Wednesday, June 25, 2008

2005 Donruss Yadier Molina


Who is this? Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.

What is this? A 2004 Studio autograph card inserted into 2005 Donruss. I'll explain later. Card number is 241 and it is serial numbered 083/100.

Where'd I get it? Not entirely sure.

How much did it cost? If I got it from a pack, three bucks. If not, who knows.

Why is this so special? In 2005, Donruss inserted 50 2004 Studio 'update' cards into their base brand packs. The cards had 2004 Studio stamped on them as well as a 2004 copyright date. The only way to distinguish these update cards from the regular '04 Studio cards is by the card number. [edit- I goofed] Numbers 1-200 are from 2004 Studio, 201-250 are the '05 inserts. There was a parallel autograph version called "Private Signings" and this is one of those parallels. They are sneaky, even the authentic signature impression on the sticker reads 2004. I got fooled the first time I posted one of these cards, thinking it was from 2004.

Everyone in St. Louis and half the people in New York know why Yadier is special. His home run in game 7 of the 2006 NLCS sent the Mets packing and put the Cardinals in the World Series. He's only hit 27 other homers in his 5 years with the Cards so he definitely has a good sense of timing. His brothers Bengie and Jose are also catchers in the majors and like Yadier have earned World Series championship rings. Yadier got absolutely hammered in a collision at the plate with Eric Bruntlett in a game on June 15th, but he's already back in the lineup for the Cards. Catchers are tough sonofaguns. This would be a dream card for any Cardinal fans, with the playoff hero posing with the Gateway Arch in the background. Like our buddy Miguel Montero (and Abe for that matter) Yadier has a pretty cryptic signature. m0_y0. It looks good though, I wish I had a funky signature like that.

2 comments:

capewood said...

In general I like the Studio cards, almost every year. I really liked the 2004 set but didn't buy much of it. I didn't buy much 2005 Donruss either so I never saw one of these inserts. I was going to do a rant on Beckett here but they actually say (in their microscopic type) that cards over 200 are in 2005 Donruss, inserted 1 in 23 packs. No wonder I didn't get one.

dayf said...

Actually, Beckett was right and I goofed. Cards 201-250 are the 2005 version. I misread the sell sheet when trying to find info on these things. I'm fixing it now.