- Noticeable on this card? Jim much thinner as a 3rd baseman than when he moved over to 1st base.
- Collection for Jim is up to 639 cards now. Still about 200 behind my Sakic collection
- Ranked 2nd on the TCDB website among Thome collectors. I'm about 1500 behind the leader and likely never to catch them. No worries
- This is the 2nd of 3 Donruss Originals from 2002 that feature Jim. I really like the "swoosh" design (well that's what it reminds me of anyhow), and have a couple of others in PCs that are similar to this.
- Bio on the back: Thome went deep in seven straight games from June 25 through July 3rd to come within one game of matching a major league record shared by three players.
- Market Watch: One copy of this card on COMC right now, priced at $2.50. I have no idea what packs went for back in 2002, but I'm guessing that this is kind of pricey.
- Career homer #295 was the 2nd of the game for Jim on 5/30/02 against the Tigers. Jose Lima was the victim this time, a 3 run shot that put the game out of reach. The Tribe won 11-7, making a winner of reliever David Riske, who struck out the side in the 6th.
- Robert
- Was worried when I opened the binder and saw '82, '84 and '86 versions of Thome. Thought there might be more. Aside from Aqueous parallels, I'm happy.
- Bio on the back: Became the Tribe's all-time career home run leader against the Tigers on May 29, 2001 with his 243rd moon shot. Jim passed Albert Belle for the franchise record.
- Market Watch: 2 copies on COMC, one at 99 cents and the other at $1.25. Not bad. The copies I've seen on ebay are 99 cents for the most part as well.
- Career home run #294 was hit 5/30/2002 against Detroit's Seth Greisinger. It was a solo shot that upped the Indians lead to 6-1. Jim hit a 2nd HR that same game, which I'll document next post.
- Robert
- Kind of a blah design, enhanced only by the US Flag in the lower right hand corner. Happy 4th of July by the way!!
- No bio on the back. Just a list of 10 years worth of stats. I also did not know that there was a glossy version of this card #'d to 200 copies.
- Market Watch: currently only one copy of this card for sale on COMC. $3.25. Yikes.
- Career home run #293 would come 2 weeks after the previous one; it was hit 5/26/02 off of Toronto's Luke Prokopec. It would break a scoreless tie in the 2nd, and help the Indians to a 3-1 victory over the Jays. Bartolo Colon would toss a complete game 4 hitter, giving up only 1 unearned run for his 6th win of the year.
- Robert
- Pretty nice card for a food issue. The only way that you would know it's a Post card is by the small logo on the bottom of the back of the card, otherwise it's just another Topps release.
- The design is actually pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Something different from Topps.
- Market Watch: 5 copies currently on COMC, ranging from $1 to $1.74. Not bad. Found 9 listings on ebay, all in the $1 to $2 range. Didn't think there would be this many copies of this card for sale.
- Career homer #292 was hit off of KC's Paul Byrd, 5/12/02. It was a solo shot, but unfortunately it was also the only run that the Tribe would score in a 4-1 loss.
- Robert
- I like this picture. Jim preparing for an underhand toss to the pitcher. It also looks as if he's floating off the ground because of the design.
- Bio on the back: "El 1999 marca la cuarta temporada consecutiva en qu Jim conecto al menos 30 cuadrangulares." My Spanish is improving somewhat down here in the deep south, as I didn't need a translator to figure out that this said that 1999 was Jim's 4th straight 30 plus HR season.
- One copy of this card currently on COMC. $2.75. Similar to this morning's post, this card will also sit for a very long time on the site.
- Career home run #291 was hit 5/8/2002 off of Baltimore's Scott Erickson. It was another 3 run bomb (both of his 3 run HRs scored the same 2 players), and pushed the Indians to a 5-0 lead. The Indians would go on to win 6-2, once again evening their record at 17-17.
- Robert
- Sometimes, a good photo is a nice relaxed pose at the plate during spring training.
- Haven't posted many cards from UD Victory sets on this blog (maybe a couple?)
- 1 copy of this card currently on COMC. $2.75. I imagine it's going to sit in that owners in-box for a very long time.
- Career home run #290 came off of Baltimore's Sean Douglass. It was a 3 run shot that broke a scoreless tie (the 3rd of his last 4 HRs to do so) and propelled the Indians to a 9-4 win on the road. Both teams finished the game with a 16-16 record.
- Robert
- I like the design of the card, as it shows who the power corps were right on the front. The bronze border didn't scan as well as it looks in hand though.
- Bio on the back: " Thome recorded an at-bats-to-HR ratio of 12.4, 2nd best in the AL." I don't know for sure, but I'll guess that Griffey was 1st.
- 3 copies of this card on COMC, anywhere from $2.69 to $4.25. Pricey to say the least.
- Career home run #289 came on 4/30/02 against Ramon Ortiz of the Angels. It tied the game at 1, but it really was an afterthought as the Indians gave up 3 touchdowns to the halos, losing 21-2. Ouch
- Robert
- I'll always love cards that pay homage to older sets. Love the picture they used for Jim, eye black and his trademark high socks. Doesn't get much more vintage than that.
- Still getting caught up on posting the 10 Sportlots cards of Jim I bought a few weeks back. Will finish those first before heading back to the 2002 cards.
- I think I paid a quarter for this card, the 3 on COMC currently run anywhere from $1.65 to $3.25. Yikes!
- Career home run #288 was the 2nd straight that broke a scoreless tie. He hit it 4/23/02 off of the White Sox' Todd Ritchie, but it was the only run that Cleveland would see that day, losing 5-1.
- Robert
- While I applaud Upper Deck for its uniqueness in creating a lottery type scratcher with this card, it's kind of disappointing to never know if it would have won without defacing the card.
