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Welcome back! It's time for the second match-up of round 2 of Pack Wars. This time I'm going to pit three packs of 2000 Topps Stars against 2 packs of 1998 Pinnacle Performers. Counting the one-per-pack insert cards in Pinnacle we should have exactly 18 cards from each pack. For this pack war, the Topps Stars cards will be listed first, the Pinnacle cards second. Let's see which pack will net its first win of the Pack Wars!
2000 Topps Stars (packs 06, 07, and 08) vs. 1998 Pinnacle (packs 04 and 05):
Frank Robinson (Orioles) vs. Alan Benes (Cardinals)
Wow, could that be any more lopsided? Topps Stars is off to a good start, Pinnacle - not so much. 1-0.
Randy Johnson (Diamondbacks) vs. Tom Glavine (Braves)
Two great pitchers in their prime. However, since I have to choose, I'll pick Randy since he seemed to face the Reds much less than Glavine... 2-0 Topps Stars.
Sammy Sosa - Walk of Fame (Cubs) vs. Chipper Jones - Power Trip (Braves)
The Sosa card is seeded 1:8 packs, inserts are seeded 1:3 packs in Pinnacle overall, but no specific odds are given for the particular insert sets (which I hate by the way). As for the cards themselves, honestly, they are both a bit too gaudy for me...The Sosa looks like he's in the middle of spotlight playing baseball on a giant American flag. The Chipper is an over foiled mess of fading text - an assault on both the eyes and the brain, look at all the text going in multiple directions. Ugh. However, since I want to avoid any ties for specific card matchups, a winner must be chosen...and for me, the Sosa is the better of the two card designs (though better in this particular case is more akin to "it's better to lose my hand in a lawnmower accident than in a hydrochloric acid accident.") 3-0 Topps Stars.
Magglio Ordonez (White Sox) vs. Tony Clark (Tigers)
I stared at both of these cards and couldn't come with up with anything in particular to say about either...they are both boring photos, boring players (to me), and a boring match-up. I guess I have to choose, so I'll take Tony Clark and put Pinnacle on the board. 3-1.
Mike Lieberthal (Phillies) vs. Derek Jeter (Yankees)
As much as I hate to do it, how can I not choose Jeter over Lieberthal...especially when both cards have boring photos? 3-2 Topps Stars clinging to a one point lead now.
Vladimir Guerrero - Sequentially Numbered Subset (Expos) vs. Derrek Lee (Marlins)
Sweet mother that Guerrero is a rare, rare pull! According to the pack wrapper, the sequentially numbered Topps Stars subset parallels are seeded 1:232 packs - and we got one! The Guerrero is numbered 21/99 on the back of the card....very, very nice (and difficult - case hit perhaps?) pull! Poor Derrek Lee, no shot at all. 4-2 Topps Stars.
Ruben Salazar (Twins) vs. Jay Buhner (Mariners)
I always kind of like Buhner, I've never heard of Salazar. Easy choice for me. 4-3 Topps Stars' lead shrinking once again.
Carl Everett (Red Sox) vs. Edgardo Alfonzo (Mets)
I guess I'll reluctantly give the win to Everett since he got 4-stars in every category on the back of his card. 5-3 Topps Stars.
Ken Griffey Jr. (Reds) vs. 46 (integers)
Heh, I'm fairly certain that anyone would have beat the number 46...too bad for the Topps Stars team that they had to trot out Griffey Jr. and waste his almost sure win! 6-3 Topps Stars.
Ivan Rodriguez (Rangers) vs. Rusty Greer (Rangers)
In this epic battle of Rangers, Pudge is the clear winner. 7-3 Topps Stars...and at this point, they are running with the pack war!
Jeromy Burnitz (Brewers) vs. Jose Cruz Jr. (Blue Jays)
The Burnitz is one of the worst photos I've ever seen, you can't see much of anything. For that reason alone, Pinnacle notches another point. 7-4 now.
Ben Grieve (Athletics) vs. Eric Karros (Dodgers)
Remember back in the day when the Dodgers had Rookie of the Year after Rookie of the Year? This is a point for their history. 7-5 Topps Stars.
Ozzie Smith (Cardinals) vs. Bob Abreu (Phillies)
Score one for the Wizzard, even if he is a Cardinal. 8-5 Topps Stars.
Vinny Castilla (Rays) vs. Brian Rose (Red Sox)
Vinny wins this one easily. 9-5 Topps Stars - and now, the best that Pinnacle can do is to tie (like they did in round one).
Dan Wright (White Sox) vs. Ryan Klesko (Braves)
According to the back of Wright's card, he has 5 stars for Velocity and 1 star for Control. That'd be scary to bat against - wouldn't it? Too bad he didn't have 5 stars for beating Braves players. Advantage Klesko. 9-6 Topps Stars.
Eric Karros (Dodgers) vs. A.J. Hinch (Athletics)
Karros already one once this round, I don't really need to him to win twice. Hinch with a rather undeserved victory... 9-7 Topps Stars.
Preston Wilson (Marlins) vs. Mike Mussina (Orioles)
I'm too lazy to go back and look through the piles, but I am fairly certain I already pulled this Mussina card...or else I have another card with the same (or very similar) photo. With that, the win goes to Wilson and Topps Stars. 10-7 with only one card left.
Robin Ventura (Mets) vs. Tim Salmon - Swing for the Fences (Angels)
A decent match-up for the final round...too bad there is nothing that can be done for Pinnacle to win. I'll give them this point though for a final score of 10-8 Topps Stars.
Final tally:
Topps Stars 10
Pinnacle 8
Overall Records:
Stadium Club: 2 - 0 - 0
Topps Stars: 1 - 1 - 0
Pinnacle: 0 - 1 - 1
HD: 0 - 1 - 1
Individual card win percentage with actual Win/Loss (for tie breakers)
0.625 Stadium Club: 15 - 9
0.466 Topps Stars: 14 - 16
0.462 Pinnacle: 12 - 14
0.450 HD: 9 - 11
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