I just want to warn you before reading this post, it’s ridiculously long and most likely unnecessary. So, if you don’t have 10 minutes to read about a bunch of 10 cent cards, this is not for you. I figured this should come with some sort of disclaimer. My friends will enjoy this, but maybe others won’t. You have been warned!
My 4-year-old son and I ventured out to the Rite Aid near our house yesterday for Infants Motrin (for my 15-month-old son’s teething pains). We went to the back and grabbed the Motrin and my son stopped near the front of the store for some Minions puffy stickers. Near the stickers I saw 3 Fairfield baseball re-packs and 1 football repack. For $4.99 each I figured what the heck. Sometimes these re-packs really put a smile on my face…oh the nostalgia of some of the treasures inside! Immediately I noticed that the front of these boxes looked different than usual. It used to say 1:4 contains a hit, but these did not have that indication. Oh well, I grabbed them anyway as the thought of pulling a Todd Van Poppel or even a Ben McDonald had chimed in my head and got me all excited!
When I opened the first baseball re-pack, I noticed they no longer contain a 1990 or a 1991 unopened Fleer pack. Has anyone bought any of these lately? I am wondering when this changed. I swear I just bought 2 of these re-packs in December when buying my mother-in-law some chocolates for Christmas from this same Rite Aid and they both had an unopened pack in them. Odd. It won’t hurt me at all not to have to open another 1990 Fleer pack only to see I received 3 Fred Lynn Detroit Tigers cards (that seriously happened to me in December). Also, there were not 100 cards in each re-pack. The most one of them contained was 52 cards. The football pack maybe contained about 30. Seems Fairfield has been cutting back, I suppose.
When I opened the 2nd re-pack, I noticed something shiny near the back, I am guessing a refractor of some sort? Looks like I got one of the “hits”!
The 3rd re-pack had a few damaged cards. I never had that happen before. Also, it had something shiny towards the front and looked like another "hit"! I am kicking myself because I forgot to photograph this with my phone after the pack had been opened, I just kept it movin'...sorry folks!
The football pack had something VERY shiny in it too! Also, it contained an unopened pack of 1990 Score Series 2. If you see in the photo below there is a blue bordered card, it was a San Francisco 49ers Topps Total card that had 3 players on it…it was absolutely destroyed. Bad corners and creases galore. It looked honestly like it had been in bike spokes. Come on Fairfield, you can do better!
So, I believe after opening all 4 of these boxes that I received 3 "hits". They aren't autographs, they aren't game used cards, but are refractors and parallels. Either way, I think I did pretty well for stuff everyone pretty much views as "trash".
Now, it's about to get scan heavy because I LOVED a lot of cards from these re-packs. Here are my 50 favorites (with the "hits" included). Here goes, enjoy!
50. 2000 SPx Shawn Green
I really didn't buy ANY baseball in the early and mid-2000's, so this is my first 2000 SPx baseball card besides the Jim Morris Autograph I bought a while back after watching the movie The Rookie. So, Mr. Green lands on my list of favorites. Such a cool shiny card! I am a fan of SPx!
49. 1991 Score Jose Offerman RC
Wasn't Offerman the guy who kicked a catcher in the neck and then went after the pitcher with a bat in Minor League ball after his career had pretty much gone down the tubes? Or am I thinking of someone else? Either way, a guy that had a sweet Topps rookie I had a ton of when I was 9 lands on the list because it is a junk wax rookie and that brings a smile to my face.
48. 1992 Bowman J.R. Phillips RC
Ugh, this photo sucks, however, I was surprised to see a 1992 Bowman card in one of these things. I wasn’t sure who Phillips was, so I did a mini-deep dive into his career. He was a 4th round pick by the Angels in ‘88. In 1992, he was the Angels’ 7th best prospect (per Baseball America). He played 242 MLB games for the Giants, Phillies, Astros and Rockies. There now you’re up to date. Phillips makes the list because it’s a 1992 Bowman card. I don’t have many of these in my collection. Also, I had those same batting gloves when I was 10.
47. 1991 Leaf Studio Eddie Murray
I didn't realize how many Dodgers cards I actually received in these. WOW. Here is Murray, mid-sentence with the camera man when this picture was snapped and Leaf decided this is what they were going with for the future Hall of Famer….ok, cool! I just like Murray, so that is why this card is rad to me.
