And then the repacks came back

 

The other day right here on this very blog I was musing about how I could ever hope to find, umm, "older" Baseball Cards via my preferred method of: completely randomly.

This used to be easy to do via "repack" products.

But things change in Life, which is what creates "reactionary" people. I could no longer buy repacks in my preferred style of just a big stack of cards, randomly stacked together, from multiple decades. Two things had happened. 

First, the large distributor "MJ Holdings" which handles retail Baseball Card distribution into WalMarts and, in my town, Meijer, basically abandoned loose card repacks. They still produced repack products, of a sort; instead of packing cards in what they now call "Mystery Box"es, they pack packs into them. As in unopened packs. This can excite people when the wrappers are just visible enough to be identifiable, but that excitement might be a bit of a fool's errand in desiring retail base rookies. If I had wanted a 3 year old pack of Topps Chrome I would have purchased it 3 years ago.

Even before the development of the Mystery Boxes, MJ had been selling loose cards in their line of "Power Cube" products. These were quite disappointing; it was clear they were created by MJ simply opening unsold card product, extracting anything of potential value to sell elsewhere, and then dumping the left-overs into the "Power Cube." The result would be getting a stack of 59 base cards from a 3 year old product, leavened for variety with a 2nd stack of 38 base cards from a 4 year old product, and 3 high print run inserts from one or the other. Boring.

The other bye-bye repacks development in my little ole home town was that my local Walgreens quit selling cards altogether. They are serviced by MJ's main competitor in retail card distribution, Fairfield, who also handles cards for Target and thus have access to the same mountains of unsold retail card packages as MJ does.

Fairfield also sells "repacks" that are just randomly assembled sealed packs from unsold blasters, mainly. But for a long time they still offered repacks that featured 100 loose cards in a box, for about a Five spot. Those were clearly assembled by fans of Baseball Cards as the "cover card" you could see before purchasing was often a limited edition card created for distribution at "The National" - the ultimate/biggest Sports Card show in the country. 

Not surprisingly, that soon inflated in price some while also switching to a 50 card + 1 loose pack format. The glory of 100 random cards at 5¢ each was already an obtusely pricey way to find a small handful of "keeper" cards, but it was fun. At 10¢ per....you might think about it a little much.

Unfortunately even that fun disappeared once my local Walgreens once again dropped cards altogether. 

The other day I scrounged up some motivation on this topic and asked Google, hey, what's up with loose card repacks? It couldn't parse that question too well but eventually I got things rolling with a variety of search term combinations. 

Turns out, Fairfield still produces what it calls "Collector's Edge" boxes and they are sold at Walgreens. The weblinks on my laptop screen even suggested that the Walgreens in my very own small little town had some of these ... IN STOCK! 

I felt this had to be an error. Turns out, the Internet is quite adept at helping you buy whatever your heart desires, whenever you wish. But I expect you already knew that. So yesterday thanks to the combined efforts of a mega corporation, a large corporation, and one small corporation, everything on my screen was true and I was soon the new owner of a box promising me:

and that's precisely what I wanted.

Let's peek at the insides -

This created some concerns. A 2023 Topps Baseball Christian Yelich card is not what I wanted in a repack. (Baseball aside - I find Yelich cards depressing in that they remind me of the inequities within Baseball far too much. The small market Brewers sign an MVP to a going-rate, premium contract and then the whole project falls apart when the MVP is injured a couple times, blowing up their payroll budget for little reward. Something which contributed to seeing their latest high-quality player, Willy Adames, leave in Free Agency. Without the Yelich contract, still not generating the necessary ROI, could the Brew Crew have kept Adames? Rob Manfred and Scott Boras will never tell. None of that is in any way Yelich's fault of course.)

Aside from the buzz kill of the specific player on the First Card, I was also disappointed to see a 2023 card there at all. The other elements in the picture were somewhat expected - there is still unopened Junk Wax packs out there. I mean, I do my part by buying these goofy repack products and then opening that wax, but I can't seem to keep up with denting the supply.

It's not completely clear in that photograph, but just above the wax pack was a stack of white cards, clearly all from the same product. This is not unusual in a repack but with a 2023 card on top I was already worried the repack would be no different than what I could find by just randomly reaching onto my own card desk still covered with stacks of cards from the last several years. I want old Baseball Cards in a repack, not new ones.

