10 Packs, 12 Dollars, What Could Go Wrong?!?!? (Part 5)

We've hit the home stretch here.  Only two packs from the box are left to list, as review might be too strong of a word. 

Pack 9 - 1991 Fleer Ultra (Pack 2)

12 - John Smoltz
63 - Les Lancaster
94 - Mariano Duncan (With an uncorrected error of Billy Hatcher as the third picture on the back of the card.  I think Billy Hatcher, being a former Astro, improves the card.)
121- Cecil Fielder
144 - George Brett
194 - Junior Ortiz
200 - Delino DeShields
214 - Ron Darling
235 - Roberto Kelly
269 - Terry Mulholland
277 - Doug Drabek
290 - Ray Lankford
Fleer Ultra Team 1 - Barry Bonds (This is the closest I came to scanning a card.)

This pack was far superior to the other pack of Fleer Ultra due to the more recognizable names, the crazy error, which is one of many and the inclusion of an insert, which I believe falls one every five packs.

Pack 10 - 2007 Upper Deck Rack Pack

You realize this set has over 1,000 cards in it.  I looked on eBay to see if there were any for sale and I found 2 complete sets.  I also found that Upper Deck also released an 850 card set the same year in SweetSpot.  I don't understand why.  There is no need for one set this large, let alone two.  Seeing this, it does not make me think, "Boy, wouldn't it be great if Upper Deck ever made licensed baseball cards again?" I would, however, accept a license from Panini, since they seem to make quality cards in reasonably sized sets.

11 - Ryan Sweeney
135 - Howie Kendrick
145 - Joe Saunders
162 - Juan Rincon
173 - Mariano Rivera (I tend to pull Rivera in every set.)
180 - Dan Johnson
226 - Mark DeRosa
274 - Chad Paronto
286 - Sean Marshall
346 - Rafael Furcal
369 - Chris Capuano
449 - Chris Duncan
457 - Ryan Zimmerman
470 - Pedro Astacio (8 teams, 15 seasons, 129 wins, all surprising numbers.  Plus the fact he started his career in 1992.  I would've guessed around 1996.)
484 - Vernon Wells Blue Jays Checklist
529 - Chris Young
568 - Jay Payton
586 - J.D. Drew
653 - David Delucci
668 - Brian Lawrence
696 - Logan Kensing
723 - Mike Lamb
735 - Octavio Dotel (He was only up to seven teams by this point in time, six he played for and the Royals, whose uniform he is wearing on the front of the card.)
784 - Wilson Valdez
790 - Matt Wise
850 - Roger Clemens
859 - Jason Kendall
940 - Jose Vidro
982 - Robinson Tejada
1011 - John Patterson (I've never owned a card which required four digits as a unique identifier.  I was a better man when I had not owned one.)
Triple Play - Albert Pujols
Triple Play - Miguel Tejada


The best news I can provide about this pack is the lack of inserts.  It's quite the opposite of the O-Pee-Chee pack which contained 6 cards, 4 base, one parallel and one basketball insert.  I mean, if it only takes 150 packs or almost five box of perfect collation to complete a set, sign me up!

On the whole, I would not call this an enjoyable product to open.  It's pretty close as to whether there was $20 worth of retail value in packs in the box. 

2009 Goodwin Champions Rack Pack - $5
2007 Upper Deck Rack Pack - $5
2009 O-Pee-Chee - $2 (That was the price tag on the pack)
2012 Topps Series 2 - $2
1991 Fleer Ultra - $2? ($4)
2007 Topps Cello Pack - $1.50
2012 Topps Opening Day - $1 ($2)
1988 Score - $.50

That gets us to $22, though I suspect I may be underestimating the Fleer Ultra and possibly overestimating the 2007 Upper Deck.  It does pass the "Not violating false advertising laws" test.  However, the box totally fails the fun test.  The best cards were damaged, as the lower half of the 2009 Goodwin Champions rack pack was creased and the selection of packs left a lot to be desired.  I suspect I would not purchase one of these boxes in the future and would encourage you to do the same.

10 Packs, 12 Dollars, What Could Go Wrong?!?!? (Part 4)

With only four packs left, I am starting to feel that perhaps this was not the wisest purchase I have ever made at a Target.  Let's look at two more packs that I've opened and sat on for the last two weeks. 

