Classic Wax 18 Pack Baseball Box (Part 2)

 

Here is the second half of the box of Classic Wax Baseball. The first half was quite good as the highlight was a 1976 Topps Pete Rose that was not bad looking. Let's see what else I can find!

Pack 10

1980 Topps Buddy Solomon

1991 Donruss The Rookies Mo Vaughn

1990 Fleer Kirby Puckett

1982 Topps N.L. All Star Bruce Sutter

1983 Donruss Luis DeLeon

1978 Topps Rudy Meoli

1964 Topps Roman Mejias

1993 Classic Four Sport Kelly Wunsch

2021 Topps Heritage In Action Jose Berrios 

1971 Topps Billy Wilson

1990 Score Mark McGwire

1981 Donruss Kent Tekulve

1983 Fleer Fred Stanley

2008 Topps Opening Day Brian Bannister

The 1971 Billy Wilson was in quite good condition.

Pack 11

1978 Topps Derrel Thomas 

1986 Donruss Highlights Don Sutton

1991 Leaf Kirby Puckett

1987 Fleer Limited Edition Robin Yount

1983 Donruss Greg Harris

1986 Topps Record Breaker Fernando Valenzuela 

1979 Topps Johnny Bench

1994 Fleer Ultra Fred McGriff

1984 Topps Traded Al Oliver

1963 Topps Elston Howard

1990 Fleer Duane Ward

1971 Topps Tom Dukes

2020 Topps "The Amazing Rhys" Rhys Hoskins

1987 Donruss Opening Day Ed Hearn

Best cards of this pack were the '79 Bench and '63 Howard.

Pack 12 

1990 Bowman Scott Aldred

1989 Donruss Steve Jeltz

1984 Topps Purina Gary Carter 

1973 Topps Rico Carty

1980 Topps Don Baylor (Autographed)

2021 Donruss Optic "Mythical" Mookie Betts

1989 Score Cal Ripken Jr. 

1977 Topps Dwight Evans

1988 Classic Red Kirby Puckett 

1994 Collector's Choice Tony Gwynn 

1976 Topps Mike Caldwell

1983 Donruss Larry Gura

1984 Topps Doug Rader

1981 Donruss Jim Slaton

There is one autograph per box. The color on the wax wrapper is brighter, so you can tell which pack contains it. These are not certified so they must be either TTM or in person. Irregardless, it's a nice touch. I also like the '77 Dwight Evans.

Pack 13

1981 Topps Wayne Garland

1979 Topps Dave Chalk

1991 Score Dream Team Ken Griffey Jr. 

1990 Topps Bo Jackson

1981 Donruss Dave Concepcion

1962 Topps Merritt Ranew

1982 Oakland A's Batting & Pitching Leaders Rickey Henderson/Steve McCatty

1987 Hygrade Babe Ruth

1993 Fleer Ultra Raul Mondesi

1977 Topps Jim Willoughby 

1973 Topps Jesus Alou

2019 Topps Heritage Joe Harvey

1989 Topps Traded Deion Sanders 

2008 Topps Opening Day Grady Sizemore

Favorite card here is the '77 Jim Willoughby (of course).

Pack 14

1986 Donruss Diamond Kings Bob Boone

1982 Topps Jerry Don Gleaton

1991 Fleer Ultra Rickey Henderson 

1988 Topps Kmart Memorable Moments Ozzie Smith

1973 Topps Ken Sanders

1988 Classic Red Mark McGwire/Don Mattingly

1975 Topps Carl Yastrzemski 

1983 Topps Boston Red Sox Batting & Pitching Leaders Jim Rice/Bob Stanley 

1986 Fleer Star Stickers Dwight Gooden

1977 Topps Mike Torrez

1982 Fleer Mike Vail

2011 Topps Samuel Deduno

1979 Topps Nino Espinosa

1981 Donruss Lary Sorensen

Favorite card is the '75 Carl Yastrzemski (a bit miscut though).

