2003 Donruss

Set Size: 400 cards

Design Notes: Full-bleed photography is the focus of this set, with a team-color bar across the bottom with the player's name, position, and team logo. There is no foil on these cards. Backs contain a highlight and statistics.

Parallels and Similars: Six parallels exist: two convention issues (Chicago and Atlantic City), two sample issues (silver and gold foil), and two pack-inserted parallels (Stat Line Career and Stat Line Season).

Distribution: Cards were sold in packs of 13 cards, with 24 packs per box.

Thoughts: The lack of foil and use of minimal designs make this a fairly attractive set. The team colors help the logo stand out, and the photography is pretty good. Overall, the design is pretty sharp and is one of Donruss's least-cluttered designs (only the similar 2004 issue has fewer design elements). When the photography is top-notch, the cards are beautiful, but posed photos or those with little action are kind of dull. The printing quality is pretty good, though! This issue has no short prints, which makes it a bit easier to complete the 400-card base set.

2003 Donruss Champions

Set Size: 309 cards (301 cards in the original release, 8 additional update cards)

Design Notes: This set is defined by its large side border highlighting an accomplishment the player made in his career, such as winning awards. Backs contain prior year and career statistics and a write-up describing the player's accomplishment.

Parallels and Similars: Metalized (/100) and Holo-Foil (/25) parallels were issued in packs, as well as autographed and autographed notation partial parallels. Samples with silver or gold foil stamps on the back were also distributed via magazine inserts (partial parallel - 100 cards only).

Distribution: Each box contained 24 packs with 8 cards per pack.

Thoughts: I really like the concept here - highlight players' historical accomplishments by issuing cards that focus on their feats. However, I have a couple problems with the execution. Let's use the Alomar card above. He's pictured with his 2002 team, the Mets, and the card has a National League logo on the left border because of that. However, he won the AL Championship Series MVP in 1992 with the Blue Jays, so he should be pictured with the Blue Jays, the card should have a Blue Jays logo, and the league logo should be for the American League. Additionally, while the back devotes a large space to describing what Alomar did to receive the MVP award, the statistics at the bottom are unrelated; it would be much better to have the stat line from the 1992 ALCS down there instead.

The design isn't amazing, but if I was just starting to build my Awards Collection, I would seek out this set. Actually, I think several of these cards are already in my Awards Collection.

2003 Donruss Classics

Set Size: 211 cards (100 in the short set, 100 short-printed Legends and Rookies, and 11 Update Rookies)

Design Notes: A thick silvery border surrounds the image; the top and bottom of the card have extra design added. The player's name, position, and jersey number are on the bottom with a team logo at the top. The backs carry the same basic design and include some statistics and a highlight write-up.

Parallels and Similars: Silver and gold-foil samples of the first 100 cards were included in issues of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly, and cards 1-200 are paralleled for the NSCC with an embossed logo. Packs included Timeless Tributes parallels serial-numbered to 100.

Distribution: Cards 1-200 were sold in packs; each box contained two mini-boxes with nine packs each, and each pack contained seven cards. Each mini-box contained one legend, one rookie, and one hit; the legends and rookies are serial-numbered to 1500. Cards 201-211 were randomly inserted into packs of DLP The Rookies, and are serial-numbered to 1000.

Thoughts: The silver border looks kind of dull on this card, since there's no foil or foilboard to make it jump out. Yes, I don't like foilboard, but thick, plain grey borders just remind me of an overcast day. And for those who complain about how tough it is to finish Topps Heritage, consider that with 4 SPs per box, this 200-card set with 100 SPs would take at least 25 boxes to complete with perfect collation. This isn't a bad release, it just blends in with other issues and can become easily forgotten.

2003 Donruss Elite

Set Size: 200 cards

Design Notes: The mostly-empty foilboard background is interrupted by two horizontal white lines, between which is a blurry background photo. The player's name, team, and position are easily found along the side. The backs are much easier to view (and scan) with recent statistics and a highlight writeup.

Parallels and Similars: There are five parallels to the set: Aspirations and Aspirations Gold, Status and Status Gold, and an Atlantic City National parallel. Donruss Elite designs, similar to Bowman, remained somewhat similar from year to year. Additionally, the Extra Edition set made things a little more confusing. However, the Donruss Elite logo contains the year making identification fairly easy.

