Collecting in the First Decade of the 2000s

[dev6015]

I took a break in collecting from when I entered high school in 2002 until 2017 or so, when the great rookie classes of Bellinger / Judge and Acuna / Soto / Ohtani brought me back into the fold. During the height of my collecting in the 90's was the "insert boom" where insert-forward sets like Fleer Ultra were super popular. Additionally, the rise of parallels was one of the hallmarks of that period. Obviously we all know what collecting these days is like.

I have heard from a few people that the 2000s - more or less from post-Ichiro / Pujols RC year in 2001 until Trout really burst onto the scene in 2011 - were kind of the "Dark Ages" in collecting. This somewhat makes sense, as you don't see the same kind of interest in cards from this era, all other things being considered.

For those that were around and collecting in the 2000s, my questions are:

1) is this characterization accurate?
2) why was collecting in the Dark Ages in the 2000s? Everyone burned by the 90's, poor RC classes, no innovation, sticker autos, etc.?
3) how readily available were cards at retail locations or hobby stores at the time?
4) what were the big sets, inserts / parallels, and RC's that people were chasing during those times?
5) was baseball taking a distinct back seat to football and basketball during this time period?

[mlbfan10]

I was very active during this decade, had a blast collecting

Sent from my SM-F926U using Tapatalk

[OhioLawyerF5]

I think it's seen as the dark ages by collectors who weren't around then. It definitely seemed like a smaller overall market, but it was actually pretty active. I remember how active the Beckett boards were back then. The prospecting hype was strong then too, even if fewer of them seemingly panned out. It was also when autos and relics became very common place, so I always felt like it was a very fun time to collect.

[Silent George]

There were a lot of integrity issues in the hobby back then.

Putting fetuses on cards to make sure they claimed to have the rookie. Sets coming out right after the season ended so they could be the first of the new year. Crazy amount of bankruptcies and buyouts stopping continuity.

I always think what hurt the hobby more than anything was the realization and the decade plus malaise that followed that the junk era meant that a decade of baseball cards were next to worthless, which made people think that would hold true for any new baseball cards that came out.

And that really rolled into the Steroid era, where a vast percentage of the players the public got excited about turned into frauds along with their cards.

All of that really just impacts people who aren't collectors though. For me, a guy who loves the nostalgia of topps flagship, 2004, 2005, 2007, and 2008 were some of the worst designs ever, and even lots of the photography in this period seemed to move backwards, or just be terrible choices. Just awful products to be excited about.

[YummiestBeef]

I grew up collecting this era so I have a personal nostalgia for it but I still love the cards from these years. For the most part very well designed cards, and really marked a boom in the refractor/parallel era. Boxes had 1-2ish relics/autos at affordable price points, and the market didn't seem to be oversaturated with star autos/relics. Even 2005 Pujols autos were $150-$200+ at the time which were seemingly astronomical prices. That 2001 BC Pujols kicked off everything we have come to enjoy about prospecting. Not to mention Ruth relics galore when Donruss/Playoff lost their license.

2005 Absolute, 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Update, 2005 UD Reflections, 2006 Allen & Ginter, 2006 Topps Sterling, and 2003 Topps Tribute, were top products of the decade imo

EDIT: Concur about 2007 Flagship Topps. Horrible design but the chrome refractors that year were $$

[LVDan]

The competition between card manufacturers was great for collectors. The glut of affordable products meant for $50-$80 you could open a hobby box of cards a few months after release with a shot at some spectacular stuff, albeit at long odds as is the case today.
Although speculation was a big thing I'd put the percentage of collectors vs speculators in the hobby at about 50/50 ish in the mid 2000's.
Junk era was probably more like 25c/75s and probably similar today I think.

[imbluestreak23]

1997 - 2008 was the most magical collecting period.

