Bad Wax

Rough day in the chemgod household today.  Almost didn’t get to blog today.  But then I rose up and decided, I can’t have a daily blog if I don’t blog daily! I reached into the desk and I pull of this gem of a pack.  Actually not a bad one, you know I’m a Topps fan, and a relativley new one to boot!  The one thing I like about the Topps base set is that there are so many inserts, you are practically going to get an insert in just about every pack.  Just in case you don’t remember what this pack looked like here it is:

With 12 cards coming out of this pack and it only costing $1.99 you get very good value of course this is the base set so you can only get so psyched about the prospects of what is in the pack.  There are several nice rookie cards in this set.  None worth more than $2.50, they are: Fielder, Johjima, Zimmerman, Hanson, Uggla, and Verlander.  This should be a fun pack to open, let’s get to it!

1. Twin Fundamentals - Lew Ford and Rondell White - OF/OF - 647 - I am sure there is a reason behind this card, but I can’t think of one.  I mean I wouldn’t want Rondell White on my team when he was younger, why would I want a card of him as a special card when he’s older.  What has Lew Ford brought to the table anyways, other than a strange name.  There has to be a reason they call him Lew and not Lou.

2. Mickey Mantle - Homerun history - MHR47 - I have another one of these cards from a set from last year.  I really liked what Topps did with the Mantle inserts and every one of them seem to be worth at least $2.  He seems to be the only guarenteed person of value in every Topps set.

3. John Gibbons - Manager - Blue Jays - 589 - Don’t you think that manager cards should be outlawed.  The only thing worse is getting a mascot card.  We learn that John played in 18 MLB games before becoming a skipper. 18 whole games can you believe it?  I guess the best managers are the ones who rode the pine as players.

4. Aaron Boone - 3B - Indians - 462 - It’s funny, when I see Aaron Boone’s card, I am both happy and sad as a Yankee fan.  We were hoping for so much more out of him as an everyday third baseman.  He never really produced as a Yankee other than the big homer versus the Sox in the playoffs.  I guess in the end he’s OK by me, any person who can end a city’s dreams with one swing of the bat can’t be all bad can they?

5. Joel Pineiro - P - Mariners - 465 - He was just chugging along as one of the best pitchers on the Mariners until 2004 when he mechanics went to heck.  Up until 2004 he was definitely on the express road to becoming a fantasy stud.  Since then it’s been all downhill and if he doesn’t get it righted soon, it could be all over for Joel.  I hope he regains is form and does it quickly.

6. Jeremy Bonderman -P - Tigers - 470 - Finally pitching for a serious contender, Jeremy is putting up some solid numbers.  He isn’t as good as Verlander but he is a solid pitcher and they should look for him to be a stallwart in that rotation for years to come.  The funny thing about Bonderman and Verlander is to see all those letters on the back of the uniform and how they go from armpit to armpit.

7. Joe Crede - 3B - White Sox - 399 - What the hell is it with this guy, every year we here he is the 3rd baseman of the future, but then every year he gets injured, someone steps in and then all of a sudden he is looking to get his spot back and eventially does.  This time though it might be tough since Jash Fields might be the one who is the future third baseman, leaving Crede out in the dark.

8. Woody Williams - P - Padres - 373 - I didn’t realize that Woody has been in the league since 1993.  I knew he’d been around for a while but 15 years, talk about flying under the radar.  He must be the best long term 0.500 pitcher since Charlie Hough, 112 and 96 overall, and he still has a job, he must really be a team player because it’s tough to survive in this league with just mediocrity.

9. Lance Niekro - 1B - Giants - 414 - In this card they say that he should become a full time starter in 2006, but he didn’t in fact, he spent most of his time down in AAA.   I figured he would have been able to take the job, but he just can’t hit MLB pitching as well as the PCL talent.  I don’t think a full time job is in the cards for him.  He is 29 now and stuck in AAA, this about the time when players jump ship to Japan.  We’ll see what’s in store for lil Niekro after this season, the last year in his contract.

10. Bob Wickman - P - Indians - 492 - Bob is not 240 lbs, as indicated on the back of the card.  The big man is easy pushing 290! But no matter how big and intimidating he is, he is still one good reliever.  Not great, but hey he’s 39 years old now, what do you expect.  He’s still nailing down 20 saves in a year and until he can’t do that any longer, he will be a major leaguer, even if he does tilt the scale in the wrong direction.

11. Reggie Abercrombie - OF - Marlins - 634 - Reggie has the tools to become one of the better hitters in the game.  I am scratching my head as to why he hasn’t ben able to put it all together. This year he must prove that he can play everyday in the bigs. We know he can hammer AAA pitching, he needs to do the same at the big show level.  If he lives up to his potential he could be a 0.280 20/20 guy.  With Maybin in the picture and soon, he might have to move on somewhere else.  In the meantime I’ll save this rookie card, until I know he is a gonner.

12. Julio Franco - 1B - Indians - 431 - He’ll be 50 this year, and is still in amazing shape.  I thought Rickey Henderson would play forever, but it just ended one day for him.  I do think the Julio can play into his 50’s.  I would love to see him break Paige’s record of palying until he was 59.  It won’t happen but still I root for him.  He can still hit the ball well and play his position, so until he can’t he’ll always have a job.

Questionable pack here.  I got the Mantle card so at least I broke even, but overall kind of a dud pack if you ask me.  I do like the little cartoons on the back, kind of reminisent of the older days of Topps.  Who knows I might go and try to find this set cheap somewhere.  Let’s rate it though:

Cost of Pack - $1.99 - 4.0 stars - Kudos to Topps for understanding that kiddies don’t have the scratch to buy 3 dollar packs of cards.

Cards in Pack - 12 - 4.0 stars - So not only is the pack cheaper but you get more cards, nice Topps, thats the way to do it, virtually guarenteed you will find an insert in each pack.

Stars in Pack - 1 - 0.5 stars - Mantle is basically the only superstar in this pack.  There are other minor stars, but I just can’t count them until the shed some pounds.

Value of pack - $2.50 - 4.0 stars - It’s nice to open one of these packs and find some decent cards, it doesn’t happen enough.  I think though with so many inserts in the set, you would be hard pressed to find some bad wax.  Notice I said you.  I’d find plenty of it.

Design of Card - 3.5 stars - Pretty nice design for a low level set. I am never a fan of the gloss but the card is laid out well, the pictures look crisp, I can read the silver writing and the backs are fun to read again.  Most of the player’s career stats are back there and they have the nice cartoon in the corner that used to be on the Topps cards in the early 80s.  Here is what the card looks like:

Overall the score was 3.2 stars and it earned it.  I liked the design, I got an insert of the Mick and overall the card selection wasn’t horrific.  It’s nice to have a change of pace sometimes and actually land a nice pack once in a while.  The Crede card has been saved, but everything else (except the Mick) can go. Just let me know what you want at superbadwax@yahoo.com.