Memorial Day catchin' up

Happy Memorial Day, everyone.  Let's celebrate with a new post since it's been quite a while!

Trade #4 with Great Sports Name Hall of Fame:
The march to 300 Michigan hits continues thanks to Tim of the Great Sports Name Hall of Fame.  I recently picked him up a couple hits from Blowout, as I'm known to do, and in return he sent me a couple really nice PC additions:

Here's a B.J. Askew 2003 Bowman's Best auto RC, my favorite from this package.  I liked some of the early-2000s Bowman's Best designs, and Askew ended up with a pretty cool signature here, including his number.  This is Askew #3 for me, and I hope that collection continues to grow.

Next up is a Mario Manningham 2008 Stadium Club Impact jersey.  A nice blue swatch from Super Mario's rookie year, and it's serial numbered to boot.  This is Manningham #19 for me, and I have a feeling #20 is just around the corner.


Tim was also cool enough to throw in some other fun stuff for me, including a pair of great A.L. shortstops--Ripken and Alan Trammell, as well as a couple Lee Suggs cards that should make for some good trade bait for someone.


So don't miss out, get trading with the Mooss!  Thanks, as always, Tim.

More 2011 Bowman happenings:


Thanks to the magic of--what else?--Blowout, I've now completed my 2011 Bowman base set and cut a HUGE swath through my Bowman's Best wantlist.  I'm not going to show those off until I have the set finished, but I can't wait to do so because it's such a great looking set.  Keep an eye out for that down the line, once I can finish picking up Harper et al.

Fire Jim Leyland everybody!!!

Thanks to a total panic move on the part of the dysfunctional Tigers, Detroit is no longer privy to the ostensible talents of Mr. Scott Sizemore.  That's a really nice way of saying the jackasses in charge, including the increasingly dubious Dave Dombrowski, totally gave up on Sizemore and sold fairly low on him, in return for a (former first-round, as if that matters) RELIEF PITCHER.  I was already all over Detroit for the total mistake of extending Jim Leyland's reign of terror, but now that we're continuing the trend of shipping out the only second basemen that can play worth a damn (Polanco, anyone?) I just don't see how we're going to fill the position competently.  Then again, competence isn't exactly in abundance from the top down in this organization right now.  Anyway, I'll continue to enjoy this season's bright spots, like the consistently awesome Justin Verlander and the busting out catcher, Alex Avila, while I pray for some serious housecleaning to right the ship.

Fire Tressel!  Wait, he fired himself?
Ohio State coach Jim Tresselll (the extra "L"s are for lies, now a bigger JT trademark than the vest) resigned, or finally got forced out, or whatever (maybe he gave the president permission to fire him, it seems that's the way it works there).  Why anyone in the world was surprised at his actions given his track record is totally beyond me, but here's hoping this total waste of a person never gets to enjoy coaching a D-I team again.  While on one hand it's nice to see a guy who falsely played the morals/religion card get shot down so spectacularly, I wish Michigan still had the chance to even the score with him now that the playing field would seemingly be more equal (not all Big Ten schools can pay their "student ath-a-letes" so well AND turn a blind eye to literally any indiscretion).  Anyway, for now I'll enjoy the spectacular implosion that is THE Ohio State University's football team while I cross my fingers that the NCAA shows some cojones for once and rightfully wipes out the records for any games played by ineligible players.  Plus, of course, I'll laugh at Tressel upholding at least one recent major OSU tradition:  going out in a blaze of controversy and shame.

Blowout Blowout, Jr.: May Edition

Edit:  you're not experiencing deja vu, I was fixing the tags on this post, re-published it, and now it exists in the future, or now, or whatever.  So enjoy it again or spend your time laughing at my Blogger failure, either way, everyone wins!

