Repack Box Remorse - Volume 3

Aargh, not again!

A collector friend who buys so much retail he should own stock in the store recommended the $20 Championship repack boxes to me.  So the last time I was in my local Wal-Mart, there wasn't much of anything else interesting, so I caved and got one. 

The Box

When I got it home, I expected the concealed innards to contain packs of ubiquitous junk wax to contrast the newer stuff that was mounted in the windows. 

The visible packs

What I found was an even worse abomination than just junk wax.  Inside were several "bundles" of junk wax cards that had apparently been created by a previous buyer* who must have returned the box to the store.  They were five card groups of 1987 Topps, 1989 Donruss, 1990 Donruss, 1990 Fleer, 1991 Topps, 1991 Upper Deck, and 1995 Fleer sealed in what looks like penny sleeves closed with a shrink wrap heat sealer.

The inside "wrappers"

I thought it was just a cheesy way to repack old cards.  My friend says that these boxes are usually all more recent packs, so I knew I got screwed.   To make matters worse, I got DUPES in the bundles and a couple of the packs.  The OPC Premier pack only had five cards in it.

Dupes from bundles (top row) and real packs (bottom row)

Needless to say, this tarnishes my desire to ever buy any more repacks, especially from that store.  I'll have to check if their shrink wrap has logos on it normally.  This box was one of only two left along with one football box.  No use trying to return it now, since I opened everything.  More trade fodder at best....



* [Sensitive readers go back to the text now] Previous buyer = fucking douchebag.

1987 Donruss: Donrussier than ever!

Seriously, I'm still a contributor here. Don't stare at me like that. Anyway, last month I rescued an assortment of Orioles cards from Mark of Stats on the Back. He was kind enough to toss in a few packs of 1987 and 1988 Donruss. Since nobody wants to see 1988 Donruss, here's the best pack of the bunch. Come along, won't you?

488 Dave Martinez - Pictured as a Cubs rookie; the Northsiders were the first of his nine(!) teams. In order: Cubs, Expos, Reds, Giants, White Sox, Devil Rays, Cubs again, Rangers, Blue Jays, and Braves. Whew.

11 Chris Brown Diamond Kings - Was a high school teammate of Darryl Strawberry.

89 Cal Ripken, Jr. - And here's the Hall of Famer for the pack. The first one, anyway (SPOILER ALERT).

572 Bob Kipper - Hails from Aurora, IL. Just like a certain cable-access duo.

440 Scott Bradley - Complete with horrifically red nose and muzzle. Not a pretty picture.

307 Todd Worrell - Sheesh, his mustache was even worse than mine.

297 Al Nipper - It's very difficult to be an effective major league pitcher with a name like Al Nipper. Exhibit A.

413 Tracy Jones - I believe this is the gentleman who is the last remaining holdout keeping me from completing my 1988 Topps set.

280 Jim Sundberg - According to the card back, he was in the midst of a TEN-YEAR contract that ran through 1990. If true, he would have signed it prior to 1981, when he was a 30-year-old catcher with the Rangers. Nice to see that dumb contracts aren't a new thing in Arlington.

271 George Bell - Or as he's better known, Juan Bell's brother.

138 Nolan Ryan - Hall of Famer #2! He had a mere 4,277 strikeouts at that time.

621 Fred McGriff - A Crime Dog second-year card! That's the icing on the cake; this pack is awesome.

42 Chris James Rated Rookie - In 1985 with the Patriots, his brother Craig was the last white running back to rush for 1,000 yards in the NFL.

33 Mike Birkbeck Rated Rookie - Who rated him?

90 Juan Nieves - Officially the worst pitcher ever to no-hit the Orioles. The best? Probably that Nolan Ryan guy.

Puzzle Pieces 52-54: Roberto Clemente's smiling face.

Well, that's about all you can ask for from a 20-year-old pack. The other pack of 1987 Donruss had Lance Parrish and Mike Schmidt as the big pulls, but this one wins easily. Thanks Mark!

1987 Topps Baseball

With Dayf and Madding recently posting packs of '87 Fleer and '87 Donruss, I decided why not complete the trifecta and do a '87 Topps post of a rack pack I busted a couple days ago. '87 Topps will always hold a special place in my heart as it was the first pack I opened and first set I completed as a youngster. You couldn't beat the beautiful woodgrain borders or the awesome selection of rookie cards in this set. I got this rack pack on eBay for $2.47 delivered which I think is a pretty good deal considering there's a Bo rookie showing. Could there be a Bonds lurking somewhere inside? Only one way to find out...

For a video of this pack break click here.


Keith Hernandez Glossy All Star Insert 2 of 22


587 - Eric Plunk
Gotta love the random family sitting in the background.