Pack 7 - 1991 Fleer Ultra

Mariners Foil Sticker - Nothing says "premium" cards like the inclusion of a foil sticker.  Actually, nothing says Panini baseball stickers like the inclusion of a foil sticker.  Let's move on.
28 - Tom Bolton
36 - Tim Naehring
49 - Mark Langston
165 - Mike Morgan
179 - Dan Plesac
233 - Mel Hall
240 - Hensley Meulens - I believe this Bam-Bam card is the high point of the pack.  Well, that or discovering they numbered the cards by team in alphabetical order from Atlanta Braves to Toronto Blue Jays.
301 - Andy Benes
312 - Garry Templeton
358 - Roberto Alomar
370 - David Wells (pre-gout)
391 - Barry Bonds (Great Performances)
394 - David Justice (Great Performances)

Aside from the bright colors on the back and the poor man's Leaf look to the cards (and we all know that Leaf is the poor man's Stadium Club), there is little to say about this pack.

Pack 8 - 1988 Score

17 cards, bright colors, no waiting.  I think pulling this pack out of the box was the low water mark of opening the box.  Not the packs, mind you, but the box.  As a child, I opened many boxes of this product at cost.  So, it is hard to get excited about a 50 cent pack in your repack box.

Upon opening the pack, I was struck by two things.  First, Score also made Sportflics or vice versa, which I only put together again when I saw the offer on the back for young superstars and then saw the "Magic Motion"trivia card contained within.  Second, when I opened the pack, I saw the cards were color sorted.  And each 110 card sheet was a different color making it appear that instead of mixing all of the cards, they select a certain number of cards from each sheet and add them into the pack.  Quite the odd method of collation, but I'm sure 24 years ago, this was a revolutionary sorting practice.  Let's break it down by color!

Purple

51 - Doug Drabek (Dented)
69 - Howard Johnson
71 - Keith Moreland

Blue 

184 - Danny Darwin
196 - Dan Pasqua
204 - Garth Iorg

Red 

234 - Greg Brock
246 - Jimmy Jones
254 - Johnny Ray

Green

383 - Buddy Biancalana
397 - Randy St. Claire

Yellow 

450 - Dale Murphy
540 - George Bell
545 - Jack Morris

Orange 

642 - Mackey Sasser
644 - Kevin Romine
647 - Ron Gant

And to think, there are still two more packs from this box filled with mystery left to open.  Well, not open, that's done, but discuss as rational, like-minded individuals. 

10 Packs, 12 Dollars, What Could Go Wrong?!?!? (Part 2)

So, I opened more packs.  We all know that opening packs can be very soothing.  There is something to sort, a small amount of excitement and the knowledge that something new is awaiting us.  With that being said, I opened two more of the ten packs found in my repack box.

Pack 3 - 2012 Topps Opening Day

48 - Adrian Beltre
116 - Josh Hamilton
125 - Matt Cain
127 - J.P. Arencibia
181 - Clayton Kershaw
183 - Cliff Lee
SC-5 - Joey Votto - August 28, 2011: Votto Bookends Big Day with Bombs (The work of a frustrated or former newspaper headliner writer.  Definitely not up to par with what I expect on the back of the Daily News or New York Post)

I recognized every player pulled from this pack.  While I'm sure the family and friends of the Rockies' second lefthander out of the bullpen is thrilled and ecstatic there is a card devoted to him, as more of a casual fan, I could care less.  I like the idea of opening a pack of cards and say, "Hey, I've heard of these guys and would recognize them as baseball players without the assistance of a card."  For me, that is the downside of the Topps base set.  If you stick to what people know, it works.  I secretly suspect more people like this set for this reason alone...well, that and mascot inserts.

True story, I chose a 1982 Donruss set as the one set I really wanted to purchase, not for the Cal Ripken Rookie, which I could care less about, but the San Diego Chicken rookie card, which is a true classic.  I think I even still have the set somewhere in my house, sans puzzle, with poorly cut, off-center cards. 

Pack 4 2008 Topps Cello Pack (Series 2)

The cello pack always sounds like a good idea, but is a complete failure in the modern, insert-driven world we live in.  I will ruin the surprise of this pack, because I haven't seen anything like this since 1991, but the entire pack is base cards.  Nary an insert to be found. 

