Bummer.
In fact, I didn't see any cards, sports or otherwise. I moseyed around the store for a bit just to see if they moved them somewhere else and sure enough, they were now much closer to the registers. I wonder if that wasn't some kind of loss prevention move.
Anyway, I almost overlooked them because the packaging had completely changed. And also the contents.
The packaging was now a plastic storage container instead of just the cardboard box. Nice, I like that change! But as you you can see from the picture, we're down to 2 packs instead of 4. This sticker was on one side of the cube. The other three sides showed 2 visible cards and one visible pack. Every repack in stock showed a pack of 2015 Topps Series One so I went with one that showed 2 cards of interest to me.
Along with the cards from the 2015 Topps pack, this is the newest card in the box. But it's not a regular base card. It's an All-Star card from the factory team sets that get put out as you can see by the American League logo.
I'm not sure if the other card showing was the guaranteed rookie in the box, but at least its a nice horizontal card.
As I did last week, I'll show off some of the more interesting (to me) cards in some recurring categories, As noted on the packaging, I was guaranteed a card from each of the past 5 decades. Counting backwards, that gets me at least one card from the 70's, which makes me feel really old.
Barely squeaking in was this 1979 Ron Fairly card. And speaking of feeling old, this guy was born in 1939, debuted in 1958 and was still playing when I was born in 1978.
In addition to the Taylor Green above, these Jay Payton and Orlando Miller cards were also rookies in the box. That Payton cad could almost pass for one of those unlicensed non-Topps cards of today with its lack of logos.
As for the guaranteed Hall of Famer in the box, it could be any one of the four.
A pair of Dennis Eckersley cards, a Pudge and a Stan the Man puzzle card. Also added a nice Hall of Fame horizontal to the collection with another Carlton Fisk, this time playing first base.
Along with the HOFers, we have some Hall of Pretty Gooders. As defined last week, these are guys I would have put in my binders back in the day. And my criteria for that was they were listed in Beckett instead of being commons. This also shows a little variety in the set selection for the repack. Lots of junk wax, but some odd stuff like Classic, Fleer Superstars and Sportflics.
Guys with Cubs connections always jump out out at me and this pack featured a quartet of former/future Cubs to go with the HOF Ecks above.
And speaking of Cubs, this repack had the highest rate of actual Cubs that I can remember. Especially after basically getting shut out last week (one unlicensed "Chicago" card for those that don't remember) Out of 100 cards, I pulled 7 from my favorite team. Not a single one was new to me, although I will check to see if any of them are needed condition upgrades.
As far as other collection keepers go, there were a couple of niche additions with horizontals...
...and one for the Ivy collection.
Before I get to the 2 packs, I almost forgot the guaranteed Chipz.
Mr. Met is some salt in the wound that's still a little fresh from last year's post season. I didn't even want to mention the Cub killer Daniel Murphy horizontal above.
The first pack, as mentioned, was 2015 Topps Series One. The highlights include two horizontals and a gold Charlie Blackmon
The other pack was from one of the newer Triple Play incarnations. Two more horizontals and a Clayton Kershaw sticker. Meh.
A few final cards I thought were interesting but don't really have a category. I always thought the Greg(g)Olson battery would have been fun but that never came to fruition. These cards were back to back in the pile. Some repacker has a sense of humor.
And I know the 1988 Orioles were pretty bad. Didn't they start the season 0-21 or something terrible like that? But seriously, Donruss couldn't find a better Diamond King than Dave Schmidt to represent them? I don't recall who Donruss used in previous years off the top of my head but they couldn't use Eddie Murray? Cal? Heck, even Billy Ripken?
Edit: I went to the 1988 Orioles Baseball Reference page. There were a couple of options on offense but the pitching that year was terrible. I guess an 8-5 record with 2 Saves does make you the Diamond King on that pitching staff.
As usual, anything you see is up for grabs, with the exception of the horizontals and ivy cards
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