- Just noticed in the background, the on-deck circles feature the Tigers and the Red Sox. Maybe they could have included a game with Thome's Indians in the picture? Just a thought...
- Another cheap pickup from the Sportlots lot from a few weeks back. Still a few more Thome cards to show off before I get back to the 2002 portion of the PC.
- Career HR #287: Jim hit this homer on 4/21/2002, off of Rick Reed of the Twins. The 2-run shot broke a scoreless tie in the 4th, but it would be all the Indians get on that day as the Twins would win 4-2. It would be the Tribe's 6th straight loss and drop them to 11-7.
- Robert
- Premium stock? Nope, don't think so. It's just the regular card stock of the mid 90's with a fancy border and stamp.
- Would love to know who that Red was diving back into first base that has his face obscured. Maybe Reggie Sanders?
- Part of the Sportlots order I picked up a short time ago. I think I paid a quarter for this. Not bad compared to some other sites.
- Career homer #286 was hit 4/13/2002 off of KC's Darrell May. It was the 4th straight day that Jim had homered. It was a solo shot to pull the Indians to within 5-2. The Indians would go on to score 5 in the 8th and 1 in the 9th to win 8-7, raising their record to 11-1.
- Robert
- I'm assuming that's a practice swing, because if it isn't, then Jim just hit a foul ball into the first base seats.
- This is the 5th different set from 1997 Donruss that I've featured on the blog. Those were the days.
- Another 18 cent PC add. Gotta love it. I need to try and find more of these...
- Career home run #285 was hit 4/12/02, the 3rd consecutive day he went yard. This time he hit it off of KC's Jeff Suppan, a 2 run shot in the 4th to put the Indians ahead 2-1. That would be all the Indians needed as they went on to win 3-1, to go 10 and 1 start the season. CC Sabathia would strike out 9 over 6 innings for his 2nd win of the season.
- Robert
- You can sort of see it in the scan, but the rainbow effect is more evident in hand. If there were more of the effect on the front of the card, it would look really good. With just the last name and the Stadium Club logo having the effect, it's just OK for me.
- At least I only paid 18 cents for it on Sportlots. Love getting PC cards for under a quarter.
- Career homer #284 was hit the day after #283, against the Twins. Kyle Lohse was the victim this time, a 2 run shot that broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the 3rd, and the Indians would score 4 more in the 4th to chase Kyle on their way to an 8-4 win. This would make a winner of Bartolo Colon(3-0) who is still pitching 16 years later.
- Robert
- Brilliant. That's how I would describe the person whose idea it was to recreate old sets with current ballplayers.
- Maybe Topps should just use their '52 design for their living set. But that's just me talking...
- Career homer #283 was his first of the 2002 season. What a way to start a 52 HR season, it was a grand slam off of Minnesota's Rick Reed. The granny would increase the 2nd inning lead for the Indians to 7-2 on their way to a 9-3 win. It would also be the Indians 8th win in their first 9 games of the '02 season.
- Robert
- One of the best sets of the early 2000's in my opinion. It is also one of the few that I tried (and succeeded) to build.
- Love how the artist captured the concentration on Jim's face while waiting for the ball at 1st. Fantastic.
- 2 copies of this card currently on COMC, one at 99 cents, the other at $1. For that set, those are probably right on the money.
- Robert
- Until I picked up this card last year, I had no idea that this set even existed. 180 cards total, 90 World Series heroes, 45 RC and 45 Future World Series heroes.
- 10 copies of this card currently on COMC, priced from 75 cents to $1.24. I have no idea what these packs sold for back in the day, so I don't know if this is good or not so good.
- Jim had 2 chances at a ring with the Indians, in 1995 and 1997. Jim hit a combined .255 in those 2 WS, with 3 HR and 6 RBI. I still remember how he and the Indians were within 3 outs of the '97 series before fate cruelly took it away from them...
- Robert
- Not a bad design for an eX card. A bit hard to see the #25 on the left hand side of the card, but other than that the background looks cool, kind of like this is hand drawn instead of a photo.
- Interesting stats on the back; Fleer featured Jim's stats vs 5 teams, and then against the NL. Jim ate up the NL to the tune of 10 HR and 25 RBI with a .365 average in 2001.
- Career home run #280 was hit on 9/10/01 against Dan Wright of the White Sox. It was a solo shot at home that tied the game at 1. Unfortunately for the Tribe that would be the only run they would get in a 7-1 loss.
- Robert
- A healthy dose: I currently own 43 cards from 2002 releases of Jim. A few new sets I haven't shown on this blog before as well. Looking forward to it.
- Typical Bowman, nothing flashy or outlandish. Steady clean design, black and red border (a great color combo IMO).
- Bio on the back: "once a punch and Judy hitter, Thome devoted himself to weight training and blasted 32 total homers (AAA and Cleveland) in 1993." Can you imagine Jim being a singles hitter, ever?
- Robert
- Final card of my PC of Jim for 2001 is here. I'm guessing pink is a primary color? Oh, it's red!
- This card is serial #'d 866/975. I don't recall having shown too many serial numbered cards for Thome so far. I'm sure that I can count them on one hand.
- Surprisingly this was not added to the TCDB as of yet. Unlike my Sakic collection, adding Thome cards has been few and far between for me.
- 8 copies of this card are currently on COMC, the cheapest at $1.50 and the most expensive is $3.85. Not too bad a range in my opinion.
- Robert
- I like the dark blue border of the card, but the Opening Day logo back then was a shade too big for my taste.
- No longer will we see Chief Wahoo on cards and uniforms as MLB decided to remove it effective 2019. Is the nickname Indians the next to go?
- Career homer #277 was the first of 2 on the day against the Red Sox Hideo Nomo. Jim would go 2 for 3 with 3 RBI in a 8-5 win to make a winner of Bartolo Colon.
- Robert
