2003 Play Ball - The Short Prints

I was going to post one of the relic cards from the set tonight, but it turns out I don't actually have one. They're not all that special anyway... I'll scrounge around and find an image somewhere to show off tomorrow. Here's an example of the short prints from the set instead.

This is a Ted Williams Tribute card. These were inserted one a box and were numbered 89-103 on the checklist. Joe D got an insert set in his honor and Ted got these painted short prints instead. The DiMaggio cards were three a box and these were only one per, so I guess Upper Deck liked Joe better than Ted. Damn Yankee bias. This is the only short print in the set that I have. I was far more interested in the base set and the Joe-D cards at the time than the expensive short prints. Well, actually, I was far more interested in ToppsT205 cards at the time. Most of my money went to mini cards with various ad backs instead of Play Ball. This one has a nice big dink in the upper left corner so I got it cheep. It's got Joe and Ted chumming up in a nice painting on this card so it's like all the short print sets in one.


Here's the back. See how red it is? You didn't think Upper Deck started the red variation backs in 2007 Goudey did you? You silly person. I'm not sure how many red cards are in a pack, but there sure are a lot of them out there. I've got probably half the set in the red version. Even the DiMaggio streak cards can be found with the red backs. I'm going to go out on a limb and say maybe one red back per pack. There were only five cards in a pack so anymore than that and we'd be talking about the black backs being the variation cards. The text is the same on the red and black backs so it's not a big deal.

The other short print set is "The Summer of '41" and is numbered 74-88 in the set. I don't have one of these cards at all although I've been looking for Babe Dahlgren, the lone Brave representative from the 40's in the set, for a while. While Ted Williams gets 15 cards all by himself, 15 other players from 1941 get one each in this subset. Like the Ted Williams cards, they were one per box and pricey at the time. I don't know if they are still pricey, 'cause I can't find any online. The local shop has one or two mixed into their star boxes though so I might have to snag one for completeness' sake. Most of the subjects can be found in the mini reprint set, although Indian Bob isn't one of them. If I find a card or a scan I'll post it, if not, eh, no biggie. Like I said, I didn't buy these cards for the short prints, I bought them for the base set, which I'll get into next post.

Hey look! I found it! I may even buy the thing if it lasts long enough for my paycheck to hit the bank. As long as I haven't convinced at least three of you to hit eBay and buy every Play Ball card you can that is.