Bad Wax Review – 1994 Flair Series 1 Baseball (2nd pack)

Some of you may remember the first one of these I did back in the last week of January. I was very excited to see this pack, as I knew that it was the set that had the great looking Arod rookie. Unfortunately for both you and I that is from series 2. Now for the good news, it gives me a shot at some very bad wax! Now according to Beckett there isn’t a whole lot of anything valuable in this set, so I am going to take Dr. James at his word. If you forgot what the pack looks like, imagine a gold marlboro box that looks like this:

Like I said above, I am not sure what I am looking for in this set. I’m not even sure who has a rookie card in the series one part of the set. My guess is not many rookie cards. So enough of the chatter, let’s get to reviewing.

1. Eric Young – 2B – Rockies – 159 – See here’s the thing, I’m a Jersey Boy at heart and anyone who played at Rutgers gets my stamp of approval. The main thing I remember about Eric was the speed he had. He was not the best base stealer since overall he got caught 33% of the time, but his speed was outstanding.

2. Carlos Delgado – Wave of the future – 1B – Blue Jays – Beautiful insert card as you can see below. This was his rookie year and man was he fun to watch around this time with the Blue Jays. If I were to tell you that I think he’s a HOFer, what would you say? No way! right? Take a look at these stats. He’s at 431 HRs and he’s 35. I think he’s going to have over 500 when it’s over. Does that mean he’s in? I think so, if you look at the numbers he had, he was definitely one of the most dominant players of his generation. Curious what you think.

3. Tim Salmon – OF – Angels – 27 – This was after his second season. When it’s all said and done, Kingfish will be remembered as a solid player, but should be compared to the Justices and Kleskos of the world. I think Garrett Anderson should end up with better numbers for his career but I bet you’ll always remember Salmon as the better player.

4. Darryl Hamilton – OF – Brewers – 67 – No one played the medicre card better than Darryl. If you look at his stats he is the classic 1 tool player (batting average). He had no pop, no speed, didn’t score alot and relatively low RBI totals, but he was a starter for 9 years and played for 13. Again, I have to wonder aloud, how does this happen? Would he still be in baseball in this day and age of give me numbers now?

5. Kent Merker – P – Braves – 132 – How many years do you think Kent played for? How about 17! Is that the definition of a great middle reliever? Or just the definition of a lefty pitcher. Kent is a perfect example of how you can pitch forever if you are a lefty. I’m still stunned about 17 years in the league. Hey it’s good money if you can make your body last that long.

6. Mo Vaughn – 1B – Red Sox – 18 – I still remembered the day his career ended. Opening day 1999 pop fly into the dugout. He never truley recovered, he actually only played 3 more years after that. I remember his signing as a coup for the Angels, he did put up good numbers but he fell apart so quickley.

7. John Smiley – P – Reds – 150 – The funny thing about his card is his last name is Smiley but he only has on a frown one his face. See the card below. Overall not a bad pitcher, but kind of just average, he had 2 solid seasons, one with the Pirates and one with Reds.

8. Frank Thomas – 1B – White Sox – 36 – We all know how good he is. How he is going to the HOF. Let’s spend a moment talking about this card. Two things make me laugh. The first is that his picture of him swinging, makes him look like he is swinging at his own head. Second, his glove is in a very comprimising postion almost like he’s going to ask himself to cough in a moment.

9. Chris Sabo – 3B – Orioles – 9 – It’s the original party animal Spuds McKenzie! Admit it you had lots of his rookie cards! Come on just out with it, you had him in your baseball card album. I had many many Sabo rookie cards. I was a big fan, I can’t believe that he only played 9 years (7 as a starter). He definitely left his mark on the game and most people around my age have fond memories of him.

10. David Weathers – P – Marlins – 167 – This could very well be one of the funniest faces ever made on a card. My wife and I spent a good few minutes laughing about this card. We said that if you photoshoped the picture and placed a knife in his hand instead of a baseball, you would number 2 yourself! Look at this gem!

So that’s what 5 bucks gets you in 1994. Not horiffic like the last pack.  In this one I at least got a nice insert.  Overall the card design is beautiful, even my wife commented on how nice the cards looked.  My problem is I just have a hard time seeing Fleer’s Flair as a premium card company.  I love the Fleer entry set so much, that when I see them try to get all fancy, it hurts a little.  Leave the fancy stuff to Upper Deck.  Here are my ratings:

Cost of pack – $5.00 – 2.5 stars – I am taking into account that every card is as think as a relic card.  They really are very nice cards, the price is a bit high, but you do get 10 cards and the set only has 250 cards.  So overall it’s not as bad as it seems.

Cards in Pack – 10 – 4.5 cards – This is almost unheard of for a premium set.  I think if you got 5 cards you would have been happy, but FLeer went above and beyond to give you 10.  Kudos to them!

Stars in Pack - 2 – 1.5 stars – Delgado and Thomas, maybe I’m being a little too hard on Salmon but I just perceive him as a star.

Pack Value – $5 – 4.0 stars – The Delgado insert is beautiful and Thomas as well as the early career Salmon would probably fetch about $5 on eBay, not a bad haul for a bargain bin pack.

Overall the score was 3.13 stars which is more than respectible.  I can’t state enough how beautiful this set is.  The box of series 2 from this set will run you 200 bucks but a series one box is cheap.  I would definitely recoment building this set.  The cards are amazing and the photography is stunning.  Sometimes a little too stunning (ask David Weathers).  I’ll keep the Delgado insert for later, and the Thomas is going to Steve, but anything else is up for the taking.  Email me at superbadwax@yahoo.com.  Don’t forget the forums! Or the blogger’s fantasy baseball league.