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

Repacked Wax - Just The 70's

Back in September of last year (I've been slowly writing this post since November) I was taking a look at the website for Repacked Wax. Yes, the dismal beating I took from a box I bought previously had not deterred me from visiting the website now and then. Noticing that the 2nd Edition of "Just The 70's" had just been released (and I love 70's cards), I took the plunge.

I paid $129.99 (shipping was included). Quite steep I agree...but according to the description on their website they had acquired the following complete sets to put into these boxes.

1970 Topps (1 set)

1971 Topps (1 set)

1972 Topps (1 set)

1973 Topps (2 sets)

1974 Topps (2 sets)

1975 Topps (1 set)

1976 Topps (2 sets)

1977 Topps (3 sets)

1978 Topps (1 set)

1979 Topps (3 sets)

1979 Kelloggs (2 sets)

In addition, there was also going to be "some traded and misc./partial sets and singles and various extra stars". 

There were only going to be 100 boxes produced and each box would have 12 packs of 10 cards...so it comes out to just over a dollar a card. Every set was broken up and randomly spread across the 12,000 packs. So since every base card was included, you are going to get mostly commons. But there are a lot of decent rookie cards, 2nd year cards, etc., so you would think the odds of getting a few really good cards would be high, right?

Well, I'd seen three breaks of this on YouTube between ordering and receiving my box. None of the three produced any cards of note.

Wonderful.

In the "Swing and a Pop Up" world, this doesn't mean that I have a better chance of pulling something crazy because 3 of the 100 boxes are out of the way, this means those videos were probably going to be a preview of my box.

One thing you must keep in mind when you open a box of Repacked Wax or anything similar...you must have very, very low expectations. To me these are like those "Card Chase boxes" where for 20 bucks you get a bunch of packs that you could buy anywhere else for a fraction of that price. 

So is my prediction correct or do I just have a negative attitude? Let's find out!

Pack 1

1978 Topps Tigers Team Card

1977 Topps Butch Wynegar

1979 Topps Stan Papi

1973 Topps Mike Lum

1976 Topps Ted Simmons

1979 Topps Ron Guidry

1972 Topps Bill Sudakis

1971 Topps Rookie Stars Mike Davison/George Foster

1977 Topps Willie Montanez

1975 Topps Checklist cards 1 - 132

Not a horrible start...thanks to the George Foster rookie (although it does suffer from condition issues). The 1972 Sudakis is a high number.

Pack 2

1978 Topps Charlie Hough

1974 Topps Jerry Grote

1976 Topps Bob Montgomery

1979 Kellogg's Dave Parker

1977 Topps Bob Tolan

1972 Topps Boyhood Photos of the Stars Rick Wise

1971 Topps Dan Frisella

1975 Topps Dan Spillner

1977 Topps Mike Jorgensen

1979 Topps Bucky Dent (Rub in that 1978 Red Sox disappointment some more, why don't you)

My first Kellogg's card of the box.

Pack 3

1978 Topps Reggie Cleveland

1976 Topps Gene Tenace

1970 Topps Luis Aparicio

1977 Topps Bob Randall

1972 Topps Ron Woods

1974 Topps George Hendrick

1979 Topps Taylor Duncan

1971 Topps Baseball Coins Checklist 1 - 153

1975 Topps Jim Palmer

1973 Topps Duke Sims

Love the 1978 Topps Red Sox cards (although Reggie Cleveland only pitched 1/3 of an inning for the Red Sox in 1978 before being sold to the Texas Rangers in mid-April).

Pack 4

1977 Topps Jerry Reuss

1975 Topps Jim York

1979 Topps Tom Hutton

1970 Topps Danny Walton

1979 Topps Manny Sarmiento

1978 Topps Dick Pole

1976 Topps Tug McGraw

1973 Topps Royals Team Card

1972 Topps Denny Riddleberger

1974 Topps Traded John Curtis

Pack 5

1973 Topps Al Fitzmorris

1975 Topps Amos Otis

1978 Topps Larry Cox

1977 Topps Jason Thompson

1972 Topps Rollie Fingers

1970 Topps Red Sox Team Card

1978 Topps John Mayberry

1977 Topps Record Breaker Minnie Minoso

1974 Topps John Edwards

1973 Topps Bruce Dal Canton

The badly miscut Al Fitzmorris is a high number.

