Box Break: 2000 E-X (Very nice hit!!)

 

24 Packs

4 Cards per pack

Price: $43 + shipping

 

 

 

 

 

Hey everyone!  I know it’s been a couple weeks but I have a great excuse.  I was out working on an Alaska Dream Cruise ship as the children’s coordinator and I had one amazing experience 🙂  Here is a shot I took of Dawes glacier to prove I really have been busy.

Anyhow, I did return home to an epic mailday and a sealed box of 2000 Fleer EX baseball. The E-X sets have always been something I enjoy looking at.  They have thicker stock and typically have really good looking inserts not matter what the year.  They became famous later in the years following this set, and in 1999 for their translucent base cards.  In the past I opened several 1999 E-X Century boxes when they were in the 40 range and the base cards are quite nice.

The following year Fleer went back to these for the base cards:

I was only 10 or so away from the base set so that was certainly exciting!  A young man who goes to church with me loves baseball cards and is getting into collecting the “old school” cards.  He’s going to be putting most of my breaks’ base cards into organized sets, most of which he will be keeping for his own collection.  Someone has to teach him about the good ol’ days right?  A handful of base were peeling off the cardstock but thankfully my Rodriguez was not one of them.

Prospects (1:12 Packs)

There are 30 prospects in total that come in this set, the most of the time being Rick Ankiel, Pat Burrell, and Alfonso Soriano.  They stand out a little with their gold lettering and prospect wording.  There were two in this box:

Generation E-X (1:8 packs)

Every set has to have some easier to find inserts with talented young players.  This set fits the bill here.  Nothing major to write home about but as you all know, I do love shiny inserts whether they’re tough to pull or not.  I received 3 in this box; Alex Rodriguez, Shawn Green, and Adam Kennedy.

E-Xciting (1:24 packs)

These reminded me of a fleer ultra insert from the 1996-97 Basketball set called Fresh Faces.  Coming in at 1 per box, you always hope to find a player out of the 15 card set that you’re happy to get.  While the uniform isn’t the “right” one in this picture, it was great to see The Kid.

E-Xplosive (Random Odds)

These inserts are all #d to 2499…yeah in a 2000 product!  My feeling is that Fleer wanted to give collectors the feeling of getting a numbered card, no matter how high that number might be.  There was one in this box of one of the best hitters of all time:

E-Xceptional (Random Odds)

There are 3 different subsets of these Jambalaya look alikes: Red (#d to 1999),

Green (#d to 999), and Blue (#d to 250).  I managed to pull one Green from this box.  They are really unique feeling and looking cards!  My card tried to throw itself at me like a broken bat…thankfully I was prepared.

Skybox Autographics (One game used or Autograph per box)

Well this blog sure has luck with 2000 boxes containing big time autographs doesn’t it?  If you remember, when I reviewed my box of 2000 SPX I linked John’s Break where the best pull this blog has had showed up.  This one is probably the best card I’ve had the pleasure of pulling out of an Old School box so far:

Yeah that’s a sledgehammer he’s swinging!  I’m sure that’s how to got to be jacked when he played 😉 Nevertheless, what an awesome On-Card autograph to see come out of a pack. Barry was an amazing hitter regardless of what he did off the field.  I still remember his All-Star Game homerun that hit the Giants logo in 1998.  I also remember that he did try to have fun although he was pretty standoffish to reporters.  He’s now the hitting coach for the Florida Marlins who seem to be in the Wild Card hunt now.

I sold the card to a collector on the best forum around Freedom Card Board.  I know he will appreciate this as much as I do when a nice A-Rod arrives in the mail.

Final Thoughts/Grades:

Collation: A

3 Duplicates.  Enough Said!

Condition: B

Having some of the base cards peeling off the cardstock is going to make it a little tougher to put this base set together.

Pulls: A

Not much can beat a Bonds on-card autograph.  The reason this box doesn’t receive an A+ is because there were no Credential parallels.

Value: B+

Outside of a high-end autograph or Credentials parallel, these aren’t highly sought after cards in general.  I was very fortunate to find the Bonds which is going to allow me to purchase another box + an A-Rod.

I do hope everyone enjoyed the review and for those of you at FCB, I do want to give you all a big shout out because you’ve been a huge help in finding some of my most highly sought after Alex Rodriguez inserts!  Mailday update will be coming when my most recent purchase arrives.

~Matthew

 

 

2000 E-X Baseball Box 2

I have a total of five boxes that have been busted and are awaiting review (yes, there will be more hockey!) so I thought I’d start things off with an old favorite of mine, 2000 E-X baseball. I broke a box of this product when this blog was brand new. In fact, this post comes nearly two years to the day that I broke that last box! Here’s a quick recap of box number two.

Box Details: 24 packs per box, 3 cards per pack, $29
From: Baseball Card Exchange

Base set: Each base card has a unique color theme, based on the team of the player depicted. Altogether, there are 60 short set base cards (I pulled 56/60, 93%), followed by 30 shortprinted prospect cards which are numbered to 3499….