443 - Greg Dobbs
469 - Brian Bocock
658 - Kerry Wood (Look, a player we've heard of!)
468 - Gregor Blanco - (There is a five line paragraph, which both lacks a topic sentence and logical construction.  It hurts so bad, I can't even inflict it on you as a means of paying it forward.)
482 - Kazuo Fukumori
361 - Wesley Wright - ("He's a very athletic left-hand pitcher, a really good competitor,"says Astros East Coast supervisor of amateur scouting Clarence Johns." Look, we are six cards into this pack, I read Baseball Prospectus every year (I even own the original one from 1996 that was self-published.), read BaseballThinkFactory.org everyday and am fairly knowledgeable about the sport and I've heard of only three of these players.  And the quote is shorter than the official title and name of the person who provided the quote.  This card made me angry enough to ramble and merge two paragraphs into one without rhyme or reason.)
458 - Brad Hawpe
408 - Edinson Volquez - (5 years of professional ball, 13 different year/team seasons to report on, one organization.  At this point, he was traded to the Reds, who provided nothing but a spring training picture on the front.)
435 - Torii Hunter
635 - Michael Young (The answer to the question what would Derek Jeter be if he played for any other organization.)
412 - Joel Zumaya
498 - Matt Chico
585 - Brian Bannister
465 - Huston Street
550 - Curt Schilling
480 - Matt Cain ("Though poorly supported with runs (two or fewer in 21 starts) and by his bullpen, he led the Giants in ERA.")
513 - Rick Vanderhurk ("he's now revealed there is no gap between the "n" and the "h".  I've watched enough Premier League soccer to wonder if there was also once a gap between the "n" and the "d" as well.  And what frustrated novelist thought that this was a reveal, worthy of the use of such a verb.)
378 - Ozzie Guillen
520 - Vernon Wells (Spell check strikes again!!! "Vernon has been the hub of the Toronto office.  He owns nearly twice as many hits as anyone on the club since then, and also the most HRs and RBIs by far." The reference to hub of the office threw me so that I almost missed there is no time frame during which Wells has twice as many hits on the club.)
659 - Vincente Padilla
422 - Erick Aybar
406 - Takashi Saito

So far, the best card I've pulled is the epic 2011 Jeff Mathis, though the 2008 Vernon Wells is also a keeper. 

As to the real winner so far, Unintentional Comedy.  The loser is everyone who taught English to anyone who wrote any part of a Topps baseball card in the last five years.  Those people should be ashamed at the basic lessons they failed to impart about the usage of language.  Forshame, poor English teachers and/or professors, forshame!

10 Packs, 12 Dollars, How Could I Go Wrong?!?!? (Part 1)

I was at Target for legitimate purposes, like the acquisition of paper products, when I stopped in the card aisle.  To be fair, I stopped in the card aisle twice.  Once for a quick pass over of the picked over remains of those sturdy red shelves we all know and secretly love and a second for some targeted searching of every pack and box that remained.

During my second set of searching, after being tricked into picking up the Justin Bieber cards for the fourth time in a Target, I see some of our beloved repacks.  Most of the repacks were football, which makes sense given the time of year, but there were a few baseball ones.  The promise was 10 packs with 40% off retail.  In the front slots were two rack packs, 2009 Goodwin Champions and 2007 Upper Deck. I like rack packs, I think Goodwin Champions has some interesting designs, so I take the box over to the price scanner. 

At $20, I was clearly priced out, since I cannot fathom what packs inside might be worth over $3 each, but at $12, I might be priced in.  So, the scanner turns up $11.99 and off to the register I go.  Now, if you've seen Trainspotting, there is a scene towards the end where they are going to make the big score and Mark hears the story and goes, "Mike Forrester.  Russian sailors." in a tone clearly indicating the high probability of failure that is about to befall everyone.  Despite hearing this in the back of my head, I still forward with the purchase. To date, I've only opened two of the packs from the box, with the other 8 remaining in my car.  This way, I only break wax at my steering wheel, rather than opening all the packs up front and slowly bleeding out what I want.

