Repack Friday - The Rookies

As promised earlier this week, here are the results from my other repack box, this one claiming 5 Rookie Cards. And despite the pretty pictures on the box, I didn't pull anything like the Gypsy Queen, Bowman or 2012 Topps shown.

And unlike the HOF box earlier, this one went back to a couple of tried and true standards for the unopened packs, Fleer Ultra, 2008 Upper Deck and 1989 Topps. Although the Topps was a cello pack rather than rack pack and the fourth pack was another wax pack of 1988 Donruss.

Nothing crazy in the 1989 Topps cello pack but it wouldn't be a repack if I didn't get at least one Jerry Reuss card. If I didn't already send the others off somewhere, I may be on the verge of a mini collection! Dennis Boyd makes an appearance because of his nickname. I miss the Turn Back the Clock cards and think Topps may be due to revisit them. Maybe a Mariano Rivera Tribute card? And of course, Robin Yount is a HOFer.

And despite not getting a single Cubs player in the pack, there were a couple of former/future Cubs. And one almost was (Rob Dibble).

And here's a card I haven't seen in years. Somebody has to 'fess up to owning one of these from back in the day. Who will be the first in the community to step up? I couldn't even find one on eBay after a quick search. I wonder how long "supplies lasted" for these?

One decent card in the Fleer Ultra pack. Anybody have a "players out of uniform" mini collection?

The Upper Deck pack wasn't much better even with 3 "scan worthy" cards. The Starquest cards are one per pack. You can't really go wrong with a Yankees insert. Even if you don't collect Yankees, somebody does. Bucky F'n Dent. And this weird Jim Edmonds card in a Padres uniform but the team is listed as the Cubs.

Three more scan worthy cards from 1988 Donruss. They knew Dennis Boyd's nickname and weren't afraid to use it. Bill Buckner, a former Cub. And a not so smiley John Smiley.

On to the miscellaneous 100 cards.

Not quite as many HOFers as last week but a couple will have to do. 

As for the oddball of the box, there's nothing particularly odd about this Eduardo Perez card below, but it did jump out at me. In my best old geezer voice, "Back in my day, the Angels represented the whole state of California. Not just one city, or even two."

And yes I know the Angels were originally the LA Angels. But for the purposes of showing this card, the CA logo on Eduardo Perez's helmet and sleeve represent the Angels of my childhood. I guess the next generation of collectors will be saying that about the Miami/Florida Marlins.

Alex Fernandez signing autographs. I vaguely remember him getting pretty far with a no-hitter against the Cubs but they broke it up in the 9th?

The minor league cards always interest me because I like to see if they've made it or not. Unfortunately while doing this write up, the Baseball-Reference website isn't working right for me so I have to rely on other sources. Dennis Powell made it to the Majors with the Dodgers and Mariners and according to his Wiki page, had three Major League hits, all doubles. Not bad for a pitcher.

Bill Dawley was also a pitcher and played for the Astros, White Sox, Cardinals, Phillies and A's. He was even an All-Star as a rookie in 1983.

I've always liked Dennis Martinez so pulling two cards, one of which has him in a sweet red jersey, gets him a nod here.

Several former/future Cubs show off the diverse brands and years represented in the repack box. The Tom Veryzer doubles as the oldest card in the box, 1983.

Kalvoski Daniels really wanted to be in this box, too bad he's on the Reds here and not from his Cubs stint. The 1986 Donruss could have been one of the 5 guaranteed rookies as well. Unlike the HOF box where the five cards were reversed to differentiate themselves from the rest of the cards, there was no such luck with this one.

Aside from the weird Padres looking Edmonds above, this glorious Jay Baller card represented the only current (at the time) Cubs card from the entire box. Might have been worth it if I didn't already have it.

As I said, with the Rookies not separated, I had to go through them pretty closely to find five. I didn't think they were counting these but I couldn't be sure until I found more:

 On to the "real" five. A rookie prospect from the Yankees? Because of that, the value on this may have reached a full single digit back in the day. The last name is Hutton in case you can't tell from the scan.

A good ol' fashioned Rated Rookie designation makes it a little easier to tell. Plus another sweet red Expos jersey from Wil Cordero might make this one the tops in the group, which isn't saying much.

This Carlos Delgado is by far the fanciest but not sure if it qualifies as a rookie. It's a Hot Prospect card and a "Draft Edition" but what does that even mean anymore? I'm sure the repack box stuffers didn't put any more thought into it than I just did, so I'm counting it. If that doesn't satsify you, see the Kal Daniels Rated Rookie above.

Was Toys R Us allowed to issue Rookie cards? Who knows? Says rookie right on this Reggie Jefferson card so I guess it counts.

Finally, one that actually say RC on it. Again, in case you can't read the scan, this is Madison Bumgarner.

Overall, I'd give this box a meh. Not enough Cubs to keep my interest. And while I wasn't expecting a Ryne Sandberg to be among the rookies, I could have done a lot better. I'm not sure I got $5 entertainment value out of this box, let alone $5 card value. I did get a post out of it, so that's something.

But wait! I'm not done. I almost forgot the best part of the box...

Why yes, there was a stick of bubble gum in that 1989 Cello pack. Solid. Unbroken. Stood the test of time.

Well, not in taste. Yep. Its gone. I'm that guy. Completely crumbled. Nothing to chew. More like a bubblegum flavored cracker. Enquiring minds wanted to know.