One-Sheet Collections: Underrated 2000s Baseball Stars
For many, nostalgia remains the driving force behind baseball card collecting, and that’s how we arrived at the idea of One-Sheet Collections.
It’s a simple concept with infinite possibilities.
Take a single nine-pocket sheet and a reasonable $100 budget, and build a nine-card collection with a unifying theme.
Two weeks ago, we built a collection around rookie cards of underrated stars of the 1990s, choosing one player from each position for a spot on the sheet. We’re going with the same concept for this one, but jumping forward to the 2000s.
It is once again a collection of players who have been largely forgotten by the hobby, but at their peak, they were among the best in the game at their respective positions.
Enjoy!
Pocket 1: 1999 Bowman #400 Matt Holliday RC ($2)
A seventh-round pick in the 1998 draft, Holliday reached the majors in 2004 and made an immediate impact, finishing fifth in NL Rookie of the Year voting. Three years later, he was runner-up in NL MVP voting when he led the league in batting average (.340), hits (216), doubles (50) and RBI (137) while slugging 36 home runs.
Across 15 MLB seasons, he tallied 2,096 hits, 316 home runs, 1,220 RBI and 44.5 WAR. He has Rookie Cards in 1999 Bowman, Bowman Chrome, Bowman’s Best, Stadium Club, Topps and Topps Chrome.
Buy on:
Pocket 2: 1993 Topps #799 Jim Edmonds RC ($2)
At his peak, Edmonds was one of the greatest two-way center fielders in MLB history. During the first six seasons of the 2000s, he hit .292/.406/.584 while averaging 35 home runs, 98 RBI and 6.1 WAR and winning a Gold Glove every year.
All told, he racked up 60.4 WAR in 17 seasons with 393 home runs and 1,199 RBI. Aside from his Topps flagship rookie, he also has Rookie Cards in 1993 Fleer Final Edition and Ultra.
Buy on:
Pocket 3: 1995 Bowman #4 Bob Abreu RC ($8)
It’s a crime that Abreu has only received 5.5 and 8.7 percent of the vote in his two years on the Hall of Fame ballot. An on-base machine who regularly posted a .400 OBP while also tallying eight 100 RBI seasons as a middle-of-the-order run producer, he earned just two All-Star selections in his 18-year career.
Underrated throughout his career, his 60.2 WAR speaks to star-level production. His only Rookie Cards are in the 1995 Bowman and Bowman’s Best releases.
Buy on:
Pocket 4: 1994 Bowman #94 Edgar Renteria RC ($6)
Renteria made his MLB debut in 1996 at the age of 19, finishing runner-up in NL Rookie of the Year voting. The following year he helped lead the Florida Marlins to an unexpected World Series title. He won another ring 13 years later when he captured World Series MVP honors as a member of the San Francisco Giants.
In between, he was a five-time All-Star, three-time Silver Slugger winner, and two-time Gold Glove winner who helped set the table for some potent St. Louis Cardinals lineups in his prime. He was just 17 years old when his Rookie Cards were featured in the 1997 Bowman and Bowman’s Best sets.
Buy on:
Pocket 5: 2000 Bowman #395 Roy Oswalt RC ($5)
With an undersized 6’0” frame, Oswalt slipped all the way to the 23rd round of the 1996 draft where the Houston Astros selected him out of Holmes Community College. Two years later, he was in the majors, and he quickly emerged as the staff ace.
He finished in the top five in NL Cy Young voting five times in his first six MLB seasons, and went 163-102 with a 3.36 ERA and 1,852 strikeouts in 2,245.1 innings in 13 years in the big leagues. Along with his Bowman and Bowman Chrome rookies, he also has a Rookie Card in 2000 SPx and Upper Deck Victory, along with a jersey patch rookie in 2000 Black Diamond Rookie Edition.
Buy on:
Pocket 6: 1993 Bowman #592 Jose Vidro RC ($2)
From 1999 through the 2004 season, Vidro was unquestionably one of the most productive second basemen in the game. He hit .313/.374/.489 while averaging 39 doubles, 16 home runs and 73 RBI during that six-year span, hitting alongside Vladimir Guerrero in the Montreal Expos lineup.
The Expos selected him out of Puerto Rico in the sixth round of the 1992 draft, and he was included in the rookie-filled 1993 Bowman set the following year. He debuted in 1997 and earned the first of three All-Star selections in 2000.
Buy on:
Pocket 7: 1998 Bowman #134 Troy Glaus RC ($4)
The No. 3 overall pick in the 1997 draft out of UCLA, Glaus slugged 35 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A the following year in his pro debut, and he took over as the Anaheim Angels starting third baseman in 1999.
He was a four-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger winner, crushing an AL-best 47 home runs in 2000 at the age of 23. Injuries kept him from reaching his full potential, but he still quietly launched 320 home runs in 13 seasons, and he won World Series MVP in 2002.
As one of the top picks in the 1997 draft, he was widely featured in 1998 products. The 1998 Bowman card above is one of 10 different Rookie Cards in his database.
Buy on:
Pocket 8: 1996 Bowman #344 A.J. Pierzynski RC ($4)
The type of player you love if he’s on your team and hate if he’s not, Pierzynski played 19 MLB seasons with the Twins, Giants, White Sox, Rangers, Red Sox, Cardinals and Braves. His 2,043 hits rank 10th all-time among players who played primarily catcher in their career, and his .280 career average speaks to his offensive prowess.
He also deserves credit for his handling of a pitching staff, including the 2005 White Sox team that won a World Series title on the strength of a stellar starting rotation. The 1994 third-round pick has just one Rookie Card in the 1996 Bowman base set.
Buy on:
Pocket 9: 1997 Bowman #438 Lance Berkman RC ($10)
With six 30-homer seasons, six 100-RBI seasons and a career 144 OPS+, Berkman was one of the most feared sluggers of the 2000s. He was by no means an all-or-nothing power hitter though, with a .293/.406/.537 career batting line.
The Big Puma was a six-time All-Star and he finished his career with 366 home runs and 1,234 RBI, yet he was a one-and-done on the Hall of Fame ballot with just 1.2 percent of the vote in 2019. He has Rookie Cards in 1997 Bowman, Bowman Chrome and Topps Stars.
Buy on:
Total: $43.00
Is Lance Berkman leaning on a beat up old Ford in the Astrodome parking lot? Who came up with that idea. Probably own at least two of these and flipped through them countless times and never noticed that. Thanks for another fun article
Yes. If memory serves correctly, it’s his truck, too.