Pack Wars I: Pack 04 - 1989 Donruss

It's the fourth pack of the Gems of the Game Pack Wars. Up until this point, Pack Wars has been more like Pack Beatdown with Box #1 laying smackdown after smackdown on Box #2 enroute to a commanding 3 pack to 0 pack lead. Is this the pack that finally gets Box #2 on the board?

Note: For complete scoring rules, check out the initial post.

Pack #04: 1989 Donruss

Box 1:

17. Mark Grace - Diamond King (+5 for being a player I like, -1 for being a Cub, +1 then x2 for being a Diamond King card and thus awesome. Total: 5 - 1 = 4 + 1 = 5 x2 = 10 points)

43. Mike Harkey (It's a Rated Rookie with the great logo. Easy +1 x2 for being cool. Total 2 points)

457. Jeffrey Leonard (-1 point for being a Brewer)
460. Joe Hesketh (it's an Expo, but that's not worth anything. 0 points)
462. Stew Cliburn (who? 0 points)
463. Scott Bankhead (0 points)
466. Luis Alicea (Ack, a Cardinal. -1 point)
472. Terry Puhl (Ack, an Astro. Only missing a Cub at this point for the negative point quadfecta*. *yes, I made that word up. -1 point)
483. Garry Templeton (0 points)
488. Dave LaPoint (The very first Pirate! +2 points)

494. Kirt Manwaring (0 points)
501. Mike Birkbeck (Another Brewer. -1 point)
507. Tim Teufel (0 points)
513. Jeff Pico (And there we have it, the negative quadfecta*. -1 point for being a Cub)
BC-19. Fred McGriff - MVP (I always liked these MVP cards when I was a kid, that's good enough for the +1 x2 bonus. The pack instructs the buyer to "collect all 26 MVP cards" which leads me to belive that this is an insert too. That's 10 points + 1 point for coolness = 11 points x2 = 22 points!)

Warren Spahn Puzzle pieces #52-54. (0 points)

Total score: 10 + 2 - 1 + 0 + 0 + 0 - 1 - 1 + 2 + 0 - 1 + 0 - 1 + 22 + 0 = 31 points!

Wow, the highest scoring pack so far, thanks to an insert with fond memories attached. I figured any high scoring pack would require at least one Red...but this one proved me wrong! Also of note, look at the collation of the cards - almost every card was from #457 - #513...I'm fairly certain collectors today would complain like crazy if they opened packs like that.

Box 2:

32. Erik Hanson (It's a Rated Rookie with the great logo. Easy +1 x2 for being cool. Total 2 points)

173. Rob Deer (Brewer alert! -1 point)
178. Doyle Alexander (0 points)
179. Mark Gubicza (0 points)
184. Marty Barrett (Red Sox - tsk. tsk. -2 points)
190. Don Slaught (Ack, Slaught as a Yankee not as a Pirate. That hurts. -4 points)

195. John Tudor (0 points)
202. Scott Bailes (0 points)
208. Bo Jackson (Oh yeah, here's a guy I always liked - and let's face, what kid growing up in the late 80s/early 90s didn't? +5 points.)

214. Dave Stewart (The Reds handled Stewart really well in the '90 World Series...0 points)
219. Steve Rosenberg (Who? 0 points)
220. Hubie Brooks (Another Expo. In hindsight, perhaps I should have allotted points to anyone in an Expos uniform just to spite MLB... 0 points)
224. Neal Heaton (And another Expo. 0 points)
225. Mitch Williams (0 points.)
BC-6. Darryl Strawberry - MVP (As in the first pack, I'm counting this as an insert so that's 10 points + 1 point for coolness = 11 points x2 = 22 points!)

Warren Spahn Puzzle pieces #61-63.

Total points: 2 - 1 + 0 + 0 - 2 - 4 +0 + 0 + 5 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 22 + 0 = 22 points

Once again, Box 2 comes up a foot short, a dollar shy, and minute late along with any other cliche you can come up with... This is quickly turning into a romp...

Running tally:
Box 1: 4 pack wins and +53 total points
Box 2: 0 pack wins and +33 total points

4 pack victories, and a 20 point buffer has Box 1 feeling mighty cocky (assuming boxes can feel cocky of course). Will Box 2 ever win a pack battle or is this the world's crappiest Pack Wars ever? So many questions, so few answers...stay tuned.