my favorite cards of the year - 2003 edition

i recently introduced my mini collection focusing on my favorite cards from each year that i've been a collector. the basic gist is that i wanted to create a space for the cards that i most appreciated having in my collection in the year that they were released. these were cards that i acquired in the year that they were issued, and that i considered to be my favorites at the time. i have disallowed (most) cards that are already in other mini collections in order to avoid having a mini collection consisting of more steve garvey, double plays, and dodger stadium cards.

2003 had some great sets for this dodger collector and fan of topps archives and heritage releases that came out starting in 2001.

favorite non-dodger card: topps all-time fan favorites brooks robinson

i had aggressively collected both of the topps archives releases in 2001 and 2002, even though they were essentially reprints of existing cards except for some of the rookie cards that were removed from a multi-player format in to a solo card. when topps rebranded archives in 2003 as all-time fan favorites, i was even more excited, and this brooks robinson card was one reason why. my interest in the set even prompted me to call topps and suggest that they use this set to create "cards that should have been", such as a 1970 don drysdale, a 1988 steve garvey, and a 1978 brooks robinson. although the phone call was prompted by a quality control issue, the robinson card shown above prompted my suggestion of a 1978 version. the photo topps used definitely featured a late-70s robinson, and the back, with his complete career stats

just screamed, in my opinion, for a true final tribute treatment rather than the 1964 design. the person i spoke with didn't react to my suggestion (i recall a recording while i was on hold that said they did not accept suggestions - i suppose to avoid lawsuits), but i felt better having said my piece. i understand that 1964 might have been chosen for robinson, as he was the american league mvp that year, but that reasoning wasn't applied across the board to other mvps or players in general. while it was a missed opportunity by topps, i was ecstatic to see them issue cards of retired players on a variety of old designs.

favorite dodger card - upper deck sweet spot classic jim gilliam

i remember considering getting out of the hobby in 2003, but then i found out about the 2003 upper deck sp chirography release with a very dodger friendly checklist of autograph subjects (especially from the team of my youth), and so i continued to buy cards, including the fan favorites set mentioned above. i later found that year's sweet spot classic set that also had some great dodgers included - steve garvey, ron cey, don sutton, tommy lasorda, kirk gibson among them. 

my favorite of the dodgers in the set was jim gilliam.  i became a fan of gilliam through unfortunate circumstances, as i didn't know much about him until he passed away during the 1978 postseason. the dodgers wore a memorial patch for their former player and first base coach during the world series which peaked my curiosity about his career. by the time this card came out, i counted gilliam among my favorite dodgers, and so i was pleased to see him included in the release.

up next in this series, 1981. stay tuned!