Saturday, August 30, 2008

2005 Donruss Team Heroes


In 2005, Donruss came out with a "Retail Exclusive" set of cards called "TeamHeroes." Growing up in the days when the average set was at least 660 cards, it is laughable that this set is a "massive 440 cards." Gimmie a break... These packs have a whopping 4 cards per pack, and this particular gem was culled from a Target bargain bin for $1.59... Did the original pack even cost that? Well, let's break it open and see what's inside...



First up, we have Mariners pitcher Bobby Madritsch. He was the first Native American to make The Bigs since Aker in 64. He played one game in 2005 after a fair 2004 rookie season.



Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout - Rollie Fingers. Trademark handlebars and all. My 'real life' job is working with schools and their technology departments. One of the superintendents sports a "Rollie." Yes, as in currently wears one. The topic is always on the tip of my tongue but never quite makes to conversation...



Next up, Jeremy Bonderman (Tigers). In 2004, this guy was among the tops in shutouts, strikeouts, strikeouts per inning, complete games, and hits allowed per nine innings. Beside him, we have another Tiger, Bobby Higginson (two Bobby's and a LOT of double consonants in this pack). He and Vlad Guerrero finished 2004 with 13 outfield assists each. It seems to me like there should be some kind of 'bonus' for getting two players from the same team that still play for that team... Oh, wait, here is my bonus:



A specially-coded sluggers.com all-star game card! By the way, sluggers.com now gives you a "403 error." In non-geekspeak, this means that someone out there is still running the site, but you can't there from here. It also means that the site may become active again sometime in the future. The company has not yet given up the domain name. Guess we'll see. A Google search about the site turns up lots of forum requests for people to send their cards or post their codes... That's funny... Kinda like what people want with today's ToppsTown... Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids...

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