Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2006 Fleer Baseball
After producing some unlicensed baseball card sets in the 1950s and ’60s, including the ever-popular 1959 Fleer Ted Williams set, Fleer began producing licensed baseball card products in 1981. In May, 2005, after 25 years of cards, Fleer stopped production. The Fleer brand was then put up for auction, with Upper Deck submitting the winning $6.1 million bid. It has been reported that a year earlier Upper Deck had offered $25 million for the company, but Fleer turned it down hoping to turn their business around.
In 2006, Upper Deck produced their first baseball card set under the Fleer name. The base set features 400 cards, while a factory set includes 30 exclusive cards, all rookies. In homage to the early Fleer productions, Upper Deck included insert sets originally unveiled in the ’90s, including Smoke ‘n Heat, Lumber Company, and Team Leaders.
2006 Fleer Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 10
Packs per box: 36
Price paid: $29
Shop for 2006 Fleer Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Bobby Abreu & Moises Alou/Jason Schmidt Team Leaders
Pack 2:
C.C. Sabathia & David Wright Stars of Tomorrow
Pack 3:
John Smoltz, Jeff Kent, Felix Hernandez, David Wright & Chris Carpenter Smoke ‘n Heat
Pack 4:
Eric Gagne, Orlando Cabrera, Johnny Damon, Bill Mueller & Troy Glaus/Brandon Webb Team Leaders
Pack 5:
Scott Rolen, Roy Oswalt, Dave Roberts, Randy Wolf Glossy Silver (1 in every 12 packs) & Jake Peavy Smoke ‘n Heat
Pack 6:
Mike Piazza, Edgar Renteria, Orlando Hernandez, Adam Wainwright RC & Roy Halladay Smoke ‘n Heat
Pack 7:
Livan Hernandez, Carl Crawford, Ichiro Suzuki, Tom Glavine & Lance Berkman/Roger Clemens Team Leaders
Pack 8:
Jason Giambi, Bartolo Colon & Torii Hunter Smooth Leather
Pack 9:
Barry Zito, Pat Burrell, Alex Rodriguez & Richie Sexson Lumber Company
Pack 10:
Yadier Molina, Ivan Rodriguez, Paul Konerko, Ken Griffey, Jr. & Griffey Lumber Company
Pack 11:
Cliff Lee, Matt Holliday & Mike Sweeney/Zack Greinke Team Leaders
Pack 12:
John Lackey, Jim Thome, Curt Schilling, Nelson Cruz RC & Scott Rolen Smooth Leather
Pack 13:
Fellow NH-native Chris Carpenter, Justin Morneau & Jeff Francoeur Stars of Tomorrow. If you have never seen the Francoeur prank story, be sure to check this out. It is hilarious!
Pack 14:
Jason Varitek, Johan Santana, Edwin Encarnacion, J.D. Drew & Andruw Jones/John Smoltz Team Leaders
Pack 15:
Greg Maddux, Derek Jeter, Coco Crisp & Derrek Lee Smooth Leather
Pack 16:
Rafael Furcal, Omar Vizquel, Scott Podsednik Glossy Silver (1:12 packs) & Vladimir Guerrero Lumber Company
Pack 17:
Jake Peavy, Lance Berkman, Dontrelle Willis & Roy Oswalt Smoke ‘n Heat
Pack 18:
Trevor Hoffman, Ryan Zimmerman RC, Francisco “K-Rod” Rodriguez, David Ortiz & Ichiro Suzuki/Felix Hernandez Team Leaders
Pack 19:
Jose Reyes, Andruw Jones, Ryan Howard & Carlos Lee Lumber Company
Pack 20:
Carl Crawford/Scott Kazmir Team Leaders
Pack 21:
Jimmy Rollins, Adrian Beltre, Randy Johnson, Mark Teixeira Stars of Tomorrow & Albert Pujols Fleer Fabrics (1:36 packs)
Pack 22:
Vladimir Guerrero, Derrek Lee & Miguel Tejada Lumber Company
Pack 23:
Carlos Delgado, Brandon Webb & Carlos Lee/Ben Sheets Team Leaders
Pack 24:
Hanley Ramirez RC, Sammy Sosa, Jeff Bagwell, Nomar Garciaparra & David Ortiz Lumber Company
Pack 25:
Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte & David Ortiz/Curt Schilling Team Leaders
Pack 26:
Mariano Rivera, Travis Hafner & Eric Chavez Smooth Leather
Pack 27:
Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, Albert Pujols & Pujols Award Winners
