Bad Wax

Well, I was going to delve back into the 1952 pack chase box since I pulled a 1984 Topps wax pack yesterday, but I decided, to go for one of the newly acquired 2007 Topps Turkey Red packs. What really drew me to this product was the Dick Perez portraits. Which to me as a collector and not a person looking to resell these, I really enjoy the quality of the portraits. Also with a very low chance of getting really bad cards, it was an added bonus. I figured with a base set of only 186 cards, at 8 cards per pack, I am looking at completing a set with only 24 packs (theoretically). So I got my first 8 ready to go! Since I would like to complete the base set for this I may ask for some help with some of my need cards. So here is the picture of the pack:

A-Rod (my favorite Yankee) on the front, nice! Say what you will about A-Rod, but if people stopped busting his balls, and looked at his stats, they would realize we are seeing something very special here. Now if Canseco comes back and let’s us know he’s on steroids, my tune may change, but he did dodge the Mitchell report so, he isn’t tainted yet in my mind. OK I looked at the values in Tuff Stuff and maybe my cooler days are up, seems like it would be hard not to pull at least a dollar card out of this one.

1.Carlos Beltran – OF – Mets – 59 – Well, it’s a Met, and I hate the Mets, but I always wished Beltran was a Yankee, just because he’s such a good lead-off hitter. Kind of reminds me of a Rickey Henderson without the mouth.
2.Kenji Johjima – C – Mariners – 11 – I don’t know how I feel about Japanese players in baseball. I know I would love for MLB to start inserting them into the draft just like basketball does. Because when you think about it, west coast teams have the edge simply because the asian population is bigger in those areas. Big Market teams like Boston, New York and Chicago have a chance but for the most part, these players will avoid the Minnesotas / Clevelands / Tampas of the baseball world. By the way I like Johjima.
3.Orlando Hernandez – SP – Mets – 12 – It’s hard for a Yankee fan like myself to see 2 Mets in the first 3 cards. Especially one of El Duque (who I adored in pinstripes). I think Hernandez might be in the last of his years in the MLB, kinda makes you wonder what he could have done coming in at 19 years old.
4.Don Kelly - IF – Pirates – 97 – Sound the alarms it’s a rookie card. Let’s see how he did. I looked him up on Wikipedia which is always bad for minor leaguers cause they never have any correct info. So we went to the baseball cube, looks like he can play almost every position fairly well. Not much from him offensively this year, he hit 0.148. But as he is my first Turkey Red Rookie I will root for him.
5.Randy Johnson – SP – Diamondbacks – 113 – Second alarm ringer . . . an insert, but true to my form it’s a common insert (Nice! Wouldn’t want my streak to end). Chrome parallel 1588 / 1999. I hate the Unit. Yankees gave up Vasquez, Halsey and Navarro for him and he gave us zip, nothing, nada, in return, I mean other than his sore back that is. At least we got back some talent for him. Sucks that this is the insert I get.
6.Craig Biggio – 2B – Astros – 80 – Is this his last card? If so, it’s a nice way to go out. I was actually at Biggio’s pro debut. Back when he was a catcher, the switch to 2B was the best decision he ever made. Is he a HOFer? Well he did get the 3000 hits, but did you know he won 4 gold gloves and 4 silver slugger awards? I guess he gets my vote.
7.Trevor Hoffman – CL – Padres – 161 – He is a great closer. Not a HOFer in my book, because he was never a “feared” closer, like Rivera, or Eck, but he’s been closing since 1994 so you can’t fault the guy, definitely a good guy in the league too. I met him in NY once during the World Series, and although they lost bad that day, he was nice enough to sign autographs after the game for 30 minutes. Super good guy in my book!
8.Turning Two – Checklist – 176 – Although I hate when they include the checklist as one of the 8 cards, this one doesn’t steam me as much because the portrait is so nice. It’s a picture of Florida’s Ramirez, turning the double play.

Think this is probably one of the nicest sets I have ever collected. Overall I find it hard to believe that not one card listed in the price guide. Here is my rating for the pack (out of 5.0 stars).

Price – 2.50 – 4.5 stars – These cards are beautiful and the price is very good.
Cards in pack – 8 - 4.0 stars – Pretty solid amount of cards for such a premium set.
Stars in pack – 3 - 4.0 stars – I had to think about guys that were great and I come up with Biggio, Hoffman, and Beltran. The others are very good, but not great.
Value of the Pack – Let’s put it at $2.50 – 2.5 stars - Broke even, but the chrome insert helped a lot, honestly though, I like this set for the pictures and I really don’t care what I get.
Card Design – 5.0 stars – Perfect don’t change a thing, best design I have seen in years.

Overall the rating is 4.0 stars which is the higest rating I have ever given to a pack. It’s almost like I don’t even care if the cards are crap cause I love the set so much! It really is hard not to rip through this box today. I can’t wait for the upcoming weeks when I finish opening this box. I’m practically blushing. Since I am trying to finish the set, it would be a huge help if anyone could help with commons and double you may have. Email me at chemgod1000@yahoo.com.