2001 Topps Archives Reserve 1975

Year: 2001

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Archives Reserve Baseball

Card Type: Base

Card Number: 86

I often wonder, but not enough to really do anything about it, how many times has Topps reprinted in some way or another this card?  It must be over a 100 times I would guess, at any rate it's a lot and it seems like almost once a year.  I won't deny it, it's an iconic card, a card I love and have a bunch of the original, but seems like easy pickings for Topps.  That being said, back in 2001 this horse had not been beaten so badly and I do love the shininess of chrome.

2001 Fleer Futures Bats to the Future Insert card

Card Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: Futures

Year: 2001

Card Number: 11BF

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Bats to the Future

Note: non-relic insert

This is one of the three featured inserts in 2001 Fleer Futures. Younts card celebrates his 3 Silver Slugger awards. There are two other versions of this card. The bat card and the autographed bat card.

2001 Fleer Futures Bats to the Future Bat relic card

Card Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: Fleer Futures

Year: 2001

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Bats to the Future

Card Attributes: Bat relic

Here we have another great relic insert from the early 2000's.  Fleer pretty much stopped putting out a flagship set at the end of the 90's and started focusing on mid to high end, at least for the time, issues. Fleer Futures was one of those new sets that featured something a little different. Card companies in the late 90's and early 2000's were always trying to one up the other with new gimmicks and technologies.  The base cards in this set featured a rough textured surface with embedded sparkles and a quasi futuristic design.  I don't remember what this went for back in the day, but the going rate seems to be between 50 and 60 bucks a box.  I remember opening a few packs that were in K-Mart repacks years ago, I don't think I hit anything good.  

This insert was a listed feature on the front of boxes. The insert is three tiered with this bat relic being the second tier.  The first tier was the base insert, which will be featured here in the future, and the second tier is an autographed bat relic card numbered to fifty.

Like a lot of Fleer's relic issues from the early 2000's this card is unnumbered.  So when you look it up depending on where it's listed its given an arbitrary number based on the player name alphabetically or sometimes it's given the letter designation RY and listed alphabetically.  Since the base insert was numbered these relics are usually numbered with their base inserts number. In Robin's case here his base insert number is BF11 so this card is usually called card 11 in the set.  

The cards themselves look nice. There's no real futuristic coatings or materials on the front, but a little foil lettering. The overall design is futuristic I suppose, and the design works well with the round opening for the piece of bat. 

2001 Norstan Walk of Fame SGA

Card Manufacture: Norstan/Brewers

Card Set: Norstan - Brewers Walk of Fame

Year: 2001

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Stadium Giveaway (SGA)

This one's for Tony L.  

The Norstan Brewers Walk of Fame set was a stadium giveaway.  According to the Standard Catalog the set was giveaway on July 12, 2001, which makes sense since that's the date on the back.  The catalog also say that it was given away to the first 30000 fans, so there's are print run and the set had 4 cards.  The set was given away to commemorate the dedication of the Brewers Walk of Fame, which is pretty much the Brewers Hall of Fame and the first four inductees: Robin Yount, Hank Aaron, Rollie Fingers, and Paul Molitor.  

2001 Upper Deck Legends - Legendary Game Jerseys Relic card

Card Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Card Set: Upper Deck Legends

Year:  2001

Card Number: J-RY

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Legendary Game Jerseys

Relic Type: Jersey

I remember the early 2000's really well. I won't say I got out of collecting, but it definitely was not one of my priorities. Having moved from Wisconsin to Alaska and spending the majority of my time in remote locations working really doesn't lend itself to card collecting.  Coupled with that I was pretty much homeless living out of  my suitcase, or duffel bag.  But right around 2002, I started settling down and spending more time in civilization. It also happens to be the time I found ebay and started buying cards.  So I missed the Relic revolution, but I caught up pretty quick.  And this was also the time that Upper Deck, Topps, Fleer, and Donruss all started putting out HOFer and retired stars cards. 1999 marked the year that Robin would be featured on baseball cards again. It had been 3 years since he had had any cards issued with his likeness, but getting into the Hall of Fame will change that. The early 2000's were littered with relic cards for Robin.  Of course sets featuring retired players and HOFers were all the rage too like the Upper Deck Legends set.  In the early days pieces like this that had some color were a premium, of course if you got a piece of patch, holy moley! But any kind of color that helped the card stand out from the thousands for plain color swatches was pretty cool.  Those first few years on of my ebaying I really went a little crazy, but I added a lot of great Yount cards to the collection.  

Of course now we have to wonder if this is actually a game worn piece of jersey, but honestly that's not what draws me to the card.  It's the man featured on it and even if it was categorically proven that the swatch was fake I would still want this card in my collection.

2001 Fleer EX Wall of Fame - Wall Relic Card

Card Manufacturer: Fleer

Card Set: EX

Year:  2001

Card Number:NNO

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Wall of Fame

Relic Type: Outfield Wall

I think there are far too few relics of odd ball stuff like this. The market is clogged with relics featuring pieces of clothing and bats, but rarely do they feature piece of walls.  I think we need more wall relics, and seat relics and just oddball relics in general.  It's interesting that Fleer states it's a genuine piece of a Major League stadium, but they don't say which one. Or course we're led to believe this is a County Stadium relic, but who can really say. There's also the game date on the back of the card, the day Robin got his 3,000th hit, does that mean this is a piece of County Stadium wall taken back in 1992?  Sigh. Who knows, but still a well designed card and a cool oddball relic. And you know I'm a sucker for oddballs.  Another odd thing about the card it's not numbered or labeled for reference. No WF-3 or WF-RY. Fleer did this on a bunch of it's relics like this for a while.

2001 Topps American Pie Wood Stock Game Used Bat card

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: American Pie

Year: 2001

Card Number: BBWM-RY

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Woodstock

Relic Type: Bat

I've been featuring a lot of older Yount cards and I thought it was time to feature one a bit more modern. And what's more modern than a relic card.

Topps American Pie was one of the first issues to work in Baseball and other Americana. It was a front runner to similar issues brought out by Donruss and Upper Deck. I don't remember how well this product did, but Topps didn't issue another American Pie set for almost a decade and that set was exclusively entertainment based.  

The card design is a homage to the late 60's early 70's with it's retro lettering and design. Back in the early 2000's with relic cards took off these were easy to find and not really all that expensive. It makes me laugh what sellers are trying to get for these now.  The checklist is pretty good too. Willie Mays, Duke Snider, George Brett, and Reggie Jackson to name a few.