46. 1996 Pinnacle Aficionado Dave Nilsson
So, let me get this straight, these cards are supposed to smell like bubble gum? I never owned a single one of these cards, but the internet is telling me that they were sprayed with a bubble gum scent before being packaged. I have sniffed this card up and down and it just smells like the inside of the Fairfield box it came in (yes, I smelled the inside of the Fairfield box people…I was just doing my due diligence). Nilsson lands on the list because this is a weird Pinnacle concept that I'm now intrigued by. I wonder if you bought a box now if they would smell like bubble gum out of the pack? Oh, and this set has to be condition sensitive, the back of this thing looks like my 15-month-old son gnawed on the edges like he does with a pop tart…fun!
45. 1985 Topps Bill Madlock
An 80's hometown team fan favorite will always land on this list (there may be a few more Pirates on this list just like Madlock). This is the last year Madlock would wear a Pirates uniform. The Pirates traded Madlock on 8/31/1985 to the Dodgers 3 players to be named later who ended up being: R.J. Reynolds, Cecil Espy and Sid Bream. So that's how they got Sid Bream. I learned something today. Thanks internet.
44. 1991 Upper Deck Robin Yount
So, this base card doesn't have a cool photo on the front or back, but lands on this list because it reminds me of a weird day when I was 10 years old. My brother and I had to be babysat while my mom ventured into the office job world in the summer of 1992. She found an older lady who said she would watch us for $20 a day. My parents agreed to it and my brother, and I had the weirdest summer of our lives. One day the old lady took us to the drug store, so she could pick up a prescription. My brother and I were pretty self-sufficient at the time and would carry our awesome Mario and Zelda wallets everywhere. While the old lady was in the back getting her prescription, my brother and I were buying ourselves each a pack of 1991 Upper Deck. I remember we both had Robin Yount in our packs. This card just made me remember that day. Thanks Fairfield!
43. 1988 Topps Traded Nelson Santovenia RC
Nelson lands on this list mostly because of the powder blue Expos jersey. Man, I miss those. Growing up, it seems I saw the Expos play the most as the visiting team when I would go to Pirates games. One time when I was in the nosebleeds with my parents watching the Expos bat, I dipped my nacho in some nacho cheese and took a bite and it tasted like soap…no idea why, but it made me gag. Sorry, just a random memory. Anyways, in 1991, I bought a Topps rack pack at our local Giant Eagle grocery store. Every single card in the middle pack had a wrong back. In this pack I had a Nelson Santovenia card that had Joe Carter on the back of it. I really wish I still had all of these. I ended up trading them to a vendor in 1992 at a card show at a Marriot hotel for a ton of Brett Hull cards and a few packs of 1992 Topps. What a dummy I was....
42. 2000 Pacific Charles Woodson
No cool photo or anything, just Charles Woodson. He's a Hall of Famer and a Heisman Trophy winner, that's enough reason for me for this card to make the Top 50.
41. 1986 Fleer Star Sticker Glenn Wilson
I never owned any of these growing up. Looking at this thing, I may have missed out. My brother and I were big sticker fans as kids. We would have stuck these all over the place in our rooms and around the house. Ok, actually after I typed this, that makes sense as to why we didn't have these growing up. My parents probably got sick of us sticking our Garbage Pail Kids all over the house. I'm sure my mom wouldn't have liked to have seen Glenn Wilson stuck to her dresser or Andre Dawson wrapped around her curling iron. Anyways, I almost gave this to my son to stick somewhere until he told me he wanted to stick it on the toilet seat. So, this card/sticker stays with me until he can figure out a good spot for it to go for all eternity. I told him no wood objects, or in the bathroom. We'll see what he comes up with.
40. 1991 Topps Traded Chris Roberts Team USA RC
I wasn't too sure who this guy was. Apparently, he was a 2nd round pick by the Phillies in 1989, didn't sign, went to Florida State, then was redrafted in the 1st round by the Mets in 1992. He never made the major leagues though. He did play in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in 2000. Since 2009 he's served as an assistant coach with Stetson University. This guy has Fairfield written all over him.
