Fairfield 100 card repack hanger box

I might have last opened one of these in 2015 as noted from my pack breaks that year - though I’ve turned my nose at repacks because they seem all the same redundant types of cards.

Though these repacks are pretty generic, Walgreens maybe the go-to spot for these - a football one had a sticker that said it could only sold at Walgreens.

These continue to be occasionally blogged about, mentioned on Twitter or shown off on YouTube as a way to go through a bunch of assorted cards - I don't think there is any reason why repacks should exist, but it maybe a cycle where guys looking to get back to collecting want to start somewhere or someone like me is looking to flip through the junkiest of cards.

2018 Topps Opening Day pack
#23 Willson Contreras
#123 Chance Sisco
#12 Nick Markakis
#M-12 Orbit - Mascots insert
#145 Zach (k) Britton
#32 Raisel Iglesias
#132 Walker Buehler - I thought there might have been some chipping or blemishes, but in addition, the best card out of the pack actually has a bent corner, go figure. 

There was a sticker that said, ‘Team Set Inside!’ but a 2016 Topps Chicago White Sox 17-card factory set is quite random - what in the world would I do with these cards?

2017 Topps Jon Lester #162
1990 Upper Deck Mike Krukow #639
1988 Fleer Randy Velarde / Adam Peterson #646
1991 Upper Deck Rob Dibble #635
1997 Topps Stadium Club Walt Weiss #287 
1987 Donruss Steve Sax #26
1987 Donruss Mark Langston #568
1990 Fleer Kevin Bass #223
1992 Bowman Mike Stanley #370
1992 Bowman Tom Pagnozzi #241

1983 Topps Traded Carney Lansford #60T - I’ve never had a card from this set; the stock is thinner and the reverse is brighter; to me, Lansford was primarily a junk wax guy where his cards are redundant, but I’d like to find more old-school, early 1980s, non-mainstream cards like this off a repack.
1990 Best checklist #143
1993 Fleer Ultra Mike Morgan #21
1988 Topps Jim Morrison #751
1990 Topps Joe Boever #410
1990 Topps Donn Pall #219
1990 Topps Rick Schu #498
1990 Topps Mike Boddicker #652
1988 Topps Danny Tartabull #724
1992 Leaf Terry Steinbach #501
1992 Fleer Pascual Perez #240
2012 Topps Opening Day Josh Johnson #106
1992 Score Mitch Webster #643
1991 Upper Deck Scott Cooper #22
1991 Fleer Jeff Montgomery #564
1990 Topps Doug Rader #51
1990 Topps Dave Magadan #135
1992 Score Al Shirley #802
1987 Fleer Danny Heep #11
1990 Donruss Billy Ripken #164
1981 Topps Larry Gura #130
1997 Upper Deck Randy Myers #18
1993 Leaf Jose Rijo #411
1989 Fleer Luis Aquino #275
1992 Donruss Ron Jones #738
1992 Score Jack McDowell #62
1990 Donruss Randy Velarde #630
1992 Fleer Ron Karkovice #88
1991 Topps Craig Grebeck #446
2017 Topps Jean Segura #123
2017 Topps Ervin Santana #678
2017 Topps Julio Urias #582
2017 Topps Kyle Hendricks #468
2017 Topps Jeff Hoffman #335
2017 Topps Michael Brantley #605
2017 Topps Jerad Eickhoff #12
2017 Topps Julio Urias #582
2017 Topps Tony Watson #256
2017 Topps Jon Lester #144

2017 Leaf Cody Bellinger #02 - the odd card of Bellinger that looks like the worst Broder ever.

The image used was likely from some sort of rookie league game where Bellinger looks barely out of high school - but these may have been printed ‘en masse’ to capitalize on the hype of his 2017 ROY campaign as it has in-season rookie highlights on the back.

