Mark Prior Monday - 2005 Leaf Century

When I think of Leaf, my first thought is that they were the Donruss version of O-Pee-Chee. Canadian parallels. Sure, it was kind of neat to find a Cubs card every now and then, but I didn't seek them out. Then in 1990, they came out with their own standalone set, powered by a Frank Thomas rookie card, and released sets for a few more years.

Then it goes dark for me as I exited the hobby for a little bit. When I came back, it seemed like Leaf had reinvented themselves as an upscale brand. Or maybe that was just the direction the hobby was headed. Limited serial numbers, relics, boxes that came with memorabilia. No wonder that was a short re-entry into the hobby for me.

As far as I can tell, 2005 was the only year they released Leaf Century. I kind of like it. I usually prefer the home pinstripes but the black and white background with the player kept in color really pops, at least on this Mark Prior card. The postmark down on the bottom with the city and year the club was founded is a nice touch. Inserts for the set include actual postage stamps on the cards with autographs and/or relics.

The hobby boxes had 10 packs with 5 cards in each pack. With perfect collection, it would take at least four boxes to complete the 200-card base set. But I couldn't tell you what that would cost because as of this writing, there aren't any boxes on eBay or Dave and Adam's Card World. I couldn't even find a team set (any team) for sale on eBay, let alone a complete set.

The Cubs were heavily represented in the set, coming in at 12 cards.

18 Moises Alou

21 Sammy Sosa

50 Nomar Garciaparra

108 Andre Dawson

116 Aramis Ramirez

131 Greg Maddux

134 Kerry Wood

146 Matt Clement

160 Derrek Lee

161 Mark Prior

162 Carlos Zambrano

189 Todd Walker

By comparison, the Diamondbacks only had one (Randy Johnson). The Rockies and Tigers only had two and the defending champion Red Sox only had 10.

Aside from the Prior, I surprisingly have no other cards from this set. A hunting I will go.

Mark Prior Monday - 2003 Topps Hobby Masters

When I was a kid, I bought packs and packs of cards. It wasn't the most cost efficient way to build sets and I don't know if I even consciously was thinking about completing them. I just remember the excitement of pulling a Cubs player or maybe one that was listed in Beckett. Fast forward to now and while I do think about completing base sets now, I hardly ever look to complete any inserts sets.

I have a run of Topps Cubs team sets back until the year I was born, 1978 and a smattering of cards from before then. But when I came across today's Mark Prior card, I knew I wasn't done. Yes, the base cards, I believe are complete. But somewhere along the way, Topps started including inserts that weren't part of the base set, so they don't show up on most team set checklists. Since re-entering the hobby a couple of years ago, I usually don't mind trying to put together a "master" team set as long as they aren't serial numbered, relics or autographs.

In 2003, one of these insert sets went by the name of Hobby Masters. I couldn't tell you the player criteria for being a part of this 20-card checklist, but it seems to just be an excuse to get 20 of the more popular players together in a set. Not every team had a representative while the Cubs got two (Sammy Sosa was the other). The cards came 1:18 hobby packs or 1:6 jumbo packs of Topps Series One.

I don't mind that kind of insert since its not ridiculously shortprinted or anything like that, but the design isn't real great. The background color is fine but the floating MLB logos seems kind of random. The Hobby Masters font size seems huge on the front but oddly, I don't have a problem with it on the back.

Hobby Masters was produced for a few years starting in 2002. After finding this card in the Mark Prior lot, I'm almost done tracking down the Cubs cards from the run and will post them all together when I do.

Mark Prior Monday - 2005 Fleer Authentix

I try to write my posts a day or to in advance and schedule them for noon on the given day. If everything works out the way it was supposed to with my trip, this will be my last post that I wrote a full week in advance. Tomorrow, I should have highlights and details.

I've said it before that even though I was still following the Cubs in the early-mid 2000's, those years make up a big gap in my collecting history. One of reasons I chose to do Mark Prior Monday (aside from just picking up the huge Prior lot) was that it forces me to learn more about these sets.

2005 Fleer Authentix #69 Mark Prior

This set, 2005 Fleer Authentix seemed kind of neat if not gimmicky. You have a faux ticket along the bottom that includes all of the pertinent information about the player. There's a color action photo with a black and white or sepia background. It's kind of hard to tell from this scan and I've already filed the card away. I kind of like it, although as much as I get on Topps for their tight cropping, I could see this one done a little tighter.

I'm not sure I like the diagonal across the back but at least it's different.

