Box Break: 1999 Ultra

First off I’d like to say thank you to anyone that stops by to check out my box breaks here!  The more people that stop by and leave a comment or two, the more I’ll be motivated to really put in the time and effort to keep this blog up and running on multiple posts per week basis.  Let’s get on to the results of my first box break review in 4 years shall we?

 

1999 Ultra came in 24 pack hobby boxes with 10 cards per pack. I paid $39 for this box.  When I was a kid, Fleer Ultra was a favorite because of their photography and card design.  I opened plenty of ultra retail back in the day, but if you can believe it, this is my first hobby box of Fleer Ultra.

The basics: 250 base card set with 25 prospects that fall 1:4 packs, and 10 season crowns that fall 1:8 packs.  One thing that stood out immediately is the collation!  I haven’t checked to see if I have the complete base set but I didn’t receive ONE duplicate.  For any set builder, this is perfect!

Here is a shot of the base, rookies, and season crowns:

Something I love about the backs on these cards is that on the bottom, they compare the players career stats with a retired player of similar capabilities.  It was neat to see how some of the greats of the 90’s stacked up with greats from the late 70’s and 80’s!

 

You also were guaranteed one gold medallion per pack.  I received 24 of them, 23 being from the base set, and one being the rookie shown above!

 

Now on to the inserts that were pulled

The Book On… (1:6 packs): Travis Lee, Mark McGwire, Cal Ripken Jr., and Jeff Bagwell

These are raised a bit and have a good, clean look to them.  The information on the back talks about their strengths as a player.

World Premiere (1:18 packs) Miguel Tejada & Matt Anderson

These are shiny and are also raised up a bit.  I remember having the Tejeda as a kid so the nostalgia really kicked in when this came out of the pack.

Gold Medallion Prospects (1:40 packs) Josh Booty

This was the rarest card to come out of the box.  Like you, I giggled slightly when I saw the name.  Another reason collecting in the 90’s is fun, is because you wonder who in the heck some of these guys are.  Welcome to our first “Who?!” section ladies and gents!

Josh Booty not only played Major League Baseball, but he was also an NFL Quarterback for my Seattle Seahawks.  He never played in a professional game in 3 years.  He made 3 brief appearances for the Florida Marlins, with a .269 average and 4 RBI.  Many years later, he won a reality tv series called The Next Knuckler and was signed by the Red Sox. Unfortunately that didn’t work out for him, as he was later arrested for a DUI.

What wasn’t pulled:

Thunderclap (1:36 packs)

Damage Inc (1:72 packs)

Season Crown Gold Medallion (1:80 packs)

Diamond Producers (1:288 packs)

These are one of the best looking inserts Ultra has made since the 1995 Hitting Machines. Each pack I opened, I looked for that clear insert in the middle of the cards.  No luck today.  Here’s the Rodriguez I have:

Platinum Medallion #d to 99

I was really hoping to find one of these as they really stand out with their lettering.

Masterpiece Edition #1 of 1

Final Thoughts/Grades:

Collation: A+

No duplicates?!  Yes please!  A good friend of mine teaches 2nd grade across the hall from me and I will be taking these in for his son to sort out after we open the 98 Upper Deck retro box that’s on the way. It’d be great to have the complete base set and put it together.

Condition: B +

90% of these card were in mint condition.  A few of them had fading colors on one half. A few also had some chipping going on.  Even those these card came stuck together, their surfaces were surprisingly still glossy!  Think about it, this box has been sitting sealed for 17 years until today!

Pulls: C+

I won’t ever go into a box break hoping that something amazing will come out.  Like the majority of collectors now, I don’t expect to make a cent back on any boxes I break for this blog.  Once in a blue moon something spectacular may come out, but I’ll always go in with the expectations of enjoying myself and hoping to relive those childhood memories of collecting.

Value: B

Being able to put the complete base set together is always a plus for me!  If you love sharp photography and some really neat statistics and info on players then you’ll enjoy this box as much as I did.  Even the chance of a Platinum coming out makes this box even more exciting to break.  At $39 I probably won’t grab another unless I find one for under $30. The lack of big time hits hurts this box’s grade but if finding those inserts isn’t a big deal to you, then I’d say pick one of these up sometime!

Thanks for the read.  Stay tuned on Wednesday for a review of 1998 UD Retro, followed by 99 Gold label retail, and 99 Pacific Paramount.

