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.

Repack Bang or Bust Part 4

It's time to open up another repack and see if I got a bang for my money or just a bust.  This is one of the Fairfield plastic boxes with 250 loose cards and a couple of packs. All together that's about 265 cards working out to about 4 cents/card.

My baseball card collecting mantra is "If it's a card I don't have, then I need it". I judge a repack like this on two criteria, how many cards did I need, and what was the quality of the cards. This box was not too bad on the number of cards I needed as I pulled 110 cards from it I didn't have. Normally I'm happy if I'm near 50%. On the other hand, I got some good (in my opinion) stuff in it. I'll give this a:

1981 Topps #193

The Mad Serbian. This card almost made the whole box worth it.

1982 Topps #342

A good player from a good set.

1987 Topps #564

I don't get excited seeing 1987 Topps in a repack since I have the entire set. One hazard of early Topps cards is gum stains. I think this may be the worst gum stain I ever saw. It not only ruined the back of the card but the front as well.

1990 Star #98

Nothing special here except he's a player I never heard of. I like to look guys like this up on baseball-reference.com. Scruggs appeared in 6 games, getting 6 at bats in April 1991. He had no hits or walks but managed to score a run as a pinch runner.

1992 Topps #430

I'm guessing that Sax is going into a slide at second. Look at where the ball is relation to Sax. Sailing into center field.

1993 Ted Williams #96

Let's get excited about a checklist. I only have 30 cards from this 160 card set and I didn't have a checklist. This goes into the reference books.

1994 Leaf #221

I have over 500 Jeff Bagwell cards, but I didn't have this one, and I like this year of Leaf as well. Like many glossy cards from this era, the card shows some damage from being stuck to other cards.

1996 Collector's Choice

Another card for the reference books. 1996 Collector's Choice was a 730-card set with a lot of subsets. I didn't have any of the postseason cards from the set.

1996 Finest #139

Does anybody remember the great peel or not to peel debate of the mid-1990s? My advice, peel 'em.

1997 Pinnacle Certified #30

Another card with a peel. This is only the second card I've ever seen from this product. I have a red mirror parallel of a Phillies rookie I got in a trade a few years ago. This is one of those cards that are impossible to scan. It's basically a mirror on the front. And get a load of the pinwheel o' stats on the back.

2002 Topps 206 #45

Here's a set I wish I had bought more of when new. Hobby boxes of this product are going on eBay for $146.

2002 Upper Deck #92

What a mess. Upper Deck MVP was produced from 1999 to 2005 and I didn't like any of them. Especially this year. you can get 2 hobby boxes of this product on eBay for about $25.

2003 Fleer Splendid Splinters #29

In the early 2000s, Fleer produced a bewildering number of sets. 

Random Cards From My Collection #79

Card #5628
2001 Topps Combos #3 Cal Ripken, Jr. and Brooks Robinson

Comments on the card/player: Two great players on one card. How can  you go wrong? This was a 20-card insert set in 2001 Topps. It brings to mind player combo cards from the early years of Topps.
How/When acquired: I paid $0.15/card for a box of Topps in 2001.

Card #19407
2010 Topps #351 Koji Uehara

Comments on the card/player: Two cards, three Orioles. This was Uehara's last full season with the Orioles, when he had 13 saves. He's with the Red Sox now and has 20+ saves a year for them since 2013. And he was an All-Star in 2014.
How/When acquired: I paid $0.19/card for packs of Series 2 Topps in 2001.

Card #24067
2004 Topps Total #170 Roy Oswalt

Comments on the card/player: This Topps set promised to have every player on each team's 40-man roster. The result, an unattractive 880-card set. If that doesn't sound like enough cards, many cards had 2 players on them.
How/When acquired: I paid $0.10/card for a for packs of Topps Total in August 2004. At least they were cheap.

Card #20043
1990 Donruss #278 Von Hayes

Comments on the card/player: Do you like the color red? Then 1990 Donruss is for you. In my opinion, the continuance of several years of weird Donruss designs, which will finally end with 1992 Donruss.
How/When acquired: I don't know.

Card #10215
2008 Upper Deck Star Quest #10 Chipper Jones

Comments on the card/player: Lucky us, we had one of these horrible cards in the last random card post.
How/When acquired: I paid $0.25/card for blasters of Upper Deck in 2008. 25 cents for this junk! At least it's Chipper Jones.

Card #32527
2012 Topps Gypsy Queen #220 Joey Votto

Comments on the card/player: The second year for Gypsy Queen which I liked quite a lot in 2011. I didn't like this as much and I like it less and less each year.
How/When acquired: I paid $0.43/card for a hobby box of Gypsy Queen in April 2012.

Card #54371
2015 Topps Update #189 Adam Warren

Comments on the card/player: I remember everyone, including me, being pretty excited about the 2015 Topps design early in the year. But I was getting burnt out on the design by about half-way through this enormous 400-card update set.
How/When acquired: I aid $0.12/card for a hand-collated set of Topps Update plus inserts from eBay in October 2015.

Card #38735
1988 Donruss #480 John Morris

Comments on the card/player: Hey, another in the string of weird Donruss designs. I have more than half of this 660 card set despite never buying a single pack of it.
How/When acquired: Paid $0.04/card for 100-card Fairfield Repack in arch 2013. Repack fodder, that's why I have so much of this.

Card #32440
2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Future Stars #FS-EH Eric Hosmer

Comments on the card/player: Hosmer was 3rd in the ROY voting in 2011 and he's had a pretty good career since, gathering 3 Gold Gloves and a World Series ring along the way.
How/When acquired: In addition to buying a hobby box of this product as mentioned above, I also bought a rack pack and a blaster box for $0.46/card, which is where I pulled this card.