Donruss/Leaf Beckett Samples (thread to help player collectors)

[subject to change]

I'm pretty sure at the time retail copies were shipped in plastic bags, so people couldn't pull out the sample card without buying the magazine. I'd venture to say a majority of retail copies went unsold and were trashed, so a large percentage of cards may have never made it out of the magazine.

I've found about half a dozen copies in dime boxes over the years, so I think it's a safe guess that many of these were tossed in common boxes and assumed to be worthless. I have never seen a single Jack Wilson listed anywhere, and have pretty much given up hope of picking them up at this point.

 

[heavy_hitter]

I'm pretty sure at the time retail copies were shipped in plastic bags, so people couldn't pull out the sample card without buying the magazine. I'd venture to say a majority of retail copies went unsold and were trashed, so a large percentage of cards may have never made it out of the magazine.

I've found about half a dozen copies in dime boxes over the years, so I think it's a safe guess that many of these were tossed in common boxes and assumed to be worthless. I have never seen a single Jack Wilson listed anywhere, and have pretty much given up hope of picking them up at this point.

I can confirm that the magazines with the cards were issued in plastic bags. I recently found an old Beckett that I hadn't opened and pulled a Steve Sparks silver parallel from one of the Donruss issues.

 

[olerud363]

I remember seeing many Becketts at the time on the magazine racks with the plastic opened or completely missing.

- Rodrick

 

[BBCgalaxee]

Since I bargain box dive at every show, I have picked up a large amount of these cards throughout the years.

It's gotten to the point that whenever I see a card which had a sample made, I'll flip it over.

Just this past Sunday, I bought a diamond kings Jeter sample for a buck (silver).

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[rsmath]

I would also add that the assumption is likely bad that they were entirely distributed in magazines.

I know I got one of my sample cards as a subscription bonus from beckett - subscribe for a year and they sent you a free graded card. What I don't know is if that graded sample card was sourced from beckett mags that went unsold and were returned by dealers or if there were more samples given to beckett than distributed in mags such that BGS had leftover sample cards to grade for subscription bonus use.

 

[BBCgalaxee]

I would also add that the assumption is likely bad that they were entirely distributed in magazines.

I know I got one of my sample cards as a subscription bonus from beckett - subscribe for a year and they sent you a free graded card. What I don't know is if that graded sample card was sourced from beckett mags that went unsold and were returned by dealers or if there were more samples given to beckett than distributed in mags such that BGS had leftover sample cards to grade for subscription bonus use.

Good points!

I do have one or two graded samples (bccg I think) from diamond kings.



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[Tom Oates]

They were inserted in the store copies for sure. I remember getting a couple of these samples back in the day from store bought copies.

Agreed, my local store would save the samples for me before they trashed last month copies of the magazine.

 

[olerud363]

I searched baseballcardpedia.com info for Donruss, Leaf, Playoff, Studio, etc sets from 2001 to 2004 inclusive. Many sets had just a checklist with no other info, but these are the ones that mention Beckett Samples.

2001 Leaf R&S – Not specifically referred to as Beckett samples but the description sure sounds like they are: “Two different sample sets were also released by DLP to hobby shops as a preview to the set. These cards are relatively rare with the Gold version being much more difficult to locate. Note that only cards 1-100 are included in the sample sets, no Pujols to chase in this group. The card fronts are identical to the base card fronts. The word "Sample" is stamped on the card back.”

2002 Diamond Kings – "To promote the 2002 Diamond Kings set, one card from the first 150-cards in the base set was randomly inserted into the May and July, 2002 issues of Beckett Baseball." (Note: #’s 101-150 inthe set are SP)

2002 Donruss Classics – "Randomly inserted into the August 2002 issue of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly was a Donruss Classics promo card. The checklist parallels that of the first 100 cards in the base set"

2002 Donruss Elite – "Randomly inserted into the March, 2002 issue of BeckettBaseball Card Monthly was a 2002 Donruss Elite sample card. The set parallels the first 100 cards in the base set"

2002 Donruss Originals – See post #38 in this thread forchecklist

2003 Donruss Classics – "Randomly inserted into issues of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly was one 2003 Donruss Classics Sample card. These cards parallel the first 100 cards in the base set"

[/SIZE]2003 Leaf –"Randomly inserted into each copy of the March, 2003 issue of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly was one 2003 Leaf promo card. The promo set parallels the entire 320-card Leaf Series base set"

 

[Will Style 13]

Out of curiosity I finally dug out my Beckett Donruss Set Samples from 2002-2003. I may have more tucked away but don't know where they are currently. My organization is lacking organization. Nothing too major but some decent names.