-Tail end of MJs career and the 90s explosion.
-Beginning of the period Beckett still rocked
-SIFK Tiger Woods explosion, Pujols/Ichiro mania, Bonds mania, McGwire/Sosa mania, LeKANG rookie mania
-HOF baseball memorabilia was starting to get cut up along with cut sigs so every product was loaded (looking back at it) with historically significant game worn memorabilia
-Exquisite was Exquisite and relatively cheap
-Chrome was Chrome and relatively cheap
-Surface scratches did not exist, seriously
-Grading was $5-$6, unless you were "rich" and could afford the 10-10-10 special
-The players weren't woke - at least they didn't externalize their inner dark thoughts
-Anyone could rip wax
-Chrome prospects was an awesome cheap gamble

I could list 100 things

[Jblaw1]

Some of the best insert sets for game used material was in the mid 2000’s, with maybe the best being the 2005 absolute patches, with the incredible Ruth Jumbo, and a ton of other amazing patches of. Upper deck had some Monster patch’s at that point. Another is the Topps sterling with amazing mantle patches.

[YouTheManNick]

I was dipping my toes in here and there during those years. Walking into a card shop almost felt like you were doing something illegal.

You watch a Burbank Sportscards instagram video now and it's like a party. I moved to LA in 2005 and went to Burbank for the first time in 2006. The old shop on Magnolia. It was dark and not very welcoming. A far cry from what it is now.

You could actually buy boxes.

Again. I just dipped toes here and there. But some products I liked and still like are 2005 Leaf Certified Materials, 2002, 2003 and 2005 finest, early years Allen and Ginter. 2008 Topps Chrome.

I still look for and buy cards from those sets when I see ones I want.

[JohnnyAppleseed]

1. Not really accurate, but it definitely wasn't the same.
2. There were more companies and there weren't really exclusive licensing for sports. This meant there were similar products in a lot of sports in a given year that had varying degrees of hype. Biggest example: Bowman was big for baseball but didn't really hit the same for football or basketball; Upper Deck made the desired products for those two. Rather than one company pumping out two dozen products for a sport, you had each company making 5-8 products for each sport. So, similar level of production as the mid-10s but actual competition.
3. Fairly available, but I only have a few stores as a frame of reference.
4. I would say Bowman, Ultimate Collection, SP Authentic and SPx were the bigger products. Allen & Ginter also developed quite the following, obviously. I had a soft spot for Absolute Memorabilia and Donruss Classics.
5. No, if anything football was grossly undervalued compared to baseball looking back on it all.

A few other good points were touched upon by other posters, such as integrity and bankruptcy issues. Good thing we're past all that.

[sbfinley]

They were some sets I love from that time period. The Diamond Kings sets, Fleer Authentix, Donruss Classics, the early Topps Sterling runs.

[Baseball4life90]

2007/2008 was when I got into it full-swing. I remember I bought a pack of SPA Basketball 06-07 and pulled a Jordan Farmar RC AU /25. Was super excited and eventually became a part of the YouTube Card Collecting community. I was collecting a lot via trades, forums, and buying boxes. Back then, boxes like 2008 Heroes, SP Authentic, where you could get 3-4 hits for under $100! It was quite an exciting time to collect. I don’t think it was the Dark Ages. It was more like the Reneissance. group breaks started popping up, forums were popular (I was on SCF all the time), and there were card shows like the Philly show that were becoming packed during those times. I miss those days.

[wood minis]

Loved the 2000s. Cracker Jack, Turkey Red and Allen & Ginter remain favorites. also enjoyed 2009 UD Goodwin Champions, the only year it was a licensed product.

[hermanotarjeta]

Originally Posted by dev6015

I took a break in collecting from when I entered high school in 2002 until 2017 or so, when the great rookie classes of Bellinger / Judge and Acuna / Soto / Ohtani brought me back into the fold. During the height of my collecting in the 90's was the "insert boom" where insert-forward sets like Fleer Ultra were super popular. Additionally, the rise of parallels was one of the hallmarks of that period. Obviously we all know what collecting these days is like.

I have heard from a few people that the 2000s - more or less from post-Ichiro / Pujols RC year in 2001 until Trout really burst onto the scene in 2011 - were kind of the "Dark Ages" in collecting. This somewhat makes sense, as you don't see the same kind of interest in cards from this era, all other things being considered.

For those that were around and collecting in the 2000s, my questions are:

1) is this characterization accurate?
2) why was collecting in the Dark Ages in the 2000s? Everyone burned by the 90's, poor RC classes, no innovation, sticker autos, etc.?
3) how readily available were cards at retail locations or hobby stores at the time?
4) what were the big sets, inserts / parallels, and RC's that people were chasing during those times?
5) was baseball taking a distinct back seat to football and basketball during this time period?