Pack 6

1978 Topps Ed Ott

1974 Topps Ken Singleton

1976 Topps Dick Pole

1977 Topps Dan Spillner

1979 Kelloggs Geoff Zahn

1972 Topps Sparky Anderson

1971 Topps Donn Clendenon

1975 Topps Dave Duncan

1977 Topps Jon Matlack

1979 Topps Joaquin Andujar

Another Kellogg's card!

Pack 7

1976 Topps Reggie Smith

1978 Topps Graig Nettles

1970 Topps Rod Gaspar

1977 Topps Don Carrithers

1979 Topps Burt Hooton

1973 Topps Jim Hardin

1973 Topps Luis Melendez

1974 Topps Rich Hand

1979 Topps Jim Essian

1975 Topps Steve Foucault

What? This pack had 11 cards? A bonus common!

1975 Topps Ken Rudolph

Pack 8

1978 Topps Rob Sperring

1976 Topps John Candelaria

1970 Topps Checklist 133 - 263

1977 Topps Al Cowens

1972 Topps Ray Lamb

1974 Topps Jim Northrup

1975 Topps Terry Hughes

1973 Topps Boyhood Photos of the Stars Jim Hunter

1979 Topps Dick Ruthven

1971 Topps RBI Leaders Bench/Perez/Williams

Pack 9

1979 Topps J. R. Richard

1975 Topps Dave McNally

1974 Topps Gene Michael

1972 Topps Frank Duffy

1977 Topps Tom Walker

1971 Topps Ernie Banks

1979 Topps Dave Parker

1970 Topps Bill Hands

1976 Topps Rick Rhoden

1978 Topps Jack Brohamer

SPOILER ALERT! - The Ernie Banks was the best card of the box.

Pack 10

1977 Topps Big League Brothers Paul Reuschel/Rick Reuschel

1975 Topps Don DeMola

1979 Topps Geoff Zahn

1971 Topps Tom Phoebus

1979 Topps Tony Scott

1978 Topps Paul Hartzell

1976 Topps Dyar Miller

1973 Topps Jimmy Stewart

1972 Topps Reds Team Card

1974 Topps Traded Ron Santo

Another high number courtesy of Tom Phoebus.

Pack 11

1978 Topps Tug McGraw

1977 Topps Tito Fuentes

1979 Topps Blue Jays Prospects Cruz/Kelly/Whitt

1973 Topps Dave Johnson

1976 Topps Dave Moates

1979 Topps Freddie Patek

1974 Topps Jeff Burroughs

1970 Topps Bob Didier

1977 Topps Jim Todd

1976 Topps Sal Bando

Dave Johnson is a high number.

Pack 12

1978 Topps Dave Goltz

1977 Topps Ken Brett

1979 Topps Ed Halicki

1973 Topps Bill Stoneman

1976 Topps Jim Barr

1979 Topps Skip Lockwood

1972 Topps In Action Pat Corrales 

1971 Topps White Sox Team Card

1979 Topps Tony Perez

1976 Topps Tippy Martinez

Pat Corrales is also a high number.

Here's the final tally:

1970 - 7 cards

1971 - 8 cards

1972 - 10 cards

1973 - 11 cards

1974 - 10 cards

1975 - 11 cards

1976 - 13 cards

1977 - 18 cards

1978 - 12 cards

1979 - 21 cards

Not surprising was that most of the cards were from the late 70's as most of the sets the cards were pulled from was that time period. What was not surprising was the lack of any star power. I didn't tally up how much value I got from the box but I'm pretty sure I fell short of the $129.99 I paid for it. All told, it was an enjoyable (albeit expensive) experience. 

Thanks for reading!

What I'm Listening To While I Post This 

Footloose - Kenny Loggins

Completed Set - 2008 Topps Update and Highlights

As someone who calls himself a set collector, it's astounding how few sets I've actually completed. 

It's been awhile since I've finished one, but I present to you 2008 Topps Update and Highlights.

This set is of particular note because I never actually bought a pack of this. It was entirely put together via repacks, boxes of commons and trading...

...and it only took fourteen years!

Thanks for reading!

What I'm Listening To While I Post This 

I Won't Back Down - Tom Petty