2001 Washington Redskins Upper Deck Stadium Giveaway Set

Redskins police sets from the 1980s and early 1990s are about as common as dirt. I'm not kidding. Bring a shovel into your backyard, give it a good scoop, and look to see what you've unearthed. There will be a 1985 Redskins police set, and possibly one from 1988 if your shovel went deep enough. 

The purpose of this anecdote is to illustrate what the 2001 Redskins Upper Deck SGA set isn't; you ain't gonna find one of these sets in your backyard.

The set was released in five-card cello packs during the December 2 home game versus the Dallas Cowboys. (Four cards featured Redskins players, and one featured an Upper Deck "Bucks" discount code.) A complete set consists of ten player cards that are numbered on the backs. Two of the players, quarterback Sage Rosenfels and wide receiver Rod Gardner, are showcased during their rookie seasons. Rosenfels never threw a regular season pass during his one and only year with the Skins, but did manage to stick around the league with a variety of teams as a backup through the end of the 2011 season. Gardner was Washington's first round pick of the 2001 NFL Draft (15th overall), and managed to eek out a 1000-yard receiving season in 2002. Rod's stint with the Redskins lasted four years, with his final two NFL seasons being divided among the Panthers, Packers and Chiefs. The remaining eight cards here feature veterans who enjoyed varying degrees of fame and fortune. Hall of Famers Darrell Green and Bruce Smith lead the Pack... errrr, Skins... with twelve-time Pro Bowler and future Hall of Famer Champ Bailey guarding the rear. 

As previously mentioned, the cards were distributed on December 2 during a crucial home game against the Cowboys. Washington lost their first five games of the season, then went on to knock off the Panthers, Giants, Seahawks, Broncos and Eagles to even things up. The contest versus the Cowboys wound up being a close, if not frustrating game that would result in a 14 to 20 Dallas victory. By season's end, Washington would own an 8 and 8 record and narrowly miss the playoffs.

We purchased ten of these cello packs off of eBay, for a total of 40 player cards. Lo and behold, our collation was perfect and yielded four complete sets. I have never claimed to be an expert on 2000's stadium giveaway cards, especially with the random nature of these sets and the lack of references that document such things. I don't know how many of these cards were released in 2001, but do know that they haven't shown up all that often in the years that have followed. If I were forced to guesstimate the value, I'd put a set in the ten dollar range. Upper Deck produced a well-centered, problem-free group of cards here (even the colored borders are chip-free on our cards), so make sure the ones you buy look as nice as ours.

1. Tony Banks, QB

2. Stephen Davis, RB

3. Michael Westbrook, WR

4. Stephen Alexander, TE

5. Champ Bailey, CB

6. Darrell Green, CB

7. Sam Shade, SS

8. Bruce Smith, DE

9. Rod Gardner, WR

10. Sage Rosenfels, QB

1993-94 Citizens' Drug Free Network Jim Lachey Set

Examples of this two-card set recently popped up on Ebay, and a set was promptly added to our collection this past week. Apparently released in smallish quantities, probably to school kids in the Washington D.C. or surrounding area, Redskins lineman Jim Lachey is the subject of both cards. 

The Peoples Bank Company and McDonalds are the two sponsors listed on the cards, along with D.A.R.E. and the CDFN (Citizens' Drug Free Network) designations. The same photo of an excited Lachey is used on the fronts of both cards, though the cropping of the photo is different. The black borders are very sensitive to wear and may be difficult to find in true mint condition. Card backs are numbered "1 of 2" and "2 of 2", and both card backs feature the same Jim Lachey bio -- a bio that literally requires a magnifying glass to read. The two cards in our set also have the same safety tip on the backs, though they are inexplicably numbered 14 and 107.

I'm typically a fanboy for police, fire and D.A.R.E. sets, and I'm more than happy to add these two cards to the collection. With that being said, this effort doesn't excite me all that much... The crummy photo. The blah design. The cursed small font used for the bio. I'm just not feeling the love.

On second thought, maybe these cards weren't distributed to kids after all. Maybe this duo was simply a limited prototype set, and you'll be hard-pressed to find any info whatsoever pertaining to the cards. I'd say ten dollars is a fair value for the pair, or perhaps a bit more to a Redskins' completist.