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.