Pack 28:
Derek Lowe, Jim Edmonds, Jorge Posada, Jason Bay, Roger Clemens & Mark Prior Stars of Tomorrow
Pack 29:
Jermaine Dye & Jim Edmonds Smooth Leather
Pack 30:
Zack Greinke, Miguel Tejada, Adam Dunn & Ken Griffey, Jr./Aaron Harang Team Leaders
Pack 31:
Julio Franco & David Wright Lumber Company
Pack 32:
Hideki Matsui & Adam Dunn Lumber Company
Pack 33:
Todd Helton, Keith Foulke, Bengie Molina, Jose Vidro & Dontrelle Willis Smoke ‘n Heat
Pack 34:
Huston Street, Torii Hunter, Chase Utley & Derek Jeter/Randy Johnson Team Leaders
Pack 35:
Joe Mauer, Robinson Cano & Todd Helton Lumber Company
Pack 36:
Gary Sheffield, Grady Sizemore, Rafael Palmeiro, Craig Biggio, Manny Ramirez, Kerry Wood Glossy Silver (1:12 packs) & Bartolo Colon Award Winners
Lastly, the Manny card back. It’s pretty plain and simple. I feel like they could’ve been better if they included stat lines for their entire career instead of just the last five years.
This was a fun break, especially at the price. For less than a dollar a pack you are getting a good looking insert in every pack. I missed out on pulling a Glossy Gold parallel, which are found just once in every four boxes. There is also an autograph set, Autographics. These are tough pulls, found just once in every 12-box case.
Sadly, Upper Deck would only produce Fleer baseball sets for once more year, discontinuing the brand after 2007.
Shop for 2006 Fleer Baseball on:
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
GUESS THEY COULDN’T GET AN UPDATED PIC TO MATCH THE TEAM, HUH ? PACKS 6 , 16 , 24
I remember busting a fair amount of 2006 stuff looking for Prince Fielder RCs … nice Pujols hit!
Well that Pujols GU is quite a pull. Too bad he’s in his doddering old man phase. Wait a few years until he retires and everyone realizes what a great player he was. Then his cards will be worth something again.
I opened 1-2 boxes of this back in the day. Built the base set and pretty much all of the inserts. Then Upper Deck puts out the “factory set” with 30 exclusive rookie cards. I sure felt silly. I managed to pick off an opened box last year for like $10 delivered so I could finally get the rookie cards. Still working on the 2007 though.
I like seeing the cheap wax, but surely there is product that is not junk that you could also do?
Like crack a box of 96 Select Certified or Leaf Signature to remind people that its not “all” junk.
@Richard – The series Shane focuses on is called “Cheap Wax Wednesday.” He doesn’t pay more than $50 for any of the boxes he breaks. A couple of months ago he did bust a box of 1997 Certified Football: https://www.beckett.com/news/cheap-wax-wednesday-box-breaks-1997-pinnacle-certified-football/
I “get” this is about cheap stuff, I’m just saying I’d like to see some articles on stuff that is
from that era that isn’t. I see people looking at the recent past, deciding its all junk, and then
projecting that onto the current stuff and dropping out of the hobby which is not good for
anyone who remains.
@Richard – The hobby is filled with collectors who all collect different things. We do our best to cover both ends of the spectrum. Also, “junk” is in the eye of the beholder. Not everyone collects with value in mind. Shane picks things for his posts he thinks he will enjoy and breaks them down fairly. He doesn’t view them as junk and he doesn’t treat them as junk. The feedback his breaks get show there are collectors who appreciate some boxes that either remember or didn’t know about.
If he happens to break a $6,000 box of Certified, we’ll be happy to share it here as well.