Box break - 1991 Donruss Series 1 and 2 Baseball

THE PRODUCT: 5 boxes of 1991 Donruss Series 1 and 2 Baseball

While I broke five boxes for this post, I only show two here.  One (yellow) is Series 1, and the other (green) is Series 2.

1991 Donruss Series 1 and 2 baseball boxes

Each box contains 36 packs.  Each pack contains 15 cards and a 3-piece puzzle card.

1991 Donruss Series 1 and 2 baseball packs

THE BIG HITS: serial-numbered Elite inserts

In 1991 Donruss inserted one of the landmark sets of sport cards, the Elite cards.  With a total of 10 cards, eight were numbered to 10,000.  One, a "legends" card, was numbered to 7,500.  The last was autographed and limited to 5,000.  While these kinds of print runs seem preposterous today, it was considered small in 1991.  Because these cards were printed in ridiculous amounts, the Elite cards are still a tough pull.

THE CONTENTS

Even with five boxes, I didn't sniff a single Elite card.  The base cards are typical early 90s junk.  The Series 1 cards have blue borders, and Series 2 cards have green borders.

89 - Nolan Ryan

648 - Rickey Henderson

There are some subsets mixed in with the base cards.  The most famous subset is the Donruss Diamond Kings.  I can't stand these things.  Every player seems to have a mustache.  Aside from the Elite insert set, the Bonus Cards are the only other subset.  These cards are season highlights.  Series 1 has 10 Bonus Cards, and Series 2 has 12.

16 - Diamond Kings Edgar Martinez
Bonus Cards - 1 - Langston and Witt

CONCLUSION

Boxes of 1991 Donruss can be found in the $5 range on eBay.  You get what you pay for.

Box break - 1997 Upper Deck Football

THE PRODUCT: 1 box of 1997 Upper Deck Football

This box might look hefty, but it's just a 20-pack retail box.  Much of the volume is from a styrofoam insert in the bottom of the box.

1997 Upper Deck football box

Here is a retail pack, which is conveniently labeled "retail" in the lower left corner.  There are 12 cards per pack.

1997 Upper Deck football pack

THE BIG HITS: Game Jersey relic inserts

Upper Deck jumped on relic cards quickly and had relics in all its products by 1997.  The football relics were just a small set of 10 cards.  They were tough to pull with an insertion rate of 1:2,500 packs.  This box has less than a 1% chance of having a relic card.

THE CONTENTS

This box held no pleasant surprises - just lots of base cards and dime-a-dozen inserts.  The base cards mostly fall under three subsets - the standard base cards, game dated cards recalling a special player performance, and star rookies.

139 - Deion Sanders

191 - Barry Sanders

35 - Jerry Rice

I only pulled two different types of inserts from this box.  One is the Teammates insert.  These are die-cut cards that are made to join together into one wider card when you get two matching cards.  The box contained four of these cards.  I also pulled a Star Crossed insert.

Teammates - TM51 - Steve Young
Star Crossed - SC19 - Drew Bledsoe

CONCLUSION

This wasn't the most exciting box.  The relics in this set are such a long-shot that it's hard to have much hope that you'll get lucky.

Box break - 1997 Stadium Club 2 Football

THE PRODUCT: 1 box of 1997 Stadium Club Series 2 Football

Here is a nice series 2 box for 1997 Stadium Club.

1997 Stadium Club Series 2 football box

Each box contains 12 packs, and each pack has 15 cards.  Some people call these jumbo packs, but Topps calls them the Home Team Advantage (HTA) packs.  Most Stadium Club products can also be found in a retail and hobby format.  HTA is like hobby deluxe.

1997 Stadium Club Series 2 football HTA or jumbo pack

THE BIG HITS: printing plates

Only in HTA packs can printing plates be found in Stadium Club products.  The insertion rate on these plates is astonishingly high at 1:69 packs.  That's one per six boxes.  I wish that all the special cards that I chase on this blog were as easily found.