Distribution: Hobby boxes had 20 packs with five cards per pack. The last 20 cards in the set are serial-numbered rookies (/1750).

Thoughts: Foilboard never scans well on my scanner, and that makes it impossible to see the small background photo. I enjoy that part of the photo, because the foil helps it stand out as almost holographic, especially on the gold parallels. Elite sets were much more beautiful in the 1990s, though (especially the inserts) - the 2000s issues have gone the way of Bowman with a lazy design concept and instead relying on rookie and/or hit (autograph/relic) selection.

Additional Images: COMC image of Status Gold to show background detail:

2003 Topps Blue Chips Autographs

Set Size: 24 autographed cards

Design Notes: This set features all on-card autographs in a large box at the bottom of the card. While the box removes space for the photo, the design seems to work good enough. The players are all younger stars at the time of release, so the set's focus was on providing an autograph of a HOF hopeful.

Parallels and Similars: None - Topps has never done many parallel versions of inserts.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of several different Topps products, mainly Bowman and lower-cost Topps flagship and Total. Apparently the cards were issued in 2003 and 2004 products.

Thoughts: While the design isn't outstanding, for an autograph collector I feel this card provides a nice, large, clean space to feature the on-card signature. There are no major stars in the set so it wouldn't be too expensive to complete.

Additional Images: card back

2003 Upper Deck Post: the last of its kind

Set size: 30 cards

Front Design: The player photo is cropped inside a rounded-corner rectangle over a single color low-res fading background. Horizontal rows of foil dots are above and below the rectangle, and the player's last name is in foil along the right side of the card. His team's logo is in a home plate in the lower-left of the card, and his position is in a red box in the lower-left. The player's full name runs up the left side of the card.

Back Design: The back puts the player's name at the top and his jersey number in large print in the upper right, beneath the player's name. To the right is a square close-up photo. The majority of the card holds a box with 2002 and career statistics and biographical information. The Post logo is in the lower right, above the other legal information, Upper Deck logos, and licensing logos.

Parallels and Similars: None known.

Distribution: The set was available via a mail-in offer that required collectors to assemble a full set of six CD-ROMs inserted into cereal boxes in 2003.

Thoughts: This set looks like most Upper Deck issues of the early 2000s, with geometric shapes, foil enhancements, and strange fonts - a very digital feel. In fact, you wouldn't know this was a Post issue if the little logo wasn't included on the back. There is one player per team, appealing to all team collectors, and the mail-in offer requirements mean this set is in shorter supply than most other Post issues.  I believe this is the last Post card set to be issued, and this being card #31 makes it the last Post baseball card issued to date.

2003 Donruss Signature Team Trademarks

Set size: 40 cards

Front Design: The team logo appears in a shuttered background on this horizontal card. A white translucent border across the tops holds the Team Trademarks "logo" with the team logo again; a player photo is off to the side, and the player's name and position are in a fading white bar across the bottom. The Donruss Signature Series logo is also at the bottom of the card. The card design is done in team colors.

Back Design: The team logo is repeated as the background, and the Team Trademarks logo is repeated from the front beneath a box with serial numbering. The card number is in the upper-right, followed by a fading-in white banner with the player's name and position. A biography follows on the right side of the card.

Parallels and Similars: There are two regular parallels and six autographed parallels of this set.

Distribution: This "base" insert is serial numbered to 500, and inserted randomly into packs of 2003 Donruss Signature Series.

Thoughts: Although there are cases of bigger wastes of card space, this issue is a perfect example of a design made specifically for autographs. The large empty space between Glavine, his name, and the Mets logo at the top of the card was created as a place to put a signature. While I appreciate an autograph card where the autograph is well-placed, I could do without the non-autograph version. That said, several Japanese autograph and relic issues come in versions without relics or autographs, and will provide a way for me to collect those sets without spending large sums of money.

2003 Topps Pristine Factor Bat Relics

Set size: 15 cards

Front Design: The shiny Finest-like card front has a horizontal foil-etched pattern of blue lines that fades into a black border. A photo of the player is placed over the blue lines, with the set name, player's name and position in white over the black bottom border. The bat piece is contained in the "O" from the set name.

