Random Top Loader - Jose Reyes - 2002 Bowman Draft

Emergency Story alert! I’m currently working on three different stories right now, and none of which are anywhere close to being finished. 

So let’s pull out Ye Olde Dungeons and Dragons Dice Box, and see which random Top Loadered card the Dungeon Master wants me to talk about…

First off, the 30-sided die rolled me a 19. Which is almost an instant kill shot (on a 20-sided die). But in this case, it just means I’m going to look for a New York Mets card. 

After determining how many Top Loadered New York Mets cards I currently have (38) in Shoebox #4, I’ll have to come up with the right combination of dice to select one of those cards to talk about. The combination that makes the most sense would be: One 20-sided die, One 10-sided die and one 8-sided die. Roll all three of those and it adds up to... 

17!

Well, the 17th card in the New York Mets section of Top Loadered cards would be...

2002 Bowman Draft Chrome - Jose Reyes Gold Refractor

Pulled from a pack, from a hobby box, purchased from an LCS near my apartment, in December, 2002. Immediately placed in a penny sleeve and Top Loadered. Being a Gold Refractor, numbered to 50, it would have gotten that treatment if it was anything above a common. But Jose Reyes was one of the top prospects in all of baseball. For a high profile team based in New York. While it's not the Yankees, the Mets still have a big chunk of fans. 

Serial numbered 40/50. 

Jose Reyes was born on June 11, 1983.

He hasn't even turned 40 yet.

Seems like he should be a lot older now...

As cool as I thought this card was when I pulled it from the pack, it would have been a lot cooler if it was Reyes’s first Bowman card. 

2001 Bowman - Jose Reyes

But that came a year earlier in 2001 Bowman. 

1997-2004 were my lean years for buying cards. I bought very little 2001 Bowman, but I did pull a Reyes from those few packs. I certainly couldn’t afford much of the completely revamped 2001 Bowman Chrome product, so playing the Pujols lottery wasn’t happening on any scale. 

Although I did pull a short printed 2001 Bowman Chrome Justin Morneau card from the very few packs I did buy. And that was a big victory for me, being a dedicated Twins collector.

Mike's Sports Cards, Englewood, CO

Back in that era, nearly all cards came from Mike’s. Retail was pretty non-existent back in those days, and money was tight during the switch from pizza taxi to prepress jockey. But on the occasions where I had a few extra nickels to rub together, Mike fed the demon. Until June 2013, when he closed his store that had been in the same former barbershop, in an Englewood stripmall, since 1991.

2002 Bowman Draft Wax Box

If I’m remembering correct, this box was between $65-$75. 24 packs with a retail price of $2.99 a piece. Each pack had 7 cards, broken down as 4 base cards, 1 Gold Signature parallel and 2 Bowman Chrome parallels. There are basic refractors (numbered to 300), X-Fractors (numbered to 150) and Gold Refractors (numbered to 50). 

This was before Bowman even guaranteed an autographed prospect card in every box.

A look at current sale prices show that you can buy your very own box of 2002 Bowman Draft today for between $350-$400. 

WHY???

If you remember, 2002 Bowman Draft was the first "update" set under the Bowman name, to be released in packs. Topps was still working out the format. 2000 and 2001 saw Bowman Draft come out in boxed set form, with one randomly selected autographed draft pick or rookie autograph. No Chrome parallels either.

Didn't take Topps long to figure out that you'll sell a whole lot more product when sold by pack and box, instead of a box of set. 

Speaking of a box of set...

2002 Bowman Draft Sticker

Topps used to include these stickers, floating loosely on top of the packs in selected sealed hobby boxes, between 1997 and 2005. I wish they’d still do that. Especially with their yearly flagship sets. These stickers look great on the facing panels of long boxes, when you complete the set. 

Does anyone even do that anymore?

2002 Bowman Draft Checklist

In addition to these great stickers, Topps also used to include these paper checklists. Some were more elaborate than others, several were even 4 color printed. (There’s also the prospect posters that would come in hobby boxes of Bowman products, providing a very brief scouting report on each player in the set.) Wish Topps was still putting this kind of effort into their products…

Wow, current Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, Rich Hill, appears in this set!

Flipping the checklist over, you’ll find only 10 autographed base cards. At 1/45 packs, you’d get one autograph, every two boxes. And that checklist of prospects isn’t very strong. All are 2002 Draft Picks, but there wasn’t a whole lot of success in that group.

Signs of the Future added another 21 names to the pool of prospect autos. Then there was Freshman Fiber bat chunk cards, and Fabric of the Future All Star Futures Game cards, cover your game used relic needs.

