, #338 / #339/ #340 (League Leaders), #358 (SN All-Star), #690 (Award Winners)

Like the nest year’s set that I just posted, A-Rod* had a ridiculous* year* in his 2002 Rangers campaign, so he is on a ton of cards for the 2003 Topps set.  He has 3 cards in the League Leaders subset (Runs, HR, RBI), a card in the Sporting News All-Star subset, a card in the Award Winners subset (Gold Glove), and of course his regular card which is the first card of the set.

Randy Johnson was runner up here with 5 cards.

First Card and the Hundreds:  #1 – Alex Rodriguez, #100 – Ichiro, #200 – Albert Pujols, #300 – Andy Marte (FY), #400 – Derek Jeter, #500 – Mike Piazza, #600 – Garret Anderson, #700 – Andruw Jones (AW)

Highest book value:  #311 – Kevin Youkilis RC

This isn’t the greatest pure rookie card set, which has a lot to do with Bowman prospecting but also just some timing stuff.  Youkilis generally is viewed as the highest valued card when I’ve checked on Beckett.

Most notable card: #680 – Joe Mauer / Justin Morneau PROS

Not a true RC for either guy, but a pretty great tandem.  It’s not too often Topps hits this well on a 2-player card like this.  But here you’ve got 2 future MVPs, from the same organization who both came up at relatively similar timeframes and stayed with that organization together for over a decade.

Best card (my opinion): #400 – Derek Jeter

Nobody will confuse me with a Derek Jeter fan, but I have learned to appreciate him more in his retirement.  This is a really cool card, him making a play at 2nd, with Gil Hodges retired number in the background.  Plus, one thing that I always think about when I pick these cards is how it goes with the design.  I don’t particularly like the 2003 design, mostly because of the odd blue that just doesn’t seem baseball card-ish to me.  But Yankees & Mets with that background and the right spacing from the camera and it works really well here.

Second best card (also my opinion): #64 – Mike Williams

If you look closely at this one, someone appears to be handing Williams his own 2000 Topps card to sign.  With the foul pole in the background, a pretty cool and interesting shot overall.

Best subset card: #693 – Torii Hunter AW-GG

Honorable mention to the NL Center Field winner Jim Edmonds.  The pictures from this subset seem a lot better than the 2004 version (I noticed since I just did that post).  This is just an awesome photo – particularly for a card that honors his Gold Glove award – and could arguably be the winner for the next category…

Favorite action photo: #31 – Brian Giles

A few potential ones here – the Hunter AW above, Craig Wilson and Jim Thome regular cards also got consideration.  I just like the focus on this one, it really feels like it caught a moment.  And maybe a moment before a moment.

Favorite non-action photo: #582 – Dmitri Young

Da Meat Hook!  Doing some ninja stuff!

My Favorite Reds card: #510 – Jason LaRue

The horizontal shots are few and far in between for this set, but they are generally the best action shots.  This was a pretty easy choice.

Other Notable Cards:  A few more really cool shots.  Sorry again for duplication on the Dmitri Young card, I’m using photos from an earlier post!

Completed set – 2003 Topps Traded & Rookies

I made a few purchases last year on Sportlots to finish up some sets that were low hanging fruit.  One of those was 2003 Topps Traded & Rookies – where I had needed just one card for 5 years.

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Info about my set:

How I put the set together:

• 270 cards from the Topps Traded HTA jumbo box
• 4 card from a trade with reader Bill
• 1 card from Sportlots

Card that completed my set:  #T146T – Gabe Gross

I got this from Sportlots in early 2021, as I mentioned I did kind of catch-all buy of some low hanging fruit.

Set composition:  275 cards (115 single MLB player cards, 5 Managers, 45 Prospects, 110 1st Year Cards)

Representation of ’02 MLB season:  This set passed the point where this is relevant to do for traded.  The guys in the first 115 cards are all players who either signed with a new team in the offseason – for example, David Ortiz, Pudge Rodriguez or Cris Carpenter signing with Boston, Florida and St. Louis respectively.

There are also some mid-season 2003 trades like Aaron bleeping Boone (see below)!  There aren’t any players with their 2002 baseball teams in this set, so putting this type of comparison with the 2002 regular set doesn’t make a ton of sense.

