Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2017 Panini Stars & Stripes USA Baseball
What better time to feature a set featuring all current and former USA Baseball players than 4th of July week?
2017 Panini Stars & Stripes USA Baseball features a 100-card base set. You may have heard of some of the former players included in the base set, like Mark McGwire, Ken Griffey, Jr., Frank Thomas, Barry Larkin and Todd Helton. There are also some current (as of 2017) USA players that have now turned into very good major leaguers like Tanner Houck, Hunter Greene, Royce Lewis & Anthony Volpe. This set has plenty of well-known players.
The thing this release has become known for, though, is the combination of different relics and autographed cards. You can pull signatures of players from the 14U Developmental Program all the way through the USA Collegiate National Team, and even some alumni autographs are included. Bregman, Griffey, McGwire, and Thomas all have ink in this set.
Each box should contain a combination of five relic and autographed cards.
2017 Panini Stars & Stripes USA Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 8
Packs per box: 5
Price paid: $50
Shop for 2017 Panini Stars & Stripes USA Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Hunter Greene, Triston Casas, Bobby Dalbec, A.J. Puk Longevity Holo Foil #ed 45/99, Matthew Bardowell 14U Developmental Program Autograph (308/399) & Nick Hansen 17U Relic Autograph (09/49)
Bardowell played 38 games for Cal State Fullerton this season. He hit just .182.
Pack 2:
Keston Hiura, Seth Beer, Braxton Garrett, Anferee Grier Longevity & Tyler Johnson Collegiate National Team Autograph (399/499)
Johnson last pitched for the Grand Junction Jackalopes in the independent Pioneer League. He did not do well, posting a 9.35 ERA in 2023.
Pack 3:
Tanner Houck, Frank Thomas, Ryan Vilade, Kyle Wright, Wesley Scott Longevity & Quentin Holmes 18U Relic Autograph (184/299)
Holmes was a 2nd round draft pick in the 2017 MLB Draft. He played five seasons of minor league baseball, hitting just .190.
Pack 4:
Ken Griffey Jr., Alex Faedo, Brendan McKay, Ian Anderson Longevity & Brice Turang 18U Relic Autograph (62/199)
Turang is a major league regular for Milwaukee and currently ranks second in the majors with 28 steals this season.
Pack 5:
Calvin Mitchell, William Benson, Matt Thaiss Longevity & CJ Van Eyk Relic Autograph
Van Eyk is currently pitching for the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Blue Jays.
Lastly, the Will Benson card back. Benson is now an outfielder for the Reds.
That Turang ended up being the hit of the box. There are certainly plenty of autographs in this set of guys who never quite panned out at the big league level. But, there is also a chance of pulling some stars.
Happy 4th of July, everybody!
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Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