THE CONTENTS

No plates here, but the base cards are pretty nice.  The Stadium Club cards from the late 90s all seem very thick and super glossy.  What I don't like is that the base cards are embossed around the player name.  The embossing makes the card surface a bit rougher, and the super glossy cards feel like their scratching each other.  Sorting through the stack, I feel I'm scratching the hell out of the cards.

46 - Marshall Faulk

70 - John Elway

220 - Transactions Rod Woodson

While I didn't get any plates, I did pull three different types of insert cards.  I pulled three of the Never Compromise cards, two Bowman's Best Preview cards, and one One of a Kind card.  The One of a Kind set is a full parallel of the base set.

Never Compromise - 37 - Darnell Autry
Bowman's Best Previews - BBP4 - Tony Gonzalez
One of a Kind - 262 - Jeff Herrod

CONCLUSION

I have to admit that I'm disappointed in not pulling a printing plate.  The odds are only 1:6, but that is so good compared to the others boxes I rip on this blog.

Box break - 1990 Upper Deck High Series Baseball

THE PRODUCT: 2 boxes of 1990 Upper Deck High Series Baseball

Here they are... two boxes of 1990 Upper Deck High Series Baseball.  The easiest way to tell these high series boxes is the nice red "Find the Reggie" marking on the front.

1990 Upper Deck High Series baseball boxes

Each box contains 36 packs.  Each pack contains 15 cards.  Of the 15 cards, two are from the high series (701-800) and the rest are from the low series (1-700).  Odd but true.

1990 Upper Deck High Series baseball pack

THE BIG HITS: serial-numbered Reggie Jackson autographs

In the high series of its 1990 baseball product, Upper Deck inserted the first serial-numbered autographed cards in packs.  Reggie Jackson was the featured player.  He signed 2,500 samples of the last card in a special insert set dedicated to him.  I have no idea what the odds of pulling one of these autographs are.

THE CONTENTS

No surprise, but I struck out on these boxes.  No autographs, and, surprisingly, not even very many high series cards.  At two per pack, that's 144 between the two boxes.  I didn't even get a full set of the high series.  Bummer.

Here are a couple high series cards.

745 - Dave Winfield

774 - Gary Carter

The Reggie Jackson insert set consists of nine cards.  This is #9, and Reggie signed 2,500 of these.

Reggie Jackson Baseball Heroes - 9 - Reggie

CONCLUSION

I hate white borders.  They're a pain to crop and insert into a post.

Box break - 1990-91 Pro Set 1 Hockey

THE PRODUCT: 3 boxes of 1990-91 Pro Set Series 1 Hockey

Here are three boxes from the heart of the junk wax era.

1990-91 Pro Set Series 1 hockey boxes

Each box contains 36 packs.  Each pack contains 15 cards plus 1 NHL product discount card.

1990-91 Pro Set Series 1 hockey pack

THE BIG HITS: serial-numbered holographic Stanley Cup cards

Every sport has its holy grail card.  For hockey, the holographic Stanley Cup cards are right up there.  They are numbered to 10,000, and (I think) they are only found in Series 1 packs.  Due to overproduction, lots of these cards are almost certainly tucked away in unopened packs, boxes, and cases.

THE CONTENTS

I found plenty of cards but no holographic trophy cards.  Several packs were short a card, and one of the boxes contained an extra pack.  Otherwise, it was just lots and lots of base cards.  I'll show just a few cards.

Here is "The Great One."

118 - Wayne Gretzky

Patrick Roy.  I don't know why, but I couldn't stand him.  He was a really good goalie though.

157 - Patrick Roy

Finally, here is Brett Hull - the "Golden Brett."

263 - Brett Hull

In addition to the Stanley Cup card, these boxes can contain some very rare error cards.  I didn't do an exhaustive search, but I don't think I had any big rarities.  A great site for checking on the scarce varieties is over at Junk Wax Gems.

CONCLUSION

The best thing I'll say about this product is that these packs are very easy to rip.  Something about the plastic wrapper makes it easy to rip right along the back seam of the pack.  Otherwise, these cards are pretty boring.