As people have been yammering on about Derek Jeter this week, a
question came to my mind.
Do I have anything Jeter in my collection?
Obviously, I wouldn’t seek out anything Jeter to add. But, by
accident? Maybe he shows up somewhere with a Red Sox player, forcing me to add
him?
As it turns out, it has happened three times.
This 1999 Topps card is the first. I was annoyed at the time
that I needed to include Jeter in my Nomar binder. I’m annoyed now that I had
to add ARod and Jeter. My how times have changed. I’m actually surprised that I
don’t have more cards of the “shortstops” which contain Jeter. This is the only
one of the trio. With all that star power, I’m amazed companies weren’t popping
out cards like this in every set. Which, I suppose, they might have. They’ve
just managed to escape my grasp.
The second one is this 2004 Topps AL Batting Leaders card.
Jeter just snuck onto the corner of the card. I guess if I’m forced to have him
on a card, it’s nice to have him so completely overshadowed by two Red Sox players.
I was initially surprised that I didn’t have more of Jeter on similar league
leaders cards, where he was stuck on cards with Red Sox players. Then I
remembered that Jeter didn’t usually lead the league in anything important, so
it probably shouldn’t have been surprising at all.
Finally we have this 2009 WBC walk-off card. As I’m looking at
it, I notice two things. First, now that Victorino is on the Sox, this card has
two Red Sox players on it. Second, I’m not sure this card belongs in my Red Sox
binder. Wouldn’t this be similar to the College Cards post from a little bit
ago? Nobody on the card is listed as a member of the Red Sox. The Card is
clearly a “Team USA” card. The only thing it has going for it that the 1992
Topps Traded Nomar doesn’t is that Youkilis was actually a member of the Red
Sox the year this card came out. I wonder if that’s enough? Especially now that
he’s moved on to two other teams since his time in Boston. Maybe I should rid
myself of this Jeter card on principle.
That’s it. I was pleasantly surprised when that’s all that came
from the binders. Three cards are easy to pass by when needed.
Phew.
How often has Derek Jeter infested your Red Sox collection?
I have quite a few Jeters in my Red Sox collection as well. Obviously in the late 1990's he appeared on a bunch of cards with Nomar Garciaparra.
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