570 - Sid Fernandez
Fun fact on back says Sid wore #50 beacuse he was born in Honolulu and his favorite TV show is Hawaii Five-0.

76 - Rafael Ramirez

345 - Andre Dawson
You would figure Topps could hook the Hawk up with a better card number. Looks like he's hitting a pop up here.

396 - Tim Lollar

527 - Jim Wohlford
One of the great mysteries to me was Wohlford staying in the bigs 15 years averaging .260, one homer and 20 RBIs a season.

173 - Alex Trevino

630 - John Candelaria

565- Dusty Baker

200 - Pete Rose
This was his last Topps card as a player so you get his complete career stats. Coolness.

132 - Paul Assenmacher

255 - Juan Samuel

629 - Larry Parrish
Parrish is one of the more underrated sluggers of the 70's and 80's in my opinion. Excluding the strike year of '81 he hit double digit homers every year from '75-'88.

621 - Danny Cox
I always thought Cox something of a oddity. You don't hear of too many baseball players who were born in England.

586 - Ben Oglivie
One of Harvey's Wallbangers.

41 - Bo Diaz

117 - Jim Beattie

529 - Alvaro Espinoza

662 - Frank DiPino
What a brutal air brush.

508 - Scott Bankhead

154 - Tom O'Malley

568 - Earl Weaver

582 - Bruce Berenyi
Led NL in losses with 18 in '82.

129 - Rick Cerone

153 - Duane Ward

123 - John Kruk
Current analyst for ESPN.

404 - Doug Sisk

196 - Randy O'Neal

435 - Bruce Sutter

524 - Bob Shirley

667 - Ron Hassey

248 - Gene Walter

533- Argenis Salazar

428 - Bruce Bochy

170 - Bo Jackson
There was a time this card was actually worth something.

84 - Steve Lake

381- Expos Leaders
Useless cards in Topps sets have been around awhile.

24 - Tony Walker

606 - Don Mattingly All Star

611 - Kirby Puckett All Star
I love the old school red Twins helmet.

207 - George Frazier

52 - Keith Atherton

481 - Phillies Leaders

693 - Terry Puhl

452 - Dave Henderson
I actually like the '87 Topps card backs. They are easy to read.

149 - Ray Searage

415- Bobby Witt
I find it amazing that as a rookie in '86 Witt was able to go 11-9 while leading the AL in walks with 143 and have a 5.48 ERA.

68 - Tony LaRussa

356 - White Sox Leaders

597 - Mike Schmidt All Star

Well no Bonds, or McGwire or Palmeiro for that matter but this was still a lot of fun. Brings back a lot of great memories. I just realized I got two extra cards. Bonus! You never see that nowadays.

First Pack of 2009

So last year I got things off on the wrong foot with a wrasslin' pack. The pack was good - I got Dusty Rhodes and an Undertaker mini card - but I still feel like I made a misstep opening the new year with that pack. I mean, just look at the results... we got UDX, Upper Deck Documentary, 47 super short printed 'error' gimmick cards and 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights Presents 2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers From 501-720 Now With Extra 2008 Updates and Highlights Cards and Nasty Sour Gum For No Discernable Reason Which You'll Have To Buy Because You Already Busted Half A Case Of the Original Series. I can't inflict that horror on the collecting community again by choosing a bad pack to open up with. So after careful deliberation, meditation and prayer, I've come up with the perfect pack to kick off 2009 right:


Grease is the word, beeyotches!

KIDDING.

No, I would never do that to you. I'll probably never open that pack, actually. The thing scares me. Just look at that demented look on Sandy's face. If I open that pack demons from the pit of Hell will swarm out and melt my face. Nope, I'm not opening it. I will threaten you all with it from time to time though. No the pack I have chosen for my first rip of 2009 is this:

1987 Fleer Cello pack. Aaaah, now that's a good pack! 1987 is now and will forever be the absolute best set Fleer ever made. The light blue gradient borders, the full career states with scouting reports on the back, the crystal ball looking stickers... it's all freaking brilliant. This set was so incredible, they had to leave out the Greg Maddux rookie card because that would have made it too awesome, and no one would print another baseball card ever again because it would be impossible to top such a perfect set. I picked out a good cello pack too, with Hall of Famer Tony Perez on the front....

and soon to be Hall of Famer Jim Rice on the back. That's already a helluva pack and I haven't even seen what's inside yet. the wrapper has an ad for an official Fleer Collector's album with 10 side loading plastic sheets plus 8 cards and a sticker for only $7.95. Man, I wish I had bought that! There's also the chance at 'Limited Edition" cards in these packs. The cello packs have "1987 All Star Team" cards randomly inserted. Maybe there's one in here! Time to open 'er up.

