Bad Wax

Name: Mark Prior

Position: P – Starter

Team: San Diego Padres (Pictured with the Cubs)

Age: 27

Best Season: 2003 when he went 18-6/2.43/1.10 3rd in Cy Young voting and 9th in MVP voting.

Set it’s from: 2003 Fleer Double Header

Why this Card?: When Mark was drafted second overall in 2001, I got to see him pitch in college and what an arm this guy had. I followed his career in the minors and even got a through the mail autograph from him when he was in AA in western Tennessee. When he finally broke into the majors, I made sure to try and watch every game he pitched in. For the first two years of his career, he was one of the most electric pitchers in baseball. But the Cubs pitching curse struck him down in 2004. Although he had good stuff, it just wasn’t the same as 2003. Now he sits as a Padre and hasn’t pitched in over 2 years. It is really sad to see his fame from the top. Anyways I just wanted a jersey card of him and this one looked pretty cool.

But What About the Set?: This was one of those one hit wonders.  Boxes ran about $70 although you can find them on eBay now for about $30.  You get 20 packs with 8 cards each and 2 flip cards (not sure what those were).  You are guaranteed to get two autographs or game used cards.  So really for that kind of money it’s not bad, but you know none of those autos or game used were going to be worth anything.  The best one I saw on ebay was the Barry Bonds and Greg Maddux jerseys and the Griffey Jr. autograph.  Overall getting it now for around $30 the box is a good deal, but in it’s day it was a waste of money.

Beckett’s Value: $8.00

eBay Value: $0.99

Ever going up in value: Not when he’s not pitched in 2 years.  but in the end I would say not a chance.