(Re-re)visiting 2003

As promised, in the next installment of my 2003 Topps series, here's a Series 1 HTA Jumbo pack at a reasonable price. These things usually cost around $10 when they first come out, or so I hear.

128 - Chris Carpenter (A nice addition to my Carp collection. If anyone has any Blue Jays or minor league Carp cards, please send them my way! I wonder if this photo is an accurate representation of his entire Toronto career - awkward!)

104 - David Eckstein (He'll get thundering applause at Busch Stadium as long as he keeps suiting up.)

26 - David Ortiz (Ortiz in his pre-Red Sox days but post-name change.)

57 - Bobby Kielty

118 - Jack Wilson (I thought he'd be a Pirates trade rumor forever.)

103 - Roy Halladay (Imagine Carpenter and Halladay in the same rotation right now.)

33 - Robb Nen

86 - Terry Adams

125 - Esteban Yan (One of the poor guys who was dragged into the mess of the 2003 Cardinals season that is chronicled in 3 Nights in August.)

62 - Scott Hatteberg

143 - Jose Vizcaino

15 - Trot Nixon (Trot, with his name, should have played in the early 1900s.)

84 - Rafael Furcal (Noted Cardinals killer.)

43 - Javier Lopez

23 - Roberto Hernandez (Not to be confused with Orlando Hernandez.)

2 - Dan Wilson (This was the most popular player in our section at Safeco Field in my first ever MLB game seen in person. However, I'm not sure if he was being praised or heckled...)

255 - Michael Barrett

64 - Mike Williams

116 - Mark Mulder (If Mulder had a time machine, this is probably the year he'd travel back to.)

53 - Luis Castillo

211 - Mike Lowell (Back-to-back Fish.)

164 - Vernon Wells

121 - Marvin Bernard

257 - Elmer Dessens

80 - Ivan Rodriguez (Pudge is a Ranger again... but not the original Pudge. Still, this guy should be a Hall of Famer of his own right.)

245 - Mike Lamb

129 - Mike Cameron

236 - Eric Gagne (Another guy who would gladly take a spot in Mulder's time machine.)

82 - Shannon Stewart

170 - Vladimir Guerrero

76 - Randy Wolf

345 - Sammy Sosa / Lance Berman / Shawn Green NL Home Run Leaders (Not pictured - that Bonds guy. He was #2 that season, but he doesn't count.)

332 - Mike Cameron Season Highlights (Second Cameron of the pack.)

RB-MSC - Mike Schmidt Record Breakers (Pretty cool card here.)

68 - Matt Morris Black 32/52 (The icing on the cake! Let's just say I was extremely happy to see this card. I really like the look of the black parallel cards, which have a subtle sparkling tone to them, in contrast to the Wal-Mart black cards you see in the 2009 set.)

I actually bought 5 more Series 1 regular hobby packs last weekend along with 5 Series 2 packs. I haven't decided if I'm going to do a post about them or not, but I think I'm going forward with collecting this set regardless.