It was too late however, my $6.50 in cash had already been deposited on the barrelhead at Walgreen's and the surprisingly strong cardboard box holding these treasures had already been destroyed. With a bit of a deep breath, I soldiered on:

This was very comforting. It is a little known rule of Baseball Cards that a true repack product can't be assembled without a representative from 1989 Donruss.

An upside-down card was also a great sign that the cards would be decently randomized, rather than being just all from some same recent set.

I quite liked that I instantly recognized that iconic scoreboard, too.

Obligatory Oooohhh, Shiny

Not as exciting as some 1990s Pacific that I always hope for. I can't say I understand a reason for Topps Gold Label to exist (again), unless maybe it is supposed to keep the nostalgia fires lit for the 1990s:

The amazing thing about the 2 Fleer Flair cards is that they were issued in packs 30-ish years ago, stuck in some sort of container somewhere for a long long time, shipped to the repack factory, then placed loose in a cardboard box which was put in a bigger box and then loaded on a truck with several forklifts involved before being unloaded out back of my local Walgreens and then jostled around in a big plastic tub of toys and stuff before finally being hung on a peg for me to find. And they still have 4 sharp corners! I grade them in Mint+ condition (gloss not even scratched!) though for everyone else in the uptight 21st Century that is surely just a PSA 4.

Mandatory Hall-of-Famer

This was another wonderfully re-assuring find, proof positive that the loose-card-repack rules were being respected at Fairfield. Everybody knows you can't just stuff packages of Baseball Cards full of players nobody knows or likes. Kills the return business. Are you listening, Topps?

That was something I long understood about repacks: 1 Hall-of-Famer, every time, despite all that this-isn't-really-gambling legalese Baseball Card companies are legally required to try to fool us with. Sure, it's just another 1989 Donruss Baseball Card worth precisely 0.0¢ in the Real World. But if I were to assemble a small collection of just Hall-of-Famers pulled from repack products, well, after a while that would be some eye popping pages of Baseball Cards. Sounds like a challenge. Accepted.

And did you know they actually let Hall of Famers do something called "Bunting" back there in the 20th Century? Man what a weird game Baseball was, back then.

1st Educational Card

Did you know that Mike Trout played enough Baseball in the year 2022 to make it on to a League Leader card? Amazing. I did not know that.

I surely just left this card in a pile along with its pack mates when I saw it for about 1.3 seconds back in about April, 2023. There was no way I could retain this key factoid from out of all those crazy triangles and pseudo triangles all over the place. Until this repack got the job done by simply handing me the card upside down, information first style.

Mike Trout hit 40 Home Runs in 2022 - in just 119 games. Confession Time: I had non-Baseball Card help with that 2nd part. Amazing. Quite the star-powered card there. But then that's the way a Home Run Leaders card should be.

Most Existential Crisis Card

What If?

Bowman cards -aren't- Photoshopped?

Could I still dislike them as much?

This card grabbed my attention immediately. That particular Sox logo is only supposed to be seen on warm-up jackets several decades back; it is rarely seen on cardboard. The official ChiSox logo in the 80s (as already seen here on that 89 Donruss) isn't the same as this uni doesn't repeat Chicago White Sox underneath.

At first, I thought this was a Photoshopper down in the Bowman mine just lazily pasting Sox logos on some photo of Dylan Cease from a Minor League game. That's because in standard Baseball Card fashion, the card informed it was a 2018 card by listing 2017 as the previous year's stats for Cease. And I knew he didn't come up to the Bigs until 2019.

But as a nice stroll around White Sox uniform history finally revealed to me, this is a real uniform — their Spring Training uniform. Those are something I almost never ever see; even then largely via Baseball Cards and Baseball Cards only, and such Baseball Cards are quite few and far between. Few Spring Training games are ever televised to start with, and I still don't own a Television. Just, Baseball Cards.

The I-did-my-own-research 2020s achievement badge was granted when I finally tracked this down in the Getty database; this is a real photograph -

GLENDALE, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 28: Dylan Cease #85 of the Chicago White Sox pitches against the Texas Rangers on February 28, 2018 at Camelback Ranch in Glendale Arizona. (Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

I would have never in a million years ended up owning a copy of that Dylan Cease Baseball Card if I hadn't "wasted" $6.50 or so at my local Walgreens yesterday. Would I pay $6.50 for that Baseball Card? No, I wouldn't even pay 50¢ for that Baseball Card. But it will look great on my page(s) of unique Chicago White Sox uniform thingie stuffs. Way to go, repack.