39. 2017 Panini Diamond Kings Heritage Collection Phil Niekro
At first glance, I dug this card. Now that I'm looking at it more, I don't like it. The card itself has like a vinyl feel to it. Also, I had no idea Panini products showed up in these Fairfield packs, but I had several Panini cards not only in the baseball re-packs, but also in the football. Well, I had these all set in order of coolness when I hyped myself up to make this post, but I think this one should fall down the list, but no time for that now. Way to go Bryan...
38, 37 and 36. 1990 Score Rocket Man Andre Reed, Sterling Sharpe and a Ground Force Herschel Walker
If you made it this far through my re-pack post, thank you. Enjoy these 3 cards that Score brand designers probably thought were pretty badass in 1991. In 2022, kinda cheesy, but I loved the 90's so they made the list.
35. 2001 Upper Deck Evolution Magglio Ordonez
Not sure what "evolved" here. I never heard of Upper Deck Evolution, but I guess this is what it is. Kinda lame to be honest, but it is a product I have never seen which lands it on this list. I am always interested in seeing new products. Maybe this should have been further down on this list, but my brain processed this as such, so this is 35.
34. 1999 Fleer Ultra Magglio Ordonez
One of the re-packs had 2 Magglio Ordonez cards, so I decided I should show these back-to-back. I like the design of the 1999 Fleer Ultra cards. I love the name in foil. I wish the photo of Ordonez was better, but Fleer decided this was the way to go in 1999.
33. 1990 Score Anthony Thompson RC
Just want to mention that the Score cards I post in this are from that unopened pack. Wow, Anthony Thompson. Most of you have no idea who this guy is and you really shouldn't. I only know who this is because my family frequently went to Dunham's Sports in a neighboring town for school shoes and shirts, my dad's lawn mowing McGregor spikes (I'm serious here), baseball gloves, balls, bats, hockey equipment and hockey sticks…and the occasional Action Packed Rookie Update pack. They always had Action Packed Rookie Update packs for like 4 years there. They always rotated it between 1990 and 1991. I was patiently waiting for them to put out packs of 1992, but they never got around to it. I think my family were the only ones who actually bought them. Anyways, I pulled 2 or 3 of this guy's Action Packed Rookie Update cards. My dad always hooked it up when we were there which was cool of him. That is why Anthony Thompson found his way on my little list here.
32. 1983 Donruss Greg Brock RC
There were 2 1983 Donruss cards in my re-packs. This was the best of the 2, so Greg Brock gets some love here at 32. I was surprised to see Brock had a 10-year Major League career and played over 1,000 games. Other than those facts, I can't really find anything that notable. Seems he was known more for his defense than his offense.
31. 1989 Fleer Gregg Jefferies
Not as iconic as his 1989 Topps Future Star card, but if this was 1989 this card would have made my day. I still remember pulling his 1989 Topps card which may get its own post one day because it was a pretty great day. It's sad Jefferies didn't really live up to all the hype. I still collected his cards until about 1995. I had some pretty nice ones with refractors and different parallels, but about 13-14 years ago, we had a local card show and I set up a table and some guy bought the entire Jefferies collection from me. I had "Make Offer" on the box, and he gave me $15 which was $5 more than I wanted, so I took it. The only card I kept from that box was the 1989 Topps card. It still has a special place in my heart.
30. 1999 Upper Deck Encore Brian Giles
This card is fantastic looking. I haven't ever broken any of this product or bought any of these cards, but they are beautiful to look at. The foil on the card makes it look like a refractor. Imagine a whole set of these. They would look great in a binder. Anyways, Giles is pictured as a member of my hometown team, the Pirates. I remember going to games when he played here with my buddies when we were teenagers. He was a decent Pirate and I even got to meet him once when he was signing autographs at our local Dick's Sporting Goods. He signed a card for me, but I eventually gave the card to my nephew (I didn't think I was ever having kids back then). When I asked my nephew not too long ago where all the cards I gave him ended up, he told me he traded them away to friends in his old neighborhood. So, someone out there has an Upper Deck Brian Giles card when he was a Cleveland Indian with his autograph on it. If that's you, enjoy, I will just be here with my 1999 UD Encore non-autographed Brian Giles card typing about it in my blog no one reads…cool.