The set consists of 125 cards and has a couple of parallel versions. The Club Box set is limited to 50 copies and is green on the front where this card is red/maroon. It also says Club Box underneath the team name. The General Admission parallel is numbered to 100 is orange-ish and says General Admission under the team name. I wish all parallels were as clearly labeled when I'm going back through to figure out which cards are which.

The Cubs had three other cards in the set with Sammy Sosa, Kerry Wood and Nomar Garciaparra.

Mark Prior Monday - 2002 E-X

In 2002, I had one foot in the hobby door, but I certainly wasn't buying things like E-x, a product put out by Fleer. According to Baseballcardpedia, packs of cards from this set ran $3-5 for just four cards. No thanks.

2002 E-X #140 Mark Prior

But that's not to say the cards themselves weren't any good. You can't really tell from the scan, but the card is kind of see through is the gray/white parts you see above. I still wouldn't buy packs but I won't hesitate to add the rest of the Cubs from the set. The jersey does seem kind of weird though. Is it not tucked in? I would think his waist is somewhere around the bottom so it should be gathered more. Something just seems off.

Also according to Baseballcardpedia, the set consists of 100 base cards, and a 39-card subset of rookies and prospects called "nEXt". The first 25 cards of nEXt are serial numbered while the remaining 14 are not. But Matt, you're saying to yourself, if there are 139 cards in the set, why is Mark Prior number 140?

I'm glad you asked. Apparently, card #133 was never made. It was supposed to be Drew Henson but Fleer's contract with him expired before the set's release.

Other Cubs from the base set include #5 Sammy Sosa, #34 Fred McGriff, #57 Moises Alou and #84 Jon Lieber. Sosa also has a couple of different relic cards.

Mark Prior Monday - 2005 Upper Deck Artifacts

I’m not sure what a box of Upper Deck Artifacts was running back in 2005 but I can reasonably assume it would have been out of my price range as a collector. There were only 40 cards in the box (10 packs with 4 cards) but the odds suggested one autograph and three serial numbered memorabilia cards among them. I would have been (and still am) left to cherry pick the stuff I wanted so it was a good thing today’s card showed up in the Mark Prior lot.

The first 100 cards in the set were an unnumbered base card set. The next fifty cards were Future Stars serial numbered to 1350. Wrapping up the 200 card set were 50 Legends numbered to 1999.

The Cubs had seven cards in the first 100, more than double of what should have been had every team been represented equally. Mark Prior’s card today comes in at #65 on the checklist and after double checking, is the only one from that year’s team set I had in my collection.

For some reason, when I looked at the card the first few half dozen times, I thought the letters behind him were spelling out MVP. It wasn’t until I saw the other cards from the set that I realized it was just his initials, MP. Too bad his parents didn’t give him Victor or Vladimir as a middle nameor his initials could have been MVP.

A full 100 unnumbered base card set would have taken at least three boxes to complete when you figure in hits (and perfect collation) but can be had on eBay for under $15 shipped. Or $45 with free shipping. Or if you want to get super fancy and have the same cards but with a “UD Promo” stamp on it, $200 OBO.

Mark Prior Monday - 2006 Upper Deck Star Attractions

A little while back when I broke down Cubs Lot #4, I mentioned a big chunk of Mark Prior cards but I didn't want to show off the nearly 200 different cards in one post. Doing one or a couple at a time will make the scanning and cropping much more manageable. Prior was a big part of the early-mid 2000's Cubs teams when I wasn't collecting so most of the inserts/subsets were new to my collection. I really enjoy learning about sets that I had ever heard of or knew very little about.

2006 Upper Deck Star Attractions #SA-MP Mark Prior

Star Attractions was an insert in Series One and the Update Series in 2006 Upper Deck. The Series One set consisted of 50 cards and had a gold parallel version that was numbered to 699 copies. The Update Series set also had 50 cards but had a silver parallel version that was limited to only 99. This Mark Prior comes out of Series One and is the plain jane regular version.

It looked familiar but it turns out I had a Greg Maddux from the same set. In 2006, Prior was wrapping up his Major League playing career when he went 1-6 with a 7.21 ERA. He played in minor league games as recently as last year though and is currently working in the San Diego Padres front office.

Mark Prior Monday - 2005 Upper Deck Base and Retro

A little while back when I broke down Cubs Lot #4, I mentioned a big chunk of Mark Prior cards but I didn't want to show off the nearly 200 different cards in one post. Doing one or a couple at a time will make the scanning and cropping much more manageable. Prior was a big part of the early-mid 2000's Cubs teams when I wasn't collecting so most of the inserts/subsets were new to my collection. I really enjoy learning about sets that I had ever heard of or knew very little about.

