Bad Wax

The first box is done and the final tally was 544 non doubles. Meaning there was 248 cards not gotten and a double rate of right around 11%. No bad at all! My only notes that I have about the last box was that there wasn’t a Bonds or Bo rookie card. I’ve bought so many boxes of this product when I was younger and I have 13 Bonds rookies. I know that as far as the production runs go there should be a Bonds or Jackson in about every box. We are talking about 100,000 cards + per player. They don’t call this the worthless era for nothing folks. So again, I was pretty surprised that I didn;t get one of the two. Other than that I really can’t complain about that first box, there was a point where I opened like 15 straight packs without a double. Now on to pack 37.

1. Jim Deschaies – Record Breaker

Position: P

Team: Astros

Card Number: 2

Age: 27

Record Broken: Most consecutive strikeouts to start a game (8). This was actually the second record broken that year with respect to this catagory as Joe Cowley struck out 7 at the end of May to originally set it.

2. Giants Leaders

Offensive Leaders: Robby Thompson, Candy Maldonado

Pitching Leaders: Mike Krukow and Mark Davis

Card Number: 231

3. Brian Dayett – Final Year

Position: OF

Team: Cubs

Card Number: 369

Age: 30

1987 Stats: 0.277/5/25

Awards: None

Player Notes: Just never really became the OF they envisioned when they drafted him. He had a semi decent season in 1987 but it wasn’t enough to keep him in the pros.

Fun Facts: He was selected as the Southern League’s MVP at Nashville in 1982 and was named to the All Star team.

4. Tony Gwynn – NL All Star

Position: OF

Team: Padres

Card Number: 599

Age: 27

Stat on the back of his card: Batting Average, which believe it or not he was 3rd behind Galaraga and Steve Sax. In 1986 he broke an NL record with5 stolen bases in one game.

5. Barry Bonds

Position: OF

Team: Pirates

Card Number: 320

Age: 22

1987 Stats: 0.261/25/59/32

Awards: None

Player Notes: Hard to believe at just 22 years old he was a 20/20 guy. People tend to forget how fast he was when he hadn’t swelled up with ‘roids. Nice to find the premier card in the set in the first pack!

Fun Facts: He majored in Criminal Justice at ASU. His father Bobby played in the majors from 1968-1981.

6. Carney Lansford

Position: 3B

Team: A’s

Card Number: 678

Age: 30

1987 Stats: 0.289/19/76/27

Awards: None

Player Notes: I never understand why this guy didn’t get more recognition. He was a solid player for more than a decade. I always had him on my fantasy team and he never disappointed.

Fun Facts: He is a direct descendant of Sir Francis Drake, the 16th century British admiral.

7. Darnell Coles

Position: 3B

Team: Tigers (traded to the Pirates mid season)

Card Number: 411

Age: 25

1987 Stats: 0.201/10/35

Awards: None

Player Notes: Coles was never really a starter on any team he played on (which was quite a few). He was a solid backup though and I guess that’s why he hung around the league for 14 seasons (yep you read that right!)

Fun Facts: He was a 4 sport letterman and 3 time baseball MVP in high school.

8. Storm Davis

Position: P

Team: Orioles (started the season with the Padres and was traded mid season to the A’s)

Card Number: 349

Age: 25

1987 Stats: 3-8/5.23/1.56 ouch and he made it another decade in this league?

Awards: None

Player Notes: He pitched pretty well for the A’s, unfortunately for him it’s the only place in his 13 year career where he pitched well.

Fun Facts: His nickname came from a character in a book his mother read while pregnant.

9. Scott Bradley

Position: C/OF

Team: Mariners

Card Number: 376

Age: 27

1987 Stats: 0.278/5/43

Awards: None

Player Notes: Scott was a brief starter in his career but mostly known for his back up duties in Seattle. Not really an any tool player to be honest.

Fun Facts: He played for the USA National Team. His brother Bob is a soccer coach at Princeton University.

10. Rick Aguilera – 103 - Double found in pack 3.

11. Luis Quinones – 362- Double found in pack 3.

12. Mike Easler – 135- Double found in pack 3.

13. Jim Leyland – 93- Double found in pack 3.

14. Vance Law – 127- Double found in pack 3.

15. Dennis Leonard – 38- Double found in pack 3.

16. Marvell Wynne – 37- Double found in pack 8.

17.Willie Upshaw – 245- Double found in pack 3.

I got the Bonds card right off the bad in the first pack. Also picked up 9 more cards for the set, so that’s not to shabby either. The other players in the pack were mostly stiffs (except Gwynn and Lansford). But that Bonds elevates the pack to 5.0 star status. Even with the steroids, how can I give it any other rating. Don’t forget about the logo and banner contest. Only two entries so far (no banner entries)! Email me your entries at chemgod1000@yahoo.com.