The great unpackaging post of 2024

 

A stick of bubblegum.

This was the glorious prize to obtain. It's a huge possibility, like many youths back in the day, this was the reason that began a love affair with collecting baseball cards. Sure, the cards were wonderful but the bonus of the hard as a rock, non-flavorful slice of heaven was icing on the cake.

Broken teeth or not.

Moving past the gum, Topps was my favorite brand of choice in the baseball card department.  Memorizing stats of favorite players and imagining myself one day on a card was part of the fun. Tales of placing cards in bicycle spokes warned me of destruction, so I did my best to preserve what cards I could over the years.

This included the haphazard choice to toss various unopened packs into bins and shoeboxes. I recently happened across one of these packs and today, decided to open one in presenting the great unboxing (or, unpackaging in this case) of 2024.

Bring out the mitts and bats

Topps baseball cards were a favorite of mine but I eventually did spread my wings, from Donruss to Fleer and Bowman to Upper Deck. It is a pack from Upper Deck 1992 in which this post is centered, with the bonus of maybe even finding one of the 2500 autographed "Ted Williams Baseball Heroes" cards. Slim odds, I know, but as a fan of the Boston Red Sox, this card of the Splendid Splinter would be marvelous.

The first five cards I grabbed did not deliver on this hope.

A nice little haul, with a couple of stars of the day. I am hard-pressed to remember Bill Wegman. In all likelihood, there's a chance I have at least five of those cards somewhere. The same could be said about pitchers Randy Tomlin and Pat Combs.

Cecil Fielder's card once had the promise to be worth big money, especially around that time. Fielder was coming off back-to-back seasons in which he hit 95 home runs and drove in 265. It was also the start of a stretch in which he had 30+ home runs in five of six seasons.

Fielder retired somewhat early due to severe neck injuries, finishing with 319 home runs, 1008 RBI, and an OPS of .827. Though his career was cut short, Fielder enjoyed one of the best six-season stretches in modern history. The loveable first baseman played for the Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees, Anaheim Angels, and Cleveland, winning a World Series with the Yankees in '96.

The other gem from this group is Heathcliff Slocumb, who enjoyed a 10-year career playing for eight teams. Though he finished with 98 career saves and a 4.08 ERA, I consider him a gem for one reason: He was part of the trade from the Boston Red Sox that brought in eventual World Series icons Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek from the Seattle Mariners.

Within the next group of five, players with steady careers appeared, plus one Hall-of-Fame pitcher. Travis Fryman, Luis Martinez, and Mike Greenwell all had a spectacular season or two throughout their careers. And the fourth card in this batch was a coveted Checklist card, which I know we all loved.

The pitcher in the Hall of Fame is Lee Smith. Smith was a handful of years away from retirement at this point, pitching with the Cardinals at that point. Even as the career saves leader when he retired in 1997, Smith still did not get into the Hall of Fame until 2019 (and is currently third on the all-time saves list with 478).

MVP(s) of the pack

Smith could very well be included in this final group but since he wasn't in the last batch of cards I looked at, he missed the cut.

Terry Kennedy was one, and he is another player who seemed to pop up with a card in every pack, no matter the brand. Albert Belle, a five-time All Star, was another player who had a career cut short due to injuries. And Rob Maurer, well, he has a baseball card.

The final two in this batch includes a Star Rookie card for Jim Thome and a special Ted Williams card. No, not the autographed one, and not the one rated highest among this set (which is valued at over $700). The card I found was one away from this number in the set but will be cherished by me, nonetheless.

Thome's card does bring with it a little value, no doubt because of a Hall of Fame career in which he played 22 seasons and finished with 612 home runs.

In the end, a nice mix of cards presented themselves. There were no double cards, within the pack anyhow, and a nice surprise with the Williams card. Now, to toss them into an album, where I will make room by taking out one of the *452 Dell Curry cards I own.

*I don't really own that many Dell Curry cards. It only seems like it because his card, it seems, was part of every pack I purchased of NBA cards.

**I love Topps. Still buy an occasional pack to this day. And this is in no way a sponsored post. Buy the cards YOU want to buy. Or not.