1. this characterization is absolutely not accurate. I've never heard that term to describe that period until now. I would call it the most innovative period ever. Current day cards are the dark ages.
2. This period marked the transition from the overkill of late 90's inserts and parallels to autos and game used. 2001 legendary cuts became one of the first products to feature cut autos as the product hits. Graded card products were introduced at this time as well. This period also marked the birth of modern day prospecting with bowman chrome. Super high end products - prime cuts, sp game used patch edition.
3. retail was available everywhere, especially with three different companies in the loop.
4. 2001 - ichiro, pujols, 2002 - not a great year - kaz, 2003 - matsui, 2004-2009 - all bowman chrome autos
5. No, baseball was still pretty popular depending on the rookie class. Obviously basketball got strong in 2002 with Yao and a horrible baseball rookie class and 2003 it just took off. Football was still third fiddle until 2004 - brady, big ben, manning etc. Topps had a distinct disadvantage to Upper Deck in the other sports, who seemed to sign the monster names quickly.

[junkwaxgems]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

1. this characterization is absolutely not accurate. I've never heard that term to describe that period until now. I would call it the most innovative period ever. Current day cards are the dark ages.
2. This period marked the transition from the overkill of late 90's inserts and parallels to autos and game used. 2001 legendary cuts became one of the first products to feature cut autos as the product hits. Graded card products were introduced at this time as well. This period also marked the birth of modern day prospecting with bowman chrome. Super high end products - prime cuts, sp game used patch edition.
3. retail was available everywhere, especially with three different companies in the loop.
4. 2001 - ichiro, pujols, 2002 - not a great year - kaz, 2003 - matsui, 2004-2009 - all bowman chrome autos
5. No, baseball was still pretty popular depending on the rookie class. Obviously basketball got strong in 2002 with Yao and a horrible baseball rookie class and 2003 it just took off. Football was still third fiddle until 2004 - brady, big ben, manning etc. Topps had a distinct disadvantage to Upper Deck in the other sports, who seemed to sign the monster names quickly.

The most accurate take. 100%.

I’ll add the craziness of prospect sets like 2001 Prospect Premieres and 2002 Bowman Chrome Draft. While often the MLB season’s rookie class was poor, the card RC classes of the 2000s were not thanks to these types of products and Elite Extra, SP Prospects, etc that contained cards of guys 2-5 years out.

[bblair_2002]

The biggest sets from those years were easily Heritage and then Allen & Ginter.

The biggest selling points to products from the decade were autographs and during those years,autographs of stars and HOFers were more readily available and affordable than they are now.

Also,game used cards were actually game used and not the stupid player worn stuff you see today. The early Leaf Fabric of the Game cards even showed a picture of the actual jersey the swatch came from on the back of the card.

[bear0555]

I feel 2006 was when things started going downhill. Topps Sterling debuted. Loved having a couple cards in the pc until I realized they don't say the player used the memorabilia on the card. DLP was gone. Bowman Chrome autos would soon become much tougher pulls in retail. Novel ideas were far and few. Sticker autos everywhere. And fake rookie cards were introduced. I miss when everyone hated the fake rookie cards.

In 20 years, there will still be cards made between 2000-2005 that you had no idea were made. Cards so rare and special you didn't know it was possible for them to exist. Collecting at that time was an experience that may never be replicated.

[dev6015]

Originally Posted by hermanotarjeta

1. this characterization is absolutely not accurate. I've never heard that term to describe that period until now. I would call it the most innovative period ever. Current day cards are the dark ages.
2. This period marked the transition from the overkill of late 90's inserts and parallels to autos and game used. 2001 legendary cuts became one of the first products to feature cut autos as the product hits. Graded card products were introduced at this time as well. This period also marked the birth of modern day prospecting with bowman chrome. Super high end products - prime cuts, sp game used patch edition.
3. retail was available everywhere, especially with three different companies in the loop.
4. 2001 - ichiro, pujols, 2002 - not a great year - kaz, 2003 - matsui, 2004-2009 - all bowman chrome autos
5. No, baseball was still pretty popular depending on the rookie class. Obviously basketball got strong in 2002 with Yao and a horrible baseball rookie class and 2003 it just took off. Football was still third fiddle until 2004 - brady, big ben, manning etc. Topps had a distinct disadvantage to Upper Deck in the other sports, who seemed to sign the monster names quickly.

