Repack Resurrection: 2006 Topps '52 Rookies

As with any five-year-old pack of a rookie-centric set, it's probably a good idea to track down each of the players in order to gauge the success of that pack. We shall do the same tonight.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
212 Paul Hoover
Since his old Marlins days (and his really old Devil Rays days in '01 and '02), Hoover got picked up by the Phillies for a few games in both 2009 and 2010. He is currently in the Red Sox minor league system.

24 Matt Smith
Matt last played in MLB with the Phillies in 2007 and was released by the Cubs organization after spring training '09.

184 Nick Masset
Masset is currently a reliever for the Cincinnati Reds.

DD14 Dynamic Duos Melky Cabrera/Jeff Karstens
Karstens is a starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cabrera is enjoying a .267 batting average with the Royals. There was a rumor following the 2008 season that the Brewers were going to try to deal Mike Cameron to the Yankees for Melky, but it never materialized.

93 Ty Taubenheim
Taubenheim last played in the bigs with Pittsburgh in 2008, and was released just before the start of the season by the Rangers. The back of Ty's card alerts readers to a "staph injury" suffered in 2006. Not staph infection, staph injury. Weird.

137 Wil Nieves
Wil is a backup catcher with my Brewers this season. He is splitting time with George Kottaras and isn't seeing a lot of action because starter Jonathan Lucroy is tearing it up.

Good pack, nothing to write home about. I'm giving it a B-.

Royal Rumble 2009 CONTEST: Gettin' Out the Repack

I thought it might be time for me to come in from the bullpen to relieve dayf and timrooks, who are both kicking ass on this blog as of late. Since I'm pretty sparse with my posts here, I thought we'd have a fun contest today. If you're a wrestling geek like I am (anybody? *crickets*) you should know that tonight WWE (formerly WWF) will hold their annual Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The Royal Rumble match is my favorite gimmick match in wrestling. It's a 30-man battle royal, where you have to throw your opponents over the top rope to the floor to eliminate them from the match. Last man standing wins. But the twist is this: the match starts with just two men in the ring, and another wrestler enters every two minutes afterward until all thirty men have entered. It allows for some creative scenarios to unfold instead of the usual horrendous clusterfrick that occurs when thirty large, muscly men are all trying to fight at the same time. Plus, you get the anticipation of counting down from ten seconds every two minutes...the buzzer sounds...and someone else's theme music hits. Who will it be this time?

Anyhoodle, here's what I'm going to do. I bought a 10-pack repack box from Sports Authority last weekend, and I've grabbed five packs that total 30 cards:

-2006 Topps Opening Day (7)
-2006 Fleer Ultra (5)
-2006 Topps Series 2 (6)
-2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition (5, with one disqualification bringing it to 4)
-2006 Upper Deck Series 1 (8)

I'll number the cards in the order that they're pulled and ask you to choose a number from 1 to 30 and leave your number in the comments to this post. Each number can only be chosen once. I'll cut this off at 9:30 PM EST, which is roughly the time that the Rumble match should start. Your number corresponds to the wrestler that enters the Rumble at that numbered slot. If your guy wins the match, you get a prize! The prize will be an assortment of cards from the team of your choice. Pick wisely...

P.S. I'm running late with this, so scans will come later.

2006 Topps Opening Day

1. Barry Zito - The $126 Million Dollar Man will have a tough road to victory today!
2. Alex Rodriguez - Uh-oh, it's the villainous A-Fraud!
3. Jason Bay - Hailing from British Columbia, it's the Canadian Clubber!
4. Danny Sandoval RC - 31 major league games in an 11-year pro career? Your wrestling gimmick is Mr. Coffee, as in cup of.
5. Nomar Garciaparra - Who needs a wrestling name when your birth name is NOMAAAAAHH?
6. Tadahito Iguchi Rookie Cup - Watch out for the mysterious green mist sprayed by the devious Iguchi.
7. David Ortiz (front)/Dontrelle Willis (back) Funny Photos - How appropriate! Big Papi has clamped a bear hug on Rafael Furcal. There is no escape!

2006 Fleer Ultra

8. Shannon Stewart - I forgot that he played for the Twins. I hereby dub thee "Twinkie".
9. Jake Peavy - Also known as "Ace", a nickname he can borrow from 1980s mainstay Bob Orton.
10. Julio Lugo - Um...Lex Lugo?
11. Robinson Cano Rising Stars - Switch it to Kano and he can go with a Mortal Kombat gimmick.