2002 Bowman Draft - Clint Everts

Card number 1 in the 2002 Bowman Draft base set, is some little kid in a Photoshopped Montreal Expos road uniform. He was their First Round Draft pick, fifth overall, in 2002. A high school pitcher from Houston, Texas, Everts was moving along nicely until he caught a case of Tommy John surgery in 2005. He kept trying until 2014, but never appeared in the Major Leagues. 

The Expos really should have thought this through better, and taken the next guy instead...

2002 Bowman Draft - Zack Greinke

Kansas City drafted their own little kid, with the 6th overall pick in the 2002 MLB Draft. Obviously he turned out to have a little bit of a better career than Everts. I'm not going to get into heaping praise on Greinke, if you're reading this, you know all about the guy.

There is one little piece of Greinke trivia I will grant you. Zack Greinke is the last active Major League pitcher to appear in a game against the Montreal Expos. Who were in Kansas City, on June 8, 2004. Zack Greinke was the starting pitcher for the Royals, lasting 7 innings, giving up only 3 hits and no walks. He had 5 strikeouts and got the win, the first of his lengthy career.

Nice to see he's returned to Kansas City, after making hundreds of millions of dollars with the Angels, Dodgers, D-Bags and Astros.

2002 Bowman Draft - Zack Greinke Gold Signature

There was even a Zack Greinke Gold Signature (one per pack) parallel in the box.

Greinke is one player I'd like to pull a certified autographed card from. It doesn't need to be a high dollar rookie card. Although I don't think he's signed nearly as many cards as his current peers in the game.

2002 Bowman Draft - Denard Span

Minnesota’s first round pick in the 2002 MLB Draft, 20th overall. Critic panned this pick at the time, citing the tools Span as someone that would likely stall around AA. When all was said and done, Denard Span played 11 full seasons in the Major Leagues, signed $56 million worth of MLB contracts, and was probably one of the bigger success stories to come out of the First Round of the 2002 MLB Draft.

2002 Bowman Draft - Joey Votto

Votto was a second round pick, and next to Greinke, the biggest name to come out of the 2002 MLB Draft. I do have several Bowman Chrome Votto cards, but I couldn’t find them as I was putting this story together. Along with some Cole Hamels cards, both Chrome and base, that I couldn’t find for this story. Ditto for that 2001 Bowman Jose Reyes photo I used earlier. So I’m assuming that I’ve got a small stash of additional Top Loaders that I have yet to find again.

I know I saw those three Chrome Votto's last Summer. They've gotta be around here somewhere… 

2002 Bowman Draft - Joey Votto Gold Signature

I do have the Votto Gold Signature…

A large part of the 2002 Bowman Draft set was set aside to honor participants in the 2002 All Stars Futures Game. The Colorado Rockies top 2002 Draft Pick (pitcher Jeff Francis, at 9th overall) was tied up in the Chrome autographs subset, and did not have a base card. I still want a 2002 Bowman Draft Chrome Jeff Francis  Autograph, for the Rockies collection. 

None of their other 2002 draft picks made any impact at all, so the Rockies best representatives are found in the Futures Game subset.

2002 Bowman Draft - Aaron Cook

Cook found a steady home in the Rockies starting rotation, from 2003-2011. He was never an ace -or even above average- but he was dependable innings eater. Which is a pitching role more valuable in Colorado than just about any other Major League city. He did go 16-9, with a 3.96 ERA  in 2008, by far his bet season.

Combined with Jeff Francis, Cook and this next guy, had the Rockies somewhat optimistic going into the 2003 season. They had a couple veterans, and enough depth to bring along their three young top pitching prospects slowly.

2002 Bowman Draft Chrome Refractor - Jason Young 

Jason Young was one of two regular Refractors in the box. There are no un-numbered Refractors in the set, which is cool. Except the autographed Refractor parallels. For some strange reason, those are un-numbered. Oh wacky Topps... My Jason Young Refractor is numbered, 163/300. I didn't scan the back, so you'll just have to take my word for it. 

Young's career with Colorado didn't work out as the team envisioned. He was a second round pick in the 2000 ALB Draft, out of Stanford. Looked like a solid pick. Unfortunately, he pitched to an 0-3 record, with a 9.71 ERA, in just under 30 innings between 2003-2004. He last pitched professionally in 2005.

2002 Bowman Draft All Star Futures - Edwin Almonte

My game jersey relic of Chicago White Sox pitcher, Edwin Almonte, came as a folded up little booklet. A little window cut out, so Edwin's shirt can look outside. Although it's spent the greater part of 2 decades stuffed in it's own Top Loader. Though confined to darkness a shoe box, with at least 40 of his brothers in White Sox.

