Repack Bang or Bust Part 5

The last one of these I did was about a 250-card Fairfield box. Well, this is sort of part two since when I bought that box I actually bought two. I rated that last box a Bang! and this one also gets a bang. I needed 115 of the 250 cards. Not too bad.

These boxes advertise that every other box (on average) has either a relic or an auto. The other box had nothing but this one had an auto.

2011 Bowman Autographed Prospects

Havens was the Mets #1 pick in 2008 but never made it to the majors.

1980 Topps #575

This was the oldest card in the box. The Phillies won the World Series in 1980, which was before I started collecting. I'm on a slow motion quest to complete the 1980 Topps set so I'm always happy to get one. 

My last post featured the weird airbrushed 1987 Topps Mike Laga card. That card came to my attention because this card was in the box.

1986 Donruss #578

Nothing really special about this card except it's part of a trend I noticed about this box. There were a lot of cards in it which were near duplicates of cards in the earlier box. For example, this is card #578. The earlier box had card #587 from the same set. These were the only 1986 Donruss cards in either box.

1986 Fleer #380

I collect Lee Smith so was happy to get this even though it's a terrible looking card. The photo is out of focus and the dark blue borders do it no favors. What was with both Fleer and Donruss using dark blue borders in 1986?

1988 Topps Traded #30

This set had a few of these Team USA cards. Pat Combs was the Phillies #1 draft pick in 1988, so of course, I have to consider this as a Phillies card. From this card I realized that there were several Phillies cards in this set I was unaware of. I managed to find the whole 1988 Topps Traded set on eBay for much less than $10, so I bought it.

1990 Donruss #147

Say what you like about 1990 Donruss, but I like it and have about 2/3 of the set. I collect Gary Carter but was missing this one.

1990 Topps #784

This card raises the question "Why do so many baseball cards have light poles in the background?".

1990 Broder Rookies Superstars

I have another card of Ben McDonald with the exact same back, but numbered #1 of 12. It also has a different photo. basebalcarddb.com lists the 12-card set but not the 7-card set. The other box had the Todd Zeile card from the 7-card set.

1990 Star #97

Another of the weird duplicates. This is a set I'd only had two cards from and both were Phillies cards I'd gotten in a trade. So I'd never seen one of these cards in a repack before I pulled #98 from the other box. Now I've also have #97.

1992 Triple Play

Zosky was the Blue Jays #1 pick in 1989 who never really made it. I didn't have a single one of his cards before opening this box. Now I have two. This one and his 1992 Ultra (#156) card.

1993 Donruss #276

The other box had card #277. Also featuring, I believe, the early season dead ivy at Wrigley Field.

1993 Topps Gold #319

These are a relatively rare finding in a repack. The other box had #318.

1997 Select Certified #40

Card #30 from this set (Paul Molitor) was in the other box. The only two cards from this set I've ever seen. I collect both players so I'm happy to have them.

2000 Upper Deck Ultimate Victory #54

I have a handful from this set, all of which I've gotten from repacks. It is a parallel to 2000 Upper Deck Victory but with a soft, thick coating on the front.

2001 Upper Deck Victory #590

This is another set which I've only seen in repacks. I don't know who this guy was but I didn't have this subset so it goes right into the reference books.

2002 Topps 206 #55

I like this set but bought very little of it when it was new. I pulled card #45 (Bud Smith) from the other box.

And finally, 2015 Topps Team Sets #PHP-8

The Phillies team sets don't seem to be available where I live in the Houston area. I'm lucky I can find the Astros set. The other box had the Phillies Maikel Franco card from the set.

2017 Donruss - First Look

Every year I buy a little Donruss, just to have some. This year I bought just one blaster. Here's what I got in the first pack out of the box.

The design is based on 1990 Donruss, without the red borders. I actually like this design. My problem with the new Donruss has not been so much with design. Besides the lack of logos and team names, my biggest beef has always been the choice of photos. Each card is either a guy batting or a guy pitching. Rarely is there a fielding photo, and never a posed photo. This year they also redesigned the backs to get away from the late 1980s backs. Much nicer.

There are 195 cards in the base set. The box I bought had 8 cards per pack, with about 5 base cards in each pack. Trying to complete the set by buying blasters would be difficult. And at 38 cents/card, expensive.

There are a few parallel sets (of course) but not as many as is usual for a Panini product. I got one (a career stat line, numbered to 500) in the box.

Well, the 4th card into the first pack and I've pulled a relic card. The box does say "Find 1 Autograph or Memorabilia Card Per Box On Average!". This used to be common in blasters and I'd like to see that come back. I don't know much about Tapia other than he was a September call up last year and hit .268 for the month. The swatch is actually purple, not black. This is the first blaster of new Donruss I've purchased, so maybe including a relic has been their practice. The last two years a just bought a pack. In 2014 I actually bought a hobby box.

As has been a practice in new Donruss, this is a 50-card insert set featuring an early 1980s design, this time 1983 Donruss. Called Retro Variation 1983, it's not really a variation since it has a different photo. Does it seem weird to you to have a year indicator of '17 on a card?

And rounding out the pack.

Another of these.

And finally.

Even with a relic in the pack, the pack still had 8 cards. 

Plus for this set and blaster: 1) design; 2) relic or auto in every box; 3) no duplicates; 4) good ratio of base cards to inserts.

Minus for this set and blaster: 1) no team logos; 2) boring photography; 3) price point, 38 cents/per card seems a bit high to me. The past two years the price was 18 cents/card. Maybe Panini justifies the price hike by putting a relic or auto in each blaster.

Random Cards from My Collection #82

Card #5,407: 2003 Upper Deck #1 John Lackey

Lucky was the Angels #2 draft pick in 1999 and made his debut in 2002. He was 9-4 with a 3.66 ERA.

Card #8,698: 2000 Fleer Greats of the Game Retrospection #9 Steve Carlton

Card #9,032: 1992 Topps Kids #200 Lenny Dykstra

Ha ha, I always liked this set.

Card #27,407: 1987 Donruss Opening Day #58 Robin Yount

I bought this 272 card set for $16 in 2003. The big deal of this set is that some of the Barry Bonds cards have Johnny Ray on the front. The set I bought actually had 2 Bonds cards in it (and was missing another card) but neither was the error card.

Card #26,026: 2002 Topps #634 Josh Beckett

Beckett was the Marlins #1 draft pick in 1999 and made his debut in 2001. He was 2 and 2 in 4 starts.

Card #22,224: 2003 Upper Deck Victory #70 Brett Myers

This was a horrible set. It has just about everything I dislike: abstract backgrounds, rounded corners, a game and multiple colored parallels. 

Card #39,544: 2009 Topps Heritage #405 Robinson Cano

I liked this set and bought a lot of it.

Card #17,098: 1993 Select #236 Tim Raines

For some reason, I've always had a soft spot in my head for this set.

Card #27,371: 1994 Collector's Choice #305 Todd Zeile

Good photographs on both sides of the card.

Card #4,039: 1995 Topps Embossed Golden Idols #120

Topps Embossed was an idea that never really caught on. The player on the front was raised. This is a parallel. There was a silver version as well.