Earliest active player from this set:  #T117 – Felipe Alou, #T73 – Rickey Henderson (active players)

The earlier player is Rickey Henderson.  So the player years from this set span from 1979 to 2022 – 6 different decades!  I’m saving extra scans and megabytes by including the scan I did when I first posted about this set – so Rickey has Roberto next to him here!

That excludes the managers, where Felipe Alou would bring it back 2 more decades as he debuted in 1958.

Last active player from this set:  #T158 – Adam Wainwright

Pretty wild there’s a guy in this set still playing – though it’s possible Wainwright will follow Yadier and Pujols and announce his retirement this offseason.

Highest book value:  #T200 – Robinson Cano

This is a true RC for Cano, so it’s way ahead of any other cards from the most recent Beckett I have.  Miguel Cabrera is in the Prospects subset, but this is a couple years after his true RC.

Most notable card:  #T200 – Robinson Cano

That it’s the most notable rookie card in a Traded set makes it the default most notable card as well, though the first Red Sox Topps based card for Big Papi is worth mentioning as well.

Best card (my opinion):  #T108 – Aaron Boone

A part of me should hate this card, because Boone was a bit of a fan favorite for me when he was with the Reds – and this card exists to point out he was traded away when they started to stink in the early aughts.  But he hit one of the biggest homers in postseason history, one of only 3 walk-off homers to clinch the pennant in the history of this great game – and this is the card that shows the midseason trade for it.

Second best card (also my opinion):  #T52 – David Ortiz

Obviously Ortiz moving to the Red Sox had a much bigger long term impact than the Boone trade.

Best subset card:  #T116 – Dusty Baker

Dusty finally got that World Series ring as a manager the other day.  He’s beloved throughout all of baseball, and despite some silly fans who think they can do better – his win-loss record is second to none.  Felt appropriate to pick him here.

Favorite action photo:  #T81 – Bobby Kielty

Traded/Update sets aren’t particularly known for their action shots.  This is a very good one.  The Aramis Ramirez card was the other one I considered – looks like he’s just hit a home run.

Favorite non-action photo:  #T100 – Kenny Rogers

The Gambler was always a pretty cool player, and this dugout shot works pretty well.  said, I like the cool effect with the background here.  I couldn’t have told you he played for Minnesota, but apparently he went 13-8 his one season there.

My Favorite Reds card:  #T168 – Joe Valentine

Unfortunate default here – of the 4 Reds cards in this set, Joe was the only guy who ever spent time with the actual Major League ballclub, though he had a negative WAR so maybe that should even DQ him for this distinct honor!

2003 Topps parallels – Carlos Delgado – finally finished!!!!

This is the product of finding one of those white whales!  I posted back in 2016 about the 2003 Topps parallels I was going after – and I’d never even seen his 2003 Chrome Silver Refractor.  The silver refractors were supposedly only in series 2.  This involved some pretty decent research (if I do say so) – I checked COMC’s history, looked through Worthpoint.  Far from exhaustive, but I’d never even seen the Delgado card.

It popped up on eBay recently, and I put about a $30 bid in on it (don’t tell the seller – it sold for $2.50 when I was the only bidder !) 🙂  And now I’m done with this year’s parallel collection…

2003 Topps

Card I selected:  #421 – Carlos Delgado

Delgado isn’t a Hall of Famer.  This isn’t the best card from this set.  But the blue goes well with his team (the Blue Jays).  And Delgado was an underrated player.  Most importantly, I was able to snag a card of Delgado from the Kanebo set, which is easily the hardest of the parallels to find.

There is one card of his I’ve never seen – the silver refractor which was only available in retail series 2 chrome packs.

# of cards (including the Topps card):  13

The parallel sets in 2003 include:

• Gold
• Black
• Home Team Advantage
• Kanebo
• Opening Day
• Opening Day Get a Hit Scratch-off
• Chrome
• Chrome Refractors
• Chrome Silver Refractors
• Chrome Gold Refractors
• Chrome Black Refractors
• Chrome Uncirculated X-fractors

Scans:

2003 Topps #421

2003 Topps Gold #421

Topps Gold was back for the third straight year (5th overall).  This parallel had a shiny gold foil border and was numbered to 2,003 on the back in gold foil stamping.  The front also has “52 years of collecting” written across the top.