Pack 15

1992 Fleer Ultra Gene Nelson

1978 Topps Denny Doyle

1988 Score Nolan Ryan

1957 Topps Chuck Tanner

1987 Topps Barry Bonds

2020 Topps League Leaders Christian Yelich

1973 Topps Jim Brewer

1979 Topps Jim Willoughby 

1990 Topps Rock Raines

1984 Topps Purina Fred Lynn

1989 Donruss Don Mattingly

1984 Topps Traded Glenn Wilson

1976 Topps Rudy Meoli

1987 Topps Jim Dwyer

A few highlights in this pack...first off, the 1957 Topps Chuck Tanner. This was the oldest card in the box and in pretty decent condition for being 65 years old. Even though I already have a few,  I will never get tired of pulling 1987 Topps Barry Bonds rookies. The 1978 Topps Denny Doyle was a favorite of mine as a youth, and we see the second appearance of Rudy Meoli, whose 1975 Topps card could just have easily been the banner for my blog.

Pack 16

1984 Topps Lee Mazzilli

1992 Fleer Ultra All-Star Insert Tom Glavine

1984 Topps All-Star Set Cecil Cooper

1990 Bowman Alejandro Pena

1973 Topps Ed Goodson

1990 Topps All-Star Ozzie Smith

1989 Fleer Dale Murphy

1986 Fleer Star Stickers Tony Gwynn

1982 Donruss Cal Ripken Jr.

1990 Donruss Gorge Brett

1985 Topps Franklin Stubbs

1991 All-Star Mike Scioscia

1982 Topps Bob McClure

1989 Upper Deck Manny Trillo

I was quite surprised to pull the '82 Donruss Ripken rookie. Itis miscut and off center, but I don't care. I didn't have one before and now I do.

Pack 17

1996 Fleer Update Ken Ryan

1978 Topps J.R. Richard

1990 Donruss Cal Ripken Jr.

1974 Topps Carl Taylor

1982 Donruss Bronx Bombers Reggie Jackson/Dave Winfield

2005 Bowman Roy Halladay

1990 Upper Deck Juan Gonzalez

1982 Topps Nolan Ryan

1980 Topps Terry Puhl

1985 Topps Bobby Cox

1985 Fleer Britt Burns

1976 Topps Mike Kekich

2003 Topps Rick Reed

1989 Upper Deck Gerald Perry

The 1982 Topps Nolan Ryan and the 1990 Upper Deck Juan Gonzalez Rookie lead the way here.

Pack 18

1998 Upper Deck Marty Cordova

1990 Upper Deck Robin Ventura

1976 Topps Tom Buskey

1974 Topps Toby Harrah

1987 Donruss Greg Maddux

1990 Donruss Diamond Kings John Smoltz

1987 Topps Rickey Henderson 

1994 Post Mark Whiten

1991 Score Rookie Of The Year Dave Justice

1982 Topps Mike Proly

1982 Fleer Tom Herr

1981 Donruss Duane "Dwane" Kuiper

2000 Topps Jay Buhner

1992 Donruss Royce Clayton

The last pack provides one more surprise...a 1987 Donruss Greg Maddux Rookie. 

I hadn't done too well with my couple of boxes of Repacked Wax, however I did much better with Classic Wax. I didn't bother to figure out the value of the cards I pulled from the box, but it's a safe bet to assume they exceeded the cost (even with being shorted one card from almost every pack). If ROI is your main concern, this really isn't the route to take, but from this very limited comparison I would choose Classic Wax. Remember, it also is about $40 more a box. If it's just about having fun and/or taking a trip down memory lane, either one of them will do the trick.

Thanks for reading!

What I'm Listening To While I Post This 

Cuts Like A Knife - Bryan Adams

 

Classic Wax 18 Pack Baseball Box (Part 1)

 

I've done a couple of Repacked Wax posts, so here is another repack offering called Classic Wax. The concept is the same, and there is also 18 packs of 15 cards (which I will break up into 2 posts)...although these are a bit more expensive ($99.99 after shipping and handling). So let's see if that translates into higher end cards. 