209 Tony Perez - This card has his final career stats on the back. 2732 hits, 379 homers and 1652 RBIs.

299 Jeff Lahti - Unfortunately for Jeff this also has his career stats on the back. Lifetime 3.12 ERA with a 17-11 record and 20 saves in five seasons with the Cardinals.

167 Alan Trammell - The Awesome increases. One of these days Hall of Fame voters are going to look at all the plaques on the wall, realize Alan's isn't up there and then slap themselves of the forehead and exclaim "WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?!?" One day...

194 Tom Browning - Reds are well represented so far. From 1985-1991 Tom was a workhorse.

451 Jerry Reuss - The scouts on the back of the card say Jerry had an awesome slider. 220 wins don't lie...

530 Bruce Sutter - Another Hall of Famer, this one sporting the powder blues. That goes to show just how good Bruce was, that he got in the Hall even with those terrible Braves years dragging him down.

180 Shane Rawley - That... is an unfortunately placed leg in the background.

376 Jorge Orta - I could say Jorge Orta all day long. Try it. Jooorge Ooorta...

12 Keith Hernandez - Man, this pack gets better and better. Keith is seriously underrated and was one of the best defensive first basemen of all time, if not THE best. He's eligible to get on the Veteran's Committee Hall of Fame ballot in2011. So Met fans, is he as good a TV analyst as a first baseman?

291 Tim Conroy - He was hilarious on the Carol Burnett show.

142 Mitch Williams - Hey! A Wild Thing rookie card! Noice!

322 Wayne Krenchicki - Ut- more final career stats on the back. 8 seasons, 283 hits, 15 nomers, .266 lifetime batting average.

244 Tony Bernazard - I always thought Tony was a good player when I was a kid for some reason. He's now in the Mets' front office as VP of Scapegoats.

315 Tim Burke - I don't have anything witty to say about Tim Burke. Sorry.

102 Tommy John - I was kind of disappointed that Dr. James Andrews was not sponsoring Tommy's Baseball-Reference.com page.

229 Garth Iorg - Eli's pop.

Phillies Sticker - World Champions! Well, not in 1987.

White Sox/Cardinals sticker - The stripes with the team name on them were always good for sticking on team sets.

61 Bob Knepper - Bob's middle name is Wesley. In the offseason he was a Dread Pirate.

392 Alfredo Griffin - Alfredo's lone All-Star appearance happened the same way Judge Stone got his Job on Night Court. He was the only one available.

161 Dan Petry - Dan pitched 10 games for the Braves in 1991, and was traded away to the Red Sox less than a month after he was acquired.

611 Barry Jones - The first thing I saw on this card was "Barry" and then a Pirates cap. Man, was I disappointed.

482 Jim Traber - Ok, this is funny.

574 Lee Smith - I wish Hall of Fame voters would stop being schizophrenic about closers and just vote Lee in already. Bruce Sutter set the bar for Hall of Fame closers and Lee easily jumps over it.

600 Matt Young - Matt's career record was 55-95? Sheesh, I didn't know that...

255 Otis Nixon - OTIS MY MAN! I love Otis. You'd think Braves fans would be mad at him over his little sniffy sniff problem back in 1991, but he seems to be as beloved as ever in the ATL.

462 Juan Beniquez - Juan played in 1500 games in his career. That's pretty impressive for a journeyman fourth outfielder.

520 Rick Mahler - After Knucksie signed with the yankees, Mahler was the Braves' ace. Ah, the good 'ol '80s.

268 Chris Brown - Wow, I didn't know Chris drove a truck in Iraq. Dang, that's sad what happened to Chris.

544 Kent Hrbek - Believe it or not, I used to be a pretty big Twins and Hrbek fan. Then 1991 happened. Ron Gant was safe, dammit.

130 Oddibe McDowell - I once had a choice between a 1985 rack pack with Oddibe showing and McGwire showing. You know which one I chose.

30 Oil Can Boyd - If I had unlimited time, I'd be an Oil Can Boyd SuperCollector.

41 Jim Rice - Hall of Fame class of 2009.

Pretty good pack, eh? Better than a wrestling pack, eh? Let's start this year off right!

1987 Donruss

I recently volunteered to perform a card rescue organized by the truly excellent blog Stats on the Back. Okay, fine, he was threatening toss perfectly reasonable baseball cards in the trash and I had to do something about it. This was more about public safety and the health of the environment than my unsettling interest in tiny pictures of baseball players, I swear! Possibly the most fun and unexpected thing about this card rescue, however, was that my package came with a bonus: bona fide unopened wax packs! There was an unopened pack of 1987 and 1988 Donruss, fresh from my days as a middle school card collector. I haven't quite yet decided what to do with the 1988 pack as I'm afraid that if my collection takes on anymore '88 Donruss cards that the entire box will spontaneously combust and produce amazing amount mold at the same time. However, I knew exactly what to do with the '87 pack - rip it open!

