i'm still unsetisfied - 3d sluggers edition

count me among the many who are enamored with the 1965 topps design. that set is the only topps set i've completed from that decade, and it's because the pennants and the colors make it the most interesting to me - and it's been that way since i first saw the design at old man markgraf's comic and card store in the late 1970's. so, back in 2003, i was both excited and surprised to see 2003 upper deck vintage rip off the design. how were they able to do that? they had ripped off 1971 topps the year before (with another fantastic "vintage" set that i nearly completed) and they did not acquire the o-pee-chee rights until 2006, so i was and still am a bit baffled. it's worth noting that this was going on while fleer was also heavily "borrowing" from other companies' designs for their early 2000's tradition sets.

at any rate, i built the 2003 vintage set slowly but surely and considered it complete even though there is a hole in the middle of it. those short printed 3-d sluggers cards! cards 248-277 are lenticular cards featuring most of the big hitters of the day. you'd think with a 30 card set, that would mean one per team, but you would be wrong. there are multiple teams with two players, and so multiple teams with none. shawn green is the lone dodger representative, and i don't have one of those cards for my team collection, let alone the set.  not that i haven't been looking, though.

even as i consider the set complete (i have all of the 1965 design cards, after all), i still search for these semi-rare subset cards, and make a purchase when the price is right. here are the ones i picked up in 2025, or at least the last several months of the year:2003

adam dunn

having dunn in this set felt prescient, as he went on a run of five straight 40 homer seasons starting in 2004.

pat burrell

pat the bat had hit a career high 37 dingers the year before this card was issued, and he went on to hit 30+ in a few more seasons for the phillies. my favorite burrell stat is that he was 1 for 27 in world series play across two appearances, but has two rings to show for it.

jason giambi

2002 was giambi's first year with the yankees, and he hit 41 homers. he matched that total in 2003, and hit 30+ for them in three of the following five campaigns.

vladimir guerrero

if this were shawn green, i would feed the team collection first and the set second, which is the opposite of what my dad taught me when we were building sets in the early 1980's. with vladdy, i've fed the set and i am looking for another one of these for my pc.

derek jeter

checklist bias for jeets here. not a slugger, but upper deck couldn't leave him out.

alex rodriguez

textbook slugger. arod was the back-to-back american league home run champ when this card was issued, and he was on his way to a third straight title in his final season with the rangers. then he went to the yankees and continued to mash. good times.

in total, i have 15 of these 30 cards. the ones i am missing are 248 troy glaus, 249 luis gonzalez, 250 chipper jones, 254 frank thomas, 255 magglio ordonez, 257 ken griffey jr, 258 jim thome, 261 lance berkman, 263 mike sweeney, 264 shawn green, 266 mike piazza, 269 barry bonds, 270 mark mcgwire, 274 andruw jones, 277 albert pujols. some big names there that see their cards go for pretty big prices, so, my set will remain "complete" but i won't be happy about it.