29. 1990 Score The "Class" of 1990 Keith McCants
I didn't really follow the career of McCants. What I most remember him for is his appearance on "Broke", which was a 30 for 30 that ESPN did on athletes who went broke either during or after their playing careers were over. He also appeared on plenty of sports talk shows and different tv shows as a guest. McCants also had legal troubles due to drug possession charges, and such things like that. I read that in 2010 McCants had said he was clean and didn't believe he had a drug addiction problem. Sadly, on September 2nd, 2021, McCants died of a drug overdose at age 53. A really sad story to be honest. RIP Keith.
28. 1988 Mother's Cookies Scott Garrelts
This is also a first for me. I have never owned a single one of these cards. I believe there was someone out there trying to complete the set of these a while back. If that is you and you are reading this, send over your name and address and this Garrelts card is yours. That is the main reason I posted this here. I'm pretty sure there is someone out there needing this card.
27. 1988 Topps Traded Don August RC x 3!
Whoever packed this re-pack went heavy on the Don August cards. Not only did I receive 3 of this Topps Traded rookies, but also 3 of his 1989 Topps card. I'm leaving the 1989 Topps card off this list, but his rookie sure as heck made it! Don August had a great first Major League season going 13-7 with a 3.09 ERA. He was actually 4th in the AL Rookie of the Year voting (the winner that year was Oakland A's SS Walt Weiss). Well, I learned something from the internet about Don August today. Thanks again Fairfield! Before we move on..from left to right, sunburnt face, pale and tan? Does anyone else see that? Ok, just me…moving on!
26. 1996 Upper Deck Brett Butler
I feel like I've said this a lot during this post, but I have never owned a single one of these 1996 Upper Deck cards. During a lot of the late 90’s I mostly collected hockey and football cards and rarely did I spend money on baseball cards. This card really made an impression on me though. The front of the card says, "Providing an inspiration to all 1996." On the back, it goes on to say, "Baseball's prayers were with Brett after he was diagnosed with throat cancer 5-7-96." I totally remember when this happened to Brett Butler. For this message alone on a baseball card, it deserves some props. Nice job Upper Deck!
25. 1991 Score Chuck McElroy RC
This card design is as 90's as it can get. I love it! I will always remember McElroy for rocking glasses. Tom Henke and Kent Tekulve too. McElroy though made it look kinda cool.
24, 23, 22 and 21. 1992 Topps Gold Winner cards of Ryan Bowen, Pat Tabler, Ken Dayley and Glenallen Hill
Come on Fairfield, you couldn't even give a guy the regular Topps Gold version? As a kid, I remember when my package of Topps Gold Winner cards came in. It seemed like it took a lifetime for Topps to send me my package. I may have even received them in 1993 if I remember correctly. I won 5 times (without cheating - I honestly didn't know about how to cheat on these game cards - I was like 9 years old). When my cards arrived, I didn't get very many good cards. They gave me mostly crap (thanks Topps). Much like the Topps company, Fairfield also gave me mostly crap Topps Gold cards. Now you get to enjoy the photo of my crappy Topps Gold Winner cards!
20. 1988 Fleer Joey Cora RC
Look at how young Cora looks on this card. It was the only '88 Fleer card they gave me that was worth a darn. Anyways, I'm happy to have it. Gotta love those old school Padres jerseys!