In lieu of a card show I'm not going to this weekend (and because my money's probably better spent this way anyway), I went on another small but productive BlowoutCards forum spree this past week.  Staying true to my general (and accidental) purchase ratio, I nabbed 11 PC cards and 13 for trade bait.  First up, the PC stuff:

Brandon Graham 2010 Donruss Classics Significant Signatures auto RC:  Brandon could become a great player if he can get healthy, stay healthy and get big enough to last in the pros.  All big ifs, but doable for a guy who WAS the defense at Michigan.  Also, dude--you've got a ton more sticker available to sign, no need to scrunch it in there.  Purchased along with the forthcoming Breaston for $8 dlvd.

Braylon Edwards 2007 Leaf Certified Mirror Red Materials jersey

Braylon Edwards 2008 Bowman Sterling jersey

Braylon Edwards 2008 SP Rooke Threads Flashback Fabrics dual jersey

Braylon Edwards 2009 Prestige Prestigious Pros jersey

That's four numbered Braylon Browns jerseys from the biggest lot of the three that I purchased.  A nice mix of swatches and designs.  Incidentally, these four tie Braylon with Chad Henne at 23 hits for #2 in my collection, despite the following card. 

Chad Henne 2008 Absolute Memorabilia RPM jersey-ball-jersey RC:  I picked this one up along with a forthcoming trade bait card for $6 dlvd.  I already have the autographed version that spells out "NFL", but that's a great looking football piece and I really, really like this set, so woo for more RPMs.

David Harris 2007 Leaf Limited auto RC

David Harris 2007 Topps Performance auto RC

David Harris 2007 Topps Performance Breakout auto

Three Harris autos was a nice get for me.  All came from the large lot of 20 for $50, which was stuffed with Jets because that's mostly what the guy had (and made for easy trade bait with BA Benny).  The two Performance autos put me up to four from that set, including the two I already had:  his Bronze auto RC and jersey/auto RC.  For those keeping track for some reason, I now have 10 Harris hits and all are autographed, one including a jersey and one co-featuring LaMarr Woodley.  I'm very happy with this collection so far.

Steve Breaston 2010 SPx Super Scripts auto:  Got this one along with the Graham for $8 dlvd.  Great shot of Stevie in a Michigan uni on a nice design.  In many ways, I'm happy UD was forced to go with college photos (big shock, I know).

Tim Jamison 2009 Upper Deck Draft Edition auto RC:  Player #42 in the PC was this guy, an undrafted Michigan DE featured in Draft Edition.  He's apparently with the Texans now, but more importantly, he was born in Riverdale, which at least I find funny.  I wonder if his teammates call him Jughead, especially after Michigan's dominance over Minnesota.


And now the part you probably all skipped down to:  the trade bait!  Sorry it's almost all BA Benny-type stuff, it's just that I know we're going to trade 10 more times before Tuesday and I wanted to load up, plus the guy had mostly Jets anyway.

• Chansi Stuckey 2007 SP Authentic auto RC #0091/1199  (Pending:  GSNHOF)
• Chansi Stuckey 2007 Press Pass Authentics auto (Pending:  GSNHOF)
• Santana Moss 2003 Donruss Elite Masks of Steel facemask #365/400
• D'Brickashaw Ferguson 2006 Bowman Signs of the Future auto
• Leon Washington 2006 Absolute Memorabilia RPM jersey/ball/jersey RC #103/849
• Marcus Henry 2008 Topps Letterman "R" (no auto) #4/6
• Mark Clayton 2008 Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Gold jersey or patch, black/gold, #4/25
• Maurice Jones-Drew 2007 UD Premier Premier Stitchings logo patch #74/75

• Ricky Williams 2002 Private Stock Reserve jersey
• Ray Lucas 2000 Fleer Autographics auto (Pending:  GSNHOF)
• D'Brickashaw Ferguson 2006 SAGE Hit auto
• Kellen Clemens 2006 Gridiron Gear Gridiron Gems jersey/ball/jersey RC #24/50
• DeWayne Robertson 2003 Absolute Memorabilia RPM ball/jersey #505/750

Everything else is most definitely available, though BA Benny will have some dibs because he's already acquired more stuff to send my way.  Please make some offers and I'll work with y'all on some trades.

