Some people like repacks and some people love them. It seems that in general most card collectors do not, but a lot of card bloggers seem to. I am one of the converted. At first I shunned them because they almost always contain a ton of
"junk wax" but since I was sort of in collecting hiatus during the height and tail end of the junk years I am one of those rare birds that doesn't have a ton of it. So before you Toss out that junk send it my way, or recycle it heck the things are cardboard and cardboard gets recycled.
Most of the repacks I have opened have been
Fairfield ones in various forms that I purchased from
Target. I have heard other bloggers sing the praises of the repacks at dollar stores and in particular at
Dollar Tree. Fortunately I live within walking distance of a
Dollar Tree and also a
Family Dollar in the same strip mall shopping center, except the
Family Dollar doesn't carry cards. :( On one trip to the Dollar store to save money on kitchen, bathroom or some kind of house supplies I went to the
Dollar Tree and got two packs of cards. These are the
cardsone (Cards One) type repacks. I got the 30 card
"Ultimate Jumbo" pack Baseball Edition. I was tempted to get some of the
semi-current
"Hoops" basketball packs they had but since the
Bullets now
Wizards are the only Hoops team I collect and those packs only have 5 cards in them I would end up trading or selling more cards or more realistically getting stuck with Basketball cards of players I don't know from teams I don't want. I just might get some sometime just for the fun of it.
As I said I purchased two 30 card packs. I will mention the goodies from both packs in two posts to keep the individual posts short and to keep people from getting board from one exceptionally long post.
The contents of Pack One in a group shot
So Pack One I opened on 03 Feb 2014
Pack One: 1982 Topps Carlton Fisk IA showing on front (back can barely make out back of card Mike Munoz)
Some of the cards have small dings and paper ware on edges. The orientation of the cards was a mishmash, some where flipped over and some were upside down. Making things more random and in some ways more exciting.
Here is a few select cards from the pack. I'll show some of them in an enlarged view and some of them I will show sometime later,
Select cards from repack
(front and back)
There were a total of 33 cards in Pack One (Hey 3 more cards than advertised) Here is the list of cards in pack order.
1982 Topps 111 Carlton Fisk IA White Sox
1982 Topps Baseball 111 Carlton Fisk In Action White Sox
(Front and Back)
Those
"In Action" cards (which usually follow a card with a regular "non-action" or portrait picture of the same player) a throwback to the 1972 set.
1995 Score 230 Mario Diaz Marlins
1997 Pinnacle 9 Curt Shilling Phillies
1984 Topps 390 Tim Raines AS Expos
1989 Donruss 241 Jim Deshales Astros
1992 Pinnacle 13 Edgar Martinez Mariners
1982 (or 83) Fleer Team Sticker Angels Califormina shaped logo
1984 Topps 503 Elias Sosa Padres
1989 Upper Deck 355 Ivan DeJesus Tigers
2000 Fleer Showcase 91 Ben Grieve A's
2000 Fleer Gamers 31 Greg Maddux Braves
1981 Topps 597 Rafael Landestoy Astros
1997 Topps 61 Mike Fetters Brewers
1989 Donruss 360 Paul O'Neill Reds
2000 Fleer Tradition40 Matt Williams Diamondbacks (WoooWhoo the new Nats Mgr)
1992 Upper Deck 204 Jose Guzman Rangers
1997 Pinnacle 10 Jeff Fassero Mariners (Marked Mariners but in Expos Uni)
1997 Pinnacle Baseball 10 Jeff Fassero Mariners (Shown in Expos Uniform)
(Front and Back)
When I first got a 1997 Pinnacle card I hated it because it was difficult to read the players name in among the gold leaf design on the bottom of the card. I'm still not thrilled with the design but I think I will at least try building a few team sets if not the whole set. After I scanned this card I noticed the weird photo edge cropping on the back portrait I checked the back of the other 1997 Pinnacle card from this pack and it has the same weird cropping.
1984 Topps 352 Dave Stewart Rangers
1981 Topps 359 Mark Wagner Tigers
1982 (83) Fleer Team Sticker Orioles Cap w/Bird Head and team name
1994 Upper Deck 274 Home Field Advantage Larry Walker Expos
1995 Fleer 509 Ozzie Smith Cardinals
1995 Score Gold Rush 395 Bret Barberie Marlins
2002 Topps 244 Derrek Lee Marlins
1992 Pinnacle 9 Andy Van Slyke Pirates
1994 Upper Deck 276 Home Field Advantage John Kruk Phillies
1995 Pinnacle 414 Russ Davis RC Yankees
1980 Topps 573 Kent Tekulve Pirates
1993 Upper Deck 124 Andy Van Slyke Pirates
1993 Upper Deck 113 Mitch Williams Phillies
1984 Topps 536 Doug Bair Tigers (back miscut)
Pair of 1984 Topps Baseball 536 Doug Bair Tigers
miscut card on left better centered one on right
Backs: Better one on top miscut one on bottom
1984 Topps 536 Doug Bair Tigers (back well centered) Dupe (well the miscut is really the Dupe)
1984 Topps Baseball 536 Doug Bair Tigers
Better cut and centered copy (Front and Back)
1995 Score 228 Mike Munoz Rockies
So in a pack advertised as 30 cards I got 33 total with one duplicate which was right behind its miscut twin. The years of the cards ranged from 1980 to 2002 with most predictably being in the late 1980s to early '90s
"Junk Years".