12. Brad Radke Gold Medallion - He was just elected to the Twins Hall of Fame, so we'll go with Goldenarm.

2006 Topps Series 2

13. Jason Lane - I guess he'd take to the ring with a hockey mask and machete.
14. Jason Vargas - Jason and Jason? Sounds like a tag team.
15. Moises Alou - Would be the Hitman, the second-generation star from the great Alou family.
16. Jon Lieber - Translating his last name from German, he will wrestle as "Loverboy".
17. Chris Young - At 6'10", he is the Tower of Doom.
18. Jamie Moyer - Now 46 years old and still plugging away. Rip Van Vader.

2004 Fleer Hot Prospects Draft Edition

19. Todd Helton - Went from Tennessee to Colorado. Rocky Top is a no-brainer nickname.
DQ. Nomar Garciaparra - You can't enter the Rumble twice! I started posting and realized that I'd forgotten to account for the extra Funny Photos card in the Opening Day pack. So Nomar must go, having already popped up in the first pack.
20. Jim Thome and Pat Burrell Hot Tandems - I normally wouldn't permit a tag team to enter as one, but the Philadelphia Phantoms can be very persuasive. E-C-Dub!

21. Carlos Delgado - El Hombre.
22. Lyle Overbay - Hails from Washington state, just like Ted Bundy and Green River killer Gary Ridgway. I'm thinking of a serial killer gimmick: Lyle Wayne Overbay.
(Leave it to Fleer to put "draft" and "prospects" in the name of a product, and then give me a pack that has neither of the above.)

2006 Upper Deck Series 1

23. Luke Scott - LUUUUKKKKEEE! He is a proud gun owner. I say Cool Hand Luke.
24. Jason Marquis - Snooty Frenchman Marquis de Jason? Oui!
25. Brian Lawrence - Attended Northwestern State University of Louisiana, whose mascot is the Demon. His nickname is self-evident. Just don't confuse him with the KISS Demon, played by Jeff Torborg's son Dale.
26. Carlos Zambrano - The hotheaded Big Z is a force to be reckoned with.
27. Aaron Rowand - A dark horse in this match could be scrappy cruiserweight "Crash" Rowand!
28. Kirk Saarloos - The Sar-loose Cannon?
29. Bob Gibson Diamond Debut - WOW! A surprise entrant at #29! Hit the deck, it's Hoot the Headhunter!

30. Robert Fick - Sure, he used to be a valuable and versatile hitter, but I look at him and see "Third Bushwacker".

Wow, I have wayyy too much time on my hands. Tell you what...If you're especially curious and impatient, I'll live-blog the Rumble match on my Orioles blog. Updates should start some time around 10 PM. Now get those guesses in, you pencil-neck geeks!

2006 Ba-ZOO-ka Baseball

Old packs of Bazooka are fun, but they never have any players I like in them. Based on this indisputable fact, and because each pack comes with a piece of gum that looks as if it were manufactured and packaged by Springbok, we're going to go through this pack and make a comparison between each player/card and a popular brand of chewing gum.

Let's tear in. (Get your jaws ready.)

Top to Bottom:
125 Jorge Posada Blue Parallel (Black Jack. Jorge has proudly worn the black and white of the Bronx Bombers since 1995.)

66 Curt Schilling Gold Parallel (Trident. Not from a fresh pack, mind you, but an eight-year-old piece that your mom finds in the bottom of her purse that has hairs and bits of Kleenex stuck to it. Even this card is creased right down the middle.)

16 of 24 Texas Rangers Cartoon (Bazooka, naturally.)

2 of 12 Checklist featuring Nick Johnson, Paul Konerko, Raul Ibanez, and Todd Helton (Gum from a machine propping open a barber shop door, the profits from which go to the American Foundation for the Blind. Just 'cause you get a whole handful of 'em, don't mean they taste any good. Good luck not swallowing your fillings after their forced removal.)

89 Chris Carpenter (PAL. Those little pieces of PAL gum are the workhorses of the gum industry, just like Carpenter was in 2005. Thirteen straight decisions and a 21-5 record earns him the distinction.)

18 Wily Mo Pena (Chiclets. Just because, señor.)

108 Carl Crawford (Bubble Tape. Emerging star on a new-ish team with flashy, cool logos. Carl Crawford and his 6'2" frame is six feet of Bubble Tape personified.)