2003 Topps Black #421

Topps started Topps Black as a much rarer parallel insert set in 2003.  The border is black.  Topps Black was numbered to 52, with a gold foil stamp on the back, to honor 52 years of collecting since the 1952 set.  It has the same “52 years of collecting” at the top of the front.

2003 Topps Home Team Advantage #421

Topps Limited was gone, but Topps still created a Home Team Advantage (HTA) factory set with a foil-stamped “Home Team Advantage” logo on the front.

2003 Topps Kanebo #8

Topps issued Japanese versions alongside a company called Kanebo for the 2nd year.  These seem to be harder to come by than the 2002 versions.  There are 55 cards, The backs are written in Japanese, and the card numbers are different.  The front differs from the regular Topps card in that it doesn’t have foil stamping and there’s no Topps logo.  The borders on the front and back are a different shade of blue – very close to the Opening Day cards.

2003 Topps Opening Day #15

Opening Day was back for the 6th time in 2003.  Tge 165 card set was retail only, and features the same photos from the base Topps set.  The border is a little bit lighter shade of blue, and the team logo on the front is replaced with the Topps Opening Day logo.  The back is the same as the Topps set except for the different number and slightly different copyright info.

2003 Topps Opening Day Scratch-Off #NNO

These stickers had a play-and-win game on the back.  It’s a partial parallel of the Opening Day set (72 cards).

2003 Topps Chrome #259

Topps Chrome was back for the 8th year.  It was 440 cards, so not the same size as the regular set.  The front of the card reproduces the base set using Topps chromium technology and the logo is the Topps Chrome logo.  The back of the card is the same as the regular set except for the Topps Chrome logo and slightly different copyright wording.

2003 Topps Chrome Refractor #259

Inserted every 5 packs of Topps Chrome were refractors with their colorful, reflective shine.  The word refractor is written by the number on the back – otherwise the back is the same as the regular Chrome card.  In 2003 Topps started numbering these – they were stamped in gold foil out of 699.

2003 Topps Chrome Silver Refractor #259

Series 2 retail packs had special silver refractors.  So it wasn’t a full parallel of Topps Chrome, which is a bit weird.  I was on the lookout for this card, had never seen it before, and now finally have it!

2003 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor #259

Topps Gold Refractors had the gold border and the refractor effect.  These were numbered out of 449.  The word gold refractor is noted on the back by the card number.

2003 Topps Chrome Black Refractor #259

Black Refractors were back, this time numbered out of 199.  The black refractor wording is noted on the back by the card number.

2003 Topps Chrome Uncirculated Xfractor #259

These cards came one per box as a box topper.  They have the refractor / diffraction effect but with a checkered finish that’s called “X-fractors”.  They come in a hard case and are thus “uncirculated”.  Xfractor is written at the bottom by the card number.

The “Rainbow”:

Any sets I didn’t get:  A few worth mentioning.  First, the Kanebo set comes with copper parallel.  Considering how hard it is to get the base card, getting the copper just isn’t realistic.  Though if I ever see it, I’ll try for it.  Also, Topps did create super-rare trademark variations where the Topps logo was the old logo from the 1970’s.  Delgado has a variation card, but it’s too rare for me to chase and I’m going with “variation isn’t a parallel” here.

Other cards I would have liked to do:  Griffey’s card is great in this set, and he has all of the above parallels.  But I did Griffey in 1999.  I thought about John Smoltz – he’s in a throwback Braves uniform on his card – but he didn’t have a Kanebo card.

Completed insert set – 2003 Topps Ryan Record Breakers

I finished another set recently and this is a white whale kind of set!  Over 3 years, I’ve slowly put together the set through eBay and COMC, and last month I got the last card of 7.

Info about the set:

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Set description:  Topps had a giant Record Breaker insert set in 2003, but it did a second off-shoot to commemorate Nolan Ryan’s 7 no-hitters.  There’s a card for each no-hitter, with a colorful background just like the regular set.

