2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars

Description

2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars is a 300-card set released in August, 2001. The set is divided into three 100-card subsets: 100 veterans and two, 100-card short-printed "rookie" subsets -- "Tier 1" which were seeded at the rate of 1:4/packs, and "Tier 2" which were 1:24/packs. While 2001 did have a strong rookie class (Albert Pujols, Ichiro, Mark Prior, Mark Teixeira and Travis Hafner), unfortunately, as with most 2001 products that relied on "gimmicked rookies," most of those strong RCs were placed in Tier 2 -- meaning that the odds of finding an Albert Pujols rookie in a box of 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars were 1:100. The vast majority of Leaf Rookies & Stars's rookies either had their RCs issued in previous years, or had Major League careers of little consequence -- that is, if they even played in the Major's at all.

Each 24-pack Hobby box will yield either an autograph or a game-used card.

Distribution

Hobby boxes of 2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars contained 24 packs of 5 cards each.

Overall the boxes contained 1 GU/AU per box along with six Tier 1 short-printed rookies and one Tier 2 rookie. That means your chances are 1:100 to pull an Albert Pujols rookie card from a box.

Despite this, these boxes still sell for $75-$100 on EBay and even higher elsewhere.

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Hobby Odds	Retail Odds
Base	300	-	?	?
short set	100	-	?	?
Tier 1 Rookies	100	-	1:4	1:4
Tier 2 Rookies	100	-	1:24	1:24
Longevity short set	100	50	?	?
Longevity Rookies	200	25	?	?
Dress for Success	25	-	1:96	1:96
Dress for Success Prime Cuts	25	50	?	?
Slideshow	30	100	?	?
Slideshow View Master	30	25	?	?
Freshman Orientation	25	-	1:96	1:96
Freshman Orientation Class Officers	25	50	?	?
Statistical Standouts	25	-	1:96	1:96
Statistical Standouts Super	25	50	?	?
Players Collection	12	100	?	?
Players Collection Quad	3	25	?	?
Great American Treasures	20	varies	1:1120	1:1152
Triple Threads	10	100	?	?
Autographs	76	-	?	?
Dress for Success Autographs	10	-	?	?
Slideshow Autographs	12	-	?	?
Freshman Orientation Autographs	21	100	?	?
Statistical Standouts Autographs	10	-	?	?
Players Collection Autographs	3	-	?	?
Great American Treasures Autographs	4	-	?	?

Checklist

Promos

Inserted into the January, 2002 issue of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly was a 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars promo card. Only the first 100 cards in the base set have promos, and each card has "SAMPLE" stamped in silver foil on the reverse side. About 10% of the cards have gold foil.

This would be the first in a series of Donruss-Playoff/Beckett promo sets that would be issued throughout 2002-03.

Base Set

NOTE: A number of these cards had uncorrected errors, where the statistical header on the back of the card was swapped between pitchers and hitters. Did you know that Greg Maddux hit 200 doubles in 2000? Neither did I!

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars') AND (num < 101) ORDER BY num +0 ASC; </sql2wiki>

Short-Printed Rookies (Tier 1)

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars') AND (num BETWEEN 101 AND 200); </sql2wiki>

Short-Printed Rookies (Tier 2)

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars') AND (num > 200); </sql2wiki>

Parallels

Longevity

All 300 base cards are available in a Longevity parallel. Cards 1-100 are serial-numbered to 50 while cards 101-300 have only 25 serial-numbered sets.

Chicago Collection

Autographs & Game-Used

Freshman Orientation

These cards showcase young players who are getting oriented into the major leagues. The cards featured game-used memorabilia from the players including bat chips as well as pant, jersey, and cap swatches. The cards were inserted at a rate of 1:96 packs. The Dunn, Pujols and Gibbons cards were short printed.