I almost missed that these cards were different and nearly threw one in to the duplicate stack. If I had come across them separately and not in the same stack, I probably would have.

The card on the left is the 2005 Upper Deck base card in the Pennant Race subset. The card on the right is the 2005 Upper Deck Retro card. It seems that one box in every 12-box hobby case of 2005 Upper Deck Series One was filled with the Retro cards.

Despite not noticing initially, there are actually quite a few differences on the front. The left and right borders on the Retro card are white. The background has been tinted blue and some vertical stripes have been added behind Prior's head. The team name is also now in a foil band instead of just hovering over the Pennant Race banner.

The backs however are a different story. They are identical.

As someone who didn't collect when this set was released, it would have been appreciated to have the name of the parallel set somewhere on it. Maybe it was more widely known in 2005 when the set was released but I had a hard time finding information about it when I didn't even know what I was looking for. Ok, not really a hard time but more time than it should have. 

Mark Prior Monday - 2006 Upper Deck Ovation Superstar Theatre

A little while back when I broke down Cubs Lot #4, I mentioned a big chunk of Mark Prior cards but I didn't want to show off the nearly 200 different cards in one post. Doing one or a couple at a time will make the scanning and cropping much more manageable. Prior was a big part of the early-mid 2000's Cubs teams when I wasn't collecting so most of the inserts/subsets were new to my collection. I really enjoy learning about sets that I had ever heard of or knew very little about.

From what I can tell Upper Deck produced Ovation for a couple of years in the early 2000's and then again in 2006.

The Superstar Theatre insert set consisted of 30 cards but it doesn't appear that this was a one-per-team situation as Derrek Lee also represents the Cubs. Last week, I said I would have tried to complete that entire set (Fleer InScribed) if I was collecting when it was released. This set, I'm barely interested in the Cubs. Its different but it just seems kind of cheesy and doesn't really translate to baseball. Is Prior standing in center field facing away from the infield?

Maybe the back can explain the theatre correlation.

Not really. Upper Deck brought the curtain around to the back to tie it in, but the writing is your basic card back blurb. They do mention "the early stage of his career" but I don't know if that was an intentional pun or not.

Mark Prior Monday - 2004 Fleer InScribed

A little while back when I broke down Cubs Lot #4, I mentioned a big chunk of Mark Prior cards but I didn't want to show off the nearly 200 different cards in one post. Doing one or a couple at a time will make the scanning and cropping much more manageable. Prior was a big part of the early-mid 2000's Cubs teams when I wasn't collecting so most of the inserts/subsets were new to my collection. I really enjoy learning about sets that I had ever heard of or knew very little about.

If I were collecting in 2004, I probably would have been trying to complete Fleer InScribed as a set and not just the Cubs from it. I'm a big fan of simplistic yet elegant designs and this one hits the nail on the head. Unfortunately, hobby boxes of the stuff seem to have held their value, at least in the eyes of the sellers.

Keeping it classy, Fleer went with a black and white design with only the players themselves and the team logo in color. I haven't seen every card but of those I did, the player's entire body was on the card so there weren't any unfortunate cropping issues. The leafy addition down by the logo is understated, not running all along the borders or cluttering up the corners and is carried over to tie in the back design. The back is just as simple with some demographics, stats, a facsimile signature from the player and again, just a splash of color. Mark Prior did always have a pretty cool autograph where you were almost able to decipher every letter.

The set consisted on 100 consecutively numbered cards broken down in 75 base cards, 10 retired players serial numbered to 1000 and 15 Rookies that were serialed numbed to 750. There were also red and gold facsimile signature parallels in addition to other inserts that include autographs and relics.

The three-card Cubs team set is rounded out with Kerry Wood and Sammy Sosa. According to my records, I have the whole set now. The Priors above are my card but I borrowed the images below from Zistle.

Mark Prior Monday - 2004 Upper Deck Vintage Play Ball Preview

Last week when I broke down Cubs Lot #4, I mentioned a big chunk of Mark Prior cards but I didn't want to show off the nearly 200 different cards in one post. Doing one or a couple at a time will make the scanning and cropping much more manageable. Prior was a big part of the early-mid 2000's Cubs teams when I wasn't collecting so most of the inserts/subsets were new to my collection. I really enjoy learning about sets that I had ever heard of or knew very little about.

In 2004, Upper Deck, among other companies still had a license for making cards and today's set is Upper Deck Vintage. The set consisted of a total of 500 cards, broken down into 300 base and 150 cards short printed across seven subsets. I say subsets instead of inserts because they are continuously numbered to 500.