Set composition:  7 cards, I have no clue on the odds

Hall of Famers:  1 guy, 7 times

How I put the set together:

• 5 cards from eBay
• 2 cards from COMC

Thoughts on the set:  The regular set is way too large, but this set is pretty cool.  I wish it wasn’t so rare, though.

Card that completed my set:  #NR2 – Nolan Ryan (July 15, 1973)

I got this one on eBay last month.  I had 4 of the 7 cards going into 2018, then found 2 cards in January on eBay and the last card in April.

Best card (my opinion):  This is one of those sets that I just don’t think you can pick.  I don’t have a favorite Nolan Ryan no-hitter.  In fact, it would be easier for me to pick a least favorite card.  Ryan’s 7th no-hitter came on the day Rickey Henderson (my favorite non-Red player as a kid) broke Lou Brock’s stolen base record.  So it kind of overshadowed what was, in my opinion, a bigger moment.  I’ve always been a big fan or Nolan Ryan, though, so I got over it.

My Favorite Reds card:  There are none.  It sure would have been nice to have the Ryan Express on the Big Red Machine!

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Here’s a scan of the set.

Any other tidbits:  This Ryan Record Breaker set is a bit of a mystery to me – any info would be appreciated!  Beckett and Baseballcardpedia say that the Ryan No-Hitter Record Breaker cards come 1:2 per series 2 HTA Jumbo.  My series 2 box that I did was a s2 HTA Jumbo box, and I can tell you that’s not the case.  Regular Record Breaker cards come 1:2, but the Ryan cards do not.  In a box of 12 packs, I did not pull a single Ryan card.  Given the fact it will cost you over 10 bucks if you ever find one, they are much more rare than that.

2003 Topps parallels – Carlos Delgado (some hunting left – maybe)

2003 Topps

Card I selected:  #421 – Carlos Delgado

Delgado isn’t a Hall of Famer.  This isn’t the best card from this set.  But the blue goes well with his team (the Blue Jays).  And Delgado was an underrated player.  Most importantly, I was able to snag a card of Delgado from the Kanebo set, which is easily the hardest of the parallels to find.

There is one card of his I’ve never seen – the silver refractor which was only available in retail series 2 chrome packs.

# of cards (including the Topps card):  13

The parallel sets in 2003 include:

• Gold
• Black
• Home Team Advantage
• Kanebo
• Opening Day
• Opening Day Get a Hit Scratch-off
• Chrome
• Chrome Refractors
• Chrome Silver Refractors
• Chrome Gold Refractors
• Chrome Black Refractors
• Chrome Uncirculated X-fractors

Scans:

2003 Topps #421

2003 Topps Gold #421

Topps Gold was back for the third straight year (5th overall).  This parallel had a shiny gold foil border and was numbered to 2,003 on the back in gold foil stamping.  The front also has “52 years of collecting” written across the top.

2003 Topps Black #421

Topps started Topps Black as a much rarer parallel insert set in 2003.  The border is black.  Topps Black was numbered to 52, with a gold foil stamp on the back, to honor 52 years of collecting since the 1952 set.  It has the same “52 years of collecting” at the top of the front.

2003 Topps Home Team Advantage #421

Topps Limited was gone, but Topps still created a Home Team Advantage (HTA) factory set with a foil-stamped “Home Team Advantage” logo on the front.

2003 Topps Kanebo #8

Topps issued Japanese versions alongside a company called Kanebo for the 2nd year.  These seem to be harder to come by than the 2002 versions.  There are 55 cards, The backs are written in Japanese, and the card numbers are different.  The front differs from the regular Topps card in that it doesn’t have foil stamping and there’s no Topps logo.  The borders on the front and back are a different shade of blue – very close to the Opening Day cards.

2003 Topps Opening Day #15

Opening Day was back for the 6th time in 2003.  Tge 165 card set was retail only, and features the same photos from the base Topps set.  The border is a little bit lighter shade of blue, and the team logo on the front is replaced with the Topps Opening Day logo.  The back is the same as the Topps set except for the different number and slightly different copyright info.

2003 Topps Opening Day Scratch-Off #NNO

These stickers had a play-and-win game on the back.  It’s a partial parallel of the Opening Day set (72 cards).