Pack 1

1978 Topps Greg Minton

1990 Fleer Tony Gwynn

1988 Leaf Dave Winfield

1975 Topps Clyde Wright

2005 Bowman Joe Mauer

1985 Topps Dave Bergman

1976 Topps Pete Rose

1982 Fleer Gary Lucas

1986 Leaf Diamond Kings Orel Hershiser

1990 Donruss Dale Murphy

1989 Topps Roberto Alomar

1982 Topps Mike Tyson

1987 Hygrade Baseball's All-Time Greats Paul Waner

1988 Classic Red Terry Steinbach

1989 Upper Deck Tony Phillips

A  1976 Pete Rose? Not a bad start at all. I must say I do enjoy watching all the YouTubers open these boxes...especially when they pull something like that 1987 Hygrade Paul Waner and have absolutely no idea what or who that is.

Pack 2

2020 Topps Heritage Scott Kingery 

1986 Fleer Baseball's Best Reggie Jackson

1976 Topps Tom Veryzer

1990 Fleer Ken Griffey Jr 

1994 Pacific Robin Yount

1964 Topps Len Gabrielson 

1982 Donruss Diamond Kings Johnny Bench

1989 Upper Deck Andre Dawson

1993 Classic Four Sport Brian Anderson

1992 Conlon Collection Freddie Lindstrom

1980 Topps Cardinals Future Stars George Frazier/Tom Herr/Dan O'Brien 

1984 Topps Alejandro Pena

1986 Donruss Diamond Kings Jerry Koosman

1981 Donruss Jeff Newman

The first 60's card is a 1964 Topps. One of the things I noticed is that the conditions of the older cards are much better than Repacked Wax (as they should be). A card like the 1992 Freddie Lindstrom would also bring confusion to most YouTubers.

Pack 3

1980 Topps Ron Guidry

1983 Topps Super Veteran Al Oliver

1989 Pacific Baseball Legends Phil Cavaretta

1990 Donruss Robin Yount

1986 Topps Eddie Murray

1973 Topps Marty Perez

1988 Fleer Lee Smith

1970 Topps RBI Leaders Harmon Killebrew/Boog Powell/Reggie Jackson

1991 Leaf Tom Glavine

1982 Topps St Louis Cardinals Batting & Pitching Leaders Keith Hernandez/Bob Forsch

1976 Topps Stan Thomas 

1982 Fleer Reggie Cleveland

2000 Topps Francisco Cordova

1989 Topps George Bell

The 1970 Topps RBI Leaders card was a quite good shape...although miscut, a common occurrence in these types of boxes.

 Pack 4

1996 Fleer Update Kevin Brown

1986 Topps Alan Trammell

1978 Topps Jerry Royster

2005 Topps David Ortiz

1990 Donruss Lee Smith

1975 Topps Ted Kubiak

1985 Topps Dave Meier

1976 Topps Rod Carew

1982 Fleer Juan Eichelberger

1986 Leaf Doyle Alexander

2003 Upper Deck Russ Ortiz

1977 Topps Vern Ruhle

1982 Topps Alvis Woods

2004 Topps Traded Jim Crowell

1976 Topps Rod Carew! My only complaint so far is that the majority of packs only had 14 cards instead of the 15 that was stated on the wrappers.

Pack 5

1978 Topps Bob Bailor

1990 Fleer Dave Winfield

1977 Topps Dock Ellis

1985 Topps Bret Saberhagen

1987 Donruss Highlights Mark McGwire

1973 Topps Phil Gagliano

2020 Topps Nolan Arenado

1962 Topps Don Larsen

1989 Donruss Eric Plunk

1986 Topps Quaker Chewy Granola Bars Jim Rice

1981 Topps Larry Milbourne

1983 Fleer Dave Frost

1979 Topps Mario Guerrero

2011 Topps Jaime Garcia

Classic Wax also has more of the oddball type cards...unfortunately I already have most that I've pulled so far.

Pack 6

1985 Topps Wally Backman

1987 Fleer Garry Templeton

1978 Topps Paul Linblad

1982 Donruss Diamond Kings Joe Morgan

1981 Donruss Steve Renko

2000 Fleer Impact Roger Clemens

1982 Topps Bo Diaz

1984 Topps NL All-Star Mike Schmidt

1990 Donruss MVP Alan Trammell 

1974 Topps Andy Etchebarren

1982 Fleer Richard Dotson

1986 Leaf Lloyd Moseby

1977 Topps Larry Lintz

1983 Fleer Greg Pryor

I especially like the Larry Lintz card. It's not every year that someone plays in 68 major league games but only gets 1 official at bat. (He actually had 4 plate appearances, but walked twice and sacrificed once.)