Overall that was 24 cards for $64 dlvd:  the Graham and Breaston for $8, the Henne and Stuckey SP Authentic for $6 and the other 20 for $50.  That's about as well as I would have done at this weekend's show and I spent much less than I would have there.  Plus now I have yet more trade bait for all of you--win-win!

More 2011 Bowmania (plus Cool Story, Bro!)

On my way to some batting cages this afternoon (gotta enjoy the nice weather somehow!) I decided to stop at a nearby Meijer and give Bowman racks another shot.  I quickly scanned the card section and came up empty, or so I thought.  A guy, clearly older than me--so at least 30s--jumped in front of me out of nowhere and grabbed a huge handful of red rack packs that I eventually determined were Bowmans I had managed to overlook.  No big deal, I'm not that desperate, but this pathetic idiot then proceeded to feel up every single one of those packs.  I decided to look for some other stuff I needed then come back when he was done so I could grab whatever he left.

That's exactly what I did roughly 15 minutes later, only to find that captain jackass was STILL there, feeling up the SAME packs.  What was this guy even looking for?  I thought memorabilia cards were worth a pittance nowadays, and I don't know that it's all that easy to pack search autographs.  So it's bad enough that I or anyone else that wanted to buy some of those didn't get the chance because he was too busy getting fresh with them, but now even if he does leave the ones he doesn't think have anything in them, they'll have been molested by this guy and possibly bent to hell.

My solution:  a card molester registry.  Why not snap pics of all these losers in all their glory and slap them up on a Google map or something so they can be celebrated for their stupidity?  Anyway, that's my Cool Story, Bro...

On to happier news: undeterred by El Molesto above, I hit a different Meijer on the way home (I left the other one without buying anything) and got the stuff I needed--along with seven Bowman racks.  I won't do a full review since that was yesterday's news, literally, but I wanted to show off what I got:

Pretty nice start, right?  Guess what?  These all came in the same pack!  As a reminder, the Greens are #d to 450 and the Blues to 500 (was that really necessary, Topps?  Can we have one numbered to 475 and split the difference?)

A couple more Greens and a few more of the inserts I already pulled.  AJax is a keeper, natch, but everything else is up for grabs.

Four Purple Refractors (1:4, so I beat the odds there)

As for the updated standings for my pursuit of the base sets:

• Base set:  103/220 (47%)
• Prospects:  58/110 (53%)
• Chrome Prospects:  33/110 (30%)

Extras:

• Base:  24
• Prospects:  2 (!)
• Chrome:  20 (including 5 triples)

Since I'm so (justly) hard on Topps when it comes to collation, I give them this much credit after buying two blasters and seven racks (a total of 300 cards):

• I ended up with zero extras in terms of Base and Prospects when I opened the 16 blaster packs
• I had zero duplicates amongst the seven rack packs (obviously when combined with the blasters I had some)
• Overall, my collation has been above-average for Topps

I now feel justified in my guess that rack packs were the better value (20 cards for $5), and I'm going to keep on keepin' on with those until it's no longer worth it.  I'm gonna have to pull my base and Chrome Harpers first, though!

2011 Bowman baseball blaster (x2)

Remember when I used to do some of these sometimes?  Given that they were a major part of the reason I started a blog, I'm annoyed that I've done so few box/blaster reviews the last few months, but there's just been a dearth of stuff I've been interested in.
Enter 2011 Bowman, a perennial love it/hate it set.  I tend to fall more toward the "love it" side because I like collecting the occasional prospect set, not to sell them--that never works out--but because I genuinely have fun doing so.  I don't get the "I bought a box of these and don't know any of the guys--this set is dumb" faction because you know what you're getting into with Topps (then again, you could argue I'm just as dumb for buying Topps and complaining about their trademark terrible collation and QC).
Anyway, I had hoped to score some rack packs since that's where all the action seemed to be, but the Meijer I went to today only had these two blasters.  How did my 2011 baseball blaster debut go?  Read on to find out.


