Mantle, Jackie and more in 2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers baseball set

I started collecting baseball cards in earnest at 17. It was not the coolest thing to do, but I wasn't the coolest guy. I got a job at a sports collectibles store at Dolphin Mall in Miami. Most of the time, most of my paycheck went to buying packs of cards when I should've been saving up for college. Also, I should've focused on buying Tom Brady cards. Instead, I fell in love with the 2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers set.

The cards were smooth, shiny, and had a certain "new card" smell. More importantly, the cards were full of baseball history. It educated me on some of the Hall of Famers I never even knew played. Before opening the packs, I had never heard of Hoyt Wilhelm or James "Cool Papa" Bell.

2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson — Image Courtesy of the Author

The base set, worth little, carries great personal value because it was my reintroduction to the hobby. But I was also chasing the relic cards, made up of game-used jerseys and bat cards. At that time, I didn't know pieces of jerseys or bats could be inserted into cards. I was amazed by how far card technology had come from when I first collected as a kid in the early 1990s.

The relic cards featured some incredible players. There were game-used bat cards of Babe Ruth, Rogers Hornsby, and Jackie Robinson. Game-used jersey cards of Roberto Clemente, Willie Mays, and Tom Seaver could also be pulled. After opening hundreds of packs, I pulled a George Brett jersey card and a Hank Aaron bat card. They've since been sold (for very little), but at the time I was awe-struck.

2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers Hank Aaron — Image Courtesy of eBay seller alf131

I could actually own a sliver of wood that once belonged to a bat Aaron used in a game! It's the kind of feeling that, in hindsight, reinforced my becoming a collector.

There are 90 base cards, divided into subsets. The first 50 cards are the standard base cards. Cards 51-60 make up the "Origins of the Game" section, highlighting some of the earliest baseball stars, including Josh Gibson.

2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers Josh Gibson — Image Courtesy of author

Cards 61 - 80 make up "The National Pastime" subset, which goes more in-depth with certain Hall of Famers, and cards 81 - 90 make up the "Hall of Records" subset, which highlights records set by players.

2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan — The set was released in 2001. Notice there is no Randy Johnson or Justin Verlander in the Top 10 list. | Image Courtesy of Author

After the first 90 cards come the inserts. After organizing my cards sometime in 2016, I realized I was just 10 cards short of completing the entire set. So, I went ahead and slowly bought the remaining inserts I needed. Cards C1 to C5 are "The Class of '36," highlighting the first five Hall of Fame inductees.

Christy Mathewson 2001 UD Hall of Famers — Image Courtesy of Author

Cards S1 - S11 are the "20th Century Showcase." The final two insert subsets are my personal favorites. Cards G1 to G15 are the "Hall of Fame Gallery," and ES1 to ES11 are "The Endless Summer." In all, there are 42 inserts in the set, making the "master set" a quaint 132 cards to complete.

Harmon Killebrew 2001 UD Hall of Famers — Image Courtesy of Author

According to Baseballcardpedia, the odds of pulling the inserts from the 24-pack box were: Gallery 1:6, 20th Century Showcase 1:8, Endless Summer 1:8, and Class of '36 1:17. For relic cards, Game Bat cards were 1:24 and Jersey cards were 1:168.

Johnny Bench 2001 UD Hall of Famers — Image Courtesy of Author

Anyone wanting to buy a base set can do so very cheaply. The 90-card base set can be purchased for as little as $20, including shipping. A base set plus 21 inserts sold for $35 plus shipping on eBay in August. There are sets whose sum is less than their parts, and the 2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers is that. However, the set is an irreplaceable part of my collection because of what it meant to me as a young collector.

2001 UD Hall of Famers Yogi Berra — Image Courtesy of Author