Only the best Names

I laughed. Sorry, Tom. I mean, what do you think 11 year olds did back in 1990?

Yesterday I saw some big confirmation that the easier-than-falling-off-a-log decision to keep the "35th Anniversary" design re-use dealio will continue in 2025 Topps Baseball sets. How did I learn this? I saw the mock-ups for the big news that Barry Bonds is coming back to Topps next year. Hurry and pre-order your pallets & cases, now.

The good news is that Topps does seem to understand that the 1990 design is improved immensely when Team-Color-Match is used on it; the Pirates card shown for Bonds went straight to that principle. I do have to give the 1990 Lichtenstein/Mondrian-esque design credit for being one that improves over time. Dark green corners, ehhh, not so much. But pink-heading-out-to-meet-purple stripe? I'm down. The "Mojo" pattern that will arrive in "Silver Packs" might be extra funky too. There will surely be some glorious train-wrecks of colors, but probably also some sneaky good hey-this-actually-works cards, too. About 49 days till Pitchers & Catchers report...

Bonus Hall-of-Famer

91 Donruss, I could live without.

Bonus Fan Favorite

'course, more than just Hall-of-Famers are famous to baseball fans. There are also those guys from the Hall of Very Good, like the Big Cat here.

I can't say I want very many 1990 Score cards although they would make one heckuva great Oakland Athletics team set, I expect.

But I also needed at least one more 1990 Score card for the Powder Blue Collection, since the Powder Blue is right there on the card, outside of the photo. A nice touch on '90 Score. Only trouble is, all my '90 Score cards are of teams that never wore any Powder Blue.

Thus a Powder Blue Team Logo bed on a card with an authentic Powder Blue uniform being worn by an actually famous Baseball Player is thus just exactly perfect. And the Racing Stripe collection can't call dibs here, either.

This is precisely what I was overly-worryin' about when I mentioned my sadness over no more repacks - how would I find cards for the Powder Blue Collection? Bitch, and ye shall receive.

need-it

yup. 23 Heritage is gaining momentum.

Here I am finding cards for it in a repack already. Nuts.

Double Bonus Fan Favorite

Not really a fan of 89 Fleer but it was fun to read, essentially, the early career history of Cecil Fielder. This card tells me was probably injured in 1988, appearing in only 74 games, after a somewhat promising but also only partial season result in 1987. That in turn helps me understand how he became a Detroit Tiger not long after this, something I could no longer recall very well. Not sure what I will do with this card, but I appreciated the details, cuz even with repacks, Yeah, I Read the Backs.

Oldest Card

Another bittersweet find. I often miss my set of 1978 Topps Baseball, the very first I ever completed. Though I also enjoy remembering what I got in exchange for it, something I could never repurchase, ever again, unlike a set of 1978 Topps Baseball.

I am starting to look forward to 2027 Heritage some. Hopefully by then Fanatics-Topps gets their crap together on producing it, with adequate staff time assigned to get the basics right. 2024 Heritage was an insult to the brand, essentially, if you ask me.

I think I have another copy of this 1978 Dwight Evans card floating around somewhere, also pulled from a repack product. It is a somehow striking card for yer average Batting Cage shot. The combo of Spring sunshine and lurking Palm trees probably helps a bunch; nor does the batting glove image hurt either. The letter perfect framing, which clearly shows us what Dwight Evans looks like while still letting some a-day-around-the-game-of-Baseball authenticity in seals the deal. 

And what -IS- that patch so prominent there on Dwight's left shoulder? Let's take a closer look:

Was a Massachusetts Bicentennial running late, not being celebrated until Spring, 1977? 

Google led me to the right place to get started: a Baseball Card blog! That's a post from a cool 17 years ago. We are Immortal, down here in Bloggle land. I guess.

That linked post wrestles with whether the Red Sox wore the patch in both the 1975 and 1976 seasons and though it does present evidence from 1977 Topps, this 1978 Topps goes unremarked. So, my guess: either Topps used a photo older than Spring, '77, or maybe just a few '76 jerseys were still around the clubhouse at the beginning of '77 Spring Training.

A keeper Baseball Card, -that's- for sure.

2nd Oldest Card

Mostly showing off this one because it has the best possible card back text for a Pitcher: "His 2-run Homer produced Game-Winning RBI in 5-3 Complete Game Win at San Diego, 8-7-83."

