Barry Larkin Collection 744: 2004 Donruss Elite - #91 - Aspirations parallel (#/89)

Barry Larkin

Year:  2004

Brand:  Donruss Elite

Card number:  91

Parallel set:  Aspirations (#69/89)

The 2004 Donruss Elite set is confusing because there is also a 2004 Donruss Elite Extra Edition.  In both sets, Barry Larkin has the same card number (in fact, the Extra Edition set is basically a carbon copy of the 2004 Elite set with only a few minor player swaps).  The main difference is that the Extra Edition cards have a foil stamping of "extra edition" on them.  I don't own any of the Extra Edition Larkin cards (yet?) but at least now I have one of the rarer regular Donruss Elite Larkin cards.  

The Aspirations parallel is a full parallel set of the regular base set where each card is serially numbered to 100 minus the player's jersey number.  In Barry Larkin's case, that means 100 - 11 = 89 and so you get 89 Aspiration parallels that exist for Barry.  In addition to the Aspirations parallel, there is a second parallel set called "Status" which is serially numbered to the player's jersey number (11 in Larkin's case).  Thus, no matter which player you collect in the set there are a total of 100 parallels split between the two parallel sets.  That's kind of cool I guess, though it means I have twice the number of cards to track down as opposed to a single parallel set that is numbered out of 100 on its own.

Barry actually has a bunch of cards in the Donruss Elite set.  He has a base card, the Aspirations parallel shown above, the Status parallel, a Status Gold parallel (all of the Status Gold parallels are numbered out of 24 regardless of player or uniform number), and a Turn of the Century parallel (numbered out of 750).  From that list, I'm actually missing everything except the Aspirations parallel including the base card!  

In addition to the base set and parallels, Larkin is also featured in the Passing the Torch set as both part of the single player version and a dual player version (combined with Joe Morgan).  Once again, the set is ripe with parallels!  For the single passing the Torch card, Larkin has the following:  regular base insert #/1000, Green #/500, Blue #/250, Black #/100, and Gold #/50.  I do own the Green parallel but none of the others.  For the dual card, Larkin has the following:  regular base insert #/500, Green #/250, Blue #/125, Black #/50, and Gold #/25.  From that list, I also only own the Green parallel.

You might think that is enough, but there's more Larkin goodies to acquire!  There is also a Passing the Torch relic set.  Barry has a bat relic #/200 and a dual bat relic with Joe Morgan #/50.  There is a Passing the Torch shirt relic set as well (because why not says Donruss?) and once again Barry has a jersey relic #/200 and a dual jersey relic with Joe Morgan #/50.  Finally, there is a Passing the Torch autograph set which also features Barry.  He has a single autograph #/10 and a dual autograph with Joe Morgan #/5.  

Oh, and did I say "finally" already?  Well, there's one more Barry Larkin card:  a Recollections Autograph card that is numbered out of a measly 4 copies (I'll probably never own that one).

By my count, that's 22 different Barry Larkin cards to try and track down and right now I only own three of them.  Wow, I have a lot of work to do on this set if I'm ever to complete it!!