2005 Just 9 Beckett Inserts

Set Size: 9 cards

Design Notes: A player photo appears inside a giant number 9, with the word "JUST" overlaid on the left side. The bottom contains the player's name, position, team logo, and the MiLB logo. The backs use a similar design and include prior year statistics.

Parallels and Similars: None known.

Distribution: Uncut sheets of the nine-card set were included in an issue of Beckett magazine in 2005. The cards are perforated and can be easily separated into individual cards.

Thoughts: I like the idea of free cards and exclusive promos, though like most Just issues the design isn't exactly eye-catching, with a lot of empty white space. The photo is pretty uninteresting as well. Felix Hernandez is the first card in the set, though an intact sheet can be had for $6 or so on eBay.

2005 Donruss Autographs

Set Size: 11 cards

Design Notes: This partial parallel of the 2005 Donruss set differs only by the addition of an autographed sticker and an authenticity embossing. The 2005 Donruss set focuses mostly on the photography, with a simple yet attractive rectangle at the bottom containing player and team information.

Parallels and Similars: Donruss was known for its parallels, and aside from the base set, there were four colors of press proofs and Stat Line parallels for career and season statistical totals. An additional 25th Anniversary parallel was issued.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2005 Donruss.

Thoughts: This strange collection of autographed cards seems to have no purpose other than to increase the total number of autographed cards included in the product. With such a small, unimportant checklist, I doubt Donruss wanted to do anything else. In fact, this card is less important to me than an insert card, because those usually have some sort of theme. Unfortunately, when compiling a type collection, cards like this count just as much as a 1/1 autographed relic. Fortunately, cards like this can be had for nearly nothing.

Did you know: Craig Monroe was arrested in late 2004 for stealing a $29.99 belt, after earning over $300,000 that year. Also, his mother's name is Marilyn Monroe. I wonder if he agreed to sign autographs for Donruss to earn money to pay for that belt.

Additional Images: Card back.

2005 Just Autographs

Set size: 70 cards

Front Design: A color photo is placed on the left side of the horizontal-format card, beneath which is the player's name and team. The right side of the card has the Just Minors logo and the team's logo in grey.

Back Design: A cropped version of the front photo is in a gold frame in the upper left, and the color team logo and player's name is beneath. Biographical and prior-year statistics are on the right.

Parallels and Similars: Several, including printing plates, autographs, colored parallels, and glossy parallels with colored parallels. Most, if not all of those parallels are distinguished by serial numbering.

Distribution: Cards were sold in pack form - four cards per pack including one autograph, and twelve packs per box.

Thoughts: As with other Just Minors products, the focus is on the autographs, so the card design here leaves plenty of room to put the autograph sticker with not much effort put into the design. In fact, it follows some of the same basic principles as another recent set featured here: 2004 Justifiable. It's not surprising that Just Minors has moved away from trading cards to releasing autographed and game-used full memorabilia items. To see an autographed version of this card, see this post.

2005 Just Autographs Signatures

Set size: 49 cards

Front Design: The horizontal cards have a color action photo on the left side, about two inches square. The player's name and team are centered in the border beneath the photo. The MiLB logo serves as a background for the lower right side of the card, with the Just Minors logo in the upper right. A sticker autograph is placed across the photo and mILB logo.

Back Design: The photo is cropped somewhat smaller in the upper-left. The player's biographical data and prior year statistics are on the upper right; the bottom of the card is reserved for the player's name, copyright information, and a holographic authenticity/serial numbering sticker.

Parallels and Similars: There are three parallels of the autograph set. The non-autographed version has several parallels of its own - the full unautographed set has 70 cards.

Distribution: The autographs were inserted into packs of Just Autographs, with one autograph in every pack.

Thoughts: Other than the invasive foil sticker, this is a nice design. The back may not have much data, and more could be added by moving the MiLB logo and sticker, but it's a decent layout. Boxes are pretty cheap - 12 packs of 4 cards each (12 autographs) for about $35. While many (most?) of the players don't make the majors, at this price a couple boxes could yield some good players, and for $35 it could be a fun break.

2005 Topps Rookie Cup Yellow and Red

Set size: 160 cards in each set.

Front Design: A color player photo is placed over a background of either yellow or red which contains the Topps Rookie Cup logo over the outline of the Topps All-Star Rookie team cup. The player's name and team are at the bottom of the card in white with black outline. The backgrounds are designed to look like printing plates. The last ten cards in the set are autographed.

Back Design: The background of yellow or red is repeated, with black text containing vitals, rookie season highlights, rookie year stats, and career stats.

Parallels and Similars: The yellow and red sets are both parallels of the regular set - other parallels are blue, gold, green, orange, and silver, plus printing plates. There is also a parallel set by number only which reprints the player's rookie cup card, with chrome, refractor, and gold refractor parallels. There are no other sets which look similar to the regular set design.

Distribution: Red parallels were serial numbered to 499 (autographs 399), while yellows are 299 (autographs 199).

Thoughts: As a novelty, the idea of parallels looking like printing plates is an interesting concept, but I'm glad it never took hold.


Additional Images: Red Parallel:

2005 Bowman's Best Green, Red, Blue

 

Set size: 143 cards for each parallel


Front Design: A color photo is surrounded on the right and bottom by a semi-transparent border. On the right side, four dots run vertically from the Bowman's Best logo to the nameplate at the bottom; First Year (card numbers 31-143) players are identified as such in the colored border. At the bottom, the team logo and player name appears in an L-shaped solid team-colored box. Depending on the parallel, the border overlays are red, green, or blue. Forty-three cards in each set (#101-143) are autographed.


Back Design: The backs contain a dot-matrix pattern in the same color as the front. The player's name, position, team, vitals, and prior year highlight appear on the upper right, while prior year stats are stacked against the league and level averages. The cards are serial numbered in the lower right corner (see Distribution, below).


Parallels and Similars: These cards are all parallels of the base Bowman's Best set. There are three other parallels: Gold, Silver, and Black, plus printing plates.


Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of Bowman's Best. Green cards are serial numbered to 899 (399 for autographed cards), Blue cards are numbered to 499 (299 for autographed cards), and Red parallels are numbered to 199 (199 for autographed cards).


Thoughts: Bowman sets are known for their parallels, and six parallels with this set isn't surprising. These three cards are attractive, much more so than the gold-bordered parallels in the regular Bowman set. Being that Best is a premium issue, that should be expected.


Additional Images: card backs:

2005 SP Collection of Stars

Set size: 100 cards

Front Design: A cropped color photo is placed over its black and white background. The bottom of the card contains a tangent-arc design around the team logo. The team name and player's position are on the left of the logo; serial numbering is on the right. The set name in a pinched-banner design follows the bottom border.

Back Design: The tangent-arc design carries over to the back, where the player's name, position, and prior years (up to five) and career stats appear. A career highlight appears beneath the totals.

Parallels and Similars: Jersey and autograph versions exist.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of SP Collection, which combined SP Authentic and SPx. The set is serial-numbered to 299 total cards issued of every subject.

Thoughts: Completing the set is a decent challenge based on the checklist alone - in fact, at 100 cards, it is just as large as the SP Authentic or SPx base set (not including update additions). Being limited to 299 cards means it's a tougher set finish than most parallels. The design is attractive enough for an insert (at least on the front).