Thursday, March 20, 2008

2008 Topps Heritage Box Break, part 5

This set of packs actually helps illustrate a problem I've been having since getting back into card collecting this year. More on that after the video.


Box Break 5 from Rich Borosky on Vimeo.


Okay. Pretty standard stuff. No inserts or anything, but at least a bunch of guys I've heard of.

And there's the problem.

Outside of the World Series and Indians games, I haven't followed baseball regularly since about '96 or '97. I have almost no idea who's good and who's not so good anymore. I'm judging a pack's value based on how many players I've heard of, and most likely if you're not a superstar, you play on a National League team that hasn't made the playoffs in a while, you don't play for the Indians, Yankees or Red Sox or you started playing baseball after Bill Clinton was president, I've not heard of you.

Let's take the first pack.

I know Soriano is good because in my area (even though we're distance-wise closer to a bunch of other teams) everyone seems to root for the Yankees. He played with the Yanks, so I know who he is.

Piazza I remember from when I was a kid, but is he still considered a "star?"

Carlos Lee- I have no clue. Name sounds familiar though.

Emilio Bonifacio- Okay, he's a rookie. Probably not a lot of people know much about him yet, so I'm likely not alone on this guy.

Red Sox- Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I know a lot about them because they beat my Indians in the ALCS last year. My second most disliked team (though there's a few individual players I kinda like) behind the Yankees.

Jason Giambi- Again, I know him from when I was a kid (and from the whole steroid scandal), but have no idea how relevant he is now.

Yadier Molina- Name sounds familiar.

... and so on and so forth.

Now like I say, I know the big stars. Ortiz, Prince Fielder, Manny... umm...

Mario over at Wax Heaven made a great post a while back detailing how he organizes his collection. I think it's a great system that I could very well implement to put my cards in order (something else that hasn't really been done since Clinton was president) but I just DON'T KNOW WHO A LOT OF THESE GUYS ARE.

But there's hope. I'm gonna buy some baseball magazines this weekend (do they still do Athlon's?) and I read a lot of these blogs, which has seriously helped polish the rust off my baseball knowledge like Coca Cola on chrome.

Still, I'd like to hear from all of you. All two or three of you (for now) who read this page.

Who do you collect?

Who is worth saving regardless of who you collect?

Who are the big stars?

Why did it take me more than thirty seconds to realize J.D. Drew is not J.T. Snow?

I await your responses.

3 comments:

Steve Gierman said...

Piazza's star has sadly passed. He may not even have a job this year, which is a shame.

Vazquez is the White Sox number 2 starter. He was considered for the Opening Day start this year. He is a pretty solid starter.

Carlos Lee is an outfielder that has been on a few teams since his days ended with the White Sox in 2004. He hits for power, but strikes out a lot. His star was higher in the last few years, but has come back down to minor star.

Nick Markakis is ready to break out. He's already a star in Baltimore.

Chone (pronounced Shawn) Figgins is a minor star for the Angels. He was a thorn in the White Sox side in the 2005 playoffs.

James Shields is on the verge of breaking out. If he remains in Tampa, he will largely be forgotten unless the team wins the division.

Jason Kendall's good days are behind him, unless he has some type of super season. He had a decent reputation a few years ago as a power hitting catcher with good defense.

Hope that helps some.

Rich said...

It definitely does!

I checked Nick Markakis' stats and figured he looked like someone worth saving.

I guess Piazza's headed for the commons box.

Extra Innings said...

Is Piazza killing his own star status by not retiring? Sure, he will be in the HOF, but since he left the Mets he's kinda just been hanging out. Did anyone else notice that his '92 Bowman RC dropped from $40 to $25. I was disappointed to see that happen.