Pack 1 - 2009 Goodwin Champions

Rather than spoil my thoughts at the whole process of opening the package, let's just jump into the packs themselves.

Top Half

2 - Derek Jeter
23 - Kevin Youkilis
28 - Brian McCann
51 - Carlos Beltran
67 - Josh Beckett
86 - Brooks Robinson Mini

This looks like a strong product with some interesting cards.  All baseball to start, but that is never a bad thing.  The mini was a nice touch and to date, the best card I've opened in this box.

Bottom Half

54 - Kosuke Fukodome
60 - Matt Garza
88 - Peggy Fleming
108 - Tim Lincecum
114 - Michael Jordan
141 - Bobby Orr

What a great set of players, why there is even a crease on Bobby Orr.  Wait a minute, that's not an action shot of Bobby Orr and that crease runs right through the middle of the card.  That's right, the entire bottom half of the pack was creased in the middle.  Quite disappointing actually and presumably a sign of the epic fail which is surely going to follow this box to its final resting place in a 4,000 count box.

Pack 2 - 2011 Topps Series 2

339 - Alexei Casilla
363 - Aaron Rowand (With a tremendous quote from Aubrey Huff "He'll play if he's 10 percent.", which is incredibly true, given his production in the orange and black, about 10% of a quality centerfielder.  I can here, "Put me in coach, I'm only sub-replacement due to my eroding skills and injuries.)
377 - Esmil Rogers
405 - Ian Kinsler
474 - Jeff Mathis (Whose card starts with "Jeff is a defensive catcher, but can rake when it counts." I see his professional gardening duties have gotten in the way of learning to hit.  Otherwise, there is an outright lie on the back of this card and completely beneath Topps.)
505 - Tommy Hanson
542 - Mike Pelfrey
554 - Cedric Hunter
579 - Jeff Niemann ("Jeff just wins.  Dating back to July 24, 2006 (when he was in Double-A), his "Ws"outnumber his "Ls", 55 to 27." What an amazingly useless and seemingly error ridden stat.  First, I can only find 53 total wins from 2006 to 2010 for Jeff Niemann.  Second, in order to make the stat look good, they needed to lop off the first five decisions of 2006 for Niemann, all losses, before he wins five straight.  Third, it ignores the differences in competition and removes part of his Major League career, since he went 2-2 in 2005.  As you can tell, I love these amazingly awful writeups.  If they were just basic stats pulled from a list or an event, I could move on.  But the way they wrote these cards is phenomenal and even stunning.)
603 - David Murphy
TDG-12 - Diamond Giveaway 1974 Mike Schmidt (It might be 1952 Mickey Mantle or it might be expired...I'm going with expired.)
581 - Fernando Rodney Diamond Parallel

While no cards of note were found in the pack, the tremendous value in discovering what Topps thinks is a good write up made this pack more than worthwhile.  Almost enough to see what else is written on the back of the other Topps cards in my possession. 

What Do You Get for Five Dollars at Five Below?

No pictures today, since I am working on setting up my new computer, as the old war horse no longer wants to take a charge after three years.  However, I'm not sure what a picture of a 1988 Topps UK Nolan Ryan or a 1992 Leaf Wade Boggs would do to lift the quality of this post.

Five Below for the uninitiated is a store where every product is five dollars or less, essentially the inflationary, evolutionary dollar store, which in itself, is nothing more than a modern five and dime.  One product they do have is sportscards.  Not just baseball, but a fairly decent cross section of cards.  There were football cards and 2012 Topps WWE Heritage in an unsearched drop box.  Amidst the rows of in-season football cards, there were a few boxes of baseball cards.  Each repack box comes with four packs and a bonus box of 100 cards.  The boxes are sealed in such a way you cannot see what is inside, unlike the four pack repacks at your local Target or Walmart, where they tease you with a pack of 2011 Topps Lineage to hide the 2008 Upper Deck and 2007 Fleer.

Knowing the risks, I pressed forward and gave the cashier five dollars and change to cover the sales tax and went home to look at the cards.  OK, I opened the box in the parking lot to see what packs were inside, but then opened the packs at home.

What Packs Were Inside?

