Pack Animal! 1989 Star Minor League, Series 2

Just as a contrast-and-compare to yesterday’s opening of 2011 Minor League Heritage, here’s the very definition of crap wax.  I’ve got a bunch of these packs, I think they might’ve come in some sort of repack or a grab bag.  I’m going through one of these packs and then these cards are most likely going in the recycling.

Let’s see what we’ve got…

Benny Colvard, Cedar Rapids Reds:  Not an auspicious start.  I can’t remember for sure, but I think that Cedar Rapids was A-ball.

Brett Merriman, Watertown (Indians?).  Him I’ve heard of, at least.  …I think.

Tino Martinez, Williamsport Bills.  Oooh, a future Major Leaguer pictured in his first pro season.  That’s not bad.  I doubt I’ll do much better in this pack.

Steve Callahan, Everett Giants:  Back to the anonymous guys.

Vincent Degifico, Winter Haven Red Sox:  I wonder if one day someone will find my blog by Googling “Vincent Degifico”.  Hey, stranger things have happened.

Mike Campas, Hamilton Redbirds:  I forgot that Hamilton had a minor league team once upon a time.  It’s a shame that cities like Nashville, Raleigh (Carolina) and Phoenix can have an NHL team, but Hamilton, Ontario – which is a pretty big city, population 500,000 according to Wikipedia – doesn’t have an affiliated baseball team.

Steve Allen, Gastonia Rangers:  “Minor League Baseball cards?  Steve Allen thought of that, too!!!” (A little joke for you MST3K fans)

Pedro Castellano:  Wytheville Cubs

Joey Belle, Canton-Akron Indians:  Ah, you can’t fool me!  You’re Albert Belle, massively-overpaid slugger of the 1990’s!  Even back then he looked like he was ready to kick someone’s ass.

Skipper Wright, Burlington Braves:  SKIPPER!!!!!!!!  (I’m comin’, little buddy!)

All things considered, these cards weren’t bad for what they were.  To be honest,  I had more fun opening these than the Minor League Heritage cards, but that’s sometimes the way it goes with sets like this;  you appreciate them more down the road when you know what happened (or didn’t happen) to the guys on the cards.

Pack Animal! 2011 Minor League Heritage

I don’t know about the rest of the country, but packs of Minor League Heritage are an elusive prey in my area.  Fortunately, I didn’t have much interest in it from the start.  I’ve bought minor league sets in the pasts, but even a Heritage price point is a bit steep for a set where many of the players won’t even get a cup of coffee.  I also might’ve been more interested if they started this in a year with another design (1962 is very “blah”) and if it weren’t just another piece of the Bryce Harper hype machine.  The kid’s only made it to AA and I’m already tired of him.

Getting back to the wax… I got this pack during a visit to my friendly neighborhood comic store (I’m a multi-media nerd), and paid $4.75 for the pack.  I don’t know what these normally sell for, but based on what this particular store usually charges for cards, I have no doubts that I overpaid for it.  Maybe I’ll get some mojo to make up for it… or at least a shortprint I can ship off to COMC.  Are there short prints in this set?  I don’t even know that much about it.

And away we go…

Adam Bailey, Lexington Legends

Ryan Jackson, Springfield Cardinals

Joe Kelly, Palm Beach Cardinals.  Good pack for a Cardinals fan.

Simon Castro, Tucson Padres.  You know, I think I might like the Tucson Padres uniforms better than the San Diego Padres uniforms.  That can’t be good.

Gary Sanchez, Charleston Riverdogs

Juan Oramas, Lake Elsinore Storm

Carlos Perez, Rome Braves.

Jimmy Nelson, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

Brett Lawrie, Las Vegas 51’s.  Hey, I know that dude!  I saw him play with Toronto against the O’s.  I kinda like the Star Trek font on the 51’s uniform.

Wow.  No inserts, no parallels, no short prints, no Mets or Orioles prospects, not even a guy I’ve seen play in one of the 10-15 minor league games I go to each year.  I hope the comic store appreciates my $4.75, because I certainly didn’t get my money’s worth out of that puppy (other than giving me something to write about).