Purchased from/price:  Meijer, $19.99 (x2)
Packs/cards:  Eight packs of 10 cards (x2)
Set size:  220 Base Cards; 110 Prospects; 110 Chrome Prospects
Key features/cards:  Have you heard of this guy Harper?  Lots of rookies, "rookies" and "First Year" cards, plus the usual smattering of autographs and parallels

Base cards:  

Fronts:  Base, Prospect, Chrome Prospect

Backs (Base, Prospect, Chrome Prospect)

• Set completion:
• Base cards:  62/220 (28%)
• Prospects:  32/110 (29%)
• Chrome Prospects:  15/110 (14%)
• Extras:  
• Base cards:  0/62
• Prospects:  0/32
• Chrome Prospects:  14/29 (48%)

I was thrilled as I was sorting these and came out with zero Base and Prospect doubles since I focus on those way more than the Chromes anyway.  Then I went to sort the Chromes, and while it had felt like I pulled a few doubles, I had no idea almost half of them were extra!  As much as that bugs me, it's nice to be almost 30% done with the non-Chrome base stuff after two blasters.

However, a special note, because this happened:  I opened one pack that was shorted one Chrome card, and the one Chrome the pack contained was pretty chewed up, like-a so:

The top circle is a scratch; the second is a pretty major crease that's hard to see here; the third is also a pretty nice crease.  Lying prone, this card looks like a topographical map of a flyover state that isn't Iowa.
Topps made up for shorting that pack by kicking in an extra Chrome in the next one, but first someone let their kid use it as a teething ring:

Luckily (or, not really, given my Chrome collation) both of these were dupes.  Big thumbs down, though.

Inserts:  37

Bowman's Best:  2, Miguel Sano and Ryan Braun (1:6, 2-3 expected)

Bowman's Brightest:  2, Mike Trout and Tyson Auer (1:8, 2 expected)

Finest Futures:  4, Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitzki, Domonic Brown, Buster Posey (1:4, 4 expected)

Gold parallel:  16, including the ones above (Granderson!) (1:pack, 16 expected)

Green parallel:  2, Cole Hamels (#105/450) and Ronald Bermudez (#275/450) (1:13, 1 expected)

International parallel:  2, David DeJesus and Brent Sinkbeil (1:8, 2 expected)

Purple Chrome Prospect Refractor:  1, Eric Thames (#567/700) (1:26, 0 expected)

Topps 100:  6, all above (1:3, 5-6 expected)

Topps of the Class:  2, Lucas Duda, Chris Carter (1:8, 2 expected)

I did pretty well here--I got every insert I was due, plus an extra Green parallel and the Purple Refractor beat the odds for me.  I'm most excited about the Bowman's Best set--people love them or hate them, but I enjoyed putting together the '94 set they're patterned after, so a little nostalgia doesn't hurt.  That total insert number is inflated by the Golds, but still, it's pretty cool averaging more than two per pack.  Note to 1:pack Gold parallels:  GO AWAY!

Hits: 0

It seems like these are being nabbed more often from racks and value packs when it comes to retail.  The easiest pulls are 1:42, which isn't terrible, except of course that means about 1:5 blasters.

Best card:  My favorite was the Thames Purple Refractor, mainly on looks.  Thames was the Jays' 7th round pick in '08 and showed some nice power last year to go with some pretty good stats this year.