Good points all and thanks for your insight. Based on what I've heard, I guess the "Dark Ages" comment is more in reference to how there seemed to be a smaller collector base than in the 90's. But that is probably unsurprising given how many people were burned by the overproduction of the 80's and 90's making most of their collection worthless and were therefore out of the hobby for a little while.

I have started to peruse 2000s cards and really like what I see for the most part. 2008 Topps flagship has a great design and a few other sets are really sharp (Leaf Limited Cuts, Topps Pristine, etc.). Also very cool to pick up RC's of late career future HOFs for relatively cheap compared to current BCAs (Kershaw, Scherzer, Verlander, Cabrera, and Votto, to name a few).

One thing that is tough for me about the era is the sticker autos in every set are absolutely terrible. The silver foil auto sticker that was slapped on top of cards is even worse than the clear stickers these days. At least the clear stickers these days don't distract from the card design.

[OhioLawyerF5]

I also remember we started doing group breaks in 2002. Not sure if this was common anywhere else, but before there were online group breaks, the early 2000s ushered in obscenely high end products (I think Ultimate Collection was the first one we did a group break with if memory serves). So when my LCS would get a super high end product, when we "regulars" couldn't afford an entire box, we started doing group breaks in the store by sharing the costs of the boxes/packs and dividing up the hits accordingly. I like to think that in-person group breaks like this were the genesis of modern breaking. But who knows? We were a small community back then since it was mostly just the group of us at our local store.

[hermanotarjeta]

Originally Posted by dev6015

Good points all and thanks for your insight. Based on what I've heard, I guess the "Dark Ages" comment is more in reference to how there seemed to be a smaller collector base than in the 90's. But that is probably unsurprising given how many people were burned by the overproduction of the 80's and 90's making most of their collection worthless and were therefore out of the hobby for a little while.

I have started to peruse 2000s cards and really like what I see for the most part. 2008 Topps flagship has a great design and a few other sets are really sharp (Leaf Limited Cuts, Topps Pristine, etc.). Also very cool to pick up RC's of late career future HOFs for relatively cheap compared to current BCAs (Kershaw, Scherzer, Verlander, Cabrera, and Votto, to name a few).

One thing that is tough for me about the era is the sticker autos in every set are absolutely terrible. The silver foil auto sticker that was slapped on top of cards is even worse than the clear stickers these days. At least the clear stickers these days don't distract from the card design.

The distaste for the sticker auto also greatly contributed to why bowman chrome took off. It’s another reason why upper deck started to leave topps in the dust with their clean designs and acknowledgement of collector preference in their higher end basketball and football card lines particularly.

Also, in 2006 when topps stole the baseball exclusive for minor league players and profited off their bowman cash cow, they got lazy and stickered everything mlb, even lots of their high end. People hated it, so then they came up with the redemption Ponzi scheme as an excuse to justify their lack of quality. Overproduction hurt them big time in 2007 so they were forced to drastically cut print runs in 2008, along with the recession.

They still couldn’t do high end right in any sport 2006-2009 and got saved by stras in 2010, Harper and trout in 2011 with their continued exclusive in baseball.

[mfw13]

The early 2000's were a great period for COLLECTORS.....there was lots of competition since there were multiple companies/brands producing cards....Topps Heritage revitalized interest in vintage designs....and wax was nice and cheap. Many of my favorite products and designs were from the 1999-2005 era.

The hobby started to die in 2009/10 when Upper Deck was banished and Topps gained the baseball monopoly. It's been downhill ever since.

You have the same brands being released every year, most with indistinguishable designs from year to year (i.e. Ginter, Museum, GQ, all the super high-end products, etc.).

The only real innovations of the past decade have been the creation of the super-rare SSSP case hit and a few Panini basketball/soccer inserts (Kaboom, Downtown, Color Blast, etc.).

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by dev6015

I took a break in collecting from when I entered high school in 2002 until 2017 or so, when the great rookie classes of Bellinger / Judge and Acuna / Soto / Ohtani brought me back into the fold. During the height of my collecting in the 90's was the "insert boom" where insert-forward sets like Fleer Ultra were super popular. Additionally, the rise of parallels was one of the hallmarks of that period. Obviously we all know what collecting these days is like.

