30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Buried Treasure of Mystery


A little over a year ago, I bought two big boxes of baseball cards from a friend of mine for $30.  Inside were 183 mystery bags containing 35 to 40 cards.


Here's a peek into each of the boxes:


I had planned on opening these up during Spring Break of 2019, but then my mother passed away and priorities shifted.  The boxes had been buried in my garage under some books until I discovered them a few weeks ago while cleaning.

This morning, I finally got around to taking a peek inside a few of the packs.  I went with the 9 packs sitting on top of the first box:


The first pack had already been opened... but the other bags were sealed with staples... which I wasn't amused with.  I stuck myself at least three times opening these bags up.

I'm not really sure what I was expecting to pull, but depending on your perspective these mystery bags could be considered garbage or a pleasant distraction from the real world.  Sadly there weren't any nuggets of treasure that'll allow me to retire early or even fetch me a Happy Meal at McDonald's.

But there were 1 to 2 inserts or parallels per bag on average.  Whoever originally built them made sure to put a recognizable name on the front and back... with a couple of stars sprinkled in between.

Personally... the joy of opening up mystery bags made it worthwhile.  As a bonus, I actually found a few cards I could use.  The rest will either be sorted into teams and passed along to fellow bloggers... or brought into my classroom for future projects.

I'm not the biggest fan of scanning, so you'll have to settle for a 9-pocket page of my favorite cards/pocket schedules from each pack:


My favorite pull was the 1981 Donruss Willie Stargell.  I remember treasuring that card when I was a kid.

Baseball Card Giveaway

Since I definitely don't need to bring all of these cards into my classroom, I figured this would be a cool opportunity to give away some PWE's filled with cards from these mystery bags.  If you're interested, just put down the team or teams you're interested in down in the comment section below.

I'm not sure how much interest this will draw, so I'll go ahead and say I'll ship out at least 10 PWE's.  If more than 10 people are interested, then I'll use random.org to help choose the recipients.  The names will be entered and randomize 5 times, then I'll take the top 10 people on the list.

As of right now, I'm not going to set a deadline on this giveaway... because I don't know how long it'll take me to open up and sort all of these bags.  But I'm thinking it'll take me at least a week.

Well that's it for today.  Happy Tuesday and sayonara!


Baseball Card Giveaway

Sorry about the confusion.  I guess I didn't think everything through carefully before I published this post.  Anyways... multiple people can select the same team.  In other words if four different people want to put down the Dodgers, that should be okay.

32 comments:

gcrl said...

Dodgers!

gcrl said...

I hit publish too soon. I was also going to say that I hadn't seen that Kevin Brown gallery card before. I like cards with that point of view so thanks for sharing.

The Angels In Order said...

Always Angels.

Trevor P said...

I would gladly take any Cubs you could spare.

The Angels In Order said...

And Dude, you have cards coming out of your ears! They're everywhere!

Peter K Steinberg said...

This must have been a good distraction! I'm not interested in any teams but thank you for offering. Now, can I ask a question? You said that you're not the biggest fan of scanning, but all of your blog posts have so many great images. Do you just photograph them? The quality is always so good I assumed you scanned. Have a nice day.

night owl said...

You sure have been sitting on a lot of cards lately. How big is your place?

I'll put in for Red Sox and Braves as Dodgers are gone and I didn't expect to see many Dodgers I needed anyway.

OhioTim said...

I would be in for the Cleveland Indians.

blog reader bruce said...

New York Yankees. Hopefully there is a 1981 or 1982 Donruss.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

When you get near the end of opening them all with just a few packs left, you'll find a Trout rookie... Why not it is possible......

Jeremya1um said...

I’d be up for any Rays you find. Thanks for doing this and good luck on pulling some fun cards for yourself.

Cooler Brian said...

I would be up for any Expos if those are available.

Rod (Padrographs) said...

Padres, you should be getting a PWE and a package from me.

sg488 said...

Would love any orioles.

