Ken Griffey Jr.’s 2000 season marked the beginning of a new chapter—and it came with both excitement and adjustment.

After a decade with the Seattle Mariners, Griffey was traded to the Cincinnati Reds, fulfilling a desire to play closer to home. The move brought huge expectations, as fans hoped “The Kid” would continue his dominance in the National League.

The season in short

Griffey’s numbers were still strong:

• .271 batting average

• 40 home runs

• 118 RBIs

• 100 runs scored

He made an immediate impact, reaching the 40-homer mark for the sixth time in his career, proving his power translated leagues.

Adjustments and challenges

While the power remained elite, 2000 also hinted at changes:

• His batting average dipped compared to his peak Seattle years

• Strikeouts were high (career-high at the time)

• He was adapting to new pitchers, parks, and pressure

It wasn’t quite the effortless dominance fans were used to in the 90s, but he was still one of the most feared hitters in baseball.

Big picture

The 2000 season is often remembered as:

• A successful but transitional year

• The last season Griffey would play 140+ games until later in his career

• The start of a period where injuries would begin to impact his consistency

Even so, a 40-HR, 118-RBI season would be a career year for most players—just not by Griffey’s incredibly high standard.

The 1988 Topps Mark McGwire “White Triangle” card (#3) is one of those classic late-80s oddities that perfectly captures the quirks of the junk wax era.

This card comes from the “’87 Record Breakers” subset, celebrating Mark McGwire’s historic rookie home run total. On early printings, a small white triangle shape appears near his left foot—something that wasn’t supposed to be there.

What actually happened

The “white triangle” is essentially a printing/editing mistake. Topps quickly corrected it by filling the area in with red on later print runs, creating two versions:

• Error version: white triangle visible

• Corrected version: no triangle (filled in properly)

There’s even some hobby lore that Topps may have been trying to “fix” the look of McGwire’s foot in the image, but ended up creating a more noticeable flaw instead.

Hobby significance

This card is:

• One of the most well-known variations in the 1988 Topps set

• A classic example of how minor print defects became “errors” collectors chased in the 80s

• Often one of the first “error cards” collectors remember pulling as kids

Value reality (important)

Despite the attention it gets, it’s not rare:

• The set was massively overproduced

• Both versions are fairly common

• Typically a low-dollar card unless in pristine graded condition

Why it still matters

Even without big value, the McGwire white triangle card sticks around because it has:

• A clear, easy-to-spot variation

• A connection to one of baseball’s biggest sluggers

• That nostalgic “pack fresh discovery” feel from the late 80s

It’s less about rarity—and more about the story and the era it represents.

The 1991 Fleer Baseball set is one of the most recognizable—and polarizing—issues of the early ’90s junk wax era.

Released by Fleer, the set contains 720 cards and is instantly identifiable for its bright yellow borders, which earned it the nickname “the banana set.” While bold and unique, the design is notorious among collectors because the borders show chipping and wear very easily, making high-grade copies surprisingly tough.

From a content standpoint, the set captures a transitional moment in baseball—mixing late-’80s stars with a new wave of talent. Key rookie cards include:

• Chipper Jones (arguably the most important card in the set)

• Jeff Bagwell

• Ivan Rodriguez

Overall, 1991 Fleer sits in that classic junk wax sweet spot—mass-produced but nostalgic, with a few key cards that still carry weight. For many collectors, it’s less about value and more about the distinct look and the challenge of finding clean copies.

1987 Donruss Diamond Kings

The 1987 Donruss Diamond Kings set is one of the most recognizable artistic subsets from the junk-wax era and continued the tradition started by Donruss in 1982. The cards once again featured painted artwork by sports artist Dick Perez, whose portraits had become synonymous with the Diamond Kings name.

Concept of the Set

The idea behind Diamond Kings remained simple: each team’s standout star was given the “Diamond King” title and honored with a painted card rather than a photograph. In 1987, these cards were included at the front of the Donruss base set, making them easy to collect as their own mini-set within the larger release.

The 1987 Diamond Kings subset contains 27 cards, highlighting many of the biggest stars in baseball during the mid-1980s.

Style and Design

The 1987 versions kept the classic Perez art style but had a look that was very much of its time:

• Hand-painted portraits and action scenes

• Bold brush-stroke backgrounds

• A large “DK” logo on the front

• Gold and black framing that made the artwork stand out

• Player name printed in a stylized script

Unlike modern inserts, these cards were part of the standard checklist, but collectors quickly treated them as their own special subset because of the artwork.

Collector Appeal

The 1987 Diamond Kings hold a special place for collectors because they combine:

• Iconic 1980s stars

• Classic Dick Perez artwork

• The nostalgia of the late-80s card boom

While the cards were printed in large quantities during the hobby’s expansion, they remain popular among collectors who appreciate art-driven baseball cards and the long legacy of the Diamond Kings series.

Legacy

By 1987, Diamond Kings had already become one of the defining features of Donruss baseball releases. The subset continued annually and helped cement Dick Perez’s artwork as one of the most recognizable styles in sports card history.

For many collectors, the 1987 set perfectly captures the transition between the early Donruss years and the full junk-wax boom, making it both nostalgic and historically significant within the hobby.

Greg Maddux

— 2000 Season

In 2000, Greg Maddux continued to show why he was one of the most reliable and intelligent pitchers of his era, anchoring the rotation for the Atlanta Braves during their run of dominant division titles.

Maddux finished the season with a 19–9 record and a 3.00 ERA over 249.1 innings, once again demonstrating his incredible durability and efficiency. At age 34, he remained the workhorse of the Braves staff, throwing over 240 innings for the 13th consecutive season, a remarkable streak in modern baseball.

While Maddux was never known for overpowering hitters, his command and pitch movement were exceptional. In 2000 he struck out 165 batters while issuing only 38 walks, continuing his career-long mastery of control. His ability to change speeds and locate pitches allowed him to dominate hitters despite average fastball velocity.

Maddux was a key part of a legendary rotation that also featured Tom Glavine and John Smoltz (though Smoltz missed the season due to injury). The Braves finished first in the NL East with 95 wins, and Maddux’s consistency helped guide the team into the postseason.

One of Maddux’s most impressive traits in 2000 was efficiency. He frequently worked deep into games with low pitch counts, relying on weak contact and pinpoint accuracy rather than strikeouts. His ability to control the tempo of a game and keep hitters off balance remained elite.

Although he did not win the Cy Young Award that year (it went to Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks), Maddux still finished among the league’s top pitchers and added another chapter to his Hall of Fame résumé.

In short: the 2000 season showcased classic Greg Maddux—durable, efficient, and surgically precise. Even as power pitching became more common in baseball, Maddux proved that intelligence, command, and movement could still dominate the game.