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The Great Reorganization: Step 15: To Collect or Not (2000 Edition)

Back in early December, I took some time out of final exam grading in order to go through a single year's worth of sets that I have represented in my collection with the goal of deciding whether or not they were worth keeping.  It's been quite some time since that post, but I'm finally ready to make a bit more headway into this seemingly never ending quest to reorganize my baseball card collection!

I'm happy to announce that today I am going to take a long hard look at the year 2000 (a year that I already did a preliminary run through about a year ago)!

For me, the year 2000 was a year that didn't involve much in the way of baseball cards at the time.  I was one year away from graduating high school so sports, picking a college, and girls were much more on my mind.  However, in the time since then I have managed to accumulate quite a few cards from a wide variety of sets from 2000.  Which will I continue to hold on to and which are destined to become trade bait?  Let's figure it out together!

2000 Topps:

I suppose there is no better place to begin going through sets from the year 2000 than the first set that I (usually) buy cards from every year - Topps flagship offering.  In the year 2000, Topps went with a silver border that I actually liked.  The photography in the set was also fairly good (with a secondary photo on the back of the card which I always appreciate).
Yes, I actually used the checklist cards back in the day.

As for my current collection, I own 351 of the 478 cards in the base set or about 73% of the set.  It seems like a total shame to give up on a set that I'm over 70% finished with, doesn't it?!  I went back and forth on my decision here a number of times...in fact, I started writing this post about two or three months ago, and couldn't decide what to do with 2000 Topps - and so I stopped writing.

Well, time has cleared up a few things for me in regards to the set.  First, while I do't care for the border color, I do like much of the photography.  I also have a lot of good memories from the time I was collecting the set - and so, final verdict:  Collect it.

2000 Skybox Metal:


This is a set that has been languishing on my want list for quite some time.  At this point in time, I'm down to only needing some of the short prints, plus I decided to collect the Focal Points insert set as well.  Seeing as how I have made a lot of progress on the set already, I'm not willing to scrap it now...even though I highly doubt there are too many potential traders out there for this niche set.  Final verdict:  Collect it.

2000 Upper Deck MVP:

In the above scan, you are looking at the only three 2000 Upper Deck MVP cards that I own.  That, along with the fact that it's a generally ugly design, makes this an easy decision.  Final verdict:  Ditch it.

2000 Pacific Omega:

Another set that I own almost none of - that Griffey Jr. is the lone representative of the set in my collection.  I'll be keeping the Griffey, but I won't be chasing the set...even though I love almost all things Pacific.  Heck, if I'm being honest, I might have decided to chase this set if I thought there was any chance of me finding a box or two of the product to open.  Unfortunately, I don't think that's the case and so it's an easy choice.  Final verdict:  Ditch it.

2000 Pacific:

Back in 2000, I remember finding a blaster or two of 2000 Pacific and loving the set.  Unfortunately for me now, I didn't buy more of the product back then!  I haven't been able to track down any boxes of 2000 Pacific since that time...and believe me, I'd love to buy some more if I could!  In fact, I love this set so much that I'm going to add it to my want list despite the fact that I fully expect to receive close to zero such cards in trades (I'm not even sure if I've ever seen anyone else post a 2000 Pacific card now that I think about it)!  Final verdict:  Collect it.

2000 Bowman's Best:

That Griffey card is pretty nice looking...especially for a Bowman card.  However, this is the only such 2000 Bowman's Best card that I own so you can probably see where this is headed.  Final verdict:  Ditch it.

2000 Fleer Impact:

Finally, we reach a set that I've actually already managed to finish collecting!  Not only did I finish off the 200 card base set, I also built the 40 card "Mighty Fine in '99" insert set.  Final verdict:  Already collected it!

2000 Fleer Focus:

You can probably guess that I have a thing for late 90s/early 00s Fleer and Pacific based on my thoughts so far.  If not, then learning that the 2000 Fleer Focus set is another one that I've been working on for some time should help cement the notion that I love turn of the century Fleer!  In addition to the base set (I still need a bunch of the serially numbered base cards), I am also working on the Focal Points insert set.  You can find my full list of what I still am missing here.  Final verdict:  Collect it.

2000 Topps Stadium Club:

Another great set (man, the year 2000 had a lot of nice sets)!  Stadium Club is another brand that I usually like - and the 2000 edition of the brand is particularly nice.  This is another set that I've also been working on for quite some time - though unlike some sets, I do occasionally acquire new 2000 Stadium Club cards via trade!  Final verdict:  Collect it.

2000 Upper Deck SPx:

This is the final easy choice of 2000...and it's a definite no go.  In fact, I only own the Sean Casey - but even if I had more the design is much too ugly for me to be interested in the set.  Final verdict:  Ditch it.

2000 Fleer Tradition:

Fleer Tradition is basically Topps Heritage before there was Topps Heritage.  Not only that, but this particular set was my first foray into "vintage themed" sets...something that I obviously ended up loving given my penchant for Allen & Ginter years later.  The unfortunate thing about this set is its size...450 cards in the base set and I probably only own about half of them right now.

While we are on the 2000 Fleer Tradition set, it should also be noted that Fleer had an insert set called Club 3000 that spanned five different 2000 Fleer products (Ultra, Tradition, Focus, Mystique, and Showcase).  I'm tempted to try for that set as well some day since it's only 15 cards in size (and I have a few already).

For now though, I'll for sure focus on 2000 Fleer Tradition.  This ended up being an easy choice.  Final verdict:  Collect it.

2000 Topps Gold Label:

The 2000 Topps Gold Label is a great looking set.  At first glance, you might see that it is only 100 cards in size which should make it an easy set to collect...but then if you look a little closer you'll see that each base card has three different versions (Topps called them Classes here).  Although no class is any rarer than any other in the 2000 set, that's still an awful lot of cards to track down.  I suppose I could try for just one of each of the 100 base cards, but as a set collector that will always feel a bit hollow for me.  This is one of the toughest decisions, but in the end...  Final verdict:  Ditch it.

2000 Fleer E-X:

We have finally made it to the final set from 2000 that I need to make a decision on.  I actually like the look of the Fleer E-X base cards a lot - after all, isn't that Bonds card gorgeous?!  Unfortunately, the E-X set only has 90 cards in total...60 of which are your classic base cards and then the final 30 cards are serially numbered, short printed prospect cards (all numbered out of 3499).  For as much as I like the set, I only have 13 base cards - plus a single prospects short print card.  For the amount of frustration that this set would require in tracking down the remaining cards, I'll reluctantly have to give it up.  Final verdict:  Ditch it.

Overall, the year 2000 had quite a few great sets...and a few clunkers of course.  For my record as much as anything else, here's a final tally of what I'm going to work on from the year 2000 (please note that I still want ALL the Barry Larkin cards from any set, including those from the year 2000)!


  • Fleer Focus
  • Fleer Impact (complete)
  • Fleer Tradition
  • Pacific
  • Topps
  • Topps Stadium Club
  • Skybox Metal


While I'm definitely happy with that list, I may have to revisit the year 2000 down the road and whittle down the sets I'm working on a bit more.  I'm not sure it is sustainable to collect seven sets per year...especially with my limited shelf space (and the fact that new sets come out every year).  Even so, I'm happy with my progress on reorganizing my collection...and here's hoping this isn't the only "Great Reorganization" post of the summer for me!

Comments

  1. If you're interested, I think I actually have access to a hobby box of 2000 Pacific. Also have access to multiple 2000 Fleer Focus boxes. :D

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm definitely interested in the 2000 Pacific if it isn't too expensive! Shoot me an email.

    ReplyDelete

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