Did I go to the card shop down the street and pick up a pack of brand-new 2023 Topps baseball? I did not. The place was closed yesterday and it's raining today.
Did I stop at my previous LCS (Target) and pick up some affordable retail offerings? Nope, the card shelves at Target have been a sad sight for so long I don't even bother.
It's strange to say this, but if I'm really craving cards the best value in the area is... Walgreens.
One last repack on the shelf. They have others behind the counter, along with some Topps Archives baseball. But I'm not looking to spend $26 on newer stuff. I want something I can trade. For some reason, the active users on TCDB love "junk wax" commons, especially baseball.
You probably know the deal with these repacks - 50 to 60 loose cards, plus a pack or two. $6 a pop. Let's see if this was a wise choice or if I should have picked up one of these instead.
Not a bad start with an '81 and an '82 (hey, Vida!) The last time I bought one of these repacks, the oldest card came from 1985 Topps. This Dick Howser glossy insert is morbidly fascinating to me. He was selected to manage the AL All-Stars in 1986 after leading the Royals to the World Series in '85... but by the time this card was pulled from packs in '87 Howser had passed away from a brain tumor. The 1986 All-Star Game was his last official game as a manager.
On that somber note... let's dive into the heart of the overproduction era. Whenever I buy a repack - whether it's a current box or one of those old cubes they used to sell at Target (man I miss those) - I like to group each card by year, just to get an idea of what to expect for the next one.
1988 picks up where 1987 left off - with Larry Parrish. If I'm going to get two of the same card it might as well be a Red Sox single. The '88 Donruss Larry Sheets was already in my trade box. No idea how I'll offload both of 'em. There are some sets I saw way too much as a kid that I kind of miss, like '88 Topps or any of the first three Score sets. '88 Donruss is not one of them I loathe '88 Donruss.
Same with '89 Topps. Traded singles like the Terry Kennedy here are slightly better. My countdown of the 100 Greatest non-Hall of Famers is giving me a new appreciation for stars like Clark and Quiz. I also appreciate that they're not '89 Topps cards :P
Here's Terry Kennedy again, in the 1990 batch. If '90 Fleer wasn't such a basic set I'd be tempted to build it. I somehow have 103 of the 660 cards.
Hey, there's some actual Hall of Famers in the 1991 batch. Plus an off-cut Kevin Mitchell.
When I said that these commons move quickly on Trading Card Database I wasn't kidding: Lonnie Smith, Dave Righetti, David Cone, and Joe Orsulak have already been traded. And I made sure my trade partner knew the Orsulak was stained on the back before finalizing the trade. She didn't mind.
The rest of the '90s here. As the former proprietor of a 1993-themed blog I'm disappointed in the single card showing from that season. Ron Karkovice is in a pending deal, we'll see what happens there. "Tuffy" Rhodes and two Expos infielders round out this group.
Not all the cards were from '80s and '90s sets...
This is everything from the past
Every repack is supposed to come with at least one sealed pack. Football boxes usually contain Leaf Draft, Sage, or other college/draft pick product. This baseball repack yielded two unopened packs..
Noooo! Not 1988 Donruss! Ugh, how am I going to trade away any of these?
Not counting these godawful things (which I did open because I'm hardwired to open packs) I pulled 52 loose cards. Four of them were keepers, which you'll see on the top row. I switched them out with four 'traders' which are on the bottom row:
Balboni was the oldest card in my last repack. Let's see if I can find new homes for all 52 82 cards in this stack. If you see anything you need, let me know and I'll set it aside for you.
Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!
~
I have some interest in that stamped Matt Harvey, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteI could set that aside for you.
DeleteIf you had fun, that is all that matters
ReplyDeleteRepacks are always interesting, yes.
DeleteI haven't kept too many Junk Wax Era singles laying around since I reentered the hobby in the late 2000's... but it's kind of cool knowing that there are people on TCDB who want that stuff.
ReplyDeleteThere are indeed. I found one user who needs five of my cards from the '90 batch. Not sure if that's enough for a trade but the interest is there.
DeleteTCDB traders want junk wax???? That's good to know, although the few I've traded with so far haven't been interested. P.S.: I like '88 Donruss.
ReplyDeleteYou want 'em? lol. I'm always struggling to find things to send you.
DeleteFor some reason I never see repack boxes of cards. Maybe I'm going to the wrong stores. I'm usually reluctant to buy them anyway. But it looks like at roughly 7 cents per card, you pretty much got your money's worth.
ReplyDeleteTarget had cubes in different sizes about 7-8 years ago, then they stopped selling 'em. It was at least five years before I saw any repacks anywhere, and only once the Rite Aid near me changed to a Walgreens.
DeleteIt's been a few years, but my baseball repacks always had a pack of 2012 Triple Play in them. And no matter how you feel about the '88 Donruss set, there are few things worse than that TP set.
ReplyDeleteI still get shivers from that godawful set. if I wasn't so afraid of pulling TP I might have picked up more repacks in the past.
Deletep.s. I think your comment was the 5,000th I received. Might have to send you something for that :D
Always fun to see what folks get in those repacks.
ReplyDelete