14 Mike Sweeney (Extra. Sweeney has only played for the Royals over his 17-year career, except for last year when he was with Oakland. Perhaps that knocks him down to one of the derivative flavors, like Cool Watermelon. Rejoining the Royals to end his career might put him back atop that Peppermint pedestal.)

Make it a point today to gave a good chew.

The Bottom of the Barrel -- 2006 UDU

On my last trip to Target, I went armed with two things: A 10%-off coupon and a plan. I was intent on buying all of the stupid little things that cause more trips to Target when I don't have a discount. So after loading up on stuff like toothpaste, envelopes, and Kleenex, I hit that card aisle, which has become more and more uninspiring since the end of the baseball season. I decided to make do with a slashed price pack of 2006 Upper Deck Update. I hadn't seen any of these at this retailer, and my curiosity got the best of me.

Let's tear in.

Here's what I got...
Kevin Perry (RC), some fat old pitcher, Semper Fi (RC), a tall guy (RC), a bad pitcher (RC), another guy, another bad pitcher (RC), and a team checklist.

In retrospect, I should have bought some Rolos.And I don't even like Rolos.

2006 Upper Deck Series 2

I'm going to finish this set solely through repack boxes. Let's rip.

703 Chad Bradford
751 Damaso Marte
888 Orioles Checklist
832 Akinori Otsuka
911 Angel Pagan RC
989 Boof Bonser RC
523 Matt Diaz
689 Jason Bartlett

There's a lot of nifty photos in this pack. Chad Bradford is scraping his knuckles during his delivery. Pagan is calling time after a stolen base. Matt Diaz is doing some sort of interpretive dance. The pictures are pretty but it's still not a good pack. Imagine paying 3 bucks for this back in 2006... Now, don't get me wrong, I like pulling middle relievers and checklists in packs. Just not when the set is 1000 cards and they cost 38 cents a card when buying packs. Upper Deck seems to have figured it out this year though, so I'll cut them some slack over screwing it up three years ago.

2006 Upper Deck Football

I think everyone is watching football and stuffing themselves with Christmas leftovers (including me) so I'm going to recycle a pack opening from my Repack Crap Thingy. '06 Upper Deck was the best of the four packs so I'll share it here.

3KP-BF Brett Favre 3000 Yard Passing Club
146 Brian Westbrook
107 Brad Johnson
159 LaDainian Tomlinson
19 Willis McGahee
77 Domanick Davis
31 Rex Grossman
239 Darrell Hackney Star Rookie

This was an odd pack, all quarterbacks and running backs. Even weirder is half the base cards have the position stamped in capital letters (LT, Johnson and Westbrook) and the others are all in lower cases. I tried to scan the foil, but you see how well that worked. LT's card is cool, but the Rex Grossman card is hideous. He looks like a flailing turkey. The photos on these cards are either great or terrible. Westbrook, McGahee and Davis are all in the middle of runs, while Brad Johnson is taking the snap for a field goal. The guy is a Super Bowl winning QB and Upper Deck shows him on his card like he's Lucy Van Pelt. The Favre looks good though and Hackney is still hanging around the league holding the clipboard for the Broncos. A lot of people love the design for '06 UD but I hate it. The foil name on another name is nearly impossible to read unless the foil hits the light right. The cards are just good enough though that I don't mind getting them in repack boxes anymore.

2006 Ultra

I've been fussing over the Javier Vazquez trade all evening so I need a quick & easy post for tonight. 2006 Ultra retail? Five cards a pack? Perfect.

74 Victor Martinez
18 Rich Harden
179 Mariano Rivera
SOK1 Roger Clemens Strikeout Kings
128 Michael Young Gold Parallel

Three base cards in a pack. Lots of sets were built of this stuff, I'm sure. Not a terrible pack though, there are two future Hall inductees in the pack (I'm assuming the voters overlook the steroids and teenagers for Rog) and some second-tier stars. Ultra looks good though, and the design never drastically changed from about '96 to it's last set in '07. What I want to know is why Upper Deck murdered them off by making them an expensive hit-per-pack product last year. I also want to know why Topps copied that exact same strategy with their ridiculously priced return of Stadium Club. UGH. Can some one please give a license back to Donruss? Or will they just bring back Leaf as a $100 tin with an autographed fake letter patch per pack? Ya know what, forget all that, BRING BACK TOPPS TOTAL.

