My First Repack

While making my rounds across the card blogs a few days back I ran into this post from Nick of Dime Boxes. I've always stayed away from repacks, figuring that they would just have some junk wax cards that I wasn't really looking to buy. However, as I have progressed with this blog, I've come to appreciate all cards a little better. So, I decided I would pick up a repack on my next visit to Target.

I took a trip to beautiful Santa Monica on Monday, if only for the weather. It doesn't get to cold here in Fresno, you can't beat a sunny mid 60's on the beach.

I didn't get there until sunset due to a stop off at one of the Targets in Northridge. Until Monday, I have never seen a two-story Target. I guess that's LA for you. 

Following Nicks advice, I found the most appealing box from the cards I could see. Here they are in all their glory.

The Highlights:

The visible cards were the Elvis Andrus and the Henry Rodriguez. There were 100 cards in the repack but these were my favorites. I like the look of 2012 Heritage, and the black border makes it that more appealing. Chris Carpenter has been one of the better pitchers of the last decade, but unfortunately had to retire due to injury. I'm not sure what I like about the 89 Fleer more, Darryl Strawberry's awkward face, or Will Clark's similarity to Jim Harbaugh. The Henry Rodriguez looks pretty cool. I've never heard of the guy but the card is #'d 2567/4399 so it must be valuable. There is no need to explain why Mike Trout is a highlight of the repack. Finally a 1986 Topps Pete Rose card. I just noticed it's a Manager card, so that's cool. I dig the 1986 Topps design, I may be putting that set together later.

The Minis:

The repack came with about 15 of these mini cards from 1990 Topps. I've never seen them before, but I like them. I enjoy Bo Jackson cards from back in the day, that combined with Nolan Ryan's presence on the back makes this an instant favorite. The other mini features Nolan Ryan and Ricky Henderson.

The Oddball: 

I've never heard of Larry Sutton, and don't plan on looking him up. I figured I would just read the back of the car....and oh wait, it's in Spanish! I guess that qualifies as oddball. The English translation is to the right, but much smaller text. This card hails from 1998 Pacific Trading Cards, and is #39 in the set. 

The Oldest:

The honor of oldest cards go to these from 1979 Topps.  Nothing too special about them. Bob Knepper did pitch in Fresno for a few years in the 70's though. So I guess that's something.

The All-Stars:
































There were about 10 of these cards in the box, but I scanned my favorites. It wasn't until I was typing out this sentence that I noticed the Ryne Sandberg is from 1990 not 1989. Regardless, both the 1989 and 1990 sets contain 22 cards. I guess some more smaller sets to chase in the future. I could probably buy them on eBay for a few bucks shipped, but I enjoy the chase. 

The Dodgers That Weren't:

2011 and 2012 were somewhat dark years for the Dodgers and their fans. Ned Colletti put together a team by handing out 2 year contracts to any over the hill player that would take it.They did not perform as bad as a lot of people expected, but they didn't exactly shine either. At one point in June of 2012 the team was so depleted by injuries they ran out this lineup against the Rockies. Thank God those days are behind us. Bobby Abreu and Elian Herrera sort of signify the 2012 season. A season remembered by me for countless injuries and call-ups, the rotating door in left field, Adam Kennedy's cleanup win streak, and the final year of Frank McCourt.

The True Dodgers:

Now here are some real Dodgers. Other than Vin Scully, there is no other person that truly represents the Dodgers like Tommy Lasorda. Lasorda is not known for his chipper upbeat attitude, but he is certainly one of the greatest Dodgers of all-time. Along with Lasorda, Steve Sax was a long time Dodger, but one I know very little about. I did get the chance to meet him and I got a ball signed a few years ago, but I'll save that for a later post. 

The Favorite: 

The best card from the repack IMO, is this 1989 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card. This doesn't book for much, but I really do enjoy seeing the very young Griffey in the old Mariners gear. Jr. had the sweetest swing in major league history and watching him play as a kid was a joy. I wish I would have had the opportunity to see him play in person, but he isn't the first legend I'll never see play and won't be the last. 

I really did enjoy opening that repack. The $3.99 price tag was definitely worth it to me. I picked up some cool cards, along with some trade bait as well. Reminiscing about the former players is definitely an overlooked part of buying repacks. Surely, more of these repacks will be in my future.