Man 20th Century Baseball sure was wild. They are all up in excitement about the GWRBI stat back then, Pitchers were throwing Complete Games and even hitting Home Runs! Epcot.

The Scary Part of the (re)Pack

This was the top card of the run of clearly identical set cards sitting above the sealed pack. Another definite relief that this wasn't just a dozen+ cards from 2022 Topps or something.

Though I partially bought these cards just to find old Powder Blue unis, this one won't get promoted up a century, for the Powder pages, nor the Racing Stripe pages. A little too much color saturation and simultaneously too much shade. Though if you need a little extra light to help you navigate the sleigh while you deliver Christmas presents tonight, maybe this card can help.

Frame breaks galore in 90 Fleer, a very serviceable design amidst a bit of over experimentation in some adjacent sets and manufacturers. Maybe a little under-rated in it's elegant allowance of the team logo to do the talking, without a text repeat of City, Team? We're about to find out...

more Famous Fan Favorite action

red Empty Seats!

(these cards have just enough bow to make them fight sitting still on the scanner, and thus a little crooked, sorry)

Prospects, Rookies, what's the difference?

Maybe, plenty. My initial thought on seeing this card was - bring on the famous Fleer SuperStar duals!

But, yeah, I read the back. This one had an intriguing stat line for Scott Hemond, who I have never heard of:

1989 Statistics

Club—Athletics

AVG—.000

AB—0

HR—0

RBI—0

Had I finally pulled my very own Never-Played-in-MLB-but-has-a-Major-League-Baseball-Card Rookie Card card? 

Nope. Hemond did appear in 4 games for the 1989 A's. He just didn't get to actually Bat. And he did go on to appear in almost 300 games in the first half of the 90s.

Bobby Baseball's Dad. Can't go wrong.

First Base Guy goes into the Set Position.

Don't see many cards like this one.

Famous Starter the year after a World Series victory?

Now we're cooking with gas.

&, I get it now - Team Color Match design. Nice.

Triple Hall-of-Famer box?

Not sure if this one counts.

Well that last run of the loose cards was a nice stroll through a less commonly seen reminder of the **** wax era. It's not j**k where I live. And it was a handy prelude to the actual wax pack in the box:

I was thinking 88 Donruss when I saw just the edge. Oops.

15 cards & 1 Sticker.

ooohhhh, what would be on the back of the sticker?

Fleer was the king of Sticker Backs.

Finally some Tigers ACTION.

Though I'm not sure how stickers get into ACTION.

Is the Tiger going to eat Chief Wahoo?

I can't take the suspense...what will Fleer bring me?

These brain twisters have ya stumped?

Keep scrollin'

I always thought this guy should be a politician.

Just because of the name alone I guess.

Batting with Sunglasses on will always look cool as all Hell on a Baseball Card.

A 4th Hall-of-Famer? Pack Fresh!

Man, these repack boxes are loaded.

The Powder Blue card I was waiting for.

MLB's current semi-revival of the Powder Blues obscures the history that they were largely used as road uniforms, back in the day.

A 17 year Veteran at this point.

Get me to the Casino, stat!

I could feel the vibration of this one while I was still waiting in line at Walgreen's.

I'll bet you didn't know Urquel played Major League Baseball.

I also bet you don't know who Urquel was.

Catchers should never be photographed with their gloves while they are standing up. That ain't right. Things always go weird, in a hurry. Don't ever smile like this. There are cameras everywhere, these days. You will regret it.

More Fan Favorite, In Action!

My Racing Stripe Collection says gimmeee, gimmeee.

I love a good late afternoon Baseball Card.

Always gives me pleasant memories of watching the Game of the Week.

That show's not on any more.

And that's a shame.

Welp, looks like now I'm collecting 1990 Fleer I guess. I didn't expect that when I fatefully wheeled into that Walgreens parking lot. I have been working on a 1991 Topps project almost all of the year 2024 and I'm still not done with it. Adding another early 90s Complete Set to my shelves just isn't in the, uhhh, cards. But it will clearly be enjoyable to merge these nifty 90 Fleer scores with whatever else I might already have in inventory, which would all be from repacks purchased back in the good ole 10s.

I'm happy it looks like I will be able to buy some brand new old Baseball Cards, even if they have gone up from a nickel apiece to a bit over a dime apiece, and most of the dimes will obtain useless cards.

So I hope there might be one of these little boxes of memories under your tree here in 12-36 hours or so.

Merry Christmas!