The Lost Collector said...

Don’t need anything, but just wanted to say that looks like fun to go through.

hockey kazi said...

Blue Jays for me

ToddSteb said...

Brewers for me.

Nick Vossbrink said...

Kind of perfect timing to be opening a big box-o-randomness.

Brett Alan said...

Be happy to take Mets if you've got 'em. Thanks!

SumoMenkoMan said...

Very cool, can’t imagine that anyone ever pulled anything valuable out of these back in the day. Maybe today some forgotten parallel that increased in value might be all. But still a huge distraction from these upcoming weeks of crazy.

bbcardz said...

Since the Dodgers are taken, Tigers and Cardinals would be cool (one player played for both teams and went to my high school).

GTT said...

Yankees, though I guess there not available any more. There is no way I would be able to leave a ton of cards like that lying around for more than a day or two.

Bo said...

Yankees are taken so I'll just take any interesting leftovers. Thanks!

gregory said...

No team for me, but I look forward to seeing what treasures and mysteries emerge from all these bags!

Nick said...

If there's any Cubs still available, I'd gladly take them. That looks like a whole lot of fun! Cool to see that Topps Gallery Kevin Brown there -- has to be one of the more epic baseball cards ever made.

friend11 said...

Minor league cards or oddballs. It's always fun to go through cards

Chris said...

You don't have to send me anything, I just wanted to say that these mystery bags look like a LOT of fun! Whenever I saw things like this at shops or shows my eyes lit up. One LCS had brown paper grab bags ($1 each) about 25 years ago. I pulled a '73 Reggie Jackson in one and a '72 Tom Seaver in another.

Dion's IP Autos only said...

Angels for me! Thanks

Fuji said...

I messed up and should have stated earlier that there should be plenty enough cards where different people can select the same team. Post has been updated to reflect this info.

gcrl - yeah, that brown really stood out to me. great looking photo.

the angels in order - yeah... i'm actually not looking forward to the clutter, but i'm looking forward to seeing what's inside the bags ;)

peter k steinberg - most individual cards and sheets of cards are scanned... i just don't have fun scanning them. plus i'm ocd, so it's not just scanning... it's also cropping each card. the only time i photograph cards are if they're lenticular or something where scanning doesn't do them justice.

night owl - almost 1,300 square feet. it's not very big, which is why i store things at my parents and at a buddy's house. and there is a stack in my garage where i just pile stuff like opened packages of paper towels, books, and micro fiber towels. these boxes were under that stack

blog reader bruce - so far that was the only 81d and 82d i found. but i have a bunch of bags still to go through ;)

johnnys trading spot - crossing my fingers

rod - package and pwe received thanks buddy!

nick vossbrink - haven't touched them yet. but i'll start either today or tomorrow

sumomenkoman - yeah... pulling something nice isn't likely. but it'll be entertaining

bbcardz - if you let me know who that player is, i'll set aside all of his cards for you

gtt - part of me is not looking forward to the clutter these bags are gonna cause. it's been two days and i haven't touched any new bags since. btw, i'll put you down for yankees

bo - you can have yankees too

nick - yeah that card really stood out. if i ever started one of those frankensets... i'd put the brown in it

friend11 - you're in luck. there are san jose giants cards in these bags

chris - i haven't seen anything older than that 81d stargell... but i'll keep my fingers crossed. congratulations on getting a 73 jackson and 72 seaver out of dollar grab bags. that's awesome

Grant said...

I'd appreciate Twins cards if you have any. What can I send you in return?

Spyda-Man said...

Wouldn't mind getting some new Mets cards also willing to take any extra Bo Jackson cards you may have laying around. In advance THANK YOU and your generosity is appreciated!

Jafronius said...

Way late to the party, but since the Cubs are taken (I know you can select a chosen team but everyone should get a shot) I'll go with the White Sox. If the Sox get taken then the Reds...and if the Reds get taken then the Mariners. Thanks sir!