Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 1995 Topps Traded Baseball
Topps Traded Baseball became an annual release starting in 1981. Each year those releases were available as factory sets. That is, until 1995 Topps Traded Baseball. 1995 marked the first time the set was released solely in packs and not in factory sets. There were a couple of years in the early ’90s where factory sets and packs were both available, but this marked it’s debut in a pack-only format.
1995 Topps Traded has a 165-card checklist and a design that mirrors the main 1995 Topps Baseball release. However, unlike Series 1 and 2, there are no CyberStats parallels. The only chase cards in this release are At the Break Power Boosters. That’s it. There are some good rookie names to pull, though. Carlos Beltran and Hideo Nomo have their Rookie Cards on the checklist. The Beltran — it’s something.
1995 Topps Traded Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 11
Packs per box: 36
Price paid: $36
Shop for 1995 Topps Traded Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Hideo Nomo RC & Al Leiter
Nomo won the 1995 NL Rookie of the Year Award after going 13-6 with a 2.54 ERA.
Pack 2:
Gwynn/Griffey AS, Otis Nixon, Jack McDowell, Marquis Grissom & Gregg Jefferies
Pack 3:
Piazza/Rodriguez AS, Cal Ripken, Jr., Shawn Green & Terry Pendleton
Pack 4:
Ken Caminiti, Frank Thomas, Matt Williams, Carlos Beltran RC x2 & Tim Wakefield
By now you have probably heard about the Beltran RC mix-up. If you haven’t, two Royals rookies (Beltran and Juan Lebron) had their pictures swapped on their cards. Even though this card shows Lebron, it is still considered Beltran’s RC.
Pack 5:
Piazza/Rodriguez AS & Gregg Jefferies
Pack 6:
Benito Santiago, Larry Walker, Bronson Arroyo RC, Sweeney/Arias/Sexson/Schneider RC, Ray Durham & Mouton/Rivera OD
Pack 7:
Bonds/Belle AS, Dykstra/Puckett AS, Ken Caminiti & Orel Hershiser
Caminiti won three straight Gold Glove awards at third base 1995 to 1997. He’s also the subject of a new biography, “Playing Through the Pain: Ken Caminiti and the Steroids Confession That Changed Baseball Forever” by one-time Beckett contributor, Dan Good.
Pack 8:
Nomo/Johnson AS, Tony Gwynn, Mike Piazza & Chipper Jones
Pack 9:
Ken Griffey, Jr., Tom Henke & Steve Finley
Pack 10:
Juan Lebron RC & Jeff Bagwell
Hey, there’s Carlos Beltran!
Pack 11:
Mouton/Rivera, Matt Williams & Cal Ripken Jr. At the Break Power Boosters (1:36 packs)
It was tough to get a good photo of this one. You’ll have to trust me, it is awesome!
Pack 12:
Andre Dawson, Bronson Arroyo RC & Jack McDowell
Pack 13:
Smith/Ripken AS, Chipper Jones & Larry Walker
Walker finished seventh in MVP voting his first season in Colorado, hitting .306 with 36 HR and 101 RBI.
Pack 14:
Ken Griffey, Jr. & Matt Williams
Pack 15:
Dual Tim Wakefields, Mike Piazza & Ken Caminiti
Pack 16:
Derek Bell & Steve Finley
Bell was traded to the Astros in December, 1994, joining Biggio and Bagwell in Houston as the Killer B’s.
Pack 17:
Mouton/Rivera x2 & Edgardo Alfonzo
Pack 18:
Dykstra/Puckett dupes, Hideo Nomo & Tony Gwynn
Pack 19:
Juan Lebron RC, Kevin Brown, Brett Butler & Barry Bonds
Brown signed a one-year, $4.225 million contract with the Orioles for the 1995 season. That was his only season in Baltimore.
Pack 20:
Brett Butler, Lee Smith, Ray Durham, Carlos Beltran RC, Tim Wakefield & Jim Abbott
Pack 21:
Kevin Brown, Mouton/Rivera, Marquis Grissom, Ray Durham & Benny Santiago\
Pack 22:
Dykstra/Puckett AS, Jim Abbott, Hideo Nomo RC & Shawn Green
Shawn Green finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting following the 1995 season, behind Marty Cordova, Garret Anderson, Andy Pettitte and Troy Percival.
Pack 23:
Biggio/Baerga AS, Gwynn/Griffey AS, Frank Thomas & Mo Vaughn
Pack 24:
Ray Durham, Bronson Arroyo RC, Jose Canseco & Cal Ripken Jr.
Pack 25:
John Kruk, Gregg Jefferies & Tony Fernandez
Fernandez signed a two-year contract with New York prior to the 1995 season but missed all of 1996 due to injury.
Pack 26:
Andre Dawson & Jack McDowell
Pack 27:
McGriff/Thomas AS, Richie Sexson RC, Chipper Jones, Larry Walker & Ken Caminiti
Pack 28:
Bonds/Belle AS, Andre Dawson, Ken Griffey, Jr., Matt Williams & David Cone
For some reason, I really like the David Cone card. It must be the background.
Pack 29:
Andre Dawson, Marty Cordova & David Cone
Pack 30:
Smith/Ripken AS, double Sexson RCs & Mouton/Rivera
Pack 31:
Bonds/Belle AS twins, Dykstra/Puckett AS, Cal Ripken, Jr. & Albert Belle
Pulling dupes in the same pack became a theme in this one.
Pack 32:
A lonely Mo Vaughn
Pack 33:
Marquis Grissom & Jose Canseco
Pack 34:
John Kruk, Larry Walker, Shawn Green & Tony Fernandez
1995 was Kruk’s final major league season. He played just 45 games, hitting .308.
Pack 35:
Williams/Boggs AS dupes, Frank Thomas, Jack McDowell & Dave Stewart
Pack 36:
McGriff/Thomas AS, Juan Lebron RC & Mike Piazza
Lastly, the Dave Stewart card back. Four straight seasons leading the league in starts. I wonder when the last time that happened was?
The best part about this box? I had never opened the product and didn’t own a single card from the set. For a player-sorting collector like myself, that is a rare find.
It was definitely fun to pull my own Lebron-Beltran mix-up RCs, and multiples at that. The short checklist made for quite a few duplicate pulls, and the set just seemed to be missing something.
As a mid ’90s release, there just aren’t enough inserts for me. The At the Break Power Boosters are the only chase in this box. And those are box hits. Where are the inserts?
