2003 Leaf Certified Baseball

As usual, Donruss plugs away with an absolute classic in the form of high-tech cardboard with their 2003 Leaf Certified release. Jam-packed with autographed and memorabilia inserts severely limited to smashingly low print-runs, Leaf Certified has my vote for Donruss/Playoff’s best product release of the year!

Leaf Certified is a 250 card set containing 5 different levels of parallels, including Mirror Red, Mirror Blue, Mirror Gold, Mirror Emerald and Mirror Black. I was lucky enough to pull a Mirror Gold autograph of Jose Castillo in my box, which incidentally was serial-numbered to just 25! Some of the other highlights in my box included a Mirror Red of Indians phenom Jeremy Guthrie and a Mirror Blue game-used bat of Adam Dunn.

Each box of Leaf Certified Baseball contains 10 packs with 5 cards per pack at a suggested retail price of $9.99 per pack. The checklist boats some very impressive rookie autographs including Yankees top prospect Chien-Ming Wang, Reds rookie pitcher Josh Hall and Diamondbacks rookie hurler Brandon Webb, just to name a few.

Another key component of this product is a randomly inserted “Retired Greats” inserts set containing 5 cards of such retiree’s as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Other greats are represented, although not as a serial-numbered insert. Look for cards of Nolan Ryan, Don Mattingly and Wade Boggs, just to name a few.

I thoroughly enjoyed this box rip. As a matter of fact, by the time I got to the last pack, I was hoping that my boy Tracy Hackler, a/k/a “T-Hac” had enclosed an extra box of Certified in my FedEx package!

Kudos to Donruss/Playoff for a WINNER!

Here is a breakdown of the 2003 Leaf Certified parallels and inserts:

Parallels

• 250 Mirror Red (#/ 100) 250 Mirror Blue (#/ 50)
• 250 Mirror Gold (#/ 25)
• 250 Mirror Emerald (#/ 5)
• 250 Mirror Black (#1 / 1)
• Mirror Red Materials (#/ 200 or Less)
• Mirror Blue Materials (#/ 100 or Less)
• Mirror Gold Materials (#/ 150 or Less)
• Mirror Emerald Materials (#/ 5 or Less)
• Mirror Black Materials (#1/1)
• Mirror Red Signatures (#/ 100 or Less)
• Mirror Blue Signatures (#/ 50 or Less)
• Mirror Gold Signatures (#/ 25 or Less)
• Mirror Emerald Signatures (#/ 5 or Less)
• Mirror Black Signatures (1/1)

Inserts
] 150 Fabric of the Game

• Base (#'d from 10-100)
• Team Nickname (#'d from 1-98)
• Jersey Number (#'d from 1-75) Positions (#'d from 10-50 with some autographed)
• Inscriptions (#'d from 10-50)
• Jersey Year (from 30-102)