Back Design: The set name is repeated at the top, with a cropped blue-tinted version of the front photo placed in the O. The player's name and "factor" (highlight/reason) for appearing in the set follows, succeeded by the "authentic bat" notification. The card number is in a red box in the lower-left corner.

Parallels and Similars: There is a refractor parallel of the set, serial numbered to 25 copies.

Distribution: Pristine Factor bat relics were inserted 1:9 packs of 2003 Topps Pristine, a high-end release that focused mainly on uncirculated cards..

Thoughts: The cards appear to be made from the same card stock and printing processes seen in the Finest line. The background reminds me of a TV with no reception, but it's a fairly clean design. The photos on Pristine always appear plastic and two-dimensional, partly due to the card stock and partly due to the lack of context background to add some depth to the photo. Alex Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, and Nomar Garciaparra are the standouts in the checklist, making this a fairly simple relic set to collect, if it your style of design.

2003 Topps Heritage Chrome Refractor (AKA Retrofractor)

 Set size: 100 cards

Front Design: Cards are identical to the 2003 Topps Heritage design, which itself is based on the 1954 Topps design. Two player photos - one close-up portrait and a full-body action image - are cropped over a monochromatic background. The player's name, position, and team are at the top, as is the team logo. A facsimile autograph is placed over the photographs at the bottom. The fronts have a refractorized chrome finish.

Back Design: The backs replicate the 2003 Heritage design. The player's name, vitals, and career highlights biography appears in the white upper portion of the horizontal card. Prior year and career statistics appear in the middle, and a cartoon fills the bottom third. The card number is in a baseball in the upper-left corner, and the word "RETROFACTOR" appears beneath the THC-prefixed card number. Cards are serial numbered in the lower right corner over the cartoon.

Parallels and Similars: This is the rarer of the two parallels inserted into 2003 Topps Heritage. Other than the refractor finish, serial numbering, and retrofactor notation, cards are identical to the Topps Heritage Chrome set, which is a partial parallel of the regular 2003 Topps Heritage set.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2003 Topps Heritage. Regular Chrome cards, of which there are four times as many, were inserted 1:8 packs, so we can assume these were inserted approximately 1:36 packs.

Thoughts: The 1954 Topps design isn't my favorite, but it is one of the best. Seeing it in refractor version is okay. I have one real problem with the card: the serial number on the back could have been positioned better. I won't be completing this set, since I don't really care for Heritage.

2003 Topps Chrome Uncirculated X-Fractors

Set size: 440 standard-sized cards

Front Design: Cards follow the 2003 Topps design, with a player photo surrounded by a blue border; the player's name, position and team logo appear at the bottom in a team color band. Also at the bottom is a baseball field-shaped smaller photo of the player. The card has received the x-fractor treatment, which is a checkered-pattern style of refractor.

Back Design: Card backs are horizontal, containing the player's name and vital statistics at the top; the team logo appears in a baseball diamond in the upper right corner. The player's career statistics and a career biography (as space allows) fills up the bulk of the back. The card number and the word "XFRACTOR" appear in the bottom right. Uncirculated X-Fractors are serial-numbered to 50 (cards 1-220) or 57 (cards 221-440).

Parallels and Similars: These cards are parallels of the 2003 Topps Chrome set, and as such there are several other cards with the same design, with different colored borders and styles of refractors. Plus, the Chrome set is identical in design to the standard 2003 Topps flagship set and its parallels.

Distribution: Cards were inserted one per hobby box in 2003 Topps Chrome Series 1 and 2. The "uncirculated" part stems from the cards being packaged in a sealed hard holder.

Thoughts: The sealed card craze was big in the early-mid 2000s, stemming from the graded craze. Being uncirculated meant your card should be gem-mint upon receipt. I don't care for this concept, but I'm keeping the cards in their holders for authenticity-sake. The uncirculated concept certainly comes from the coin collecting community, but it reminds me of the 1990s cards issued with protective coatings (namely, Donruss/Leaf products followed by Topps products like Finest). The image is blurred because my scanned focuses on the glass, and the provided holder is thick enough to cause the image to be beyond the focus point.