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This month's edition of "What Tha?"


In these posts, I will explore the moments when the hobby ever so slightly crosses the line from decorum and fellowship into ... "What Tha?"

Don't expect a major rant or sudden feelings of outrage. In fact, all I'm trying to get out of you is a simple: "Dude, that's not cool."

OK ...

I was in the drug store yesterday. As usual, I did a slow scan of the long checkout area, because this particular store sometimes displays baseball cards.

They had some. Rack packs of Heritage and last year's Chrome. Pretty good stuff for a drug store. Especially on this side of town.

But dopey me had to pick up one of those rack packs of "100 Baseball Cards, including 10 Hall  of Famers!" because they're cheap, and because I've done pretty well pulling relics out of the things.

But apparently they save the bastard repack rack packs for the corner drug stores. While the fancy rack packs are hanging 6 feet in the air, living the high life and eyeing the cute checkout girls at Target, the drug store rack packs are dusting the dirty floor at ground level as they watch big Barry groom his nose behind the counter month after month.

The pack I bought there was absolute trash. Ninety percent of it was every junk wax year you can imagine. Almost all cards I have three times over. A generous portion of it was this:


Lovely '91 Fleer.

OK, I know Smed will get on here and say that he actually NEEDS some of those cards. And Bo will join in and ask what everyone has against '91 Fleer.

But the rest of you get me, right?

Also, I don't know if you can make it out but almost every one of those Fleer cards are Padres. Fifteen percent of the pack was Padres cards! A full 15 PERCENT! From 1988-91. How can Padres fans argue that their team should be taken seriously when I pull stuff like this?

But none of the above was the "What Tha?" moment. I mean I've purchased plenty of repack crap in my life.

No, the "What Tha?" moment came about halfway through the pack when this fell out:


Huh? Whazzz this? A guy in a helmet? A baby blue uniform? A football? ... This ... this ... is a FOOTBALL card!

In a pack advertising 100 BASEBALL cards!


I know I've sung the praises of these rack packs in the last year, but I am officially amending my statement.

I recommend the occasional purchase of these 100-card rack packs when you happen to be in TARGET. Target only.

Stay away from the dust eaters at the drug store that employs big Barry.

You don't know what you'll catch.

(P.S.: The home run poll is up on the sidebar).

Comments

CaptKirk42 said…
Wow that is a serious WHAT THA? I could understand if it was a Bo Jackson or one of those other cross-dres er cross-sport guys. I guess they have to get rid of those defunct Oilers cards somehow... I wonder if they have any '69 Pilots cards lurking in the football packs?
I have to do it...Dude, that's not cool.

I also have to do this...did you get your 10 Hall of Famers?
Anonymous said…
I've gotten random basketball and football cards in those packs at Target as well. Fairfield / Excel marketing does the collating for all of it and it's all from there. There's nothing odder than opening a package of baseball cards and seeing a random Rasho Nesterovic card in there.

The collation is sketchy even at Target. I've had packs where I've gotten doubles of several cards, all in the same order.

The key is to look for the NEW packaging, not the 10 HOFers but the ones that advertise a vintage cards from the 60's and 70's and 80's. They seem to be a bit better. I pulled a 1959 Fred Kipp card from one of them.

PS - I have all of old Yeller, but yeah I still need some cards that people actually BURN. For shame! I'm not gonna be the last one who wants to relive a golden era of his 20's, when all he cared about was beer, baseball and buxom babes. And vibrant yellow cards featuring guys like Troy Afenir and Randy Bush will help me relive that!

PPS - That rant wasn't directed to you, Mr. Owl. You get it.

PPPS - Should have saved some runs from last night. I think today's noon game will be interesting - which team has the players the least hungover.
AdamE said…
Ever since you said you were getting vintage cards in those repacks I have been looking for them. I have yet to see one, at least I think I have yet to see one. You should scan the package so everyone knows what they look like. If the pack that had all the Yellow Fleer in it has a different front don't scan that one. I don't need anymore 91 Fleer.
Anonymous said…
Ouch, just ouch.
Doc said…
Seriously. The Padres should be taken seriously. Seriously. Just look at my little swinging Friar icon. Seriously take us seriously. Seriously. At least we're not the Giants, seriously.
Anthony Hughes said…
I seem to get a single football card per 100 card rack I buy at Target or Walgreens. Because the only non-Topps I own are '92 Leaf and '92 Fleer, I don't mind getting these.

Adam, the ones I see at Target and Walgreens are as wide as two cards, i.e. they display two stacks of cards. It's completely made of clear plastic that requires the jaws of life to open. At Walgreens they are next to the toys, at Target they are with the other cards.
Spankee said…
Speaking of cute Target cashiers: Am I the only one that waits in a longer line just to have the cute cashier, only to realize when I get to the front that I am buying baseball cards and probably feminine products for my WIFE and there's not a single reason in the world to justify what I've done because at best the girl is 16. Fortunately, I'm a guy, so naturally I live for the slim odds that this particular girl just turned 18, finds baseball cards to be sexy, loves a married man who is willing to buy fem products for his wife, and that my wife has been looking for just that sort of thing to spice up the relationship. That's why I go to Wal-Mart. No urges there.
Captain Canuck said…
I'd sue. It's the American way. That's what everyone does down there, right? I mean, hot coffee, baseball cards... it all fits.
night owl said…
Adam ~

The packs advertising the 100 cards and 10 Hall of Famers are yellow rack packs. Shows an anonymous guy in a red helmet swinging a bat. These are usually junk wax central but sometimes I have decent luck w/them -- at Target.

The other rack packs are red, show an anonymous catcher behind the plate and advertise vintage cards inside. Those are usually better. Both kinds are 5 bucks.

(There are also football versions that come in a black wrapper -- I wonder if they have baseball cards inside?)
Two Packs A Day said…
I bet Night Owl got the 10 HOF's - 10 diff cards of Tony Gwynn Sr.! ;)