2005 Topps Fan Favorites

At the local mega-retailer, where the colors have gone from blue and gray to some weird sandstone mix, I picked up a repack blaster pack with three packs of cards inside. I saw the face of Mike Schmidt staring out at me. How could I pass it up?

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Each pack has six cards inside. The first two here are Jeffrey Leonard (Giants) and Jose Oquendo (Cardinals). Leonard averaged 16 home runs and 17 stolen bases in each of his six years with the Giants. Oquendo played 10 seasons with the Cards and he was the first National Leaguer to play all nine positions in a single season. Talk about a utility player:

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Next up, we have Gary Gaetti (Twins) and Reggie "They named a chocolate covered rice crispy treat after me" Jackson (A's). Gaetti sits in the top-ten home run hitters for the Twins (or did in 2005), and Jackson... Well, Reggie is flippin REGGIE JACKSON, hello!? Though he played for various teams in his career, he began and ended his time in the Bigs with the A's:

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And, rounding out the pack, we have Monte Irvin (NY Giants) and Bill Freehan (Tigers). The Irvin card is done up in a Play Ball game card style. Freehan was an AL MVP 11 of 15 seasons:

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I always did like these cards, but obviously missed out on the call to vote. Exactly how did that work anyway? I'd love to see Topps bring these back again and give us a chance to 'update' the deck of cards!