Mark Prior was coming off an All-Star season that saw him come in third in Cy Young voting (behind Eric Gagne and Jason Schmidt). This particular card is from the Play Ball Preview subset (301-315).

I'm not sure how this a preview because all of the Play Ball cards from 2004 I've seen, look like this:

Maybe since its from 2004, its a preview of 2005? Well, I couldn't find anything about 2005 Play Ball, so I think they were a one and done set.

The first 350 cards in Upper Deck Vintage year (which included the 15-card Play Ball Preview set) also had black and white parallel versions. 

The backs are identical so the only difference is that the front is entirely black and white.

Cubs Lot #4

This is another smaller lot but one that I plan on spreading out over about 150 posts.

What?!

Don't worry, I'll explain in a bit.

I actually won several auctions from one seller who seemed to be doing a purge of his unwanted Cubs cards. Lucky me! I probably wouldn't have normally picked these up for the $0.99 I paid individually, but with combined shipping and the lot (you'll see at the end) that I won, I definitely feel I got my money's worth.

Now, most of these guys you'd probably have to be a pretty big Cubs fan to have heard of since just two made the big leagues. But I'm still happy to add these guys to the collection.

Brandon Sing made it as high as Triple A Iowa but spent the past couple of years in independent leagues. This blue refractor is limited to just 150 copies.

Elvin Puello topped out with six games in Single A Peoria in 2005 before going back down to low A Boise in 2006, his last year.

Chris Walker played for the Cubs organization from 2002 to 2007, rising up to Triple A Iowa. He's been bouncing around the minors and independent baseball since, spending 2013 in the Mexican League.

Kevin Collins played High A ball for the Cubs and Cardinals but hasn't played since 2006.

Ronald Perry "Bear" Bay didn't make it above A ball with the Cubs but played at the Triple A level for the Indians, Angels and Padres as recently as 2012.

Buck Coats had Major League time with the Cubs in 2006, the Reds in 2007 and the Blue Jays in 2008.

Matt Creighton bounced around quite a bit while in the Cubs organization, playing at multiple levels each season. But he couldn't quite break into the bigs. These are a nice pair of autographs to add to the collection though.

Bobby Brownlie is a former first round draft  pick for the Cubs and although he played Triple A for the Cubs, Nationals and Braves, he too, never broke through to the Majors.

Grant Johnson is a former 2nd round draft pick out of Notre Dame that topped out at Double A Tennessee.

Finally for the single cards, we have to most successful of the group, Tyler Colvin. A first round pick in 2006, Colvin made his Cubs debut in 2009. He was traded to the Rockies with DJ LeMahieu for Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers following the 2011 season. He bounced bewteen the Rockies and their Triple A affiliate for the next two seasons and is currently with the Giants Triple A team in Fresno.

However, the large part of this purchase was this lot below:

Nearly two hundred Mark Prior cards, all different. Considering my collection consisted of a meager 50-ish Prior cards before, this is a big boost. There weren't any autographs of relics, but there were a couple of serial numbered card. As I mentioned at the top of this post, I intend to get many posts out of this lot. There are so many different inserts that I missed out on in the early to mid 2000s that I think it will be fun to visit each (or most) individually. I'm thinking "Mark Prior Mondays" might be a thing although I may just use them when I get stuck for a post.

All of the cards in this post set me back $20.47 shipped, which works out to less than a dime per card. All of the minor league cards were new to me and I'm guessing at least 150 of the Priors will be new once I get them all scanned and cataloged. There weren't too many base cards which is what I mostly had. Not too shabby.

I will have to double check when everything is sorted out, but this may bump Prior up to my second biggest player collection (unofficial) behind Ryne Sandberg.

#2

I often take some good natured ribbing for being a Cubs fan, especially lately with the success of my local team, the Washington Nationals. One of my common responses has been, "Well, at least the Cubs haven't been so bad that they get the top pick in the draft two years in a row. In fact, only the Nats have."

That usually shuts them up.

But later today with the start of this year's draft, barring a trade, the Houston Astros will join the Nats in that distinction. Oddly enough, as bad as the Cubs have been perceived to be, they've only had one top overall pick in draft history, 1982's Shawon Dunston, commemorated here on a 1985 Topps card.



1985 Topps Shawon Dunston Rookie



Being bad is frustrating and I certainly don't root against the Cubs, but not being bad enough to get the top picks to help turn around the team can be frustrating too! So today, in honor of the Cubs having the #2 overall pick in the draft, I'm going to take a look at the three players previously selected in that spot by the Chicago Cubs. It's been a while since I showed off an ATCRCS card without an autograph so I whipped these up just for this post.