Pack 7

1976 Terry Crowley

1980 Bert Roberge

1986 Donruss Highlights Roger Clemens

1981 Donruss Byron McLaughlin

1990 Donruss Jose Canseco

1985 Topps Ryne Sandberg

1979 Topps Carlton Fisk 

2021 Topps Allen & Ginter Bobby Dalbec

1992 Fleer Ultra Willie Wilson

1968 Topps Rookie Stars Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen

1983 Donruss Kent Tekulve

1993 Fleer Ultra Mark McGwire

1971 Topps Billy Conigliaro

1983 Fleer Jim Slaton

2008 Topps Opening Day Wladimir Balentien

1968 Rookie Stars...so close yet so far.

Pack 8

1984 Topps Traded Rick Sutcliffe

1979 Topps Joe Morgan

1988 Fleer Tim Raines

1987 Topps Cal Ripken

1958 Topps Gino Cimoli

1990 Fleer Lee Mazzilli

1973 Topps Johnny Briggs

1991 Donruss The Rookies Pat Kelly

1977 Topps Ron Blomberg

2020 Topps Paul Goldschmidt 

1982 Topps In Action Steve Garvey 

1990 Score Bo Jackson

1987 Donruss Gene Garber

1989 Toys "R" Us Cecil Espy

I was happy to pull a card from 1958...even though it was also a tad miscut.

Pack 9

1978 Topps Duffy Dyer

1986 Donruss Highlights Kirby Puckett

1984 Topps Traded Ray Burris

1987 Fleer Limited Edition Roger Clemens

1983 Donruss Manny Trillo

1963 Topps Earl Francis

1993 Classic Four Sport Jamey Wright

1971 Topps Steve Renko

1990 Donruss Diamond Kings Ken Griffey Jr.

1979 Topps Jesus Alou

1989 Toys "R" Us Kevin Elster

1991 Fleer Ultra Fred McGriff

2021 Topps Heritage Dodgers Rookie Stars Keibert Ruiz/Mitch White

1987 Topps Opening Day Bob Ojeda

The 71's weren't bad...some rounded corners and chipping but these are so tough to find in good condition. 

Not a bad first half...there was also Bret Saberhagen and Bobby Dalbec Rookies that snuck by...but that '76 Pete Rose makes the first half quite impressive. You don't buy these hoping for a good ROI, but I'm certainly not going to complain if I do. Next post will be the second half of the box.

Thanks for reading!

What I'm Listening To While I Post This 

In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins

1980 Topps Superstars

Another online purchase I made recently was for a box of 1980 Topps Superstars. This is another example of a box you could find at card shows in years past for probably $5. You could probably even find it in a box of random items in a bin under the table where the dealer would say, "10 bucks and you can have the whole bin." I overpaid per usual now...it was around $20.

I had never seen these before, but once I saw "1980", I knew it would be players of my youth and a fun trip down memory lane.

It was off to a good start with Willie Stargell at the top. The box was not sealed, so the potential of shenanigans did cross my mind. Since I knew nothing about this product, I did a bit of research and found a good amount of information on "Sports Collectors Daily".

Turns out this was how they were packaged. You could rifle through the box and pick out who you wanted. If you weren't interested in Jason Thompson, you left him behind. They were also distributed in unopened packs of 5 with a cardboard header that contained a checklist on the back. You could also send in $9 plus a wrapper for the complete set.

Here is the back...very simple, no statistical information.

Now here is where it gets interesting...Topps later released a "white back" version that was sold only to dealers in complete set form. This set was packaged in manilla envelopes making the corners very susceptible to dings.

This is picture of the back. The picture is not lit up very well, but take my word for it, the back of this is pure white. Notice the lack of the Topps logo.

How you may ask, was I able to take a picture of one of these? Elementary, my dear Watson, as there happened to be 12 of these inside the box. 

