Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 1998 Upper Deck Series 3 Baseball

1998 Upper Deck Baseball was split into three different series. Series 1 and Series 2 have equal 270-card base checklists. Series 3, also known as Rookie Edition, has just 211 cards. Why Rookie Edition? Well, the first 60 cards in the base checklist use the Star Rookie subset. Only a fraction of the Star Rookies are actually Rookie Cards. Carlos Lee and Magglio Ordonez are among the notable names. 

As usual, Upper Deck also had some fun inserts. There are 60 Destination Stardom (1:5 packs) featuring up-and-coming players. Thirty All-Star Credentials land once in every nine packs, and feature (you guessed it) prospective All-Stars. Thirty Restrospective inserts are die-cut and have brightly colored fronts with each player’s first Upper Deck card on the back. These are found just once in every box. Twenty Unparalleled die-cuts are also on the checklist. These are tough to find, though, and appear just once in every three boxes. They are beautiful.

The biggest chase of the product? How about Ken Griffey Jr. autograph jersey cards numbered to just 24 copies? Wouldn’t that be something?

1998 Upper Deck Series 3 Baseball Box Break:

Cards per pack: 10
Packs per box: 24
Price paid: $59

Shop for 1998 Upper Deck Series 3 boxes on eBay.

Pack 1 highlights:

Travis Fryman, Mike Piazza, Devon White, Javier Vazquez SR, Ramon Hernadez SR & Francisco Cordero SR RC

Cordero ranks 17th all-time with 329 career saves. 

Pack 2:

Dwight Gooden, Ozzie Guillen, Kevin Brown, dupe Bobby Abreus & Russell Branyon SR

Pack 3:

Mike Piazza, Kevin Brown, Derek Jeter EP, Francisco Cordero SR RC & Ricky Ledee Destination Stardom (1:5 packs)

Pack 4:

Marlon Anderson SR & Darryl Kile

Kile tragically passed away of a heart attack at just 33-years old.

Pack 5:

Jarrod Washburn SR & Orel Hershiser 

Fun fact: I have a game-used Washburn bat. Why? I have no idea. 

Pack 6:

Carlos Lee SR RC & Mike Piazza All-Star Credentials (1:9 packs)

Pack 7:

Robb Nen, Fred McGriff SH & Alex Rodriguez EP

Pack 8:

Dennis Eckersley, Sean Casey SR & Alex Gonzalez SR

Pack 9:

Rod Beck, Moises Alou, Octavio Dotel SR & Scott Rolen All-Star Credentials (1:9 packs)

Dotel ranks 76th all-time with 758 pitching appearances. Only five active pitchers (Jansen, Robertson, Kimbrel, Shaw and Chapman) have appeared in more. 

Pack 10:

Ruben Sierra & Bruce Chen Destination Stardom (1:5 packs)

Pack 11:

Andres Galarraga, Carlos Guillen SR, Magglio Ordonez SR RC & Nomar Garciaparra EP

Pack 12:

Dmitri Young & Geoff Jenkins SR

Pack 13:

Travis Lee SR, Jarrod Washburn SR, Alex Gonzalez SR, Shawon Dunston, Dwight Gooden & Derrek Lee Destination Stardom (1:5 packs)

Pack 14:

Pedro Martinez, Corey Koskie SR RC & Fred McGriff

Pedro’s card notes his 1997 NL Cy Young Award win. He would finish second in the AL voting following the 1998 season, his first in Boston. 

Pack 15:

Greg Maddux EP, Joe Carter & Roger Clemens All-Star Credentials (1:9 packs)

Pack 16:

Dwight Gooden, Matt Clement SR, Gary Sheffield & Fred McGriff

Pack 17:

Ramon Hernandez SR, Carlos Lee SR RC, Javier Vazquez SR & Bobby Bonilla

Pack 18:

Derrek Lee, Cecil Fielder & Miguel Tejada Destination Stardom (1:5 packs)

Not much luck with the Destination Stardom inserts. Tejada is the best name of the five I pulled in this box. 

Pack 19:

Derrek Lee, Dennis Eckersley, Kerry Wood SR & Paul Molitor EP

Pack 20:

Luis Gonzalez, Jeff Conine & Ron Wright Destination Stardom (1:5 packs)

Pack 21:

Ruben Sierra, Magglio Ordonez SR & Sean Casey SR

Pack 22:

Luis Gonzalez, Carl Pavano SR & Andy Benes

Pack 23:

Rickey Henderson, Kerry Wood SR, Derrek Lee & Roger Clemens EP

Pack 24:

Javier Vazquez SR, Carlos Lee SR RC, Moises Alou & Wade Boggs Retrospectives (1:24 packs)

Lastly, the Henderson card back. There’s not much better than a back absolutely full of stats.

Unfortunately no Griffey autograph in this one. That would have really been something, though. That slim chance keeps these boxes over $50, but it’s still worth a rip.

Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.