2 Packs of 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update - Aside from a picture of Matt Capps, facing the camera holding a baseball, nothing of note was found in these packs, which is a surprise to no one who opened any of these packs.  As an aside, for those who think letting Upper Deck back into making baseball cards would be good for the hobby, look at some late year Upper Deck and say that with a straight face.

1 Pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra - There was a Jesus Flores Ultra Rookie in the pack.  I think the less said here, the better.

1/2 Pack of 1989 Topps containing 50 cards - It seems Topps made gigantic rack packs in 1989 containing 100 cards, plus a special Rookie card.  While sealed, I am a little disappointed that half the pack counted as one of my four packs of cards.  It could be worse, since they could have taken a Topps rack pack with three separate compartments and called it three packs, but this is only marginally better.

Despite that, this was by far the best pack to open.  There were fifty cards in the pack, five of which were Hall of Famers - Ozzie Smith, Mike Schmidt (on the back of the pack at that), Dennis Eckersley, George Brett and Roberto Alomar.  I remember collecting these cards in my youth and would have been incredibly excited to find a pack of 100 cards or 1/8 of a set in a single, non-vending box package.

What Are the 100 Included Cards?

First, there were 102 cards included in the box.  Below are some quick stats before we break it down by publisher.

Oldest Card - 1982 Donruss Randy Niemann - Despite last appearing for the Houston Astros in 1980, Niemann is wearing an Astros jersey on the card, despite being a Pirate.  Actually, I was impressed by the lack of airbrushing on this card.

Newest Card - 1999 Just Memorabilia Fernando Seguignol - He was a member of the Ottawa Lynx at the time.  This also serves as the only minor league card in the package.

Cards Not in English - 1 -1993 Pacific Jose Oquendo and Luis Alicea in Spanish

Hall of Famers - 6 - 1994 Upper Deck Fun Pack Dennis Eckersley, 1992 Leaf Wade Boggs, 1989 Donruss Tony Gwynn, 1988 Topps UK Paul Molitor, 1988 Topps UK Andre Dawson, 1988 Topps UK Nolan Ryan.  There is also a 1991 Topps Craig Biggio itching to make it seven by 2015.

Checklists - 2 -1987 Topps and 1988 Fleer

100 Cards by Publisher and Year

Donruss - 24 - 1982 - 1; 1988 - 5; 1989 - 13 (including two Todd Frohwirths); 1990 - 3; 1992 - 1; 1993 - 1 (Andy Benes for the interested).

Fleer - 13 - 1987 -3 (All Kansas City Royals); 1988 - 4 (including checklists organized by team, which is actually fairly smart if you release all of the cards at once); 1989 - 3; 1990 - 1 (Tom Brunansky as a Cardinal); 1991 - 1; 1993 - 1

Fleer Ultra - 3 - 1991 - 3

Just Memorabilia - 1 - 1999 - 1

Leaf - 1 - 1992 Wade Boggs

Pacific - 1 - 1993 Jose Oquendo and Luis Alicea in Espanol.  

Score - 5 - 1988 - 1; 1991 - 1; 1992 - 2; 1994 - 1 (Rich Rodriguez in the classiest scorecard...a low title indeed)

Topps - 34 - 1986 - 6 (including Ron Cey and Tommy John); 1987 - 9 (Including Ron Cey again and a checklist, a fairly pro-Penguin repack box); 1988 - 1; 1989 - 2; 1991 - 16 (Includes Mike Scott bunting, which I might already own 15 of)

Topps Gallery - 1 - 1996 Todd Greene

Topps Stadium Club - 1 -1993 Jeff Frye

Topps UK - 10 - 1988 - 10 (Including Parker, Canseco, Mattingly, McGwire and Dale Murphy in addition to the other Hall of Famers)

Upper Deck - 8 - 1991 - 5 (Including Dale Murphy as a Phillie); 1992 - 2 (Doug Glanville Top Prospect); 1994 - 1

Conclusion

The box delivered for me.  I appreciated the older cards and enjoyed the memories.  The actual packs themselves were terrible aside from the 1989 Topps.  When you fail next to a pack of 1989 Topps, you probably shouldn't be making cards anymore.  I did get 11 hall of famers, a bunch of interesting players and spent far more time with these cards than expected.  I'm not saying run out and get one, but if you need a trip down memory lane, there are far worse things you can spend $5 on.