1997 Topps Donny Hill #339
1991 Fleer Bobby Thigpen #137
1987 Topps Candy Maldonado #335
1987 Topps Bill Schroeder #302
1987 Topps Storm Davis #349
1990 Fleer Neal Heaton #468
1987 Topps Maury Wills #315 - x2
1990 Upper Deck Junior Ortiz #389
1990 Upper Deck Ozzie Guillen #267
1986 Topps Luis Salazar #103
1992 Donruss Bob Patterson #590
1990 Upper Deck Sid Bream #250
1990 Donruss Doug Drabek #92
1990 Topps Rafael Belliard #143
1990 Upper Deck Bob Walk #596
1995 Score Jon Lieber #461
1995 Fleer Update Mark Johnson #U-149
1992 Score Gary Redus #67
1996 Upper Deck Charlie Hayes #436
1988 Donruss Felix Fermin #144 - got 'jammed up' with a run of 10 Pittsburgh Pirates cards in a row [plus 7 more in the rest of the repack] and found it peculiar.
2001 Topps Archives Joe Garagiola #228 - I didn’t know what these were when I bought a couple of packs at Target when this product was originally released; obviously they were reprints, but what was the hook to them? The numbers and set information are on an itty-bitty line on the back of the cards.
1993 Leaf Glenn Davis #45
2008 Playoff Contenders Tony Delmonico #46
1990 Donruss Steve Rosenberg #253
1984 Topps Lee Mazzilli #225
1983 Fleer Jim Morrison #313
1983 Fleer Jason Thompson #325
1988 Donruss Richard Dotson #124
1993 Upper Deck Bo Jackson #775
1983 Fleer Dave Parker #315
2017 Bowman Draft Charlie Barnes #CDA-CBA - according the box, one in four packages on average contain a hit and I actually pulled a recent Bowman Chrome Draft Pick autograph.

Maybe the path will not be as clear cut, but if Barnes makes one big league start in his professional career - I’ll consider this hit as a  a ‘nice pull.’
1990 Score Steve Lyons #88
1995 Topps Stadium Club Ray Durham #548
1983 Fleer Chili Davis #257
1991 Fleer Donn Pall #130
2013 Topps Roy Halladay #264

2019 Topps Now Mike Trout Road to Opening Day promo

I probably this card in the mail for making at least one Topps Now purchase through Topps.com last year - while I bought my 2018 Topps Now cards from eBay, my lone Topps Now purchase off Topps.com was a Vladimir Guerrero autograph.

With the $300 million contract signed by Manny Machado and Bryce Harper still looking to sign a similar or likely better arrangement - the speculation over Trout's future has mushroomed.

It pisses me off because it has me uneasy about Trout's standing with the Angels - I think the Angels have always had Trout's back, even as fans [like me] have thought about how the best player in baseball should not be playing on a team that isn't contending for anything.

I want things to play out for the next two years and don't want to face the reality the face of my home team and yes, Major League Baseball - might be lured by the Philadelphia Phillies [his home team on the East Coast] or end up in the middle of the lineup for the New York Yankees.

I can't imagine Trout playing for another team and maybe an ideal extension would be a 7-8 year deal for something approaching $400 million of Angels owner Arte Moreno's money - if Trout does move on, the way I think about it is that someone else will get his 30s, but the Angels and their fans got his prime years.

Maybe the cliche don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened applies here - though the only acceptable scenario is Trout gets locked up as Angel for life and things turn around as far as getting other pieces to build around him.

1986 Donruss Jose Canseco RC #39

If nothing else, this pickup allows me to have a copy of one the best rookies in the hobby, circa 1991 - I think about building up a collection of the hottest cards whose values have come and gone, but I'd be once proud to show off as young collector.

In real life, my youth is ancient history and I don’t know if can find others anywhere who might care - when I dig around and look for occasional baseball card 'war' stories on social media, forums or blogs mentioning this card in particular, I’ll pat myself on the back for having a nostalgic status symbol from way back when.’

