Description

2005 Biography is a multi-brand insert randomly seeded into packs of three 2005 Donruss-Playoff products: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials, 2005 Leaf Limited, and 2005 Prime Cuts 3. The set was structured similarly to the "mirror" inserts Topps produced around the same time (e.g. The Barry Bonds, Mickey Mantle, and Alex Rodriguez Home Run sets, 2007 Generation Now, and 2008-09 Moments & Milestones), with one card for each "event." For example, Babe Ruth's Biography set was to commemorate all 715 of his career home runs with 715 Biography cards. Each release would have anywhere from 40 to 50 cards for each player, and the plan was for Biography to extend into 2006 and possibly beyond.

With MLB Properties termination of Donruss-Playoff's license after 2005, many Biography sets were left incomplete.

Checklist

Base Set

For brevity's sake, since each card in each set has the same player, a complete checklist for each set will not be listed.

Babe Ruth HR

This set was to commemorate all 715 of Babe Ruth's career home runs, but was cut short at 162 cards.

Cards 1-40: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 41-80: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 81-162: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

NOTE: Cards 1-49 depict Ruth as a Red Sox, the remainder as a Yankee.

Cal Ripken, Jr. HR

This set was cut short at 82 cards.

Cards 1-27: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 28-54: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 55-82: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

George Brett HR

This set was cut short at 51 cards.

Cards 1-38: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 39-51: 2005 Leaf Limited

Hank Aaron HR

This set was cut short at 110 cards.

Cards 1-16: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 17-45: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 46-110: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

Mike Schmidt HR

This set was cut short at 55 cards.

Cards 1-41: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 42-55: 2005 Leaf Limited

Nolan Ryan Wins

This set was cut short at 91 cards.

Cards 1-23: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 24-53: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 54-91: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

NOTE: Cards 1-29 depict Ryan as a Met, the remainder as an Angel.

Roberto Clemente Gold Glove

Cards 1961 & 1962: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 1963-1966: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 1967-1972: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

Roberto Clemente HR

This set was cut short at 75 cards.

Cards 1-8: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 9-28: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 29-75: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

Roger Maris 1961 Season HR

This set was one of the few that was completed.

Cards 1-20: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 21-41: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 42-61: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

Sandy Koufax Wins

This set was one of the few that was completed.

Cards 1-40: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 41-80: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 81-165: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

Ted Williams HR

This set was cut short at 91 cards.

Cards 1-20: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 21-51: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 52-91: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

Willie Mays Gold Glove

Cards 1957 & 1958: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 1959-1964: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 1965-1968: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

Willie Mays HR

This set was cut short at 68 cards.

Cards 1-10: 2005 Leaf Certified Materials
Cards 11-30: 2005 Leaf Limited
Cards 31-68: 2005 Prime Cuts 3

Autographs & Game-Used

Materials

Materials is a full parallel of the Biography set with pieces of game-used material mounted on the card. The pieces used for each set are as follows:

Babe Ruth HR: Bat
Cal Ripken, Jr. HR: Jersey
George Brett HR: Jersey
Hank Aaron HR: Jersey or Bat
Mike Schmidt HR: Jersey
Nolan Ryan Wins: Jersey or Jacket
Roberto Clemente Gold Glove: Bat
Roberto Clemente HR: Bat
Roger Maris 1961 Season HR: Bat
Sandy Koufax Wins: Jersey
Ted Williams HR: Bat
Willie Mays Gold Glove: Pants
Willie Mays HR: Jersey

NOTES: For all Materials cards ...

Cards 1-9 feature one piece of game-used memorabilia
Cards 10-99 feature two pieces of game-used memorabilia
Cards 100 and up have three pieces of game-used memorabilia

For Hank Aaron's HR Materials, cards 1-53 have either one or two pieces of jersey, while cards 54-110 have two or three bat chips.
For Nolan Ryan's Wins Materials, cards 1-29 have one or two swatches of a Mets jersey, the have two swatches of an Angels warm up jacket.
All of Roberto Clemente's Gold Glove Materials have two bat chips.
All of Willie Mays's Gold Glove Materials have two game-used pants swatches.

Auto-Biography

Five of the six living (as of 2005) players in the set (Cal Ripken, Jr., Hank Aaron, Mike Schmidt, Nolan Ryan, and Willie Mays) all have a full autographed parallel of their Biography cards -- this includes BOTH of Willie Mays' sets. The sixth player, Sandy Koufax, has only a four-card partial-parallel.

Sandy Koufax Wins Auto-Biography

Cards #67, #72, #99, and #134 in Sandy Koufax's Wins set have an autographed parallel. They were inserted into packs as follows.

2005 Leaf Certified Materials: Card #72
2005 Leaf Limited: Cards #72 and #134
2005 Prime Cuts 3: Cards #67 and #99