Of cardboard collation anomalies …

22
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mannycard

From the Desk of Olds …

Picked up one of those half-price Blaster boxes of 2008 Stadium Club Baseball during a Tuesday-night Target stop and had quite an unusual run — one perhaps unseen before during my 20-plus years of collecting.

Sure, we’ve heard the stories about mispackaged cards — packs full of autographs, or packs carrying extra cards or (gasp!) packs that were short.

But this one was something new, something unusual. Perhaps it’s not earthshattering, but definitely something that I don’t recall seeing before.

I got five straight packs — 25 consecutive cards — all with horizontal photos. All of them — from Manny Ramirez (above; and where is the umpire, anyway?) to Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Greg Maddux, Johan Santana and so on — horizontals.

Every. Single. Card.

Sure, it’s easy to say “I had the same” with 1960 Topps or 2009 Topps Heritage — sets with just horizontal designs — but Stadium Club is a set that has its fare share of vertical and horizontal cards (obviously to help showcase the photography).

But five packs — including all of the First Day Issue cards — to be all horizontals?

It amazed me. And the remnants of the box — three packs along with two more Blasters (19 packs total) — yielded just more 12 horizontal cards.

Right up there with this run for me would be an infamous 1989 Donruss pack that had every card inside miscut — in order — so the chain of cards connected one to another when they were placed side by side.

Do you have any unusual pack tales to tell?

Let us know.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Graded Card Investor. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.

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22 comments

  1. Bud Bareither 27 October, 2009 at 20:44

    Boy do I! I bought one of the those repack boxes back in 2004, the kind that had 12 packs for $10 bucks (I wish they would bring those back). Anyway, in a pack of 2003 Bowman Heritage that was supposed to contain 8 cards, I pulled 8 Bowman Heritage cards (including two different Roberto Clemente’s) plus…a 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man card of Jorge Sosa. That’s right, a UD card in the middle of a Topps pack. Looks like those repacking companies were up to no good!

  2. Bud Bareither 27 October, 2009 at 20:44

    Boy do I! I bought one of the those repack boxes back in 2004, the kind that had 12 packs for $10 bucks (I wish they would bring those back). Anyway, in a pack of 2003 Bowman Heritage that was supposed to contain 8 cards, I pulled 8 Bowman Heritage cards (including two different Roberto Clemente’s) plus…a 2002 Upper Deck 40-Man card of Jorge Sosa. That’s right, a UD card in the middle of a Topps pack. Looks like those repacking companies were up to no good!

  3. RobertS. 27 October, 2009 at 20:53

    my recent “oddities”

    – Opened 1 box of Razor 2008 Signature series and got 3 dusty coleman base cards out of the 10 packs. Also got a coleman parallel and one of those base cards in the same pack.

    – I’ve opened half a box of 1993 Leaf Series 1 – two different packs had 2 of the same card in the same pack

    – 2009 Topps U/H that I am working on – one pack out of the five I”ve opened so far had a gold border parallel and base card in the same pack – the Texas Rangers combos card of Kinsler, Hamilton and someone else, IIRC.

  4. RobertS. 27 October, 2009 at 20:53

    my recent “oddities”

    – Opened 1 box of Razor 2008 Signature series and got 3 dusty coleman base cards out of the 10 packs. Also got a coleman parallel and one of those base cards in the same pack.

    – I’ve opened half a box of 1993 Leaf Series 1 – two different packs had 2 of the same card in the same pack

    – 2009 Topps U/H that I am working on – one pack out of the five I”ve opened so far had a gold border parallel and base card in the same pack – the Texas Rangers combos card of Kinsler, Hamilton and someone else, IIRC.