As it stands, Canseco is a buffoon, a shyster and a Twitter troll - maybe long declared irrelevant, I did enjoy parts from his two books where [regardless of where one stands as far as Canseco 'ratting out' his old teammates, friends and frenemies] he exposed how the raw the Steroid Era was.

He said he wouldn’t have made the big leagues without PEDs but he had some staying power - maybe for three or four years, he might have been Mike Trout with ‘bite,’ a 5-tool player with power and speed as his prominent attributes.

Canseco was always the bad boy jock, but had he cultivated a little more of a clean cut image and a bit more discreet about his indiscretions - he might be a borderline HOFer with his numbers.

Because they were valuable commodities, I don’t know if I seriously chased after any one particular Canseco rookie era card - I still remember the friend whose house I used to go to having the 1986 Donruss Rookies as a likely centerpiece card of his collection.

Maybe in one of the first times, I splurged on a handful of singles at a card shop, I picked up Canseco's 1987 Topps - in the mid 1990s, I might have had a couple of Canseco's cards from the 1986 Donruss Highlights boxed set.

It maybe a little weird looking back, but a 1991 Score Dream Team Canseco was a card I wanted badly - I don’t think it ever was as popular as the Bo Jackson Dream Team subset card from 1990, but for a while, it was a notable card on its own.

Canseco was the ‘it’ player in MLB and he was posed swinging a bat topless by a notable fashion photographer - probably through means I’m not proud of, I might remember pulling the card off loose packs from the local supermarket.

Years later, I remember getting autographs at the ballpark in 1999 and Canseco came out of the front after a game - I must have been going batty when I spotted him and rushed to have him sign a couple of the Beckett magazines I must have bought at a card show.

He scribbled on them dismissively, but here I was seeing one the biggest stars of my childhood in the flesh - I tried asking him for a photo and he said, 'no' but I may still have it somewhere where I got the worst picture of me and him 'together' as he's walking.

My miscellaneous finds off a 8 for $5 box

Once I start rummaging through loose cards at a card shop - I don’t know if I’ll be able to restrain myself.

There maybe a certain thrill, going through a box at some random card shop that has piqued my interest enough - that I'd bother seeing if I can pick up enough cards, so I sort of get a deal, even if most are picked over.

At times I get a sense that I’m influenced by others and want to entertain taking in all sorts of cards - though after the fact, I don't like idea of doing some mental gymnastics, in order to justify assorted loose card purchases that ends up being fool's gold.

These were finds I'd 'saved' from an out of town card shop trip and wanted to see if I could make a post.

1987 Topps Barry Bonds #320 - in sentiment, it seems 1987 Topps has become the 'classic' set of the junk wax era.

I pulled a copy of his 1987 OPC and maybe a copy of the Topps version years ago and I don't know where either card ended up - but I’ve liked the photo chosen compared to Bonds' other 1986 XRC and 1987 RC issues.

2018 Topps Gold Label Alex Bregman #49 - Class 2 serial #’d 37/99 - I wouldn’t know what this parallel is about and I doubt it is important but it's shiny and pictures a young superstar.

1996-97 Topps Stadium Club Chicago Bulls #GM3 - Golden Moments insert - I thought the card might be of note because it features Michael Jordan, but it was only worth what I paid for the card, maybe less with the slight nick on right hand corner.

2000 Fleer Tradition Glossy factory set Mike Lamb #472 - serial #’d 0916/1000 - I may have a loose definition of oddball, it’s kind of a different, off-beat card picturing a Cal State Fullerton baseball alumni.

Maybe a card I hope to get inked up in-person - even though Lamb hasn’t been at the annual alumni game in recent years.

2015 Topps Update Max Muncy dual RC #US54 - after his breakout 'out of nowhere' season in 2018, he stills profiles as a late blooming minor star at best, but he has become a fan favorite and his rookie is a 'penny stock keeper.'

2013 Bowman Chrome Albert Pujols #264 - Blue Sapphire refractor insert - this is a pretty, sharp card picturing Pujols’ 2001 Bowman rookie or at least what a parallel of an unsigned 2001 Bowman Chrome rookie might look like [the original Bowman Chrome issue is his most coveted card, especially since they were autographed].