Quality control and collation:  15/20  Ten for the Base/Prospects and five for the inserts, zero for the Chromes.  I freakin' got doubles of almost every single Chrome I pulled, and two of them were wrecked!  Big thumbs up for the base collation, though.
Base set: 17/20  Not exactly a big departure from recent Bowman sets, but that's ok.  As usual, I'm more drawn to the design of the Prospects set.  330 seems like a reasonable total as usual for the base plus prospects, and I'm happy to ignore the Chromes as I usually do.  
Inserts:  13/15   While some of the sets (such as International, Topps of the Class, Finest Futures and Bowman's Brightest) don't do anything for me, I really like the Best and non-Gold/non-International parallels, plus the Topps 100 aren't bad.  You sure do get a lot.  Negative points only for the always worthless Golds, the ToppsTown of Bowman.
Hits and extras:  10/15  Points based on potential since I've seen some pretty nice stuff get pulled, including Superfractors, great color parallels, and autographs, including the latest little baby baseball Jesus, Bryce Harper.
Value:  25/30  Out of the two boxes, I averaged 31 base, 16 Prospects, 15 Chrome and 18 inserts.  Plus I got to bust eight packs (twice).  I'm satisfied with that for $20, though a hit wouldn't have hurt. 

Overall:  80/100  As usual, one of my reviews falls in that B-C-minus range, but I was reasonably happy with these.  I think my biggest requests would be for Topps to remove the Chrome from this set, then ditch the tremendously useless Golds (or just not make them 1:pack).  From what I've seen, I think you're going to want to go with rack packs, but I don't see anyone regretting grabbing a blaster of these.


Just about all the inserts are available as usual as parts of larger trades, but I'm not putting together a base wantlist until I figure out if I want more of these.

Sunday fun: 2003 UD Prospect Premieres complete set

Since it's Sunday and I've got nothing new, let's do that thing where I show off some of my completed sets.

Today's subject is 2003 UD Prospect Premieres baseball.  I acquired this set a few years back, I believe in a trade, because I like small prospect sets.  I decided to pull it out today to see how this particular group of prospects turned out.  Here's all 90 cards in their divisible-by-nine and therefore easy-to-scan glory:

Bryan Opdyke, Gabriel Sosa, Tila Reynolds, Aaron Hill, Aaron Marsden, Abe Alvarez, Adam Jones, Adam Miller, Andre Ethier

Hill's had a decent career, but Ethier's the clear star here.  Jones was also a nice get for the Orioles in the Bedard "deal" (nice job, idiots).

Anthony Gwynn Jr., Brad Snyder, Brad Sullivan, Brian Anderson, Brian Buscher, Brian Snyder, Carlos Quentin, Chad Billingsley, Fraser Dizard

Here's an interesting group:  Tony's son. a few flameouts, and then a great pair in Quentin and Billingsley.  

Chris Durbin, Chris Ray, Conor Jackson, Kory Casto, Craig Whitaker, Daniel Moore, Daric Barton, Darin Downs, David Murphy

Jackson is another prospect I'm sure Arizona wouldn't mind having back.  Casto actually signed with Detroit last year before heading to Arizona and then retiring, so so much for "prospect" when it comes to him.  Barton was thought to be a key piece in the Mulder-to-the-Cardinals deal, but sadly that hasn't worked out yet.  Murphy's had some success since heading to Texas (for Eric Gagne--how'd that work out for you, Boston?  Pretty well, apparently, you won the Series that year.).

Dustin Majewski, Edgardo Baez, Jake Fox, Jake Stevens, James D'antona, James Houser, Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Jason Hirsh, Javi Herrera

And here we have the #1 reason I like this set:  Jake Fox.  I'm really, really hoping I can grab his autograph (and maybe jersey) from this set, but they're obscenely expensive for a guy nobody wants to play despite his prodigious power and inherent Wolverine awesomeness.  Bedsides Rich Hill, Fox is a guy the Cubs dumped, and I therefore place a curse on them that they won't win a World Series until--oh wait, that's been done before.  Anyway, Salty's also still got some prospectness left in the tank if he can get over emulating the catcher from Major League II.

