2004 Chrome black refractors mile$tone

Well, if I were ever to complete my search for a complete set of 2004 Topps Chrome Baseball black refractors, I knew I would have to get my hands on the large rookie card of the set that I unfortunately failed to acquire years ago in the early days of this project. After a few good second-place bids in recent years (and a relatively cheap buy-it-now that I tragically missed), I jumped on it when one popped up at the ceiling of my target price range. In the end I paid as much for this card as I did for my two previous “most expensive pickups” combined (a certified Clemente cut car and a Cognac Trout). (Oh, and I bought a sealed box of cards that were more expensive – with a very long post about them that I should publish one of these days.) But no regrets! I had some birthday/Christmas money from last year stashed away in my savings, so I figured I could justify the financial frivolity as a “gift to myself” since we’re in December and all.

Tree!

Yadier Molina was the game’s best catcher for much of his 19 years in the MLB, helping the Cardinals to a few championships along the way, and you have to assume he’s a shoe-in for the Hall once he becomes eligible. I’m glad I got my hands on this card before the HOF hype puts it back in the minds of collectors. Also relieved that there were no delivery issues to stress me out as it seems the USPS hasn’t been at its best lately. For safety’s sake, I’ll leave it in plate form, although a figure of 8 is only “just okay” when it comes to modern cards. But yeah, I’m doing fine. I’m just glad I’m done chasing this card.

The hard work is now done, but I still have about a dozen cards to go, five of which are /25 prospect cars (Kyle Davies, Estee Harris, Kyle Sleeth, Logan Kensing and Korey Casto), and of the non-cars (which don’t have a serial number but probably have a production run of about 220) the biggest name is Chase Utley, followed by Ervin Santana and a handful of lesser players who just haven’t shown up much over the years. But I will keep up my frequent searches on eBay and hope to clear out these last remaining pieces before too long. Patience is nothing new to me when it comes to collecting 2004 black refractors, just like me still waiting for another retired ’04 Alan Trammell reference to pop up so I can finish that set I’ve been obsessed with since this blog started in 2013, which became the impetus to expand to the non-retired baseball players who got black refractors in 2004. Of course, it would be crazy if I finished ’04 Non-Retired (487 cards deep according to my checklist) before I finished ’04 Retired (only 76 cards total), but those are the quirks of the hobby for you.