…..and they look something like this. I pulled two prospects: Wily Mo Pena (1522/3499) and Cesar King (1302/3499).

Generation E-X (15 cards, 1:8 packs): Rick Ankiel, Nomar Garciaparra, Pat Burrell

E-Xciting (10 cards, 1:24 packs): Mark McGwire

I love the creativity of this insert. The player….not so much.

E-Xplosive (20 cards, numbered to 2499): Sammy Sosa

E-Xceptional (15 cards, varied numbering): Pedro Martinez (0539/1999)

These cards are available in Red (/1999), Green (/999), and Blue (/250) variations. I love these cards. Some day I’ll make a master set of them….maybe.

Autographics (1:24 packs): Bobby Abreu

Here’s a solid piece of Phillies tradebait. Anyone interested?

Final Thoughts/Grades:

Collation: B

The collation was about what I expected. I received one more duplicate from this box than I had the last one. I’m used to far worse.

Condition: D

The base cards are very subject to peeling. In some cases, it may just be a corner. In others, much worse. I didn’t experience too much of this in the last box I opened, but I wasn’t as lucky this time. Keep this fact in mind when deciding whether or not to try a box. (For the record, the inserts were flawless).

Pulls: B

Nothing to complain about here. I was especially happy that my autograph was of an established veteran and not someone with 5 career games.

Value: A

I was happy to find this box for around the $30 mark, about $20 less than the typical asking price. For that price, I’d still recommend the box regardless of what I said about potential condition issues. The cards are brilliant overall and if you pull any damaged base cards, just let me know and I can replace them for you as I have nearly 3 sets worth of this stuff!

It’s great to be back.

Overall Grade: B

OSGB2: Box 2: 2001 Fleer Genuine

At Large Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers – Play at the Plate)
Pennant Aggression Barry Bonds (Giants – Peterson)
High Interest Derek Jeter (Yankees – Chuck)
High Interest Ken Griffey, Jr.  (Reds – Bud)

Material Issue Scott Rolen jersey (Phillies – Dan)
Final Cut Troy Glaus jersey (Angels – Play at the Plate)
Autographics Dee Brown (Royals – darkship)
Autographics Silver Kip Wells 054/250 (White Sox – Lonestarr)

This is the third time I’ve broken a box of this and for the second time, no numbered rookies were to be found. We did get an extra insert and an extra hit in this box, a trend we’ll see plenty of later on! It was also nice to see the hits spread around this time! More results coming Saturday…

2001 Fleer Genuine Baseball Box Two

Here’s a quick recap, with scans, of the box of 2001 Fleer Genuine I recently busted. For a full review of this product, click here (broken 1.5 years ago).

Base set: This box yielded 99 out of 100 short set base cards (99%) with 14 duplicates. The only missing base card was #14 Sammy Sosa.

Pennant Aggression (1:23 packs): Pedro Martinez
This is the second time I’ve pulled this card. The first copy I had was sent over to the UK.

High Interest (1:23 packs): Sammy Sosa
Here’s another prime example of a flashy and unique die-cut insert produced by Fleer in the early part of this decade.

At Large (1:23 packs): Derek Jeter
Simply awesome.

Material Issue Jersey (1:30 packs): Greg Maddux
Patch variations also exist.

Autographics (1:24 packs): Brad Radke
Silver (/250): Julio Zuleta
I was very surprised to pull two autographs. I know Radke had a pretty decent career with Minnesota, but I had no idea who Zuleta was until just now. Meh.

Final Thoughts/Grades:

Collation: B
The inserts and “hits” both delivered as promised (3 hits/box), but the lack of numbered rookies was a bit odd. There are no specified odds on these rookies, but considering my first box yielded two, it was a bit strange not pulling any this time around. Also, it would’ve been nice to put the base set together in this one box (rather than fall one short), but there were a LOT fewer base dupes here than in my first box!

Condition: A
Everything from this box was exceptionally clean. Usually, I get at least one or two cards that I find totally mangled inside the pack, but not this time. It’s always great finding die-cut inserts that are unscathed as well.

Pulls: B-
I loved finding the Maddux and Jeter cards. The others? Not so much. It was cool to pull two autographs, but it would’ve been even nicer to pull one that wasn’t considered a common.

Value: B
The Baseball Card Exchange has these listed for $70, by far the lowest price I’ve seen on the internet. Naturally, that is where I picked up my box. Most other places ask for around $100 or more. $70 for 3 “hits” (amongst several other inserts and virtually a complete base set) is not too shabby by any means, especially when cards like this are waiting to be pulled. Long story short, my box wasn’t anything special, but this product is still strong. Go try one.

Overall Grade: B+

2001 Fleer Genuine Baseball Video

Here’s a video of a box break of 2001 Fleer Genuine I did a short while ago. I will post scans and my thoughts sometime Thursday. Just so you know, the game-used card is unavailable. And yes, I am aware of the screwy audio at the end.