Jeff Allison, John Hudgins, Jo Jo Reyes, Justin James, Kurt Isenburg, Kyle Boyer, Lastings Milledge, Luis Atilano, Matt Murton

Here we have Jeff Allison, Lastings Milledge and seven other guys that DIDN'T engage in criminal behavior/drugs to waste a huge amount of talent and a shot at the big leagues.  Murton was highly thought of at the time as a first rounder that year, then got sent to Chicago with Nomar in the deal that netted the BoSox Orlando Cabrera and therefore allowed them to break some sort of curse that year.  Murton's done diddly since.

Matt Moses, Matt Harrison, Michael Bourn, Miguel Vega, Mitch Maier, Omar Quintanilla, Ryan Sweeney, Scott Baker, Sean Rodriguez

Let's see, here:  Harrison came to Texas from Atlanta in the Teixiera deal that also gave the Rangers Salty, Neftali Feliz and Elvis Andrus, so that worked out.  Maier hasn't done much but he's cool because he's from Petoskey, Michigan (which is known for these if you're not from the area).  Rodriguez went to Tampa in the Scott Kazmir deal that DIDN'T involve the Mets looking like dumbasses.

Steve Lerud, Thomas Pauly, Tom Gorzelanny, Tim Moss, Robbie Wooley, Trey Webb, Wes Littleton, Beau Vaughan, Willy Joe Ronda

Sheesh, I guess Gorzelanny's the best of the bunch here.  Oddly enough, Littleton and Vaughan were traded for each other in 2008.

Chris Lubanski, Ian Stewart, John Danks, Kyle Sleeth, Michael Aubrey, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Ryan Harvey, Tim Stauffer, Tony Richie

Sleeth is one of the Tigers' recent draft picks that hasn't worked out (due to injury, really), which has been more and more rare, fortunately.  To be fair, the first round of the '03 draft wasn't all that great, but we could have at least had a Markakis or Billingsley, if nothing else.  This group includes a couple sorta-OKs and not much else.

Brandon Wood, David Aardsma, David Shinskie, Dennis Dove, Eric Sultemeier, Jay Sborz, Jimmy Barthmaier, Josh Whitesell, Josh Anderson

I wish Sborz would have worked out for the Tigers, mainly because he was a Detroit prospect, but also because I had a Bowman Chrome auto/RC of him (priorities, man).  Wood hasn't lived up to his hype, but you never know.  Aardsma is another one of those castoffs that's become a closer.

Kenny Lewis, Mateo Miramontes, Nick Markakis, Paul Bacot, Peter Stonard, Reggie Willits, Shane Costa, Billy Sadler, Delmon Young

Not a bad group to tie things up.  Markakis is the kind of guy I'm glad the Orioles have, Willits at least made an impact with his speed for the Angels and Young, well, maybe he shouldn't have gone #1 but he's done some stuff (trite summary of complicated career FTW).

So there's another complete set in the books.  I had toyed with the idea of nabbing a couple boxes from Blowout recently when they had them for $29, but I already have a base set and I'd be better served putting that money toward the Jake Fox hits that I really want--the odds would be against me and the rest of the autographs in the set aren't awe-inspiring.  Regardless, if for nothing else than the Jake Fox and other quality prospects, this is a fun set to have.

As usual, I'll keep looking for interesting complete sets from my collection to post.

Just say "NO" to Blue Jays

Well, we're gonna need another one of these guys, just replace "Brewers" with "Blue Jays".  Congratulations to TMG pitching favorite Justin Verlander, who no-hit Toronto this afternoon for the second Detroit no-hitter in two seasons.  A big tip of the hat to Verlander for pitching his second career no-hitter (those Nolan Ryan comparisons don't seem so crazy now, do they?), and a second hat tip for his major contribution to my fantasy team today.  There's been a few things to complain about in Detroit this year (did you notice the Tigers started winning when they finally brought up the 2B who SHOULD have been starting--Scott Sizemore--Jim Leyland?) but this is sure to be the highlight of another stellar season for Detroit's best pitcher since Jack Morris.  Way to go, dude! 