19. 1992 Pinnacle Donald Harris
This is not actually Donald Harris's rookie card. I know this because my older cousin Alan fleeced me in a trade back in 1991. My cousin really loved Jose Canseco, please just keep this in mind while I ramble on. When I was back in Eastern Pennsylvania visiting my grandparents, I went to a card shop in their town that was located in a some guy named Travis's walk out basement who went to my grandparents' church. Travis was a younger guy in his early 20's who had a few plastic shelving units with unopened wax, Starting Lineups hanging on the walls with push pins, and 3 display cases of cards. I bought quite a few cards from this gentleman over a 2-year span of my grandfather taking us there until I assume Travis moved. Anyways, a card I had purchased from Travis this particular trip I am talking about was a 1986 Fleer Update Jose Canseco for I think around $7. When I arrived back home, my cousin Alan was all over me to trade this Canseco to him. He convinced our neighbor Tommy to fill my head about a prospect in the Texas Rangers system named Donald Harris and to tell me he was catching fire and in the upcoming Beckett, his rookie would have that awesome “arrow up” symbol. When I looked at my old Beckett from a year prior, I had noticed he had a 1990 Topps rookie card and that it wasn’t worth very much. When I searched my 1990 Topps cards in my binder, I had 0 Donald Harris rookies. It meant I had to have one! Alan on the other hand had 3. Eventually I traded him for all the Donald Harris cards because Tommy and Alan told me how good the guy was and I just loved seeing that up arrow in Beckett. Obviously, when the new Beckett came out, Donald Harris never had that up arrow and and I owned about 75 cents worth of Donald Harris cardboard…awesome. They both came up with some bogus story on how he must have gotten injured or something because he was really catching fire. I just knew I was upset. When we were teenagers, my neighbor Tommy and my cousin admitted to the whole fleecing of me for the Donald Harris rookies. I knew it in my head the whole time, but it still hurt to hear it even in my teenage years, but I eventually got over it. So now, 30 years later, I finally pulled my very own Donald Harris card. Thankfully it is not the 1990 Topps Donald Harris card that I never want to see again in my lifetime.
18. 1993 Upper Deck Star Rookie Sterling Hitchcock RC
I once bought a box of 1993 Upper Deck at a Service Merchandise store. The box was a total dud, and I barely pulled any rookies in the entire box. Sad part is, I used my birthday money to buy the box. This card maybe should fall down this list further. These past 2 cards are stirring up some bad memories!
17. 1990 Score LeRoy Butler RC
This card came from the unopened pack I received. It's always a plus to get a Hall of Famer's rookie card! Butler spent his entire career with the Green Bay Packers. In this day and age, that is absurd, but still pretty freakin cool. I wish Butler was in his Packers uni, but I think Score was rushing this product out back then and this is the best they could do.
16. 1990 Score Stan Belinda RC
Stan Belinda. I remember him well. Side-arm delivery, relief pitcher and honestly a fan favorite. He was loved here in Pittsburgh. This card shows Stan with glasses on which is not how I remember him at all. Anyways, this is my first Stan Belinda rookie! If it was 1990 and I was 8 years old, this thing would be an absolute treasure of mine. It's still kinda cool to me in 2022 though.
15. 1988 Donruss Al Pedrique RC
I'm pretty sure this is a Pedrique rookie. If I'm wrong, my bad. Pedrique was supposed to be a big deal after being acquired from the Mets. I remember my dad hyping him up a little bit back in the day to my brother and I after he read some excerpt about Pedrique in the newspaper. My brother and I were lucky enough to have both pulled his 1988 Topps card and we were just waiting for this card to become a treasure. Sadly, his run at being the Pirates starting SS didn't end up working out and I think he was either released or traded to the Tigers. Most recently, I remember Pedrique being the Manager of the Diamondbacks and being absolutely terrible. Well, I will always remember this guy for being a hyped Pirates prospect by my dad and that's why Pedrique made the top 15.
14. 1992 Stadium Club Eric Karros Members Only
Stadium Club back in the early 90's was a hard sell on my parents. At one point in time, the packs were like $6-$7 at our LCS up the road from our house and unless it was a special occasion, we weren't getting any packs. Most of the time my brother and I would just buy the singles that our LCS had available that were cheaper. I can still remember paying $4 for a Dave Stewart where he was in a tuxedo throwing a baseball behind his back. For my 10th birthday in 1992, my Uncle Mark bought me a few packs of 1992 Stadium Club. In those 2 packs, I pulled the Eric Karros Stadium Club rookie card. I still remember what the thing looked like. He was taking a grounder and had his back turned so you could see Karros on the back of his jersey, and he was kinda stretched out with his glove on the back hand ready for the ball to go into his glove. This card was a big deal then as Karros was on fire. My dad ended up buying me one of those screw down holders with the 4 screws and the Karros rested in there until the late 90's when I decided it should be released from its plastic prison. Anyways, I now own another 1992 Stadium Club Karros, but it's not the rookie like I used to own, but I still dig it.