All Are Silver Samples

2002 Donruss Mark Mulder
2002 Donruss Classics Jim Thome
2002 Diamond Kings Roy Oswalt
2002 Donruss Elite Carlos Febles
2002 Leaf Trot Nixon
2002 Leaf Certified Javier Vazquez
2002 Leaf Rookies and Stars Tony Batista
2003 Donruss Freddy Garcia
2003 Donruss Champions Adam Dunn
2003 Donruss Classics Rafael Palmeiro
2003 Donruss Team Heroes Shane Reynolds
2003 Leaf Barry Zito
2003 Leaf Certified Materials Juan Cruz
2003 Playoff Portraits Walter Young
2003 Playoff Prestige Ray Durham
2003 Sudio Shea Hillenbrand

 

[BiggioBrooks755]

I have a few that are available to good homes. All are silver except the Fick.

2002 Donruss Originals Biggio #101
2002 Leaf Certified Fick #80 (Gold)
2003 Studio Koskie #45
2003 Leaf Soriano #65
2003 Donruss Champions Rogers #29

The font for the word "Sample" is different for the Studio Koskie. Don't think this means anything but I thought I'd mention it.


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Did I trade for this one already?

 

[olerud363]

[MENTION=8332]BiggioBrooks755[/MENTION] Not with me, I still have the card.

I believe I had offered it to you but you already had it. If you do in fact need it just PM me your addy and it's your's.

- Rodrick

 

[BiggioBrooks755]

Whats the difference between that one and this:

2002 Donruss Samples #44

 

[mrmopar]

I want that 02 Donruss Team Heroes Garvey Gold (if it exists). never seen one...

 

[clarkfan]

I want that 02 Donruss Team Heroes Garvey Gold (if it exists). never seen one...

I picked up a Gold of Clark from a fellow Clark collector. It had some damage to the back, like another 1 one I had already seen, but thought I may never see it again, so I went after it. Those Gold's are incredibly hard to find. Silver's are hard enough.

 

[tribefan26]

Here is what I have - they are still on the insert and they either give the issue number or I wrote it down -

204 (March 2002) - 2002 Donruss (Josh Towers)
205 (4/2002) - 2002 Leaf (Andruw Jones)
206 (5/2002) - 2002 Donruss Diamond Kings (Christian Guzman) (Gold Non-foil)
207 (6/2002) - 2002 Donruss Elite (Paul Konerko)
208 (7/2002) - 2002 Donruss Diamond Kings (Paul Molitor) (Silver Foil)
209 (8/2002) - 2002 Donruss Classics (Alfonso Soriano)
210 (9/2002) - 2002 Donruss Studio (Jack Cust)
211 (10/2002) - 2002 Leaf Certified (Javier Vazquez)
212 (11/2002) - 2002 Donruss Originals (Freddy Garcia)
213 (12/2002) - 2002 Leaf Rookies and Stars (Ellis Burks)
214 (1/2003) - 2003 Donruss(Mark McLemore)
215 (2/2003) - 2003 Donruss Team Heroes (Christian Guzman)
216 (3/2003) - 2003 Leaf (Mike Cameron)
217 (4/2003) - 2003 Donruss Diamond Kings (Fred McGriff)
218 (5/2003) - 2003 Donruss Champions (Mark Buehrle)
219 (6/2003) - 2003 Donruss Classics (Torii Hunter)
220 (7/2003) - 2003 Playoff Prestige (Mike Mussina)
221 (8/2003) - 2003 Donruss Studio (Josh Phelps)
222 (9/2003) - 2003 Leaf Certified Materials (Alexis Gomez)
223 (10/2003) - 2003 Playoff Portraits (Adrian Beltre - Sample is printed - not foil)

 

[Calripkenjrcollector]

I have these two for sale.

 

[olerud363]

Whats the difference between that one and this:

2002 Donruss Samples #44

They are two different sets. Regular Donruss and Donruss Originals.

- Rodrick

 

[BiggioBrooks755]

Thanks

 

[BBCgalaxee]

Grabbed a few from my collection.

These four are gold

 

[BBCgalaxee]

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