Additionally a Class Officers set also paralleled the main set and were printed to 50 serial-numbered copies per card. The Officers set featured prime pieces of jersey. You can see the words "Class Officers" just to the left of the players name in the bottom right of the front of the card.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Freshman Orientation'); </sql2wiki>

Autographed

21 out of 25 of the Freshmen Orientation cards were also autographed by the player. These sticker autographed cards are NOT serial-numbered; however, Donruss-Playoff announced that no player signed more than 100 cards, and cards #FO-1 through #FO-6 were short-printed.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Freshman Orientation Autographs'); </sql2wiki>

Players Collection

Cal Ripken, Jr., Tony Gwynn, and Barry Bonds were the featured players in this set, with five game used cards per player. Each player had a bat, shoe, pant and jersey card each serial numbered to 100 copies. Also a quad card featuring all four game used pieces that was serial numbered to 25 copies per card.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = "Leaf Rookies and Stars Players Collection"); </sql2wiki>

Autographs

Each Players Collection Autograph is serial-numbered to 100 copies.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = "Leaf Rookies and Stars Players Collection Autographs"); </sql2wiki>

Slideshow

These cards feature game-used jersey pieces of some of the games top players. The cards were randomly inserted into packs at 1:96 packs for the base level Slideshow cards. Each is serial-numbered to 100 copies.

The View Master Slideshow parallels are one of the more innovative sets in 2001, the first jumbo swatch cards ever produced. The jersey piece could be pulled out of the card revealing a much larger swatch than just what was framed in the card. This set paralleled all 30 cards in the Slideshow insert set with each card serial-numbered to 25 copies.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Slideshow'); </sql2wiki>

Autographs

Some of the Slideshow cards also had autographed stickers placed on the cards. These cards are serial-numbered to 100 copies and generally sell for $100 for the low end players and $500-$700 (or more!) for the Pujols. Only 12 of the 30 cards have an autographed version and are noted in the checklist below.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Slideshow Autographs'); </sql2wiki>

Statistical Standouts

Each Statistical Standouts is also available in a Super parallel, which is serial-numbered to 50 copies.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Statistical Standouts'); </sql2wiki>

Great American Treasures

some of the most controversial memorabilia cards made, Donruss-Playoff carved-up specific game used memorabilia. Collectors were a little shocked, it was one thing to cut up a Greg Maddux Jersey or a Frank Thomas bat, but another thing altogether to cut up a ball from the game Roger Maris hit his 61st home run (not THE 61st home run ball, but a ball from that game). These cards are highly sought after by player collectors and game-used collectors as the cards are game-dated feature memorabilia from important moments in each of the players' careers.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Great American Treasures'); </sql2wiki>

Autographs

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Great American Treasures Autographs'); </sql2wiki>

Dress for Success

This insert set featured a game used jersey swatch and bat chip from some of the games biggest stars in 2001. The base set was inserted 1:96 (overall game used/autograph rate of 1 per box). None of these cards will have prime jersey pieces unless they are part of the Prime Cuts parallel set.

A parallel set featuring prime jersey swatches along with the bat chips were also inserted into packs. These cards were serial numbered to 50 sets. They also feature the words "Prime Cuts" on the front of the card.

Additionally some of the Dress for Success cards were also autographed (sticker) by the player featured on the card. Note- if an autographed version of the card exists, it is noted in the checklist below.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Dress for Success'); </sql2wiki>

Autographs

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Dress for Success Autographs'); </sql2wiki>

Triple Threads

The most highly sought after inserts in the 2001 Rookies and Stars set (after the Pujols autographs) are the Triple Thread inserts. These cards feature three game used jersey pieces from three different players who played together on the same team, either at the same time or at different points in the history of the franchise. Each card is serial numbered to 100 copies.

TT3 is a triple of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Yogi Berra and is highly sought after by collectors on the secondary market.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Triple Threads') ORDER BY (SUBSTRING(num FROM 4)) +0 ASC; </sql2wiki>

Autographs

A partial parallel set of 2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars. These cards feature sticker autographs of the player on the card. The cards are not serial numbered but have stated print runs between 50 - 250 copies per card. Most of the 76 players featured in the set had forgettable careers. The Pujols is far and away the most valuable card in the set. But the Travis Hafner, Mark Teixeira, Mark Prior and even to a lesser extent the Roy Oswalt cards also are sought after by collectors on the secondary market.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info,serial FROM cards WHERE (year = 2001) AND (setname = 'Leaf Rookies and Stars Autographs'); </sql2wiki>

Leaf
Vintage Era: 1948-49 - 1960
Canadian Era: 1985 - 1986 - 1987 - 1988
Donruss Era: 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996
Pinnacle Brands Era: 1997 - 1998
Donruss-Playoff Era: 2002 - 2003 - 2004 - 2005
Parallel Brands: 1998 Donruss Collections - 1998 Leaf Fractal Foundations
Other Leaf Brands: 1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars - 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars - 2002 Leaf Rookies & Stars - 2005 Leaf Century