Overall Grade: B-

2000 Fleer Ultra Baseball Review

Ladies and gentlemen, do not adjust your monitors, this really is a new post. Today, I busted a box of one of my favorite brands, Fleer Ultra. Before it became bastardized by Upper Deck, Ultra was a very collectible set with crisp, full bleed photography. Unfortunately, it also had a very repetitive base design (at least in the later years) as shown in the 1999 and 2004 sets. Ultra also had its share of unique inserts and high-dollar parallels and in 2000, autographs and game-used memorabilia cards were thrown into the mix. So with all that to shoot for, what would I pull? Let’s see…

Base cards: The base set is comprised of 300 cards with the last 50 being shortprinted prospect cards, which fall in every 6 packs on average. From the short set, I received 170 cards with 29 duplicates and 3 triplicates. My prospect cards were of Chris Woodward, Buddy Carlyle, Jacque Jones, Eric Munson, Erubiel Durazo, and Tony Armas, Jr.

Gold Medallion Parallel (1 per pack): One can expect to find a Medallion parallel in each pack, each of which has been die cut to round off the top of the card. The Gold Medallions are the most common and were the only kind I pulled from this box. All in all, there were 24 Golds, 1 for every pack in the box. I pulled my share of stars including Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Frank Thomas, Mariano Rivera, Larry Walker, Mike Mussina, and others. Naturally, I chose to scan the crappiest one of them all, Rey Ordonez. Gold Medallion prospect cards are seeded 1 in every 24 packs, but I did not pull one. If you’re lucky, there are 2 other parallels can you find in place of these Gold Medallions. The first are the Platinum Medallions. Instead of gold, these cards have a platinum finish to them and are numbered to just 50 (the prospects are numbered to 25). The second are the Masterpiece parallels. These cards look similar to the Platinum Medallions, but have purple foil over the front text and are limited to just 1 copy each. Here’s an example of a Platinum Medallion card from my personal collection.

Diamond Mine (1:6 packs): The most common insert in this product is called Diamond Mine. This silver-foiled insert set is comprised of 15 cards and features the game’s best. I pulled 3 in this box: Tony Gwynn, Juan Gonzalez, and Vladimir Guerrero. These cards don’t look nearly as cool as they do in the scan above.

World Premiere (1:12 packs): Of course, the product wouldn’t be complete without a prospect insert set. That’s where World Premiere (15 cards) comes in. These cards are hideous and look like a bunch of Metal Universe rejects. I pulled cards of Carlos Beltran, Ben Davis, and Adam Kennedy. Speaking of Metal Universe/Skybox, the back of the Kennedy card cracks me up. It reads:

“When you were growing up, Adam, did you ever imagine that you’d be playing so close to baseball history? While most players would kill to play second base for the Cardinals, you seem unfazed. Hey, maybe someday they’ll ask Mark McGwire what was it like to play next to the line drive-hitting, smooth fielding Adam Kennedy. You think?”

Alright, so that wasn’t as great as the “gangster backs” of the Skybox cards, but still………HA!!!

Swing Kings (1:24 packs): These are acetate cards, but are still relatively simple. Out of the 10 cards in this set, I pulled a Derek Jeter and a Mark McGwire. Let’s see if there are any asinine comments on the backs of these.

Jeter: “You don’t become the best-loved player in New York by just having a pretty face. It helps if you can go yard every time up. Which, of course, you can.”

Umm…..what? Jeter’s always been more of a singles/doubles hitter and has only reached the 20-homer mark 3 times in 14 seasons. Moving on…

What WASN’T Pulled: Oh boy, this is going to be long. First, there’s an insert called Crunch Time. These cards are seeded 1 in every 3 boxes and are reminiscent of the Leather and Lumber inserts from 1997 Donruss Elite. There’s a rare insert called Ultra Talented, which are numbered to just 100. At this time, I’m unable to find a picture of those (haven’t seen one in years). Feel the Game made its Ultra debut in this product. In every 7 boxes on average, one could pull a game-used jersey or batting glove swatch from 1 of 15 different players. Lastly, there was the Fresh Ink autograph set. This set had over 60 subjects in it and print runs ranged anywhere between 1000 (lower-end guys like Matt Lawton and Jeremy Giambi) and 95 (Jeter). A quick rundown of some of the names in this set: Barry Bonds, Frank Thomas, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Cal Ripken Jr., Tony Gwynn, Curt Schilling, Wade Boggs, Greg Maddux, Alfonso Soriano, Randy Johnson, and much more. One such card is a triple autograph featuring Wade Boggs, Tony Gwynn, and Nolan Ryan. It is limited to 100. I also did not receive any Club 3000 cards.

Final Thoughts: This box certainly turned out to be a dud, but it in no way affects my opinion of the product. A box contains 24 packs of 10 cards of each and should run in the $30-35 range. There are plenty of nice hits to chase after for a fair price. My bud Andrew, aka “slugger82685” on Youtube broke a box of this very product a couple months ago and did very well for himself (TWO autographs AND a Platinum Medallion!). Check out the video here.

As always, thanks for the read and good luck on your breaks!
-John