I got a little behind this weekend, so here’s a double-shot Monday to make up for the day off yesterday.  

Kudos to DLP (Donruss/Leaf/Playoff) for making an effort to keep the infograph on the back of this 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Barry Bonds card relevant. While most companies could have had a boilerplate paragraph about Bonds’ bloodlines to the game, his numerous MVP awards or his drive for 500 career homers, DLP decided to document Bonds’ record pace during the 2001 season. And it took me eight years to appreciate this card.   

This card already had so much going for it. I love the HUGE elbow protector Barry is wearing in the image, and the fact that he has his name stitched into it like someone is going to mistake the protector as belonging to Rich Aurillia or Jeff Kent. And you can’t hate the red ribbon stitched into Bonds chest, although I forget if MLB players were wearing it in 2000/2001 for AIDS/HIV awareness or drug prevention.  

But perhaps the greatest part of this card is what Donruss wrote on the back.  

Look at this paragraph:  

Bonds’ 39 homers before the break is still the most among players since 1961, and Donruss definitely deserves recognition for preserving that stat for the record.      

This entry was posted on October 13, 2008 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Card of the Day with tags AIDS, Barry Bonds, baseball, baseball cards, Card of the Day, DLP, Donruss, drug prevention, HIV, Home Run Record, Leaf, Playoff, record setter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.