1967 #2 pick, Terry Hughes

In the third year of the draft, 1967 the Cubs selected Terry Hughes with the second pick. Hughes toiled away in the minors before receiving a late season call-up in September 1970. He had 3 at-bats over 2 games with one hit. He was back in the minors the next few seasons before resurfacing with St. Louis Cardinals for 11 in 1973 and the Boston Red Sox in 1974. Not bad finding a photo to use despite the limited playing time.

Selected ahead of Hughes was Ron Blomberg on the Yankees, notable for being the first Deignated Hitter in league history.


1981 #2 pick, Joe Carter

Fast forward nearly a decade and a half and we get to 1981 where the Cubs selected Joe Carter with the #2 pick. (Yes, with Dunston the following year at #1, the Cubs almost back-to-backed, but they didn't!)

Carter was also a Cubs short-timer, spending 23 games with the club in 1983. Carter was traded to the Indians the following season in a multiplayer deal that included bring Rick Sutcliffe to the Cubs. Carter is probably best known for his walk-off World Series home run from his time in Toronto.

The Mariners selected Mike Moore with the #1 pick that year. Moore would go onto to be an All-Star for the Oakland A's in 1989 and win games two and four in their sweep over the Giants in the World Series that year.

2001 #2 pick, Mark Prior

We're going to fast forward again, this time two full decades to 2001 for the Cubs next and most recent #2 pick, Mark Prior. He is the most tenured Cub of the three, appearing in 106 games over the course of five seasons. He made an immediate impact pitching for the Cubs in 2002 and won 18 games in his first full season, 2003. That was the year the Cubs were just a few outs from their first World Series since 1945 before the wheels fell off. *cough* Bartman *cough*

I wouldn't call Prior a bust, he did give the Cubs a few good years. However, injuries derailed his career and despite signing with the Padres, Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox and Reds, Prior has still only pitched for the Cubs in the Majors.

The Twins had the #1 pick that year and selected some guy named Joe Mauer. I guess that's worked out.

So not a real spectacular history at #2 for the Cubs. Let's see what kind of magic this new regime can pull out of their hat!

Pseudo-Surprise from 2 by 3 Heroes

Jeff from 2 by 3 Heroes sent me an email about a month ago dangling a fantastic bit of trade bait in front of me. Unfortunately, I had nothing in return at the time but was going to look at that card show that I never made it to earlier this month. I have something cooking but nothing just yet.

Fast forward to this past weekend and I pulled out a yellow padded envelope that I assumed was an eBay pickup I had forgotten about. Nope, it was even better. While I was expecting it to come eventually, I didn't know it was already on the way, hence the pseudo-surprise.

 I'll start oldest to newest, since the newest card in the package was the original piece of bait offered. The rest is all bonus!



1989 Cap'n Crunch Andre Dawson



If you had asked me if I had this, I would have said yes. But I couldn't find it and this one is in incredible shape. Not even for its age. Incredible shape. Period.

 

1994 Collector's Choice Ryne Sandberg (Team Checklist)

I had this card in my Ryne Sandberg PC but it's nice to have one for my Cubs team sets I'm putting together too. Great horizontal card.

A pair of young aces in the form of 2002 Donruss Originals. Oh what could have been. I didn't have either of these, nice!

2010 Bowman Chrome Prospects Green X-Fractors Justin Bour

Jeff probably didn't think twice about this "throw in" card but I'm pretty excited to have it. Justin Bour is a local guy (along with current Cub Shawn Camp) so it has a little bit of sentimental value to it. Justin is currently in Double-A with the Tennessee Smokies.

2012 Opening Day Geovany Soto (Walmart Blue Parallel)

This Geovany Soto card is serial numbered out of 2012. I've got to get a master list of all these parallels together so I can figure out which ones I still need/want.

2012 Topps Archives Keystone Connection Ryne Sandberg & Starlin Castro

To be honest, when I saw this card I thought it was a bit of a stretch. Ryno would have been better paired with Darwin Barney (although to be fair, nobody could have predicted Barney's Gold Glove season) and Castro probably would have been better paired with another Shortstop like Ernie Banks. But after reading the back, I guess I can kind of, sort of, see the "connection" that Topps made:

And last, but definitely not least:

2013 Heritage Clubhouse Collection Starlin Castro

The prices on Castro items have cooled a little now that Anthony Rizzo is the hot commodity but are still not always quite to where I'd be comfortable picking them up. So to be able to trade for one is a no-brainer. I believe Matt Garza is the only other Cub in this set so aside from that and maybe picking up some of the autographs, 201 Heritage is pretty much in the books for me!

Thanks for the cards, Jeff!