SIGnificant Cards - Johan Santana 2005 Fleer Skybox Autographics

Pitching a no-no will certainly garner you some headlines. Making it the first one in the often comical NY Mets fabled history, that's huge. If you take a look at some of the aces the Mets have had on their roster since their MLB debut in 1962, it is more than a little surprising that it took through 2012 to achieve this feat.

Here's a short list to peruse:

• Nolan Ryan 
• Tom Seaver 
• Jerry Koosman 
• Warren Spahn 
• Dwight Gooden 
• Tom Glavine 
• John Candelaria 
• Scott Erickson 
• Sid Fernandez 
• Orel Hershiser 
• Mickey Lolich 
• Bret Saberhagen 
• Frank Viola 

Amazin' right? You'd think one of those guys could pull off the feat, well maybe all of them except Spahn who was 210 years old when he joined the team as a player/coach.

So what does Santana's feat mean for the Mets? Well, to say it is huge is an understatement. The team needs some good mojo this year. They have been so sporadic and have taken a tremendous amount of flak for signing poor players, having bad management, overspending, etc. Right now they are only 1/2 a game out of first and things have turned around.

The night of the no-hitter I was preparing for an episode of Cardboard Connection Radio and knew one of my co-hosts Russ Cohen was going to be giddy about it. Ironically I was going to use the 2005 Fleer Skybox series as the Set of the Week to discuss on the show. I knew we'd be talking about the no-no, but at the last minute, I chose to have our listeners select the set of the week so I could save this card/set to discuss here.

Pictured above is the 2005 Skybox Autographs Johan Santana auto. It is card AG-JS and one of my favorites in my collection. I loved Fleer. Still do. At the bitter end, they were riddled with redemption cards that went unfulfilled for most collectors and buying those products now is a real gamble, but if you were lucky enough to get what was supposed to actually be in the packs, you did pretty well. Here's proof. This card comes right after his stellar breakout campaign in 2004. I had my doubts about holding on to it, but am glad I did. Other autographs that could be found in the set included Justin Verlander, B.J. Upton, Victor Martinez, Miguel Cabrera, Greg Maddux, and David Wright. I also pulled the Wright out of the same box. That's what you could expect from those last few Fleer products though, they were loaded. When I see them today, I walk away with a few boxes or some regret for not purchasing them. Usually they are priced fairly making me think YES-YES instead of No-No.