Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2003 Fleer Focus Jersey Edition Baseball
Fleer debuted the Focus brand during the 2000 MLB season. That set included multiple sight-themed inserts including Focal Point, Future Vision and Focus Pocus. “Jersey Edition” was added to the name after two years.
2003 Fleer Focus Jersey Edition Baseball features a 180-card base set, which includes a short print Prospects subset. The notable names there include Victor Martinez, Hideki Matsui, Mark Teixeira, and Chase Utley.
The set lives up to it’s Jersey Edition name, boasting four different game-used relic sets, in addition to a couple of manufactured relic sets that used jersey (not game-used or worn) material. The good news is the checklists are short and loaded with well-known players.
2003 Fleer Focus Jersey Edition Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 7
Packs per box: 24
Price paid: $39
Shop for 2003 Fleer Focus Jersey Edition Baseball boxes on eBay.
Box topper:
Adam Dunn Materialistic Oversized. These are also found in autographed versions, with just Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter and Reggie Jackson featured on the autograph checklist.
Pack 1 highlights:
Bernie Williams, Bartolo Colon, Gary Sheffield, Johnny Damon & Carlos Delgado Franchise Focus (1 in every 4 packs)
Colon pitched for eleven different teams over a 21-year major league career. He pitched in 565 games, earning the win 247 times.
Pack 2:
Eric Chavez, Carlos Beltran, Jim Edmonds & Jimmy Rollins
Pack 3:
Mo “Hit Dog” Vaughn, Orlando Hudson & Ben Sheets
Orlando “O-Dog” Hudson won the Gold Glove at second base four times in just ten full seasons in the majors.
Pack 4:
Matt Williams, Roberto Alomar & Tim Hudson
Pack 5:
Jeff Kent & Kazuhiro Sasaki
Kaz Sasaki won the 2000 AL Rookie of the Year award as a 32-year old. He finished the season with 37 saves and a 3.16 ERA.
Pack 6:
Lance Berkman, Rafael Palmeiro & Ichiro Suzuki Franchise Focus (1:4 packs)
Pack 7:
Barry Larkin, Albert Pujols & Troy Glaus Franchise Focus (1:4 packs)
Glaus hit 320 home runs during his 13 major league seasons. He led the American League with 47 long balls during the 2000 season.
Pack 8:
Jeff Bagwell, Ichiro Suzuki, Mike Piazza, Larry Walker, Jim Thome & Nomar Garciaparra Team Colors (1:10 packs)
Pack 9:
Scott Rolen, Alex Rodriguez & Derek Jeter MLB Shirtified Jersey Relic (1:100 packs)
Derek Jeter racked up 71.3 WAR (wins above replacement) over his 20 major league seasons. Would you be shocked to know that Scott Rolen finished just behind Jeter in career WAR? Rolen tallied 70.1 career WAR, playing three less seasons than Jeter.
Pack 10:
Mark Buehrle & Adam LaRoche Prospects (1:8 packs)
Pack 11:
Trevor Hoffman, Jason Giambi & Torii Hunter Franchise Focus (1:4 packs)
Torii Hunter amassed nine straight Gold Glove awards 2001-2009. He could also swing the bat, racking up 2,452 hits and 353 home runs.
Pack 12:
Four hurlers; Troy Percival, Roy Oswalt, Barry Zito & C.C. Sabathia
Pack 13:
Curt Schilling, Edgar Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Bobby Abreu, Orlando Cabrera & Torii Hunter
The three aces here, Schilling, Johnson and Clemens, combined to win 12 Cy Young awards while winning 873 games and striking out 12,663 batters. They earned 24 saves, too.
Pack 14:
Moises Alou, Frank Thomas, Derek Lowe & Francisco Rosario Prospects (1:8 packs)
Pack 15:
John Olerud, Tim Salmon, Ken Griffey, Jr. & Troy Glaus Team Colors (1:10 packs)
Tim Salmon, the original Angels fish, won the 1993 AL Rookie of the Year award while batting .283 with 31 home runs and 95 RBI.
Pack 16:
Josh Beckett, Omar Vizquel & Eric Chavez Team Colors Jersey Relic (1:82 packs)
Pack 17:
J.D. Drew, Fred McGriff & Mark Teixeira Prospects (1:8 packs)
Mark Teixeira was originally selected out of high school by the Red Sox in the ninth round of the 1998 draft. He opted to attend Georgia Tech instead and was selected fifth overall by the Rangers three years later.
Pack 18:
Miguel Tejada, Ivan Rodriguez, John Smoltz, Nomar Garciaparra & Barry Bonds Franchise Focus (1:4 packs)
Pack 19:
Mike Lowell, Troy Glaus & Tom Glavine
Mike Lowell finished fifth in the AL MVP voting following his 2007 World Series Championship. He finished one place behind his teammate that season, David Ortiz.
Pack 20:
Craig Biggio, Mike Mussina, Manny Ramirez & Pedro Martinez
Pack 21:
Chipper Jones, Mark Grace, Kerry Wood, Carlos Delgado, Juan Gonzalez, Andruw Jones & Lyle Overbay Prospects (1:8 packs)
Overbay hit .340 in the minor leagues. Unfortunately, he didn’t fare quite as well against major league pitching, batting just .266.
Pack 22:
Alfonso Soriano, Paul Konerko, Barry Bonds & Jeff Bagwell Franchise Focus (1:4 packs)
Pack 23:
Derek Jeter, Vladimir Guerrero & Manny Ramirez MLB Shirtified (1:48 packs)
One offensive category that Vlad Jr. will never catch up to his father, stolen bases. Vlad Sr. swiped 181 bases in his career, including 40 for the 2002 Expos.
Pack 24:
Garret Anderson, Kenny Lofton & Gary Sheffield
Lastly, the Vlad card back. There is lots of empty space on the backs of these, obviously depending on how long the player’s career had been to that point.
This was a pretty fun break. I hit every expected insert in a single box. I also pulled a Shirtified insert that are typically found in every other box. The Jeter Shirtified Jersey Relic card is probably the top name on a short checklist. All in all, a nice box on this one.
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Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
Not the best looking cards but not the worse either… might have to purchase a few