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.

1990 Michigan State Spartans All Time Greats

Between the Bipped boxes, the boatload of '94 Pacific, and these, I feel like I'm becoming the Duke of Bad Wax on this blog (chemgod is the king, of course).
For your viewing (or cringing) pleasure, here is a pack from one of two boxes I got from a friend. He paid $2 a box. 200 card set with eight cards to a pack. The wrapper is that stretchy plastic that you should almost cut instead of rip. Notable athletes include, Magic Johnson, Steve Garvey, Kirk Gibson, Rod Brind'Amour, Joe DeLamielleure, Gene Washington, Ron Saul, Eric Allen, Earl Morrall, Ron Perranoski, Bubba Smith, Morten Andersen, Sam Vincent and Billy Joe DuPree. Set includes all four sports, coaches, and combo cards. Still doesn't make it that collectible, even if you live in Michigan....

First, the box:


Now the pack:

Most packs consist of two-, three-, or four-card runs of consecutive numbers.

148 Sam Vincent (basketball) - Boston's first round pick (20th overall) in the 1985 NBA draft.

147 Dan McFall (hockey) - Had most goals by a defenseman in a season, 1983-84.

146 Ron Mason (hockey) - Coach who was entering his 12th season that year. Second winningest coach in NCAA history at that point.

145 Kelly Miller (hockey) - Taken in the 9th round of the NHL draft by the Rangers. Starred as a Washington capital.

11 Brad Van Pelt (football) - Five time Pro Bowler for the New York football Giants from 1976 to 1980.

12 Andre Rison (football) - Five time Pro Bowler (1 First team), drafted 22nd overall in 1989. Played for Falcons and Chiefs among others in 11 year career.

30 LeRoy Bolden (football) - Led MSU in rushing and scoring in 1953 and scoring in '54. Played two seasons with the Cleveland Browns, primarily as a kick returner.

29 Bill Simpson (football) - Free safety with the Buffalo bills for eight years.

Some other notable cards from the set:

Bubba is just a badass. Can you picture Garvey on the Rams and Gibson on the Lions?

Tristar Hidden Treasures (not!)

Quite awhile ago, my good friend Mike over at BadWax, sent me this pack as a "reward" for something or other... I hadn't seen this before... but I'm Canadian, and these are hockey cards, so how bad could it be? Right? AND... I could find a 1951/52 Parkhurst Gordie Freakin' Howe!!!! I could... maybe... no. Not a snowball's chance in H-E-Double hockey sticks....
They try and build you up on the wrapper. Memorabilia! Autographs! Rookies! Vintage!

I'll show you their idea of vintage....


1993/94 Classic Draft Picks Denis Metlyuk. Denis spent one year in Hershey, and the rest in Mother Russia. A high 2nd round pick wasted on this never was by Philadelphia.
1993/94 Upper Deck Pat Elynuik. Pat played 4 years for the Winnipeg Jets.... and that's all I got.

1991/92 Pro Set Robert Reichel - a Flame! Robert won an Olympic gold medal... and is still playing in Europe.

1990/91 Score Canadian Memorial Cup Champions tribute.

This was a cheap ploy to add yet another card of Eric Lindros in their set. That's Eric Lindros. Anyone? Bueller? Think Akili Smith. Todd VanPoppel. You get the idea.

1989/90 OPC Bill Ranford.

Not exactly a Patrick Roy RC... in fact, not even a Bill Ranford RC....

Okay. So it sucked big time. What did you expect ? A '52 Parkie of Gordie Howe?