Better Than a Pack of Ginter

A jumbo sized pack break featuring a little known Rangers slugger on the wrapper.

While all the cool kids have been rushing out to get their grubby mitts all over the Allen's and Ginter's pack's, I decided to plunk down a cool $3.50 for some 10+ year old product. For about the price of a single brand new pack, I was able to purchase 7 packs of some moldy old Upper Deck. This is actually one of the better designs if you ask me, and I recently opened a pack over at APTBNL if you're looking for more.

Pack 1:
459 - Greg Norton
161 - Tim Crabtree
135 - Tony Batista

109 - John Rocker - This guy held a Reddit AMA (basically an open forum "ask me anything" online interview) the other day and it went about as well as you'd expect.

B-JG - Juan Gonzalez Game-Used Base - A b-b-b-base? According to the back of the card, this base was used during the 2001 All-Star Game at Safeco Field. It doesn't mention what connection Juan Gone had to the base, but he was a starter in the game so it's possible he touched it at some point.

484 - Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey Gallery - There's a bunch of these in the 2002 Upper Deck set.

50 - Jason Karnuth - I don't remember this guy at all, but apparently he made a few appearances in 2001.

Pack 2:
358 - Livan Hernandez
332 - Tom Goodwin

306 - Fred McGriff - It's a little sad to see the Crime Dog in a Cubs uni.
166 - Manny Ramirez
140 - David Segui
114 - Danys Baez
243 - Luis Sojo

GH4 - Mike Piazza 2001 Greatest Hits - These inserts fall at a 1:14 ratio according to the wrapper. I know I've traded with some Piazza fans before. Any takers?

Pack 3:
128 - Kazuhiro Sasaki
102 - Felix Martinez
76 - Olmedo Saenz

239 - Mariano Rivera - The All-Stars from the previous season had a silver logo on their cards which is, unfortunately, very difficult to see.
213 - Joe Mays
187 - Luis Ordaz
482 - Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey Gallery

Z4 - Sammy Sosa Big Fly Zone - These inserts are also a 1:14 pull. I imagine there's less interest in Sammy Sosa than Piazza at this point.

Pack 4:
313 - Corey Patterson

287 - Mark McGwire - Big Mac had already played his last game at this point, but if I recall there were several more years worth of tribute cards to come.
261 - Ken Caminiti
439 - Jason LaRue
413 - Turk Wendell

387 - Al Leiter - Just a nice and interesting looking shot.

476 - Kazuhiro Sasaki World Stage - These look like a bit of a precursor to the World Baseball Classic and all of the sets and inserts it has spawned. Sasaki was dominant as the Mariners closer during the days when the Mariners were a threat.
42 - Junior Guerrero

Pack 5:
391 - Matt Lawton
365 - Jason Schmidt
339 - Chan Ho Park
111 - Einar Diaz
85 - Homer Bush
59 - Larry Barnes

295 - Bobby Bonilla - Legend has it that a late spring training injury to Bobby Bo is what paved Albert Pujols' path to the major leagues. I've heard people try to debunk that tale, though.
34 - Jason Phillips

Pack 6:
206 - Cristian Guzman
180 - A.J. Hinch
154 - Rob Bell
317 - Tony Womack

291 - Dustin Hermanson - Hermanson was a back end of the rotation guy in St. Louis after pitching for the Padres and Expos previously.
265 - Jason Marquis

499 - Albert Pujols Season Highlights Checklist - It's always nice to get an early Pujols card.

473 - Pedro Martinez World Stage

Pack 7:
127 - Aaron Sele
101 - Joe Kennedy
75 - Jeremy Giambi
177 - Neifi Perez

ALJ-CR - Cal Ripken Jr. AL Centennial Anniversary Jersey - Wow! This is an amazing pull for a pack that cost me 50 cents. Ripken stuff is highly collectible to this day, though I'm sure that's no big secret.
16 - Luke Hudson
475 - Tony Batista World Stage