Ripping Some Junk Wax Packs

What to do? What to do?

I've got a handful of junk wax packs laying around from repacks I've opened recently and I'm at a loss on what to do with them. Should I rip them and put them in individual posts? Or should I just tear into them and then show off the findings all in one post.

I know, these are troubling times, right?

I think probably for the better part of my sanity, I'll rip them and share the findings all in one post here. I do have some hockey ones as well but I'll save those for another time, these will be all baseball and, boy, do I have some winners here ... 1991 Fleer Ultra, 1991 Donruss Series 2, and 1988 Donruss.

Let's go from least intriguing to most intriguing and start with 1988 Donruss

I have a supposed complete set of this I picked up at the community yard sales last year for a mere three bucks that I have yet to go through. Not even a Danny Tartabull Diamond Kings card can save this batch of five. The borders and posed shots just make this feel dark. Give me the gaudiness of 1990 Donruss over this any day.

Things improve a little bit here with Mike Witt and Juan Samuel. One positive thing I always liked about this set was the use of the team logo in the bottom right.

And the last six of this pack, probably the most interesting batch. Take a close look at Mickey Tettleton, he's got a hung hunk of chaw in his mouth. This batch was very Brewers heavy with Robin Yount, Bill Wegman, and Dan Plesac. I always like the picture on the Jerry Hairston card, even as a kid.

As you can see, not much to get excited about since it's 1988 Donruss. Moving on, one of my personal favorites of the junk wax era, it's 1991 Donruss!

I've said before that I much prefer the blue border series 1 over the green border series 2. However, I'm slowly warming up to series 2 and I like that Donruss tried something new by giving each series a different border color. The photos are also much improved from 1988. The team logo is still there too, albeit in the bottom left corner. I also feel there is more star power here in general, even if the cards aren't worth the paper they're printed on, case in point Dave Justice and Will Clark as the first two cards out of the gate. 

Oh cool, Ozzie Guillen and Curt Schilling cards! Plus, it's Schilling in a bright orange Orioles uniform. 

The final five of the pack and look, there a Mo Vaughn Rated Rookie plus another cool Orioles card of Randy Milligan. That's some 1991 Donruss series 2. Overall, not a bad pack and I got some pretty neat cards. If I'd had opened this pack in 1991, I think I would've been satisfied.

Now, onto the final break, a pack of a product I've never opened before, that being 1991 Fleer Ultra.

So Fleer tried to get into the "premium offering" game in 1991 by debuting Fleer Ultra and I'll admit, I'm a little underwhelmed. Sure, the design is worlds better than the main set that year but the nameplate at the bottom reminds me of 1991 Fleer football and it still feels a little bland.

So far, Kirby Puckett is the best card of the pack. The Barry Bonds card is part of the ten-card Ultra Team insert set. 

Nothing here to get excited about really.

Again, still nothing to get overly excited about although I guess a Rick Aguilera card is better than nothing. There was also a sticker included in the pack although I forgot to photograph it.

So it turns out that the pack I was most excited about was the pack that yielded some of the least fun. In order of worst to best, I'd put these as 88 Donruss, 91 Ultra, and then 91 Donruss as the best. I guess this could be considered a pack war of sorts but I don't see it that way. I just see it as a excuse to rip some old junk wax packs. This was fun though.