My favorite sets of 2000-09

 

Last week's Card Chat on Twitter asked collectors a few random questions and the first one kind of put me on the spot.

 

What is my favorite trading card set of the 2000s?

 

I searched my head for an answer. I don't often think about what I like from 2000-09. I've been over and over my favorite sets from the 1970s and 1980s. Those are memorized. But sets from 14-23 years ago have avoided my obsessive ranking.

 

The main reason for that was I didn't return to collecting until 2004 and, with the exception of one set, had no idea about any modern sets until 2006. It took until 2008, when I started reading card blogs and starting one of my own, that I got a handle on everything on store shelves.

 

So to finally give some attention to this decade that I've given the others, I'm ranking my favorite Aughts sets. Many of these sets I've completed -- because I like them. I've discussed many of them here, too, so they shouldn't be a surprise.

Here they are:

1. 2004 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites

This set, like a number of others, is rated over a similar, earlier set due to when I came back to the hobby.

 

I never saw the 2003 Fan Favorites set in the wild. I wasn't looking to buy cards then. The first ones I saw were the 2004 cards, at a Kmart, in the toy section, while on vacation. I was fascinated. To this day I think the '04 version is better than the '03 or '05 Fan Favorites sets. That's probably just my collecting bias, but no one is judging me on this.

 

 

 2. 2008 Topps Allen & Ginter

This is the set that was my answer in the Card Chat question. It's the first one I thought of. So I wasn't far off. 

Like the Fan Favorites set, I arrived at Allen & Ginter a couple of years into the reboot. I never saw '06 or '07 A&G for sale. I like the look of '08 a lot more than '06 or '07, I feel Allen & Ginter reached its peak with this set (something about the black & white type against the pristine white backgrounds). But I'm biased again.

3. 2001 Upper Deck UD Decade 1970s

I've written many times that I was "out of the hobby" between 1994-2004. But I dabbled in cards throughout with some minor pack buys in 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2003, sometimes just one pack.

In 2001, I found blister packs of the Upper Deck '70s set for sale on end caps at Fay's Drugs (which has long since closed). I never shopped at Fay's, but I went back 3 or 4 times for these cards. They resembled my favorite set of all-time, 1975 Topps, featuring many of the players who were on those '75 cards.

The set is wildly inconsistent with black & white pix mixed with color ones, repeat photos, poor photos, inaccurate photos. But a set devoted to the '70s will get me every time, especially if it uses every color imaginable.

4. 2008 Topps Heritage

I think I might have bought a pack of 2007 Heritage and was instantly disinterested. That was my first experience with Heritage.

All I had to do was wait a year to be hooked. The 1959 Topps set was always a favorite and seeing modern players on that design was a kick. I decided to collect the whole thing -- completely unaware of how difficult a set Heritage is to complete. I finally finished ... last year. This set might've been ranked first if I didn't have to go through all that.

5. 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces

I have a hunch the original Masterpieces set, from 2007, is better, but, again, I wasn't around for that one.

This one I tried to collect, half-heartedly. Masterpieces was almost all you heard about on the blogs as far as the very best new sets. Everyone loved it. (It's still hard to believe that a lot of the bloggers lauding that set have long disappeared from the card world without a trace). Hockey collectors have an idea of what these cards are like with the canvas theme. They look terrific in hand.

6. 2004 Topps Finest

I've gushed over this set many times. It's my all-time favorite Finest look. There's no reason why I shouldn't have finished this set by now (probably because I'm too afraid to look at the checklist and see a bunch of short-printed rookies).

7. 2009 Topps

Finally getting to a flagship set.

This is the first Topps flagship set I collected since starting the blog, which means I traded for a lot of the cards with fellow bloggers. Good times.

The '09 set was an instant favorite. Sure the foil names are difficult to read but I loved the attention to the photos, the odd photo angles and such. It's an overlooked flagship set.

8. 2003 Topps

This set is a dream-come-true for 15-year-old night owl. Blue has always been my favorite color (no, I don't think it's why I picked the Dodgers as my favorite team, just a wonderful coincidence). I liked it so much that I was overjoyed when the card backs for 1980 Topps were blue.

So imagine me seeing at that time a flagship set with blue borders!

I don't have a lot of these cards, and probably will never try to complete it, but it's the only flagship set in my collection that I'm not trying to complete that gets binder space.

9. 2005 Topps

A current set chase. Once I got over the sideways names, the giant last name at the top and the repeated names -- so much redundancy -- I grew to love this set. The zoomed-out nature of the photos gives this set a unique look. It's a nice reminder of back when Topps wasn't afraid to show fans.

10. 2006 Topps

Yeah, I know this set isn't that great. But it's the first flagship set I seriously tried to complete since ... 1989!!!

I devoted a lot of time to this set and you don't want to know how many trips to Walmart that involved. It deserves to be on this list.

There are a number of other sets that I like from these 10 years that just didn't cut it. For example, 2008 Stadium Club (the Votto card up top) was a big draw for me back in my blog early days, but the weird nature of the release turned me off.

There are also many other sets that if I was around to collect them, I'd probably get them on this list, stuff like 2004 Fleer Greats Of The Game and 2004 Upper Deck Timeless Teams.

So there you are, it's on the record, just like the 1970s and 1980s. Whenever I need to know my favorite 00-09 sets, I can just call up this post.

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