2002 Phillies - Ten Years Gone

2002 Fleer Focus Jersey Edition #45, 2002 Topps #557,
2002 Topps Chrome #394 and 2002 Topps Ten #171

This time of year usually means there's a whirlwind of activity in my house.  The halls have been decked, Christmas lists have been submitted to Santa and (most of) the shopping is done.  Cookies have been baked, some have been sampled, and the Christmas ham is in the fridge ready to go.  The stockings are hung, the kids are bouncing off the walls and I'm counting down the hours until I can officially check out of work for the year.  And finally, as has now become a holiday tradition, the annual package of Phillies baseball card cast-offs has arrived from Section 36.  What a joyous time of year!

Each year, Ron from Section 36 begins the process of making room for the new year's baseball cards poised to arrive at some point in the coming months.  He keeps his unwanted baseball card doubles for exactly a decade and then they're shuffled off to fellow collectors willing to make room at the inn for them.   I've been the recipient of past packages containing Ron's 2000 and 2001 Phillies cast-offs, and this year I was thrilled to receive a package of 2002 Phillies cards.

I'll admit that I've been looking forward to this year's package as Ron makes room for his 2012 baseball cards.  2002 was the darkest of the dark years for me, and I didn't spend much time collecting.  What 2002 cards I have were acquired on a few eBay team set binges in the mid-2000's as I attempted to remedy the gaping hole in my Phillies collection from 2002 through 2005.  The cards featured in this post were all cards recently deleted from my 2002 Phillies Wantlist, and I'm happy to add them to my 2002 Phillies binder.

Thanks again Ron!  Only 365 more shopping days until the 2003 Phillies package arrives!