Monday, May 10, 2010

The $15 Guarantee

Before I get into tonight's post, I'd like to direct everyone's attention over to the sidebar, where I have added a link to my 1985 Fleer wantlist. My theory on this set is that people are either swimming in the stuff like they would a sea of 1989 Topps or they find it rather difficult to find even though it doesn't have a lot of resale value. Those that fall into the former category, I would assume, are probably a bit older than me and probably started collecting before I did. The latter are probably my age if not younger and have never found 1985 Fleer packs at the corner store. I would love to open a bunch of packs of 1985 Fleer for the sheer enjoyment of it, and yet I think the price of unopened wax is prohibitively expensive because of the notion that you could pull a Roger Clemens rookie card and grade it and make $$$$.

Speaking of $$$$, I picked up a 1999 Bowman Series 1 hobby box for the investment level price of $15. With promises of Kerry Wood and Ben Grieve swimming around in a pile of gold coins and jewels, Scrooge McDuck style, I am ready to set off on this venture and open up some packs of 1999 Bowman.

Pack 1:

188 - Octavio Dotel (The current Pirates closer.)
8 - Moises Alou
215 - Jason LaRue (LaRue, the Cardinals backup catcher for the third consecutive season, looks like he's about 12 here. You'll have to trust me, because I didn't scan the card.)
41 - Bernie Williams

53 - David Justice (Veteran players had red foil on the front and red text on the backs, along with "Now & Then" photos - not to be confused with "Then & Now".)
135 - Mark Osborne
161 - Ramon Hernandez
89 - Justin Bowles
46 - Jaret Wright

194 - Ben Petrick International (Each pack comes with a Bowman International parallel. The International cards have a metallic finish and each background is of the player's home state or country, supposedly. Petrick is pictured with the Astoria-Megler Bridge in the backdrop.)

Each pack comes with a checklist in pocket schedule format.

This tells you exactly how to get your $125 back after suffering buyer's remorse. I wonder if it's still valid. I find it extremely odd, in all seriousness, that collectors apparently had just a 5 month window in 2002 (!) to cash in on this so-called guarantee, but only if they had already decided to be pessimistic about this set's future AND send in an additional $5 to Topps 3 years earlier.

Pack 2:
26 - Scott Erickson
113 - Eric Valent

173 - Chip Ambres (This is either the coolest baseball card photo of all-time or, much likelier, a staged photo that still looks kind of awesome.)
103 - Jack Cressend
3 - Ruben Rivera (The forgotten Rivera.)
220 - Daryle Ward (Allegedly, the only player to hit the ball into the Allegheny River on the fly in a game.)

219 - Adrian Beltre
216 - Kyle Peterson
189 - Wes Helms
144 - Mamon Tucker International

Pack 3:
174 - Trot Nixon
61 - Kenny Lofton (I just watched Up in the Air the other night and it reminded me of the Kenny Lofton commercial towards the end of his career where he kept getting traded.)

31 - Larry Walker
50 - Jose Guillen
198 - Amaury Garcia
105 - Mike Lincoln
171 - Mario Encarnacion
132 - Andy Abad
189 - Nelson Lara
176 - Jeff Yoder International

Pack 4:

6 - Mark McGwire (I haven't heard a ton about McGwire during game broadcasts this season... at least, not as much as I thought I would.)
96 - Ryan Anderson
63 - Alex Gonzalez
117 - Jason Grilli
205 - Fernando Seguignol
212 - Luis Rivera

186 - Doug Mientkiewicz (The prospects and rookies have blue foil on the front and blue text on the back. You just get one photo instead of a Now & Then deal.)
136 - Phil Norton
181 - Damaso Marte

12 - John Valentin International

Pack 5:
30 - Orlando Hernandez
177 - Chris Jones

9 - Jim Edmonds (Nice shot of the classic Edmonds uppercut swing in ready position.)
25 - Jason Kendall
206 - Marlon Anderson

138 - Roy Halladay (Nice early card of one of the game's elite pitchers.)
108 - Cole Liniak
180 - Billy Koch
207 - Todd Sears
97 - Kevin Barker International

Pack 6:
99 - Robert Fick
56 - Derek Bell (Derek Bell drove in 108 in 1998.)
153 - Joe Fontenot

4 - Sandy Alomar
172 - Mike Zywica
104 - Joe Lawrence
71 - Bruce Chen
128 - Jeff Liefer
27 - Andres Galarraga

175 - Pat Burrell International (Pat the Bat in front of some nondescript buildings that represent Arkansas.)

Pack 7:

29 - John Olerud (Olerud hit .354 in 1998. He was always a fantastic hitter.)
75 - Derrick Gibson
20 - Paul O'Neill (Totally Pauly!)
148 - Russ Branyan

19 - Pedro Martinez
93 - Scott Elarton
114 - Roosevelt Brown

83 - Manny Aybar (I keep forgetting that Manny Aybar was a Cardinal.)
22 - Vinny Castilla

90 - Chris Haas International

Pack 8:

I posted Pack 8 over at APTBNL.

Parts 2 and 3 will be posted over the next week or so, depending on my increasingly busy work schedule. The usual rules apply here: everything is up for grabs beyond the Cardinals, although priority will always go to the people that I trade with frequently.

2 comments :

  1. I'm trying to finish off that set after I bought a box last year, so I'd love the cards that I need. I'll try and remind you when the box is done to take a look.

    I'd dare say this was one of my favorite boxes to open for the players in the set, but certainly not the card design itself.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just got a box of '99 Bowman Chrome. Save the Halladay if you can!

    ReplyDelete

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