Here's this again, just because:

WOOHOO!

Another another completed set: 1997 Bowman's Best

When I did my previous wantlist completion extravaganza post, one set that was conspicuously absent (assuming you were as intimate with my wantlist as I am) was 1997 Bowman's Best baseball.  I needed only one card, but alas, I couldn't find a reasonable price on it from SportLots, COMC or eBay MakeSellersSquealLikeAPigBay because of who and what it was.  Who and what is it?  A rookie card of Roy Halladay.  Just my freakin' luck that I get a box of this set some number of years ago (not in '97 when it was bigger, more like five or 10 years ago, maybe), drag my feet on completing it, then end up needing exactly one card of Philadelphia baseball Jesus.  But then,

BlowoutCards is the alpaca in this scenario

BlowoutCards message boards to the rescue!  A guy had a pair of this exact card for $6 delivered each.  $6!  The cheapest I could find on COMC was $10, and forget about FeeBay.  Because you're reading this post, you know I was on that like dayf on Gypsy Queen (has he posted a master set yet?).  Anyway, here's the highlight of one more completed set, 1997 Bowman's Best baseball:

Because this post is a bit light on content, let's close with a semi-related image, Roy from the IT Crowd:

"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"  If you're in my line of work, that's hilarious.  Seriously, check out this show, it's awesome.

To all you other collectors slaving over incomplete sets, keep hope alive--if I can do it, anyone can.

Another completed set: 1998 Studio Portraits 8x10

Here's a nice tie-in with my previous post discussing why eBay is terrible and stupid and likes to kick the puppies of its sellers:  I originally found the last three cards I needed for this set on eBay (from separate sellers) and almost pulled the trigger thanks to my eBay bucks, but instead, luckily, I found all of them on Sportlots, along with most of the other wantlist cards I previously blogged about.  Therefore, by eschewing eBay (which couldn't be reached for comment as its mouth was busy biting the hand that feeds it) I discovered the benefits of Sportlots and the rest is history.

And there's my transition to more positive content.  1998 Studio continued the tradition of the previous year's set as packs contained a few normal-size cards plus an 8x10 portrait in a big envelope-type package.  As has generally been the case with Studio over the years, the design and photography are big draws with this set. 

The Portraits--which are ideal for autographs, though I've never gone that route--actually have different photographs from the base cards, which I thought was a nice touch.  The basic design is a studio portrait in front of something more like an action shot, with a representative team color in the lower right corner, all surrounded by a thick white border.  36 players (some of which weren't Yankees, apparently to Donruss' chagrin, and you'll see what I mean) comprise the lineup, and here they are:

 Travis Lee:  Money doesn't buy happiness, or talent, apparently

Todd Helton:  They were right on getting this guy in the set at this point in his career

Ben Grieve:  Another prototypical regrettable Rookie of the Year winner...

Paul Konerko:  I still hate the White Sox, but this guy's a winner

Jeff Bagwell:  Like the rest of America, I loved that batting stance, and the goatee was pretty awesome too

Derek Jeter:  The most deserving Yankee in the set, I think Derek's holding his breath waiting for a baseball card set that doesn't feature 200% more Yankees than deserve to appear in it, which I wouldn't advise

Ivan Rodriguez:  One of the three I got from Sportlots; thumbs up for his brief Detroit career

Cal Ripken Jr.:  Classy move making the Iron Man #8 in the set.  I added this to my Cal PC scans because it's a great card, plus my favorite Cals feature shots of him in the field

Mike Piazza:  Mike was in the midst of a great career with the Dodgers here, rocking the mullet as always

Chipper Jones:  My favorite modern-day Brave, just a great player.  He was the second of the Sportlots three

Frank Thomas:  What, you passed on a hitting pose for a guy nicknamed "The Big Hurt"?

