Money Player

I like Edgar Renteria.  He was one of my favorite 90s/early 2000s Cardinals players.  I never understood why he bounced around so many times after he left the Cardinals.  There was a year in Boston, two in Atlanta, a year in Detroit, two in San Francisco, and a really miserable last year as a Red.  He was a five time All-Star, three time Silver Slugger, two time Gold Glove winner, and a World Series MVP.  There was this moment:

and a few years later this was this hit:

Edgar is not a Hall of Famer, but still a really good player who is generally really under appreciated.  I have to admit that I spend plenty of time searching out cards of my favorite Cardinals players from yesteryear, but always seem to forget him.  I cross paths with Renteria cards every once in awhile, but really have much success in actually landing any of them.  

Last week I actually found a really cool card at a really low cost from the 2003 Topps Gallery set.  Here's a look at the card:

Currency cards have become pretty popular over the last couple of years with the coin cards that Topps has put into their Gypsy Queen products.  However, the Topps Gallery cards were a really cool forerunner for the current run of Gypsy Queen cards.  The coins in the cards were time specific to the players or place specific.  In Renteria's case the coin comes from his home country of Columbia.  The backs of the Gallery cards were really cool and had a very similar design as current Gypsy Queen cards with the other side of the coin showing through on the backside of the card.    

  

The biggest difference between the Topps Gallery Currency and Topps Gypsy Queen Currency cards is the price.  Most of the price difference is created by the fact that the Gypsy Queen cards are just serial numbered to a print run of 5.  However, the Gallery cards basically look the same and cost a fraction of the Gypsy Queen.  This Renteria card cost me less than $5 shipped and most of the Gypsy Queens cost more than $50.