2006 Upper Deck Series 2

These damn '06 Upper Deck packs are mandatory inclusions in every repack box nowadays. Either they let the presses run like it was 1990, or everyone ignored them like me. I think it's the latter as Upper Deck started offering meatier packs the following year. I wasn't crazy about this set when it first came out, but it's actually not as bad as I thought it was. Upper Deck's newer offerings are far superior but I don't mind ripping this stuff anymore.

799 J.J. Putz
743 Ryan Franklin
867 Ramon Ortiz
811 John Rodriguez
961 John Koronka RC
558 Rob Mackowiak
671 Lance Carter
II-27 Daisuke Matsuzaka WBC Inaugural Images

What the heck?? There was a Dice-K card in 2006 packs? Then why did we all go gaga over his rookie cards in '07? Ok, it's an insert, and he's playing for Japan, but still. I love these WBC cards and I'm looking forward to the tournament this spring. Bud Selig has done a lot of stupid stuff in his reign as acting commissioner for life, but the Wildcard and the WBC were good ideas. The rest of the pack doesn't have much going for it. I know we all want larger sized sets with more players in them, but when you realize that this 8 card pack originally cost 3 bucks you want a little more than JJ Putz. Upper Deck actually has their base set pretty tight right now, two 400 card series (just over 792!) some highlights cards, some team checklist cards, it's a pretty good set. I'd prefer the team checklists be replaced by league leader cards or some other subset but it doesn't wreck the set. Maybe just save the team checklist cards for the second half and put both series on the back. One per series isn't necessary. Oh wait, this is a 2006 pack rip. Um... Rob Mackowiak's card looks cool. That's all I got. Looking forward to 2009 Upper Deck though...

2006 Bowman Heritage

This here Bowman Heritage doohickey is the last of the four-pack dusty Fairfield repack box I purchased a couple of weeks ago. I am opting not to post the 5-card 2007 Upper Deck pack that was also showing on the side of the box. It had some card from a Cal Ripken insert set and nothing else worth remembering. This is the first time I've seen anything from this set, and being a sucker for all things Heritage, I decided to save this pack for last.

BHP46 - Brandon Jones

BHP98 - Stephen Englund (I'm sick to death of getting Brandon Jones cards from the 2008 products, so I opted to show Englund's card instead. Who is Englund? I have no idea. If I had gotten around to posting this before Halloween, I would have made some sort of Nightmare on Elm Street reference. Instead, I'll consult baseball-reference. Whoa, bright things may not be in this kid's future. While he's only 20, he's got a lifetime minor league batting average of .203 and hasn't progressed beyond A-ball.)

290 - Stephen Drew Chrome (A shiny thick card, similar to the 1-per-pack parallels that came in the 2007 set.)
142 - Brandon Phillips
30 - Jim Thome (Thome is perfect for this portrait photo dominated set.)
128 - Ben Sheets (Will Sheets ever stay healthy? I'd feel bad for the Brewers, but they made the playoffs this season and the Cardinals didn't. And the Cards also have their share of pitcher injury issues.)

251 - Mickey Mantle (This is definitely the nicest looking card of the bunch. Mantle's photo just looks like it fits here, even though the 1949 design predates his cards by just a bit.)

152 - Scott Hatteberg Mini (To be honest, I'm not sure exactly where this card fell in the pack, because when I pulled out the stack of cards initially the mini was left behind in the wrapper. Minis are nice. Hatteberg is pretty meh.)

With 8 cards in the pack and only 4 from the actual base set, this seems like it would be a pretty obnoxious set to try and collect. Maybe the hobby packs make it a bit easier, but I'm not sure. I'm also not all that wild about the design (or at least what they did with it), but I'm sure I'd still buy more packs of these if they were cheap enough.

2006 Fleer Ultra

Whew, just getting today's pack in under the gun. Pack two from the repack, and the first issue of Ultra that I've ripped since 1995. Whoa.

126 Freddy Sanchez - Upped his batting average from .158 in 2004 to .291 the following year. Sure, he only had 19 ABs in 2004...details, details.

70 Randy Winn - I'm sure Patricia and Lucy like the action shot with Randy kicking up dirt behind him as he digs for the next base.