Tony Gwynn:  This guy wasn't a bad hitter.  Too bad he had to deal with the steamroller that was Detroit in '84 and the '98 Yankees

Nomar Garciaparra:  Yep, Nomah would have been pretty popular right around this time.  It's a shame he never really lived up to his huge potential, but he got Mia Hamm, so he's got that going for him

Juan Gonzalez:  So, so very glad he idiotically rejected Detroit's extremely ill-advised enormous contract offer after the mistake that was trading for him; just another '90s steroid slugger I guess

Greg Maddux:  I don't get it, why do they call him "The Professor" again?  Definitely one of my two or three favorite pitchers all-time

Hideo Nomo:  Nomo was still pretty popular a few years into his American career, but since I'm closer to the Atlantic coast I never really got into the Nomo fever.  He was the third of my Sportlots purchase, by the way
 

Scott Rolen:  The '97 NL Rookie of the Year has gone on to have a pretty nice career and won the 2006 World Series against my Tigers

Barry Bonds:  As my Michigan hockey fan colleagues and I like to say, "WHO CARES?!"

Ken Griffey Jr.:  If a healthy Junior wearing his hat backwards and taking a signature pretty swing isn't a symbol of 1990s baseball, I don't know what is

Alex Rodriguez:  Go ahead and have a seat over there with Bonds...

Roger Clemens:  You too, if you can pull yourself away from stabbing Pettitte in the back, jackass

Mark McGwire:  Wow, 13 years later this run of players is kind of infuriating to look at, isn't it?
 

Jose Cruz Jr.:  Wow, the Mariners sure didn't waste any time trading his ass, did they?  I still don't get that to this day, and I'm curious if his career would have been any different hitting in a lineup with Griffey, A-Rod, Edgar, et al

Andruw Jones:  A couple years removed from his breakout World Series against the Yanks, Andruw was living large--now he's just large and not hitting much

Tino Martinez:  This is where I started to get pissed off with the Yankee count--nothing against Tino, but he clearly doesn't belong here, especially at the expense of a more deserving guy like the aforementioned Edgar Martinez, Tino's former teammate

Mo Vaughn:  I never got sucked into his hype (or gravity) either

Vladimir Guerrero:  I'm glad he got to experience a World Series eventually because he sure wasn't going to with Montreal...

Tony Clark:  I guess they felt they needed to include a Tiger, and maybe Tony was the best we had at the time.  Around this point he started putting up better numbers, but never could do it consistently, and he left town a few years later

Andy Pettitte:  See what I mean about way too many Yankees?  Pettitte's a reasonable choice, though, but things get ridiculous with Tino and an upcoming player

Jaret Wright:  Jaret never made it back to the World Series after the fateful 1997 affair (damn you Marlins for selling off the team and spoiling a great upset) and only won 15 games once in his career

Paul Molitor:  This card was produced in the final year of Molly's storied 21-season career, six years before he'd deservedly enter the Hall of Fame

Darin Erstad:  I'd have preferred Jim Edmonds, who I think had a better '97 season, but I guess Erstad was more popular at the time (maybe, I have no clue)

Larry Walker:  Canadian mullet power activate!

Chuck Knoblauch:  This is where I drew the line.  If it was the early 90s and Blauchhead was still with the Twins I'd let it go, but we've already had about 50 Yankees, and last I checked, there's 29 other teams

Barry Larkin:  Get this Wolverine to the Hall of Fame, STAT!

Kenny Lofton:  We close out with his generation's closest analogue to Rickey Henderson, or Willy Mays Hayes, or something

Another great set and another feeling of accomplishment finishing it.  I hope you all enjoyed a look at another of my conquests (especially this one; scanning, touching up and uploading 36 8x10s takes a WHILE, man).  I'll work on finding something else to show off soon!