Repack Wars: The Repack Awakens

Been a very, very long time since I have ripped some repacks and picked the best card in the pack. Recently, at my local Meijer's, I found some of the good ol' 16 pack repack boxes. I haven't seen one of these in a while, and I had to pick one up. But there were two, so a few days later, I picked up the other one. I actually thought about two separate posts for the boxes, but the packs within were pretty close, so I have decided to not just choose the best card per pack, but then put the best against the other box in a winner take all. Make sense.

So, uh, you don't want some 'possom?

All the cards on the left were the first box, while the right side is the other. And away we go.

We'll get '09 OPC out of the way first. I know many people like it, but it's not a design I enjoy ripping into. That being said, a super sweet Upper Deck image of Figgins easily beats the ok Manny from box #2. Not saying much about box 2.

Sticking with Upper Deck, 2008 Baseball Heroes appeared in both boxes. Penny got selected for his high pants, but Carew trumps him because Rod Carew.

Had a couple packs of First Edition in box #1, but none in box two. Then again, no packs of 2008 Topps in box one, so I put the packs against each others. I have no clue why that Castro scanned the way it did. Three tries and it looks out of focus. I'm giving the nod, though to Patterson. Better view of the stands, nice action shot and HOLY CRAP - is that a broken bat?!?! You better believe it is.

No Hunter didn't have the same scan issues and Castro. Go figure. Great shot of him kicking up the dirt. But sorry, Punto making a bunt-o. You lose, Torii.

Both packs are 2010 Topps, series 1 on the left and series 2 on the right. And series 1 was a all black pack, which tells you have crappy all the cards were when the Helton ToppsTown in the best pulled. Still, a Cards Your Mom Threw Out that talks about the lack of black ink on 1984 cards is a nice view indeed, and is better that Mr. Helton.

08 Upper Deck Timeline on the left, and 09 Upper Deck Icons. Icons just sucks. I hate that set more than OPC. Then again, so does Timeline. At least a decent inset was in Timeline. Still just a win in which sucked less.

Last two releases of Upper Deck baseball, with contract (2009) and without (2010). Even though you can hardly see the subject, there is something fun about the Ludwick. However, Hundley is a very nice play at the plate, and one of the few cards in 2010 that completely avoided the lack of licensing, so it wins out.

Some more 2009 Upper Deck, and now we have not just a battle of cards, but of teams, as both best cards happen to be Astros. They also both happen to be at Wrigley. Erstad in left center and Lee leaving home plate. Good appearance of the ball on Erstad's card, plus the green is a nice contrast to Houston's old softball tops.

Remember 2008 and Upper Deck X? Yeah, it's not that great of a design. Gold die cut of Longoria goes up against a X2 insert of Thome. Sox win by default. My blog, my rules.

Well hey now!!!! Box one had a hit with a nice Mets swatch for Astros player Kazou Matsui. No such hit luck in box two. Sorry Justin - you lose.

2008 Baseball Heroes is back, put up against a pack of 09 Artifacts. Do you see I selected a card of a frigging microwave oven as the best card of the Artifacts pack??? Hell - Baseball Heroes could have been a pack of Bieber cards and it would have won over a damn microwave. Fortunately, it's a gray parallel of a flamed out Yankee pitcher, so it's not the Biebs.

Bowman Chrome was the only shiny cards in box one, so I put it up against 2009 Upper Deck Spectrum. Let me check something........ Yup. 2009. With a weird set like Spectrum, one would have thought it was released in the mid 90's, am I right? Purcey was the only name I half knew in the pack, because of a few months spent on the south side. Matty Cakes, you win this round.

Home stretch, guys and gals. Box two had the only Masterpieces I ripped. So no matter the sweetness of a close up shot of a head first slide, it's up against Masterpieces and Bucky "F***ing" Dent.

Ummm....yeah. I hope Mr. Doerr can sign that card for me. I have one TTM from him, but that card is begging for a signature.

2009 Goodwin. To me (unfortunately), the best Goodwin release ever. Think about how this set could have gone up against Allen and Ginter if MLB didn't go exclusive. Would have been fun. Yankee vs Yankee, and Chien Ming Wang makes a 2nd appearance in the battle. Well, he can't do much on the mound, but in Repack Wars, he's 2-0, if only because of the final season of Yankee Stadium logo. Oh, and it's a mini too.

Last, but not least, is 2009 Goudey. I prefer the 2008 release, but 09 is nothing to hate upon. Great homage to a great set. And your eyes are not playing tricks on you, Kemp also gets a 2nd appearance in the wars. But unlike Wang, he goes up again Ichiro, and that sure looks like an impossible challenge on paper...er....cardboard. Turns out, it is. Suzuki 勝利!

So let's add up the points. Box #1 had the best card 7 times, which means box #2 had the best card 9 times and was the better purchase (jersey hit aside). Thus ends another repack wars, where the ultimate winners are you guys, as it just pads my trade box and sooner or later, some one will own an card that went through a battle and came out the other side with four sharp corners and no paper loss.