I have heard from a few people that the 2000s - more or less from post-Ichiro / Pujols RC year in 2001 until Trout really burst onto the scene in 2011 - were kind of the "Dark Ages" in collecting. This somewhat makes sense, as you don't see the same kind of interest in cards from this era, all other things being considered.

For those that were around and collecting in the 2000s, my questions are:

1) is this characterization accurate?
2) why was collecting in the Dark Ages in the 2000s? Everyone burned by the 90's, poor RC classes, no innovation, sticker autos, etc.?
3) how readily available were cards at retail locations or hobby stores at the time?
4) what were the big sets, inserts / parallels, and RC's that people were chasing during those times?
5) was baseball taking a distinct back seat to football and basketball during this time period?

Prospectors and prospecting - basically flippers - attempted to control the hobby. When these people no longer had industry support starting in 2006 they started to fade away, unwinding their positions, although some began to resurface with the easy money provided by COVID.

Their focus in the early 2000s was clearly BC and grading, they colluded for profit…these cards were almost all busted prospects nobody even gives a second thought to today.

[Silent George]

Originally Posted by mfw13

The early 2000's were a great period for COLLECTORS.....there was lots of competition since there were multiple companies/brands producing cards....Topps Heritage revitalized interest in vintage designs....and wax was nice and cheap. Many of my favorite products and designs were from the 1999-2005 era.

The hobby started to die in 2009/10 when Upper Deck was banished and Topps gained the baseball monopoly. It's been downhill ever since.

You have the same brands being released every year, most with indistinguishable designs from year to year (i.e. Ginter, Museum, GQ, all the super high-end products, etc.).

The only real innovations of the past decade have been the creation of the super-rare SSSP case hit and a few Panini basketball/soccer inserts (Kaboom, Downtown, Color Blast, etc.).

The 2000s cut auto sets from Upper Deck - Legendary Cuts, Exquisite Cuts, etc. are the greatest baseball odds for a set there have ever been.

2001 Upper Deck SP Lengendary Cuts had SEVEN Babe Ruth cut autos in it. SEVEN.

147 Jackie Robinsons

625 Joe Dimaggios

And on and on and on.

Topps will NEVER make a product that could possibly ever compete with those Cuts sets. Now every cut is 1 of 1 impossible odds while you open up on of 20,000 Desi Relaford retired autos in a set and get excited because this one has a RED border.

[msink28]

Best part of the 2000s: wealth of on-card autos from Hall of Famers and star players that are still, for the most part, affordable. UD Ultimate Signature, Topps Heritage, Topps Fan Favorites, Fleer Greats of the Game, UD Legends, list just goes on.

Second best part of the 2000s: high-quality game used, bat barrels, logomen, patch, etc. UD Exquisite, Ultimate Collection, early Triple Threads, Leaf Limited, Absolute. Now it's really difficult to find a nice patch card that isn't from a $300+ pack/box/whatever product. Wasn't always this way. While it's a shame in some regard that old HOF jerseys were cut up, I wouldn't have a Williams or DiMaggio card otherwise.

Everything else about that era kind of sucked although there are plenty of sets and designs that have some appeal. But most of what was released from 2002-2005 by DLP and Fleer is pretty lousy, and a lot of what was released by Topps throughout the era is lousy too. Upper Deck released higher-quality base cards, but you would lose your shirt unless you had a case hit.

What I think is most notable about that era is the shift from producing high-quality inserts to producing game-used/patch cards. Collectors had their fill by maybe 2003, but none of the companies really adapted.

If you're looking for some nice cards to collect, my suggestion is to look at later-decade Upper Deck products like Masterpieces or Spectrum. There are some nice designs and interesting serially-numbered cards in those products. Upper Deck did a better job with game-used too in my opinion. All of that stuff is readily affordable.

[MoreToppsPlease]

Originally Posted by YummiestBeef

2005 Absolute, 2005 Donruss Diamond Kings Update, 2005 UD Reflections, 2006 Allen & Ginter, 2006 Topps Sterling, and 2003 Topps Tribute, were top products of the decade imo

Strongly agree about these, technically top products of the century so far. I’d add 2005 Leaf Limited, all a lot of fun and incredible to bust.