14 Barry Zito - Despite the fact that he has oodles more money than I will ever see, I kinda feel for this guy amidst his struggles in San Fran.

URS1 Ryan Howard Ultra Rising Stars - Oooh, Brand New World Series Champ Ryan Howard! I opened this pack before tonight's game ended, and took it as a good omen for the Phils.

78 Cliff Lee Gold Medallion - And a parallel of the AL Comeback Player of the Year and likely Cy Young winner to wrap it all up.

2006 Upper Deck Series Two

Okay, we could all use a time-passer as the World Series has been hijacked by the weather gods. As I drove home Sunday after a Saturday night Halloween party (never drink and drive, kids), I was dispatched to Wal-Mart by my sister to pick up some elastic she needed for her homemade gypsy costume. Sheesh. Might as well pick up a "3+ packs" for $5 Legends repack. Here's the first pack, 2006 Upper Deck. All I have from this set is a handful of Orioles, so let's give it a peek.

905 Chris Britton RC - An Oriole right off the bat! The delightfully doughy Britton had a decent year in relief, then was traded to the Yankees for Jaret Wright. Lovely.

983 Boone Logan RC - They're not booing you, they're saying BOOO-ooone.

584 Eduardo Perez - Mushmouthed-yet-harmless Baseball Tonight team member.

528 Corey Patterson - Another Oriole! One of the few baseballers who managed to be less horrible in Baltimore than he's been elsewhere.

653 Jason Bulger RC - Three rookies in one pack, eh? Never heard of him, apparently an Angels reliever. Maybe he's related to Ray Bulger.

677 Sandy Alomar - I didn't have any cards of Old Man Sandy with the Dodgers. Nice Spring Training photo with the players just chillin' behind home plate.

PBDJ-4 Play Ball! with Jeter contest card "E" - If you spelled "J-E-T-E-R" you would win Great Prizes. The prizes ranged from a private clinic with Derek Jeter to...screensavers. Seriously.

827 Shawn Camp - Ah, the halcyon days of the Devil Rays.

2006 Fleer Ultra Retail

The World Series is on, Joe Buck is making me sleepy, and I'm not feeling very witty tonight, but A Pack Must Be Ripped.

16 Bobby Crosby
137 Edgar Renteria
81 Richie Sexson
DP1 Derek Jeter Diamond Producers
66 Cesar Izturis Gold parallel

Got a Brave, got a Jeter insert, good pack. Back to watching the World Series now. If there are any alien lifeforms reading this blog, please abduct Tim McCarver and Probe with Extreme Prejudice.

Prime Paks Hobby Edition

Today is going to be the biggest baseball day of my life thus far, and I woke up after a restless night with an idea that will increase the fun factor exponentially. Seeing as baseball is the most superstitious of all sports, I thought I'd play a little game with myself that would add the element of chance to an already decidedly arbitrary game. I beat myself up yesterday thinking that if Prince Fielder had hit a ball another two inches or so on June 15 of this year, the Brewers wouldn't be in this spot, plus the AL Central race would have a different makeup altogether.

On the weekly trip to Target, I found a Fairfield repack box that intrigued me greatly. This Prime Paks box boasts six hobby packs. I enjoy opening stuff from a few years ago, so I thought "Why not?" I'll be opening these before and during the Brewers/Cubs game today. I'll be on the lookout for Brewers, of course, which will earn me a certain number of points according to quality. Marlins cards will result in a lower number of points. Mets pulls will equate to massive negative points, and Cubs cards will just be destroyed. All other cards are neutral. A positive score foretells a Brewer playoff appearance, or at the very least a Monday teaser. An overall negative result means the Brewers add to their MLB-longest playoff absence streak. (And, no, I do not take into consideration the Expos/Nationals franchise. The suffering for folowers of either of these autonomous teams has not nearly matched that of Milwaukee fans.) Sure, it's no Cup of Jamshid, but it'll have to do.

First of all, let's see what packs I get to open.

Not too bad, although the 2003 Flair is reaching back a little too far in time. I think I'll begin with the 2006 Sweet Spot.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
54 Chad Cordero
12 Orlando Hudson

84 Matt Holliday
64 Bobby Abreu

22 David Eckstein

Score: Neutral
Grade: F
I've seen piles of material that have been covered with sawdust by school janitors that looked better than this. I hope these packs get better soon. You can follow all of these hobby rips throughout the afternoon over at Thorzul Will Rule.