It's shop hop season--which is a quilting thing, but I digress--and that means trips to card shops on the road. Aside from looking at different boxes and packs, it's a great opportunity to work through the discount trays. My favorite regional shop over in Peoria has a 50 cent box, which I thought would be more fun to flip through than the team boxes I usually sort through.
Early on in my browse, I spotted a bunch of 2001 Topps Baseball together. The 50th anniversary set with its dark green border and bold gold logo, is one that I missed the first time around. I have a few cards mainly from repacks, so it's a set on my long term to-build goals, though not yet on my want list.
My pull: 9 base cards and 2 insers. I didn't need much convincing on which cards to grab. Pedro Martinez & Randy Johnson, good start.
I noticed on the Pedro card is that 2001 would be his 4th year with the Red Sox, and that he'd wait another 3 years before the team's epic run to the World Series. Boston finished 2nd behind the Yankees each of those years. In my time-compressed memory, I had remembered Pedro helped turn the team around, but thought his arrival came a lot closer to 2004.
Johnson is on a Topps Noteworthy insert set. Sadly, the most noteworthy element of the card is the same broken typewriter font that Topps used on '94 Stadium Club. It's a bit like reading a ransom note. Still, I've always been a fan of Johnson, and 2001 is a season that really sticks for me, courtesy of the D-backs World Series run.
How about both Pedro and the Big Unit on the same card? Sure!
A two-sided league leaders card is a different look, as is the foil treatment on the front. I feel a little bad for pitchers 2-10 in each league being left off the typical lists on the back, but I'll take the trade-off of two full-sized images. I wonder if anyone considered numbering this card as 626 for the combined number of strikeouts.
The other insert, also a Topps Noteworthy, is for 2023 Hall of Famer Scott Rolen. It's a good reminder of the bits in his early career that he could be good for a while.
Picked up another HOFer in Fred McGriff. I'll keep it in my PC binder until I get more of the set. Or get more copies--one for the set, one for the Rays team collection.
Oh hey, another 6'10" pitcher in this group, courtesy of the three-headed prospects card: White Sox righty Jon Rauch. I feel like there was a time when the Sox would draft really tall pitchers hoping they could pitch like Johnson, or at least use the "shorter distance to the plate" theory as an advantage.
Bonus White Sox trivia: Jon Rauch and Jon Garland share a birthday, with Garland born a year after Rauch, but also drafted one year earlier than Rauch.
BTW, the card also features Roy Oswalt, who would appear in the 2005 World Series against the Sox. White Sox fans give you thanks for giving up 5 walks and a homer in Game 3.
Other pick-ups: Tony Gwynn, Rickey Henderson, Manny Ramirez.
Henderson in a Mariners uniform is a sad hole in my memory. I went to both Games 1 and 2 of the ALDS and didn't remember seeing him in that series.
Also, Alex Rodriguez, Will Clark, and Fernando Tatis.
Coming away with stars in hand is a pretty good day.
