The North Georgia Goodwill had a bag of 2004 Topps on sale for $2.92 [I'm not sure who the hell does their pricing but we'll go with it]. The cards were grouped together with rubber bands that had been in place for what looks like many years. The bands had stuck to the cards it was in direct contact with and the rubber was dried out and brittle. Who knows how long they had been there but they were mine now!
Many of the cards were too damaged to salvage but some made it out successfully. Here are the best cards from the bag which includes the best rookie card from the set, Yadier Molina.
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| 2004 Topps #324 Yadier Molina RC |
Here are a couple of first Topps cards for Rickie Weeks and Nick Markakis.
Rickie is playing with the Mariners these days and
Markakis was the Braves biggest free agent signing this past off season.
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| 2004 Topps #687 Rickie Weeks |
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| 2004 Topps #691 Orioles Prospects |
Plus, I was able to rescue a second year Joe Mauer.
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| 2004 Topps #559 Joe Mauer |
This particular tops design is one of my favorites with all the foil stamping but it does lead to having some small player photos, especially on the horizontal cards. Nonetheless this Tino Martinez card is perfectly timed and brilliant.
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| 2004 Topps #186 Tino Martinez |
Seems like they should have made this one a vertical card but still, Thome and Schmidt on the same card is amazing!
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| 2004 Topps #695 South Philly Sluggers |
A big mitt card I had no idea existed! Oh please
Sooz, please give us some more big mitt cards!
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| 2004 Topps #181 Jason Michaels |
One big mitt card deserves another and so I have a great excuse to dust off one of my favorite Twins cards ever, Mickey Hatcher's BBBIIIGGG MMMIIITTTTTT!
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| 1986 Fleer #396 Mickey Hatcher |
And that let's me throw Mickey's rookie card up here because I will probably never have a chance again.
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| 1980 Topps #679 Dodgers Future Stars |
And while we are on the topic of big mitts, here's an inadvertent big mitt featuring
Gerry Arrigo. Arrigo was a reliever for the Twins for a couple of seasons in the 60's and then was traded to the Reds for the great Ceasar Tovar!
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| 1965 Topps #39 Gerry Arrigo |
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