Back to 1998 Collector's Choice!

Earlier this week, I started digging into a box of 1998 Collector's Choice (Series 2).  When I was young, I walked to my local CVS store and bought packs of Collector's Choice.  In the years since then, I've managed to finish off Series 1 of the 1998 set but for whatever reason I never built Series 2.  It's my hope that by buying a full box of Series 2 I'll end up with the full set - but I won't know for sure until I get through all of the packs!  As with my previous post, I plan to show off a single highlight from each pack - so join me as I go through another batch of "old school" packs.

Pack 5:

443.  John Olerud

This shot could easily be in a higher-end set such as Stadium Club!  A great image with a cool perspective.  Even the sky looks interesting here with patches of blue set against some ominously dark clouds.

Pack 6:

Mini Bobbing Head:  9.  Sammy Sosa

The Mini Bobbing Head cards amused me when I was a kid and I had, frankly, forgotten about them until I received my box of '98 Collector's Choice series 2.  The inserts are seeded 1:3 packs, so with a box of 36 packs, I ought to get 12 of them.  Unfortunately, the set has 30 total cards so I definitely won't get the full set in a single box.  That being said, I could see myself trying to build this insert set to go along with my base set!

Pack 7:

404.  John Jaha

Pack 7 had a lovely Ken Griffey, Jr. Star Quest insert that would normally be the card I'd pick to scan but I couldn't turn down the opportunity to show off Jaha posing with a sledgehammer.  That's not something you see on a baseball card often - and yet another reason why I love this brand!

Pack 8:

285. Jim Edmonds

This pack suffered from a bit of collation issues in that I received two copies of Edmonds' base card.  On the bright side, it's a cool card with a unique image on the front as well as a nice image on the back of the card (so nice that I scanned both sides of the card, in fact).

I'm now eight packs into the 36-pack box and I'm already pleased with my pulls.  This isn't a set that is built on hits (that wasn't much of a "thing" yet in 1998), but rather, this is a set that lives and dies with the quality of its base cards plus the occasional inserts.  It certainly is a fun box to rip thus far, here's hoping the remaining packs are equally fun!