I finally have a Hart

Every collector has a soft spot for something a little out of the mainstream. Call it a guilty pleasure, perhaps. Mine is baseball cards that lean to the artsy side. A basic photo on a nondescript layout does not do it for me. 

The 2003 Fleer Avant set fits that artsy bill. All paged up, it is a set I thoroughly enjoy flipping through every now and again. Damn I wish it was more than 90 cards!

Early in 2019 I received this Carlos Delgado in a trade on TCDB. At the time I was doing a lot of Jays heavy trades and it was just another card. Looking closely at it and its vibrant colors, raised frame with inlaid photo. I knew this set needed to be collected. A box was ordered!


From eighteen packs of four cards I had most of the 65 regular "base" cards - there were some dupes - and one short print numbered rookie. Filling out the rest of the base with a couple of trades/buys was no biggie. 



Ten veterans/legends numbered out of 799 and fourteen more rookies out of 699 were now the task at hand. 

It came in fits and spurts. Nine in one order in Feb. of 2022 and another six in Sept. of  '23, with a few one-offs in between. By the end of 2024 I had them all, except for one! 


This missing card had been on all of my watchlists for quite a while. There are very few sold records for this card. Was somebody hoarding these? 

A member of TCDB has it in his collection and he kindly accepted my inflated offer to buy it, but unfortunately he could not find it. Alas one finally popped up this January. BIN!!


I am glad to have that empty spot filled. 

Who knew it would be a Bo Hart card that would give me the most trouble. 

There are some nice inserts with this product, some low numbered autos and relics, and a very low numbered black and white parallel. None are on my radar though. I am happy with the set in the binder just like it is. 

Thanks for reading, and happy collecting. 




A collector since my early years. Sometimes a collector without focus. If it piques my interest I may collect it.

Comments

  1. night owlApril 26, 2025 at 10:00 AM

    Love the look of this set, had no idea there were legends cards. Congrats!

    ReplyDelete
  2. FujiApril 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM

    Gorgeous set! Congratulations on completing it. I like artsy baseball cards too. When it comes to baseball card sets, my guilty pleasure would be 1991 Fleer. Hated that set for years, but the more I see it (and its photography), the more I like it (even if 95% of collectors despise it).

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousApril 26, 2025 at 11:55 AM

    The 1991 Fleer Pro-Vision Dwight Gooden is my all time favourite MLB card - it helps that Doc is my all time favourite player too I guess!

    ReplyDelete

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