13. 1989 Upper Deck Tony Chance RC
Oh Tony Chance...how you remind me of the Butler Farm Show back in 1990. My dad, brother and I used to have to go to the Butler Farm Show every year because my grandparents who owned a RV/camper business would set up shop there hoping for a few customers interested in that sort of thing. My dad, brother and I would help them set up and then after they were good to go, we could venture out and ride the carnival rides, eat some greasy food, pet some farm animals, play some games, or buy something at their flea market section. One rainy night at the farm show, my brother and I spotted a lady selling baseball cards. I noticed she had a bunch of 1989 Upper Deck cards in team bags and each bag was $1.50. She had a total of 3 of them, so I asked my dad for $5 and since I had done some actual work helping out my grandparents to get set up, $5 wasn't a big deal. In the 1989 Upper Deck team bags, each one had Tony Chance at the top (probably because of him being in his Pirates uniform). Each one of the team bags had mostly commons, but also each one had 2 Craig Worthington, Wally Whitehurst and Omar Vizquel rookies and each had at least 1 Dante Bichette rookie. All in all, I made out pretty good for $5. If you want to know something about Tony Chance, here it is....his dad played in the Major Leagues from 1963-1969 and Tony never made it past AAA. How he ended up in this set is beyond me.
12. 1996 Topps Finest Ben McDonald
Ben McDonald was one of my favorite pitchers growing up. I even wrote to him for a class project back in 1992 (he didn't respond). When I saw this card, it just put a smile on my face. He was such a huge prospect and even was the 1st overall pick in the 1989 MLB Draft. After my wife and I had our first son, I took him over to my parents' house to dig out some of my old toys for him to play with for when he was a little older (like action figures and stuff). When I pulled out some of my loose starting lineups from a box, my son gravitated towards my Ben McDonald. He played so much with that figure up until about a year ago and it still resides in his toy box/ottoman at my parent's place in their living room. Fun fact, this is my first McDonald card with him in his Brewers uniform.
11. 1984 Topps Lorenzo Gray RC
I just love 1984 Topps. Also, I have no clue who Lorenzo Gray is. Apparently, he only played in 58 total games in the majors, but he made the cut and got himself in the 1984 Topps set! Gray makes this list because, 1. this set rules and 2. he is sporting that old school retro SOX jersey. What is not to love about this card?
10. 1984 Fleer Juan Samuel RC
Now that I'm typing up this list, I got a TON of rookies! WOW! Samuel makes this list because he is a familiar name to me. Growing up Samuel was a decent player and an All-Star a couple of times. I'm surprised he showed up in a Fairfield re-pack, and the top left corner is a little dinged, but I'll take it!
9. 1996 Upper Deck Diamond Debuts Ryan McGuire
McGuire I clearly remember as a Red Sox prospect. I did pull a Classic Four Sport card of him back in the day that I had my mom buy from K-Mart. Man, Classic sucked. Anyways, McGuire lands on this list because the card is just cool looking to me and also, he is sporting his Expos gear. I like these Diamond Debuts cards. The foil shines all over the place and makes it feel like the card should actually be worth more than 10 cents it probably is.
8. 1990 Upper Deck Greg Vaughn RC
I feel like a broken record, but if this was 1990, I would be in heaven pulling a card like this. Sadly, the upper left corner of this card looks like someone chewed on it. Vaughn was a huge prospect in 1990 and could always fetch a ton in trades in my neighborhood back then. Vaughn was frequently on the Beckett Hot List and would cause a frenzy during trade times we had within our neighborhood. I had so many 1990 Topps Greg Vaughn Future Star RC's and I flipped almost every single one for stuff I wanted. In one particular deal, 2 Greg Vaughn Topps rookies landed me a 1989/90 Topps Trevor Linden and Brian Leetch rookie cards! The only person I knew who actually had the Upper Deck Greg Vaughn rookie, was this kid in my class named C.J. who moved away after 4th grade. The kid was a total jerk and would never trade with any of us at lunch. He just liked to show off. Well guess what C.J.???? I have one too!
7. 1981 Topps Joe Charboneau RC
This was the oldest card I had received in the entire bunch of cards. Charboneau I guess was a big deal back in 1980. He won the AL Rookie of the Year award, but per the internet, he had a back ailment that never properly healed, and it limited his playing time until his eventual retirement in 1984 with the Pittsburgh Pirates AAA team. A few more things about Charboneau, he played the fewest games in the majors by a Rookie of the Year winner with 201. Also, he was an extra in the movie The Natural, playing one of Roy Hobbs' teammates. Pretty cool!
