Bad Wax

This was really the set that made me come back to collecting. Actually it wasn’t the 2006 or 2005 version but the 2007 version. So when I got this pack in the dollar bin I was happy as a clam. I think it’s so different from the ordinary trading card. There is a bit of elegance to this set, just like the Allen and Ginter set. Here is a picture of the pack:

The pack has 8 cards and after looking this pack up on Beckett, I have found that there are several key rookies in this set. They are as follows: Fielder, Zimmerman, Papelbon, Liriano, Johjima, Pelfrey and Verlander. My hope is to land one of these guys. But knowing that there are only 8 cards and the set has 330, 275 w/o SPs, it’s going to be tough. I’m going to gut it out. So wish me some luck!

1. Sidney Ponson – P – Yankees – 419 – How can Topps have anything nice to say about Fat Sid II. Believe it or not, he was knighted after his great 2003 season. Too bad she didn’t put him out of his alcoholic misery but beheading him. His Can’t Pitch for Crap Tour has been to SF, Baltimore, St. Louis, and New York. Is he done yet, because we definitely are done watching him pitch (if you can call it that).

2. Carlos Guillen – SS – Tigers – 409 – He took over for A-Rod after the trade that sent him to Texas. He’s actually a pretty good player but, I always forget, was he the Guillen that got caught with steroids or the other one. Too many Guillens in baseball if you ask me, can’t there be some more Puljoss’?

3. Luis Castillo – 2B – Twins – 420 – It’s interesting that I always seem to get duplicate players in back to back packs. Luis is this pack’s double so to speak. The back of the card is gushing about his amazing speed, but something happened in 2004 that made his speed slow down quite a bit. Since then he has never been the same. I think he is done being the speedster we remember him for but then again, what do I know?

4. Scott Rolen – 3B – Cardinal – 532 – This is an insert because it’s red. It’s not numbered so I don’t think it’s that special but I believe this might be the Red / Black Parallel. I don’t know if it’s worth anything, but I tend to think not since it is Scott Rolen after all. As he hits his third tea, how long will it be before the Blue Jays get fed up with him too, and he demands a trade. Kind of reminds me of a cross between JD Drew and Sheffield.

5. Jeromy Burnitz – 1B/OF – Pirates – 356 – Jeromy was a pretty good slugger in his heyday. Here is a crazy stat for you, he has 315 HRs and 1447 hits meaning 1 out of every 5 hits is a homer. That is some sick stat. We all know chicks love the long ball, but not too many chicks love baseball, too bad, he can hit them with the best of them.

6. Garret Anderson – OF – Angels – 488 – Can you believe this guy has played for 18 seasons? It doesn’t seem possible! He is a career 0.297 batter, cranked 257 home runs and has 2200 hits. Not HOFer in my book, but he might very well be the best fly under the radar guy in baseball.

7. Carlos Zambrano – P – Cubs – 345 – If he took this game seriously and worked a little harder, he could be the best pitcher in baseball. Classic case of million dollar arm and 10 cent head. It is worth noting that that of Kerry Wood, Mark Prior and Zambrano, he ended up being the most dominant pitcher. Can you imagine how amazing this team would be if they all stayed clear of injuries?

8. Vincente Padilla – P – Rangers – 546 – He is another one of those fly under the radar kind of player. He is definitely doing all he can with his talent, unfortunately for him, it’s just not enough. Too bad, because he did show some signs of promise when he was with the Phillies, he just never put it all together.

And that’s all folks. I guess it’s a pretty good pack. Getting the Red / Black parallel definitely helped even if it was Scott Rolen. Overall I don’t even mind when I get crappy cards in this set, simply because they all look so nice. So with that let’s go and rate this pack:

Price of pack – $2.99 – 4.0 stars – When you have a pack of this variety, I don’t worth paying the premium for it, so I gave it a good rating.

Cards in pack – 8 – 4.5 stars – Now that is what I am talking about, a 3 dollarpack with more than 5 cards. Why can’t every set be this way? Cause Topps doesn’t make every set (just half of them).

Super stars in pack – 2 – 2.0 stars – Rolen and Anderson? I guess? I don’t know that was as good as I can come up with. I consider them both stars, maybe not superstars.

Value of pack – $2 – 3.5 stars – This might be one of the few Rolen cards that might be worth something. Not sure but I think it is about $2.

Card Design – 5.0 stars – This design is just so refreshing, I have no knocks on the look of the card at all and can’t think of anything I would do to improve the set. The texture of the card is great, the paintings are very cool, even the backs of the cards are fun to read. Below is the Rolen card I got. If anyone knows the price, please met me know.

Not quite a 4.0 star pack but damn close at 3.8 stars. Not a dog at all and getting the red parallel helped put me in the mood to be a little generous with the pack, since my last few have just been dismal. Of course the site is called Bad Wax, and in that respect it lost out! But I guess in the end it’s good for me. Just a heads up, today is a travel day for me, so this may be it for the day, stay tuned, if I have a good flight back, I might just go ahead and throw a contest in here. No one has claimed the Glavine card as of yet, so if you want it let me know.