2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars was by far one of the most popular releases of the 2001 season for Donruss Leaf Playoff in their first year back in production. The last Leaf Rookies and Stars set was one of the most popular releases in 1998 with a high number of short prints, fantastic rookie cards, and numerous insert sets. The 2001 set also did not disappoint with a strong rookie class and a large number and variety of game used and autographed inserts.
Distribution[]
Hobby boxes of 2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars contained 24 packs of 5 cards each. Overall the boxes contained 1 GU/AU per box along with 6 short printed rookies from cards 101-200 and 1 short printed rookie from 201-300. That means your chances are 1:100 to pull an Albert Pujols rookie card from a box. These boxes still sell for $75-$100 on eBay and even higher elsewhere.
Base Set[]
The 100 card base set of 2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars features 100 of the top veteran players in major league baseball. A single hobby box will likely contain a full set of the base cards. There were several uncorrected errors in the base set.
Short Prints[]
Cards 101-300 were all short printed rookie and prospect cards. Cards 101-200 were inserted 1:4 packs while cards 201-300 were inserted 1:24 packs (1 per box).
Key Cards[]
Rookies of Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Mark Prior, Mark Teixeira and Travis Hafner.
Parallels[]
A foil parallel set called the Longetivity set was also randomly inserted into packs. Cards 1-100 have 50 serial numbered sets and cards 101-300 have only 25 serial numbered sets.
Inserts[]
Overall 1 game used or autographed card was inserted per box.
Autographs[]
A partial parallel set of 2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars. These cards feature sticker autographs of the player on the card. The cards are not serial numbered but have stated print runs between 50 - 250 copies per card. Most of the 76 players featured in the set had forgettable careers. The Pujols is far and away the most valuable card in the set. But the Travis Hafner, Mark Teixeira, Mark Prior and even to a lesser extent the Roy Oswalt cards also are sought after by collectors on the secondary market.
Dress for Success[]
This insert set featured a game used jersey swatch and bat chip from some of the games biggest stars in 2001. The base set was inserted 1:96 (overall game used/autograph rate of 1 per box). None of these cards will have prime jersey pieces unless they are part of the Prime Cuts parallel set.
A parallel set featuring prime jersey swatches along with the bat chips were also inserted into packs. These cards were serial numbered to 50 sets. They also feature the words "Prime Cuts" on the front of the card.
Additionally ten of the Dress for Success cards were also autographed (sticker) by the player featured on the card.
Freshman Orientation[]
These cards showcase young players who are getting oriented into the major leagues. The cards featured game used memorabilia from the players including bat chips as well as pant, jersey and cap swatches. The cards were inserted at a rate of 1:96 packs. The Dunn, Pujols and Gibbons cards were short printed. None of these the regular Freshmen Orientation cards have prime pieces of jersey - only the Officers parallel set had prime pieces.
Additionally a Class Officers set also paralleled the main set and were printed to 50 serial numbered copies per card. The Officers set featured prime pieces of jersey. You can see the words "Class Officers" just to the left of the players name in the bottom right of the front of the card.
Also a group (21 out of 25) of the Freshmen Orientation cards were also autographed by the player. These sticker autographed cards were serial numbered to 100. The short printed autos are very rare, the Pujols sells for over $1000.
Great American Treasures[]
These cards were some of the controversial from 2001. DLP took the next step, not just any game used memorabilia, but specific game used memorabilia. Collectors were a little shocked, it was one thing to cut up a Greg Maddux Jersey or a Frank Thomas bat, but another thing altogether to cut up the ball that Roger Maris hit for his 61st homerun. These cards are highly sought after by player collectors and game used collectors as the cards feature memorabilia from important moments in each of the players' careers.
These cards were inserted at a stated odds of 1:1120 hobby and 1:1152 retail. Cards are not serial numbered but have a stated print run from Donruss.
Players Collection[]
Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn and Barry Bonds were the featured players in this set, with 5 game used cards per player. Each player had a bat, shoe, pant and jersey card each serial numbered to 100 copies. Also a quad card featuring all four game used pieces that was serial numbered to 25 copies per card.
PC-1 (Gwynn Bat), PC-6 (Ripken Jersey) and PC-7 (Ripken Bat) also had an autographed version that is extremely rare.
Slideshow[]
A revival of the Slideshow inserts from the mid-1990s, these cards feature game used jersey pieces of some of the games top players. The cards were randomly inserted into packs at 1:96 packs for the base level Slideshow cards. A number of the Slideshow are recorded as short prints are stated to have 100 copies per card.
A paralllel set of the Slideshow inserts called View Master Slideshow is one of the more innovative sets in 2001, the first jumbo swatch cards ever produced. The jersey piece could be pulled out of the card revealing a much larger swatch than just what was framed in the card. This set paralleled all 30 cards in the Slideshow insert set.
Additionally some of the Slideshow cards also had autographed stickers placed on the cards. These cards are extremely rare and are not priced in the price guide, but generally sell for $50 for the low end players and $500-$700 (or more!) for the Pujols. Only 12 of the 30 cards have an autographed version.
Statistical Standouts[]
Statistical Standouts were one of the mainstay insert sets in Leaf beginning in 1994 Leaf until 1998. Thus Donruss re-introduced the set in Rookies and Stars. The base set included 25 cards featuring players with outstanding numbers. Most of the cards featured pieces of major league bases similar to the 2001 Absolute Home Opener Souvenirs set. The set was also paralleled by a Super set featuring multi-colored base pieces and on-deck circle pieces. It was also partially paralleled by an Autograph set featuring sticker autographs. There were no pitchers included in the set.
Triple Threads[]
The most highly sought after inserts in the 2001 Rookies and Stars set (after the Pujols autographs) are the Triple Thread inserts. These cards feature three game used jersey pieces from three different players who played together on the same team, either at the same time or at different points in the history of the franchise. Each card is serial numbered to 100 copies.
TT3 is a triple of Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Yogi Berra and is highly sought after by collectors on the secondary market.
Other Information[]
- Sample Set
- Example Box Breaks
2001 Leaf Rookies and Stars
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| Base Set |
| Insert Sets |
| Autographs - Dress for Success - Freshman Orientation - Great American Treasures |
| Players Collection - Slideshow - Statistical Standouts - Triple Threads |
| Other Information |
| Card Images - Notable Singles - Sample Set - Box Breaks |
| Other DLP Leaf Rookies and Stars Releases |
| 1998 - 2002 |
| Panini Rookies and Stars Releases |
| 2018 Chronicles - 2019 Chronicles |