The 20 for $40 re-wrap: 2000 Fleer Mistake, errr, Mystique.

You want to know why Fleer went out of business? It's crap products like 2000 Fleer Mystique.

For those unfamiliar, the whole concept behind Mystique just reeks of gimmickry. Each five-card pack contained a "Mystique" card which had a sparkled covering that must be peeled off to reveal the card.

Stupid?

Yeah.

But not just stupid. Asinine is more like it. You see, all the 50 short-printed "rookies," all the one-per-box "Gold" parallels, and all of the non-autogamer inserts come exclusively as "Mystique" cards. All of which means that when you get a "hit," you run the risk of damaging the card attempting to figure out what you received.

Great idea, huh?

There are, however, some cards in this set that are actually worth something. I could pull a gimmicked rookie of Johan Santana. Or I could get a $400 Hideo Nomo "Fresh Ink" autograph. (This, I believe, was Nomo's first certified autograph card.) But the odds of pulling either one in a single pack -- or any gimmicked rookie, autograph, or "Feel the Game" jersey card for that matter -- are so remote, I shouldn't be getting my hopes up too high.

Here's the rip.



Base:
Tom Glavine
2000 Stats: 21-7, 3.40, 1.19 WHIP, 152 Ks
Finished second to Randy Johnson in the NL Cy Young balloting.

Mo Vaughn
2000 Stats: .262/36/117, .365 OBP, .498 SLG

Tony Gwynn
2000 Stats: .323/1/17 in only 127 ABs

Vladimir Guerrero
2000 Stats: .345/44/123, .410 OBP, .664 SLG
Finished sixth in the NL MVP balloting. Won second Silver Slugger and named to his second All-Star team.

Insert:
Supernaturals (1:10) Ivan Rodriguez
2000 Stats: .347/27/83, .375 OBP, .667 SLG
Named to ninth consecutive All-Star team and won ninth consecutive Gold Glove.