Question for you player collectors

[BBCgalaxee]

In the early 2000s, Donruss (and it's brands) inserted sample cards into beckett magazines.

Each card was stamped "sample" in silver (common) or gold (rare).

Wondering how many of you guys still need your player in either version.

Always wondered just how common or rare they are to find.

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[Brewer Andy]

I still need both from 2002 Studio and 2003 Team Heroes

 

[jay1065]

So that is where these came from?

 

[BBCgalaxee]

I don't have a beckett baseball from this time period but a football from 2003 (circulation statement) states there were 120,000 copies made.

Assume the circulation for baseball is similar and the products inserted (leaf, Donruss, etc) averaged 250 different cards in the set.

That would mean there's about 500 of each silver "sample" card made and I believe 50 of each gold "sample" made.

But.......

Here's where it gets tricky.

It's obvious that many copies were returned each month and with them the sample cards. Who knows how many cards actually were destroyed?

And on top of this, they blend in perfectly with the regular base cards as the only difference is "sample" on the back. I wonder how many are mixed in common boxes?

And......

I've noticed that (very rarely) inserts also have "sample" which would make the reg samples even rarer.

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[aarne13]

I was extremely lucky to get a John Olerud sample in my mag. Can't remember the set it came from.

 

[ASTROBURN]

I still need the Bagwell for my pc. Havent found one yet.

 

[BiggioBrooks755]

Probably need all of them

 

[clarkfan]

I've collected them for years. Some of the sets with a large base set are very very tough to find. If the complete set consisted of fewer total cards, the easier it is to find a particular player from the set. But, they are definitely tough to find, especially the Gold's. I search for them fairly regularly. I still need a couple of the Will Clark ones.

 

[RStadlerASU22]

Need all the Clark's and Mike Browns . Wish I looked for them back when they were issued

Ryan

 

[jszczech]

I have 3 Puckett's in my pc(2 silver and 1 gold) but there are still a bunch that I am missing.

 

[Gonzaleznut]

I collected Juan Gonzalez when those came out and specifically remember thinking how rare and sought after these would become in later years just because so many would be thrown out or just stuck away in a box somewhere. I made a conscious effort to get every Juan Gonzalez one that I could on ebay with great success. Although my Juan Gonzalez collection is long gone, I still have several from magazines that I bought. I have a Ruth, Olerud, Clemente, David Ortiz Gold, and several others.

 

[Hawk8]

I know I still need the gold in the Team Heroes on both of Dawson's cards in that set, but there is another that escapes me at the moment that I do have the silver and gold.

 

[weight333]

I have a few of these for Bonds but don't have any Gold! Tough!

 

[olerud363]

I have a total of two silver and one gold Olerud. Never really made a particular effort to get samples because I always thought even the golds were pretty common. Guess I need to rethink that.

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[BBCgalaxee]

I always thought only the base cards had sample versions but I've found inserts labeled "sample" in both silver and gold.

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[Calripkenjrcollector]

I have these two to trade for Cal Ripken card(s). PLMK what you have....

 

[gracecollector]

I did inventory, have these Grace's.

Donruss Class of 2001 2001 #39 Beckett Sample Silver
Donruss Diamond Kings 2002 #79 Beckett Sample Silver
Donruss Diamond Kings 2003 #77 Beckett Sample Silver
Donruss Originals 2002 #26 1982 Design Beckett Silver Sample
Leaf 2002 #5 Beckett Silver Sample
Leaf Certified Materials 2002 #63 Beckett Silver Sample
Studio 2002 #44 Beckett Silver Sample

 

[BBCgalaxee]

I did inventory, have these Grace's.

Donruss Class of 2001 2001 #39 Beckett Sample Silver
Donruss Diamond Kings 2002 #79 Beckett Sample Silver
Donruss Diamond Kings 2003 #77 Beckett Sample Silver
Donruss Originals 2002 #26 1982 Design Beckett Silver Sample
Leaf 2002 #5 Beckett Silver Sample
Leaf Certified Materials 2002 #63 Beckett Silver Sample
Studio 2002 #44 Beckett Silver Sample

Well if YOU don't have the gold versions, what does that say about the scarcity?

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[gracecollector]

Well if YOU don't have the gold versions, what does that say about the scarcity?

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They were tough, 1 in 10 magazines. I will say that I never went after these hard, and passed on many back in the day. I only picked them up when I found them for $1-$2. I thought of them as aftermarket cards, like the stamped Special Olympics 1/1's you could find back then. Only reason they're listed in Beckett lists is because they were issued in Beckett magazine.

 

[corockies]

They were tough, 1 in 10 magazines. I will say that I never went after these hard, and passed on many back in the day. I only picked them up when I found them for $1-$2. I thought of them as aftermarket cards, like the stamped Special Olympics 1/1's you could find back then. Only reason they're listed in Beckett lists is because they were issued in Beckett magazine.

Anyone have an official checklist on these? Seems that the SAMPLE stamp font drastically changed between 2001/02 and 2003. And a lot of different sets don't seem to be catalogued from 2003. I have these (none are checklisted by Beckett but all have the same SAMPLE font as the 2003s):