6. 1993 Topps Gold Brad Brink
I am still a sucker for Topps Gold cards. It was like the first parallel that I remember, and they are still super rad in my mind. I realize this card isn't worth much, but it's definitely worth something to me. I do like the Coming Attraction design in these 1993 Topps cards. It's definitely cool and totally 90’s. As for Mr. Brink, he didn't have much of a career in the Major Leagues. He made his way into 14 total games with 4 of those games being starts and went 0-4. I’m thinking I might get Brad to sign this TTM.
5. 1996 Bowman's Best Matt Morris RC
I loved Matt Morris. It's true. When the Pirates traded Rajai Davis for him in 2007, I was so excited to see him pitch in a Pirates uniform. I went to the first game he pitched for the Pirates on 8/4/2007 against the Cincinnati Reds. He threw about 6 innings and gave up 4 runs and didn't look as effective as he did in previous seasons, but I didn't care, he was finally a Pirate. A buddy and I went to his last start that season against the Diamondbacks and he absolutely dominated them. I think he had 6 or 7 strikeouts and looked incredible. Then, the next year in 2008, he looked atrocious and couldn't win a game and next thing I knew, he had retired as a Pittsburgh Pirate. Crazy how his career ended up. He kinda took the league by storm when he first came in as a rookie. I was glad I got to see him pitch a few times before he hung up the cleats though. Thank you, Fairfield, for giving me my first Matt Morris rookie!
4. 1998 Bowman Chrome Kevin Barker Refractor RC
This was one of my "hits". Barker was one of those guys that was tearing the cover off the ball in the minors, but couldn't put it totally together in the majors, which is why he ended up in my re-pack. This particular re-pack had 2 Bowman Chrome cards. Usually, I only receive regular Bowman in these re-packs, but it looks like Fairfield is stepping up their game. Back to Baker, this guy hit over 20 home runs in the minor leagues 7 times! He actually came close to hitting 30 twice by hitting 28 and 29. Looks like Barker was a "dude". He lands at #4 because I like the look of 1998 Bowman Chrome. It's such a nice looking set.
3. 1991 Stadium Club Eric Show
Fairfield actually gave me a card I absolutely love. I had mentioned this card specifically in a post located here. Forgive me as I am just using my previous scan of this card. I didn’t feel like re-scanning the same card. I actually had to peel the Eric Show card apart from another Stadium Club card from the pack (which ended up being another guy named Eric - Eric Yelding). Only the Yelding received some scuff damages when I pulled them apart.
2. 2014 Panini Prizm Johnny Manziel Silver RC
When I saw what card this was, I was actually kinda freaking out and I spit water in my lap. Wasn't this card a big deal at one point? I can see you can grab one for a couple of bucks now, but still kinda sweet that I got this from a re-pack. Anyways, I never owned a Manziel rookie, this is my first, so I was pretty pumped to get one even if it's not worth much in 2022. I just remember the craze surrounding him and all the money that was being spent on his cards....and here he is being put into Fairfield re-packs! You might not think this is cool, but I do!
1. 2000 Topps Chrome All-Star Rookie Team Dwight Gooden Refractor
At first glance I didn't realize this was Doc Gooden. I was like, "Oh, I got some Houston Astros refractor." This card made me do a double take. I really had no freaking idea Gooden played for the Astros. I had to look it up. He pitched a total of 4 innings for them. Pretty nuts! I strongly believe this is probably his only card in an Astros uniform, but I may be wrong. Am I wrong? Anyways, this was my favorite hit of the bunch. A refractor of one of my favorite pitchers from my youth, absolutely! Thanks again Fairfield!
So, all in all, these re-packs were pretty good to me. I got a ton of rookies, there was a bunch of variety of cards from Topps Finest, Topps Chrome, Prizm, Diamond Kings, Bowman Chrome, Bowman's Best, Topps, Upper Deck, Pinnacle, Bowman, Donruss, Score, Skybox Dominion, etc. It was just fun! I recommend grabbing a few of these if you see them. They're definitely a fun rip.
If you have opened these in the past, what were your favorite pulls?