2003 Topps Chrome #259

Topps Chrome was back for the 8th year.  It was 440 cards, so not the same size as the regular set.  The front of the card reproduces the base set using Topps chromium technology and the logo is the Topps Chrome logo.  The back of the card is the same as the regular set except for the Topps Chrome logo and slightly different copyright wording.

2003 Topps Chrome Refractor #259

Inserted every 5 packs of Topps Chrome were refractors with their colorful, reflective shine.  The word refractor is written by the number on the back – otherwise the back is the same as the regular Chrome card.  In 2003 Topps started numbering these – they were stamped in gold foil out of 699.

2003 Topps Chrome Silver Refractor #259

COMING SOMEDAY TO A BLOG NEAR YOU

Series 2 retail packs had special silver refractors.  So it wasn’t a full parallel of Topps Chrome, which is a bit weird.  I’m on the lookout for this card, but I’ve never seen it before.

2003 Topps Chrome Gold Refractor #259

Topps Gold Refractors had the gold border and the refractor effect.  These were numbered out of 449.  The word gold refractor is noted on the back by the card number.

2003 Topps Chrome Black Refractor #259

Black Refractors were back, this time numbered out of 199.  The black refractor wording is noted on the back by the card number.

2003 Topps Chrome Uncirculated Xfractor #259

These cards came one per box as a box topper.  They have the refractor / diffraction effect but with a checkered finish that’s called “X-fractors”.  They come in a hard case and are thus “uncirculated”.  Xfractor is written at the bottom by the card number.

The “Rainbow”:

That’s page 1.  Page 2 is…

COMING SOMEDAY TO A BLOG NEAR YOU

Hopefully I can find the silver refractor someday.

Any sets I didn’t get:  A few worth mentioning.  First, the Kanebo set comes with copper parallel.  Considering how hard it is to get the base card, getting the copper just isn’t realistic.  Though if I ever see it, I’ll try for it.  Also, Topps did create super-rare trademark variations where the Topps logo was the old logo from the 1970’s.  Delgado has a variation card, but it’s too rare for me to chase and I’m going with “variation isn’t a parallel” here.

Other cards I would have liked to do:  Griffey’s card is great in this set, and he has all of the above parallels.  But I did Griffey in 1999.  I thought about John Smoltz – he’s in a throwback Braves uniform on his card – but he didn’t have a Kanebo card.

2003 Topps Traded Autographs & Memorabilia

I only have 1 legitimate scan to show off in this post, since I got 1 relic in the 2003 Topps Traded box.  The rest of these photos are swiped from the internet (in most cases eBay).

Signature Moves – (20 cards, 1:114-280)

Signature Moves was back for the 2nd year, showcasing autographs of guys who had switched teams and a few rookies, like Victor Martinez above.  There were two tiers in this autograph set, A and B.  It’s actually a fairly obtainable set.  I was looking on eBay and the prices aren’t too bad for guys like V-Mart and Teixeira.

Team Topps Legends and Blue Chips were also inserted in Topps Traded as cross-product autographs you could find.  I covered those back in the Autograph overview for the regular Topps set.

There were a few different memorabilia sets you could get in Topps Traded.

Transactions Relics – 25 cards (1:78-168)

Transactions Dual Relics – 3 cards (1:421)

The main memorabilia set was called Transactions Relics.  This basically replaces Tools of the Trade from the year before.  The single-player cards all contain bat pieces, and like the Signature Moves cards they are inserted in 2 different tiers.

There was again a dual version for 3 players which contained jersey pieces from the player’s previous and current team.

Future Phenoms Relics – 15 cards (1:101-2,330)

There were separate rookie/prospect relic cards called Future Phenoms as well – this was the first year for these.

Hall of Fame Relic – 2 cards (1:1,009)

Hall of Fame Dual Relic – 1 card (1:2,015)

There was a relic honoring each of the 2 Hall of Fame inductees in 2003.  Gary Carter’s card had a jersey inset, Eddie Murray had a bat.

They also had a dual card.  I really like the design for these – it seems a lot more Hall of Fame appropriate than the Ozzie Smith the year before.