1981 Topps Rickey Henderson #261 - to add to my 1978-present Topps sampler run, I'm looking for loose star cards like Henderson's second year card.

2005 Topps Retired Signature Cal Ripken Jr. #10 - this was a common base card, but it came from a product that might have relatively 'too rich' for tastes, so I don't even think the non-hit base trickled down to where I found them loosely.

I grabbed the card because it reminds me of the retired player short prints / variations Topps has made over the past 10 years - this particular rejiggering of the 2005 Topps design uses the old-school Topps logo on the front and had full career stats on the back.

My card shop died and the hunt for the Honus Wagner of junk wax?

I dropped in at my LCS, but someone else was running the shop - I'm looking around absentmindedly trying to figure out if there was some kind of change, feeling like I’m in the Twilight Zone since things were just different.

The fact was, my long time LCS was actually bought out [my last visit was in December] and now a new guy owns the place - the longtime shop owner finally made his play to get out of the owning a card shop, that seemed more like a sparsely attended library.

While I wasn't actually on a first name basis with the previous shop owner, I've used my LCS as an outlet for the miscellaneous cards, supplies and loose packs I might purchase every other month or so - who knows if I’ll be back any time soon and wonder if this new incarnation of the shop will last over the next couple of years.

The most familiar card shop to me is an out of town one I may visit only a couple times a year - on a sightseeing trip, I had the opportunity to stop by recently, but was a bit overwhelmed.

I made the trip after a long day and while I feel like I wanted to go to town - I just didn’t know where where to start.

I had looked at the ‘junk wax / junk sets’ display near the entrance - a part of me wants to be tempted by a cheap single box or set purchase, though it’s more crap I’m going to actually pay to take home instead of the other way around.

I picked up a 1990 Fleer factory set for $6 because of a peculiar Jose Uribe [#74] card - which has become infamous because it has been listed on eBay for outrageous sums [from like $25,000-$758,000].

Some people say the card is being used for money laundering purposes - regardless, the notoriety may have driven the card value to like a few bucks [or not].

I fancy myself as a collector who can appreciate the weird stories that may circulate - about the baseball cards I collect.

There were two types of sets available at the shop - the set in the ‘holiday’ box was $15 but I settled for the ‘brown box’ factory set without the full color, graphics.

I thumbed through the set afterwards at Starbucks since was my friend was hanging out there while waiting on me - I was thrilled to find the Uribe, though it was a little off-center, so that jarred me back to reality.

1973 Topps Dwight Evans RC #614

Rookie cards of the hall of very good or guys with borderline cases, who end up getting jumped into the Hall of Fame - maybe the new market inefficiency in collecting cardboard.

I've never thought much about Evans except as an older veteran guy pictured on junk wax era cards through the early 1990s - as is, I picked up his multiplayer rookie card because with Harold Baines getting into the Hall of Fame, it might reopen the door for a better all-around player like Evans.

Evans was a longtime star for the Boston Red Sox, but not a national superstar in terms of sentiment - as the story goes, through the first part of his playing career, Evans was a good defensive right fielder with a competent bat, but his year-to-year numbers as a hitter didn't quite 'pop' until he was in his 30s.

Evans fell off the HOF ballot 20 years ago, but there would have been a campaign to get him in the Hall of Fame like a Bert Blyleven or Tim Raines - instigated by a generation of writers / bloggers more inclined to look not just at the counting numbers, but also the advanced stats to push through their personal pet projects.

If Evans' career was quite unfamiliar to me past his junk wax era cards, I can kind of see where picturing him like Tim Salmon would make sense - Salmon [for my 'home team' Angels of the early 1990s] wasn't quite a true franchise quality player, but as a hard hitting outfielder / DH, he was the heart and soul for the Angels for his career.

#CARDCORNER: 1991 Topps Dwight Evans