2005 Donruss Zenith Break
I'm ambivalent over buying unopened boxes. It is a hit and miss gamble. It becomes impractical if I don't pull anything of significance [out of a box] like I would expect.

With some money, I picked up a box of Zenith last Saturday at the bi-weekly cards show for $48.

Base cards - 69/250; minus Don Mattingly, which had a nicked corner

Museum collection (1:3) - Rocco Baldelli, Roger Clemens, Greg Maddux, Nolan Ryan, Grady Sizemore and Dmitri Young.

Artist Proof (1:16) - Mark Teixeira

Gold AP (#'d 50) - Mike Young #'d 36/50 - damaged!

Z-Team (1:11) - Mark Mulder, Albert Pujols - damaged!

Mozaics (1:8) - Arizona Diamondbacks (Shawn Green, Troy Glaus and Luis Gonzalez) and Seattle Mariners (Adrian Beltre, Jeremy Reed and Richie Sexson).

Positions (1:21) - Catchers; Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Piazza and Victor Martinez

Spellbound (1:11) - Alex Rodriguez; 'E'

Red Hot (1:16) - Mark Prior

White Hot (1:65) - Ted Williams - damaged!

Team Zenith (1:31) - none

Roll Call Autographs (1:24) - none

Epix - Pat Burrell (117/350), Hideki Matsui (089/250), Scott Rolen (166/250) and Nolan Ryan (190/250).

Auto/GU - Dale Murphy auto (098/100), Cal Ripken Jr. bat/patch (04/25) and Bernie Williams jersey.

Summary: The three nice insert cards (Gold AP, Z-Team and White Hot) being damaged 'fresh out of the pack' was a bummer, but the Cal Ripken Jr. bat/patch #'d to 25 made this break a keeper. Overall, the base cards decent and the base card parallels are nice to look at. On the other hand, I don't really like the multiplayer insert cards (Mozaics, Positions) nor truly captivated by much of the non-parallel inserts (Z-Team and Epix).