The most meaningful mailday of my life.

To those that know me here, you know I've had some pretty sick cards come in and out. Looking at my sig pretty much sums it all.

However, yesterday I had the mailday that truly made me happier than any other. From 2000-2005 I played MLB Showdown, mainly recreational. In 2004, I started to play more serious (in tournaments, and in 2005 I was one of the 8 champions and won FREE Season tickets to the Yankees for the 2006 season. In 2004, I started to try and obtain every single MLB Showdown card ever made. The base cards, foils, and strategy cards were easy - they all came straight from the packs, it wasn't too difficult. However, promo cards were given out for playing in leagues and tournaments. By 2005 (the year showdown was discontinued), I had already acquired all of the non-promo cards, and probably every single promo from 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, and 2005. There was one set of promos in 2002 that were stamped with DCI foil, and produced in VERY limited quantities. I have searched on a daily basis for the past 7+ years, and finally managed to acquire the last two cards (for not a cheap price). To most, if not all of you, these cards are probably worth several cents. However, to the people who know how rare they are (I know of ZERO other complete sets), they're invaluable.

If any of you player collect any of these players, I challenge you to obtain one of these cards - the Sosa, Wood, and Nixon appear every now and then, and I THINK a seller on the BMB marketplace has 2 or 3, but the Ichiro, Green, Jones, and Zimmerman were all IMPOSSIBLE to locate.

Here are some scans, for anyone that is still with me/cares.







The Jones and Zimmerman were the last two I obtained. The Ichiro is considered by many to be the rarest/most valuable.

Thanks for looking. To celebrate my completion, I will be holding a contest of some sorts!

It's nice to be done!

I also got a Stras Blue Ref auto redemption in the mail, but who cares :lol:

Thanks,
Zach

Nice stuff!

My friends and I played Showdown religiously (along with Magic and everything else at the time) for years. Wish it was still around.

Those DCI ones are impossible!

Awesome story! Congrats on the completion!!

is showdown a video game or some sort of card game ie magic?

miguelcabrera said:

is showdown a video game or some sort of card game ie magic?

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Produced by WOTC ( Wizards), it's a card game like Magic. It lasted from 2000-2005.

Thanks guys!

Congrats! Must be a great feeling to know you finally completed it.

Great story and cool cards! Always great to find out there is another card I should be looking out for. Thanks for the information.

When I owned my shop I couldnt keep Showdown in stock. I would always double and triple my orders that came twice a week and always sold out. Parents would come in and buy boxes for their kids while kids would come in and open them like they did Pokeman cards a few years before. I never played the game but I heard it was a decent one to play. I know I sold tons of cards and probably still have a few of those promo's laying around. Looks like I have to find them.

Congrats on completing your set!!

I'd love for someone to create printable cards for recent seasons.

that is awesome zach!

not familiar with those cards at all but to continue tracking, obtaining and completing it..thats great!

dave

daveyou said:

that is awesome zach!

not familiar with those cards at all but to continue tracking, obtaining and completing it..thats great!

dave

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thanks bro
like I said, to most they're worthless. But imagine the satisfaction of finally getting that first Ichiro 01 BC gold ref, or something similar. It's just a great feeling to finally acquire something after so long.

It's very possible that there are numerous copies of these cards sitting in old card shops (like the one a couple posts up) but with SO few showing up in the past 7+ years, I'm proud to be done.

Kind of makes me want to make a stab at some modern day set collecting, but I dont know what modern set would actually hold value, and what would be much of a challenge.

zach

btw, after i read the post title, thought you got your diploma already or something, lol

dave

daveyou said:

btw, after i read the post title, thought you got your diploma already or something, lol

dave

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smart but not that smart
you still planning on doing ecn bro? if so, which day?

How did you acquire them if you don't mind me asking. I think it would be pretty interesting to hear about how you finally were able to add them to your collection. Congrats on getting them.

Sorry if I'm missing something, but were ALL the cards from that year produced in this promo set? Or was it only a select few? Was the Vizquel made?

bear0555 said:

How did you acquire them if you don't mind me asking. I think it would be pretty interesting to hear about how you finally were able to add them to your collection. Congrats on getting them.

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Some of the early ones I don't even remember. I think I ended up getting 1 or 2 off of the BMB.

Some kid who I knew from showdowncards.com blogs about showdown (he was going for the DCI promos too) and I always came across his blogs in my search. The last time however, he made a post saying he was down to 2 promos in the set, but the Jones and Zimmerman were not the 2 he needed (he needed Green + Ichiro). I ended up friending him on facebook, chatting with him there, and he eventually agreed to sell me the pair for a tad over $100. To be honest, I probably would have paid around 100 per, but I think we were both happy with the deal. Ive never seen another copy of either card before, so I was just happy to finally land one.

Vizquel - the DCI promo set was just 10 players. You can look in my bucket for a scan of all 10. No Vizquel.

Nikobaseball said:

bear0555 said:

How did you acquire them if you don't mind me asking. I think it would be pretty interesting to hear about how you finally were able to add them to your collection. Congrats on getting them.

Click to expand...

Some of the early ones I don't even remember. I think I ended up getting 1 or 2 off of the BMB.

Some kid who I knew from showdowncards.com blogs about showdown (he was going for the DCI promos too) and I always came across his blogs in my search. The last time however, he made a post saying he was down to 2 promos in the set, but the Jones and Zimmerman were not the 2 he needed (he needed Green + Ichiro). I ended up friending him on facebook, chatting with him there, and he eventually agreed to sell me the pair for a tad over $100. To be honest, I probably would have paid around 100 per, but I think we were both happy with the deal. Ive never seen another copy of either card before, so I was just happy to finally land one.

Vizquel - the DCI promo set was just 10 players. You can look in my bucket for a scan of all 10. No Vizquel.

Click to expand...

That's pretty cool. I had a feeling you were gonna say that they popped up on ebay, haha.

Nikobaseball said:

Vizquel - the DCI promo set was just 10 players. You can look in my bucket for a scan of all 10. No Vizquel.

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Very cool stuff, congrats on knocking out the set. And PHEW, I'm happy that's one I don't need to start chasing! :lol:

bear0555 said:

Nikobaseball said:

bear0555 said:

How did you acquire them if you don't mind me asking. I think it would be pretty interesting to hear about how you finally were able to add them to your collection. Congrats on getting them.

Click to expand...

Some of the early ones I don't even remember. I think I ended up getting 1 or 2 off of the BMB.

Some kid who I knew from showdowncards.com blogs about showdown (he was going for the DCI promos too) and I always came across his blogs in my search. The last time however, he made a post saying he was down to 2 promos in the set, but the Jones and Zimmerman were not the 2 he needed (he needed Green + Ichiro). I ended up friending him on facebook, chatting with him there, and he eventually agreed to sell me the pair for a tad over $100. To be honest, I probably would have paid around 100 per, but I think we were both happy with the deal. Ive never seen another copy of either card before, so I was just happy to finally land one.

Vizquel - the DCI promo set was just 10 players. You can look in my bucket for a scan of all 10. No Vizquel.

Click to expand...

That's pretty cool. I had a feeling you were gonna say that they popped up on ebay, haha.

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If they did, the seller probably wouldnt know what they are and I probably would have paid <5 for the pair (assuming they're buy it nows and I get them before other people see them). I wish it went that way ha

Zach