Back of the card.

Other than carefully opening the card about 10 degrees, to peek inside after pulling it from a pack, it hadn't been touched in the 20 years since placement in that same penny sleeve.

Knowing I needed to scan it, I briefly cringed as I creased the fold to place it on the glass. Seemd king of pointless when I put it back in the original penny sleeve, and Top Loader, then right back into the Sox Box. 

I get what Topps was going for here, with the flip over notepad...

But this is a really terrible card design. There's a whole lot of wasted space and it doesn't need to be a booklet at all.

Relate to it perfectly though, because I carry one in my front pocket at all times. Never know when something important needs to be written down. Or if Edwin Almonte moves in across the street, and Topps needs a scouting report. STAT!

I'm ready!

With the ratio of 2002 Draft Pick autographs falling at a rate of 1/45 packs, getting that hit in a single box was only (slightly better than) a 50/50 shot. So I was pleased when that box yielded this...

2002 Bowman Draft Chrome Autograph - Joe Saunders

Coincidentally, I went back to Mike's a couple weeks later, and bought a handful of loose packs. I hit another 2002 Bowman Draft Chrome Autograph! Of... Joe Saunders...

So I have 2! 

Saunders did go on to pitch for 10 seasons in the Major Leagues. He was a solid 3 starter for most of his career, but his last few seasons kind of fell apart. Same could be said for Jeff Francis. Wish one of these Saunders was a Francis...

But I am happy with that Jose Reyes Gold Refractor, from this box of 2002 Bowman Draft Chrome. Which covers the look at the product and personal memories of the card portion. So let's get back to the other half of this Random Top Loader card, the player himself.

2009 Topps Career Best Jersey - Jose Reyes

Jose Reyes was a fixture at shortstop for the Mets, from 2005-2011. Speedy, high on base percentagey guy, with some power. Every season, you could put him down for a near .300 batting average and up to 80 stolen bases. But there were signs that his body wasn't going to hold up to that kind of pace as he aged. 

2012 Topps Archives - Jose Reyes

Coming off his career best season of 2011, Reyes got a 6 year, $102 million deal from Miami. His 2011 numbers, combining with Marlins owner Jeff Loria waking up one morning, deciding to invest in his team. After all, the Marlins were opening up their own taxpayer funded Enormo-Dome. It would look good if the owner spent a few bucks and brought in some serious All Star level talent to draw a crowd.

Reyes did his part. His numbers were a let down from the unrealistically sustainable ones he put up in 2011. But the whole team underachieved. Then Loria woke up one morning and remembered there's no incentive to pay for good players. He then ordered his traded away his All Stars. 

Jeff Loria is a terrible person. 

Don't be like Jeff Loria.

2014 Bowman - Jose Reyes 

Jose Reyes was sent to the Toronto Blue Jays, after the 2012 season. He put up decent but declining numbers for the Blue Jays. Injuries were mounting and slowing him down. I'm sure the turf of (whatever is now called what used to be called) the Skydome, didn't help.

2016 Topps Archives - Jose Reyes 

Then the July 2015 MLB Trading Deadline happened. Colorado was blind-sided when the Rockies traded Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays for prospects, and Jose Reyes. To offset salary. Neither Reyes or Tulowitzki, were happy with how the trade took place. Which ended up a pretty much small disaster for all involved parties.

Those prospects didn't work out for the Rockies.

Troy Tulowitzki was great when he played. But the when part was always up in the air. His body simply broke down and he couldn't continue to play anymore. I was a big Tulowitzki fan. From his rookie season run, all the way to the 2007 World Series. 

Jose Reyes was okay during his 2 month stretch with the Rockies. Then there was a domestic situation in the offseason. Injury/suspension later, and Colorado released him in June 2016, just as he was ramping up for a rehab assignment in the Minor Leagues. 

(Then the Rockies lost star rookie shortstop, Trevor Story, to season ending surgery a few days later...)

2002 Bowman Draft Chrome - Jose Reyes Gold Refractor

Reyes signed with the New York Mets, once he was free and clear of the Rockies organization. His comeback was successful. Not at his previous all star levels, but a good utility option through the 2018 season.

Jose Reyes didn't play in 2019, and officially announced his retirement in 2020.

Still a very cool card. 

But it's not going to buy me a new car or anything.

******

Finally there's a new set that's worth scanning and talking about...

But I really don't want to start another one. 

No matter how nice these are...