So this was obviously NOT an "unopened" box as I'm sure it was just put together by who knows who. However, I did manage to end up with 54 cards instead of the 48 I was supposed to get. There were some triplicates in the box (Randy Jones, Buddy Bell, Lee Mazilli), but there were also plenty of stars (especially the cards with the "white backs"). So I'm thinking they were added to offset the mostly commons that were left behind originally.

As you can see miscuts weren't a standard size card only problem.

This was not something I remember seeing but to be fair, at the time I was only 11. That was a long, long time ago and there are a lot of things from back then that I don't remember seeing.

As you can tell, the cards are a bit oversized...about 5x7 inches.

Here a picture of the checklist (also borrowed from "Sports Collectors Daily").

All told, I did enjoy this trip down memory lane. Not a financially smart purchase of course, but how many of these are?

Thanks for reading!

What I'm Listening To While I Post This 

Nutshell - Alice In Chains

1983 Donruss Baseball Action All Stars

If you've followed this blog for any length of time, you've probably realized that I am a sucker for oddball cards...especially if it's from when I was a kid. This is the time when I knew all of the players...unlike today as I'm not familiar with some players on the Red Sox, much less the rest of the league.

This another box that should have been $5 but I ended up paying a little less than $20. I don't think we'll ever see $5 boxes again but I hope I'm wrong.

Apparently back in 1983 an extra 60 cents profit was a big deal. Oh, and do you notice something odd about this box?

There were 38 packs in the box with 6 cards in a pack for a total of 228 cards. There are 60 cards in the set. I should be able to get a few sets out of this, shouldn't I?

That is...as long as you don't have terrible collation, like I did. The smaller pile is the 1 and only complete set I got. The bigger pile is all of the duplicates. I managed to pull only 1 Tony Pena, Gaylord Perry, Rickey Henderson, Gary Ward, Hal McRae, Phil Niekro and Al Oliver, but was blessed with 9 copies of Tim Lollar and Pete Rose.

The cards (collation nonwithstanding) I like. They are 5" x 3.5"...which is essentially two normal sized cards side by side.

If you read the card backs (like I do), there are lots of stats. They are complete too...Yaz's card goes all the way back to 1961.

Each pack also had 3 puzzle pieces. While the standard release featured Ty Cobb, for this set Mickey Mantle (or "Mickey Mantel" as the box states) was the subject.

Here is the checklist:

1.) Eddie Murray

2.) Dwight Evans

3.) Reggie Jackson

4.) Greg Luzinski

5.) Larry Herndon

6.) Al Oliver

7.) Bill Buckner

8.) Jason Thompson 

9.) Andre Dawson

10.) Greg Minton

11.) Terry Kennedy 

12.) Phil Niekro

13.) Willie Wilson

14.) Johnny Bench

15.) Ron Guidry

16.) Hal McRae

17.) Damaso Garcia

18.) Gary Ward

19.) Cecil Cooper

20.) Keith Hernandez

21.) Ron Cey

22.) Rickey Henderson 

23.) Nolan Ryan

24.) Steve Carlton

25.) John Stearns

26.) Jim Sundberg

27.) Joaquin Andujar

28.) Gaylord Perry

29.) Jack Clark

30.) Bill Madlock

31.) Pete Rose

32.) Mookie Wilson

33.) Rollie Fingers

34.) Lonnie Smith

35.) Tony Pena

36.) Dave Winfield

37.) Tim Lollar

38.) Rod Carew

39.) Toby Harrah

40.) Buddy Bell

41.) Bruce Sutter

42.) George Brett

43.) Carlton Fisk

44.) Carl Yastrzemski 

45.) Dale Murphy 

46.) Bob Horner 

47.) Dave Concepcion

48.) Dave Stieb

49.) Kent Hrbek

50.) Lance Parrish

51.) Joe Niekro

52.) Cal Ripken Jr.

53.) Fernando Valenzuela 

54.) Richie Zisk

55.) Leon Durham

56.) Robin Yount

57.) Mike Schmidt

58.) Gary Carter

59.) Fred Lynn

60.) Checklist 

Thanks for reading!

What I'm Listening To While I Post This 

Double Wide - Uncle Kracker