16/17/18 - Robert Clemente Puzzle
359 - Steve Jeltz (I got to see him play in person during the mid-'80s with the Portland Beavers)
227 - Scott Bailes (The back of the card boasts of his "outstanding rookie season" in which he went 10-10 with an ERA close to 5.00.)

94 - Fernando Valenzuela (Flash forward to my high school years. I was working at a card shop, and word started getting around that Fernando was going to be pitching for a AAA team facing the Beavers one weekend. I forget which team, but it was during one of his comeback attempts. He eventually made it back with the Orioles.)

577 - Jeff Lahti (An Oregon native.)
444 - Kelly Gruber (Gruber had a big year at one point in his career, but I can't recall which one.)
312 - Jim Winn

303 - Andres Galarraga (I just can't like him, after his awful season with the Cardinals. He ended up going on to have some big years with the Rockies and Braves.)
300 - Checklist
274 - Rob Deer (I still tend to think that Adam Dunn is a glorified Rob Deer.)

142 - Kal Daniels (Kalvoski Daniels! This was a nice pull back in the day. He only lasted 7 years in the majors.)
624 - Angel Salazar (One of my favorite things about Donruss cards was that they printed the player's contract status and details on how they were acquired. Salazar was "Traded from Mets to Royals 4/1/86 for P Tony Ferreira")

492 - Barry Larkin (Even better than Kal. If only I was a Reds fan. I always held a bit of a grudge against Larkin for challenging Ozzie Smith's supremacy as the best NL shortstop around.)
360 - Ed Whitson

228 - Rickey Henderson (Your 2009 first ballot Hall of Famer.)
95 - Andy Allanson (Not to be confused with Allan Anderson.)

This was a great pack in both 1987 and (almost) 2009. I'd have to say that throwing in unopened packs is a great way to sweeten up a trade or any packaged gift.

1987 Topps Who Framed Roger Rabbit

I got this pack at the card show last weekend, a seller had a mess of 'em for 10 cents a pop. It was voted as the card show pack to rip on my blog so you get to share in the experience. Was this pack worth the dime I paid for it? Only if there's a Jessica Rabbit card in there! This movie was perfect for a cartoon loving, girlie ogling teenager in 1987. There better be a Jessica Rabbit card in here or I'm going to kick myself for leaving the rest of those packs behind at the show. I actually hate buying random non-sports packs, I'd rather just get the set and be done with it. Let's open 'er up and show me that redhead!

101 Poor Benny Crashes

The gum was fused pretty tight to this card, but when I placed it on the scanner I heard a crackley sound and it fell off after the scan. There must be crazy UV Gum Destroying Rays in that thing. I never trusted that green light.

Woohoo! First Jessica sighting! She's in a terrible car wreck while not wearing her seatbelt and will probably be a quadriplegic on card #102, but It's Jessica at least.

124 Good Morning, Toontown!

What the heck is wrong with the color on this card?? Did Topps send a photographer into a movie theater with a Polaroid to get the images for this set? Two straight cards with Jessica on it is good though, even if she is about the size of a thumbtack on both cards.

47 "Care For A Dip?!"

AAAAAAAHH!!! This scene was disturbing as hell. A cute little clown shoe getting disolved into sludge and WE GET TO WATCH HIS EXPRESSION THE WHOLE DAMN TIME IT'S MELTING. Robert Zemeckis is a sick, sick bastard. Even David Lynch wouldn't make you watch it's little eyes bug out. Ugh, next card.

115 Stand Up and Sneer!

Christopher Lloyd gets squished by a steamroller. Great scene, but there's no redheads in this picture.

Sticker 12

The eeeevil wolves straight out of a Tex Avery cartoon. I always liked the phycho wolf with the red and yellow swirly eyes.

1 132 Cards - 22 Stickers

Oh goody, the title card. This pack is careening downhill.

24 Whoops!!!

The film sprockets and black border are cool, but the color on these photos is terrible. Baby Herman is about to fall to his horrible bloody flaming death after swiping a cookie. CRIME DOES NOT PAY.

13 A Step In The Wrong Direction!

I need to buy this movie. This cartoon at the beginning is worth every penny. Roger is about to fall into the Volcano Hot oven, but just seeing the knives on the wall that will soon be flung at Roger's head is making me giggle. Oh, look at who's on the back!

Jessica! WOOHOOOOOO! My luck is changing!

35 The Main Attraction

You bet it is! I got my Jessica Rabbit card and it doesn't look horrible. Success! One more to go...

70 "Into The Dip, Rabbit!"

Whoops, Roger's in a pickle. Who's that guy in the shadows in the background? Is that Bob Hoskins? Has to be, I couldn't go through an entire pack without getting a card with Bob Hoskins on it. I need to watch this movie again now. Or at least parts of it.