  5. Donald 28 October, 2009 at 12:26

    I received two hobby boxes of 2009 Upper deck baseball goodwins for my birthday that was purchased at a local hobby shop peninsula sports in belmont ca.

    in the two boxes combined I got 33 base cards 16 in one box 17 in the 2nd box combined in two boxes 79 short prints average 6-10 per hobby box
    completing 39 of the 40 with 40 extras to spare as well as 18 super short prints 57 minis including high numbered exclusives 23 upper deck baseball history cards
    average 2:1 per hobby box on average

  6. Donald 28 October, 2009 at 12:26

    I received two hobby boxes of 2009 Upper deck baseball goodwins for my birthday that was purchased at a local hobby shop peninsula sports in belmont ca.

    in the two boxes combined I got 33 base cards 16 in one box 17 in the 2nd box combined in two boxes 79 short prints average 6-10 per hobby box
    completing 39 of the 40 with 40 extras to spare as well as 18 super short prints 57 minis including high numbered exclusives 23 upper deck baseball history cards
    average 2:1 per hobby box on average

  7. Donald 28 October, 2009 at 12:32

    2009 Upper deck Goodwin Baseball
    note my last sentence in my original post should be 2:1 average on the super short prints I got 18 9 per hobby box not the ud history cards I got 23 of the history cards

  8. Donald 28 October, 2009 at 12:32

    2009 Upper deck Goodwin Baseball
    note my last sentence in my original post should be 2:1 average on the super short prints I got 18 9 per hobby box not the ud history cards I got 23 of the history cards

  9. Newspaperman 28 October, 2009 at 13:52

    I once opened a retail pack of 1994 Upper Deck baseball and every card within was … 1989 Upper Deck. No joke. I sent the stuff back to Upper Deck, asking for a pack of 94 and they REJECTED IT and said there was no way it could have happened. Why would I lie about something like that?

  10. Newspaperman 28 October, 2009 at 13:52

    I once opened a retail pack of 1994 Upper Deck baseball and every card within was … 1989 Upper Deck. No joke. I sent the stuff back to Upper Deck, asking for a pack of 94 and they REJECTED IT and said there was no way it could have happened. Why would I lie about something like that?

  11. Newspaperman 28 October, 2009 at 13:56

    Also … in 1992, while vacationing is Mizzura (Missouri) I opened three retail packs of 1992 Upper Deck baseball and pulled THREE of those Mr. Baseball Tom Selleck/Frank Thomas SPs in ONE pack. Valued at $15 each, those cards were big money for a 12 year old.

  12. Newspaperman 28 October, 2009 at 13:56

    Also … in 1992, while vacationing is Mizzura (Missouri) I opened three retail packs of 1992 Upper Deck baseball and pulled THREE of those Mr. Baseball Tom Selleck/Frank Thomas SPs in ONE pack. Valued at $15 each, those cards were big money for a 12 year old.

  13. Newspaperman 28 October, 2009 at 13:57

    @Donald: I shop at that store on ocassion, great store. Also dig their other locations in Sunnyvale and San Jose. Didn’t the 07 BC Fernando Martinez Superfractor get pulled from that Belmont store?

  14. Newspaperman 28 October, 2009 at 13:57

    @Donald: I shop at that store on ocassion, great store. Also dig their other locations in Sunnyvale and San Jose. Didn’t the 07 BC Fernando Martinez Superfractor get pulled from that Belmont store?

  15. The Hammer 29 October, 2009 at 07:17

    1995 Classic Five-Sport pack – pulled a Classic Five Sport Die Cut wrongback with a Spanish language Batman Forever card on the back! Still have it. Most intriguing is that I still can’t find any information on that set being produced in Spanish.

  16. The Hammer 29 October, 2009 at 07:17

    1995 Classic Five-Sport pack – pulled a Classic Five Sport Die Cut wrongback with a Spanish language Batman Forever card on the back! Still have it. Most intriguing is that I still can’t find any information on that set being produced in Spanish.

  17. Kevin 4 November, 2009 at 10:48

    Look at the Manny card pictured. It is airbrushed. The background is Fenway, not Dodger Stadium, and the umpire was probably airbrushed out. Topps colored the backstop blue (it is green at Fenway).

  18. Kevin 4 November, 2009 at 10:48

    Look at the Manny card pictured. It is airbrushed. The background is Fenway, not Dodger Stadium, and the umpire was probably airbrushed out. Topps colored the backstop blue (it is green at Fenway).

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