After Jose Canseco in 2002 and Tony Gwynn/ Cal Ripken in 2001, the Farewell Relic didn’t make a return showing in 2003.  This may have been due to lack of a clear person to honor.  Rickey Henderson played his last game in 2003, but he didn’t officially retire for quite a few years.  Matt Williams also retired in 2003, but Topps may have not known he was definitely retiring at the end of the season.  Tim Raines may have been the best bet.  He didn’t play after the 2002 season, and it was probably official at that point.  But Raines had retired once before and so it’s possible nobody was sure at that point.

2003 Topps Traded & Rookies – parallel set

Topps had no stand-alone insert sets in the 2003 Traded product.  Aside from relics or autographs, the only insert set was one parallel set.  You could also get a Chrome and Chrome Refractor variations in the packs, but I view those as a different product.

Topps Gold (275 cards, 1:3)

Topps Gold was back, and just like the base set, it was numbered to the year – out of 2,003.  Topps didn’t include Topps Black in the Traded product, even though it had its debut in the 2003 series 1 and series 2 Topps sets.

2003 Topps Traded & Rookies scans

I’m pretty used to Topps Traded being bought through packs as opposed to through factory boxes; this was the 3rd year after Topps had switched over to that medium.  2003 was still something of a transition phase to what we have today, as:

• the base set only consisted of traded players, first year players and prospects.
• the only inserts in the product are gold parallels and relic/autograph hits.
• Topps Chrome is included as well.  I’m not sure when it will end, but I hope it does soon.  I’d rather get base cards toward my set.

Today it’s essentially a third series of the product which contains All-Stars, home run derby participants and season highlights as well as its own standard inserts.

Rookies and prospects are always a big thing in Topps Traded, and there’s one very big rookie card in this set.  That’s Robinson Cano, who is still one of the best second-sackers in baseball, even if he isn’t doing quite as well in Seattle as he probably envisioned.

There are 4 other guys who have had significant, sustained success in MLB.  Hanley Ramirez is back with his original team – though he’s also not doing as well as Cano.  McCann is now with the Yankees and has put together a solid career.  Dan Haren just won his 150th game, and Shane Victorino has played a major role on 2 World Series champions.  These are all Rookie Cards.

There’s a few more guys from the set whose success has been much more fleeting – but they still gained some notoriety along the way.  Ishikawa is a little different from the other 3 – he earned that notoriety when he became the last year, whereas the other 3 guys had some significant success in the mid 2000’s.

Aside from these first year cards, there is also a “prospects” subset.  Miggy is the most notable – in fact, Beckett says this is the second most expensive card in the set, behind Cano.

There’s quite a few other guys in that prospect subset, and most of them didn’t make their name with the team shown on the card below (James Loney aside).

Moving on to the veterans, there are 2 Hall of Famers in this set.  Both were very close to the end of their career.  This is one of the few cards you can find that evidence Rickey Henderson’s time with the Dodgers.  Alomar had a little more time with the White Sox, but he was close to the end at this point.

There are 3 veteran “traded” guys who really jumped out at me as significant acquisitions.  All 3 of the guys below were leaders on World Series winning teams.  Pudge, of course, led the Marlins to the championship in his only season in Florida.  But his impact that one year is probably understated.  His role in shaping the growth of the Marlins’ young pitching prospects.  Aside from him, Carpenter and Ortiz have led the Cardinals to multiple World Championships.

A notch below them are 3 more significant acquisitions.  None of these guys ever made the World Series with their existing team, but they certainly made an impact.

A fun thing about the Traded set are the “old guys”.  There’s always a lot of players who you kind of say “oh, yeah, he played for them”.  Or maybe you didn’t even know that they did play with that team!

And it’s always fun to see the new managers.  Or in this case, the recycled managers.  Dusty moved on to Chi-town right after a World Series appearance, and Felipe took his place in San Fran.  Art Howe didn’t like the Moneyball approach so he went to New York, and Buck Showalter went to Texas for another underrated tenure.  And Trader Jack just guided his team to the World Championship in his first year in Florida!

Two more scans.  First, these were my two favorite photos from the set.  Hundley just looks like he’s trying to catch rain, and Widger looks like he’s a blind man being led somewhere by Cal Eldred.

And, last but not least, for all the Red Sox fans out there.

Aaron f*cking Boone!