2004 Bowman 1st Edition

(Topps censoring Delmon Young’s face from younger collectors)


2004. What happened in 2004? The world’s largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, made its maiden voyage. The final episode of Friends aired. New Jersey’s finest James McGreevey came out publicly as a gay man. One of the world’s worst natural disasters occurred when a tsunami struck Indonesia a day after Christmas. We lost Ronald Reagan, Marlon Brando, Christopher Reeve, Janet Leigh, Reggie White, Tug McGraw, and Johhny Ramone in 2004.

That’s great and all Nick, but what the hell does this have to do with you? 2004 is the year I started collecting baseball cards. And I haven’t looked back. I have many goals as a card collector, and one of them is to collect every baseball card set from 2004. Impossible you say? Yeah, no kidding. But it’s always fun to try, right?

I picked up this pack of 2004 Bowman 1st Edition a while ago and was saving it for a rainy day. These cards were made six years, an eternity in baseball card years. To add a little spice to this pack, let’s go through each card and see if that player actually played professional baseball in 2010. And away... we… go.


#93: Jason Phillips
Survey says… no. Phillips last played in 2007 with the Toronto Blue Jays. Great start!

First Year #169: Matt Moses
No. Moses last played in 2009 with the Minnesota Twins organization, a place he’s been since being drafted by the club in 2003.

#114: Marlon Byrd
Yes. Marlon played with the Chicago Cubs last year and has two more years left on the three-year deal he signed before the 2010 season. He made a splash at the All-Star Game with a fantastic catch.

#129: Andy Pettitte
Um… yes.

First Year #287: Ryan Hankins
No. Hankins last played in 2005… a year after this card was made. Ouch.

First Year #305: Sheldon Fulse
It’s never a good sign when Baseball-Reference takes you straight to the Minor League page after typing in a player’s name. Fulse hasn’t played since 2008.

First Year #174: David Aardsma
Yes. Aardsma was the closer with the Seattle Mariners in 2010, giving M’s fans heart attacks every time he stepped on the mound. He blew five saves in thirty-one chances, or a .839 save percentage rate. Yikes.

First Year #194: Dan Giese
No. Giese last pitched for the Oakland A’s in 2009. The name Giese sounded familiar, and I had to dig deep in my brain to remember that he pitched for the Yankees in 2008. And he didn’t do half bad either, going 1-3 with a 3.53 ERA and a 1.2 WHIP.

#53: Luis Gonzalez
No. Luis last played in 2008 with the Florida Marlins. Many fans remember his monster 2001 season as he, Randy Johnson, and Curt Schilling carried the Arizona Diamondbacks to a World Series championship.

#165: Tom Gorzelanny
Yes. A player drafted by the Pirates, that doesn’t play for the Pirates anymore? Really? Gorzelanny was shipped to the Cubs in 2009 and has been pitching for them since.


Well, we could have done worse. But not much worse. Four out of ten players in the pack were playing professional baseball in 2010, for the people keeping score at home. Damn Bowman First Edition. Sweet 2004 nostalgia. For more posts from this handsome blogger, check out For Card’s Sake.