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Sometimes stealth & cunning is wasted on the dumb....

I've been buying a few wax boxes of 80's baseball - nothing expensive. Usually the most expensive part is the shipping; I'm just buying some ripping boxes for some evening fun. I'm not an expert by any means on what I'm buying, but I did notice that the '85 Donruss Leaf wax box I'm ripping has 10 cards in each pack instead of the 12 stated on the wrapper. Was this a mistake? were some boxes "short-packed"? Have I been ripped off?
Mark (amerbbcards)


"All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Comments

  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    Mark

    Are you getting stars? and rated rookies? If so it could have been a packing error.

    If you are getting no better then all commons I'd say it is possible.

    Each box if I remm correctly should yield 5 or 6 packs with rated rookies in them.

    a total of at least 10 such cards.


    Hope this helped.

    Steve
    Good for you.
  • MorrellManMorrellMan Posts: 3,241 ✭✭✭
    Steve - this is the Canadian Leaf version and I am getting some stars; I pulled a Puckett on the first pack and a Nolie as well. I'm just having fun with it. Thanks.

    Edited to correct spelling
    Mark (amerbbcards)


    "All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    Mark

    Yes I knew that it was the Canadian version. Are you still getting the rated rookies?

    That would be one way to see if they had been searched imo. Also Clemens was big in that set as was Saberhagen etc. If my memory recalls

    It is quite possible that you could get shorted 2 cards from the factory. During that time I had a shop and weired stuff like that happened. The companys were pumping stuff out. In any event good luck. That set is a nice one. Black bordered and nice cards have a distinctive gloss on the front that is amazing.


    Steve
    Good for you.
  • BoopottsBoopotts Posts: 6,784 ✭✭
    Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't see the connection between the title of the thread and the contents. image But to answer the question I've had this happen before as well, only I've usually gotten between 9 and 15 cards in a pack (as opposed to 10 in each one).

    Great purcahse, BTW. Tough cards, but the set is smaller (which reduces the common/star ratio) and the pop reports are still pretty low for many desirable cards. Add in the fact that this stuff costs a fraction of what the Donruss goes for and you have a winner of a break IMO.
  • Stone193Stone193 Posts: 24,437 ✭✭✭✭✭


    << <i>Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who doesn't see the connection between the title of the thread >>


    Stevie Wonder would never know that the stealth bomber didn't hit the radar screen?

    Here's a good corollary - the best con-man and his most successful scams are wasted on a truly honest man.

    Finally - my wife tried all kinds of ingenius subterfuge on me and finally gave up and said: "tomorrow is my birthday! Dumbass!"

    So, if Mark was scammed? It went right over his (dumb) head? Sorry Mark - if you're dumb, I'm dumber!


    image
    Mike
  • MorrellManMorrellMan Posts: 3,241 ✭✭✭
    Mike - image

    As they say, ignorance is bliss.
    Mark (amerbbcards)


    "All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
  • digicatdigicat Posts: 8,551 ✭✭
    Hey Winpitcher, there's only one Rated Rookie card in the whole set. I've never opened up a box of 1985 Leaf, but are you saying that the repeat potential is that serious?
    My Giants collection want list

    WTB: 2001 Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity: Ryan Jensen #/25
  • WinPitcherWinPitcher Posts: 27,726 ✭✭✭
    No i was assuming that leaf had at least 10 different rated rookies in the set. I knew Mark was refering to Leaf too.

    The set I thought had 300 plus cards and I figured the lower numbers were the rated rookies like the reg set. I only opened about 6 boxes of these cards back in the day so my memory could be off. Did the 87 set have more? perhaps I was thinking about them.

    Steve

    edited to add: yes i was thinking of the 87 set.

    I see that the 85 has only 1 RR and is a set of 264 cards.

    The title flew over my head and remains there.

    Good for you.
  • HoofHeartedHoofHearted Posts: 2,537 ✭✭
    I recently bought a 4-pack in an auction (for $5.77 plus s/h). I just opened up a couple of them out of curiosity. There were 11 cards in each -- and the end-cards are really damaged. The cards pulled are:

    Pack #1
    86 Rafael Ramirez (edge badly damaged)
    130 Rick Camp (edge dinged)
    64 Alejandro Pena
    111 Tim Lollar
    43 Kevin McReyonlds
    91 Tony Fernandez
    16 Don Sutton DK (nicest card of this pack -- PSA 9?)
    174 Buddy Bell
    222 Dale Murphy (another high-grade card)
    172 Dave Collins
    220 Gary Matthews (edges dinged and a paper crease on front)

    Pack #2
    5 Lou Whitaker DK (edges dinged)
    37 LaMarr Hoyt (edge ding)
    46 Mike Witt
    14 Cal Ripken DK (nicely centered)
    122 Mookie Wilson
    128 Lee Smith (1 corner dinged)
    53 Geoff Zahn
    195 Barry Bonnell
    90 Steve Sax (nicest grade in the pack)
    98 Sammy Stewart (ok - another nice card!)
    183 Vance Law (edges dinged)

    Fun stuff! These are the oldest packs I've ever opened. They definitely weren't tampered with...

    (Seller was ufmattgator btw.)
  • HoofHeartedHoofHearted Posts: 2,537 ✭✭
    Here are scans of two of the cards mentioned above. The Sutton may pass for a PSA10 on a good day!

    (The two upper-right, white specks on the Sutton scan were paper crumbs. I just went in and wiped them off the toploader. Whew!)

    imageimage
  • HoofHeartedHoofHearted Posts: 2,537 ✭✭
    Thanks, MM. You've got me fired up to open one of the two '87 Donruss boxes I got from bbcexchange last month. A glass of Chivas-on-the-rocks, a ballgame on the tube and a 19-year old box waiting to be opened...can't wait! image

    With those black borders, though, maybe I'd better wait on the scotch until after I'm done...

    [edited to add pic:]

    image
  • MorrellManMorrellMan Posts: 3,241 ✭✭✭
    Mike - good luck on the '87s. Let us know how the break goes - I've got 4 boxes that I bought 19 years ago and haven't opened yet.

    Interesting about your '85 experience - my seller was TITAN-35 but almost every pack was as you described: top and bottom card badly dinged:

    image

    I also thought it strange that there would only be one rated rookie card in the whole set, especially since the RRs were ballyhooed on the side panel of the box!

    image
    Mark (amerbbcards)


    "All evil needs to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
  • HoofHeartedHoofHearted Posts: 2,537 ✭✭


    << <i>Mike - good luck on the '87s. Let us know how the break goes - I've got 4 boxes that I bought 19 years ago and haven't opened yet.

    Interesting about your '85 experience - my seller was TITAN-35 but almost every pack was as you described: top and bottom card badly dinged:

    image >>



    Mark, that's exactly how my '85Leafs were damaged! Coincidence?! I think not.

    I opened up one of the two '87Donruss boxes last night. The first pack I opened had roller tracks pretty much on every card in the pack. I had a bad feeling about the rest of the box -- and my feeling was confirmed after opening 'em all. There were a handfull of cards that may be worthy of grading, but it's a low percentage for a whole box break. I did get a Bonds rookie, but it was at the end of a pack with the wax stains on back and the worst roller track of the pack -- more of those d@mn edge dings! There was a Puckett, a couple Mattinglys (nice edges, not perfectly centered) and a couple Roses (perhaps two of the nicer star cards I found). I'll have to go through again with a magnifier and revisit the cards. There's no one pursuing a complete set of that year in the Set Registry so there isn't much demand for the cards...but I still enjoyed the trip down memory lane seeing the '80s player names and pics again!!
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