Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 2003 Fleer Hardball box (Hour 6)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 12 in 12 -- a series of a dozen breaks of wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We'll post one every hour all day long ... this is Hour 6.

The box: 2003 Fleer Hardball baseball cards (hobby)
The cost: $49

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 7
Cards in this box: 168
Base set completion: 
139 of 240 (58 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Derek Jeter, Greg Maddux, CC Sabathia, Lance Berkman, Tim Hudson, Mike Mussina, Albert Pujols, Craig Biggio, Gary Sheffield, Frank Thomas, Pedro Martinez, Mariano Rivera, Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza, Jason Giambi, Roy Halladay, Randy Johnson, Jayson Werth

Inserts/short-prints: 27
All-Around Stars (SP) (7) – Ichiro Suzuki, Lance Berkman, Albert Pujols, Shawn Green, Todd Helton, Alfonso Soriano, Roger Clemens
Rookies On Deck (SP) (5) – Prentice Redman, Bobby Jenks, Chin-Feng Chen, John Webb, Vinny Chulk
Gold parallels (6) – Todd Helton, Jeff Cirillo, Robert Fick, Derek Lee, Jason Varitek, Lance Berkman (AAS)
Round Trippers (3) – Shawn Green, Alex Rodriguez, Andrew Jones
Discs (1) – Alfonso Soriano
On The Ball (2) – Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson
Round Numbers (1) – Brooks Robinson (/1,000)
Platinum parallels (2) – Francisco Rodriguez, Greg Maddux (AAS) (/50)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 2
On The Ball (1) – Nomar Garciaparra (jersey)
Rounding First (1) – Nomar Garciaparra (bat) (/529)

What's Buzz-worthy: This oddball release is one that's unique but perhaps forgettable to some -- and I was reminded why I wasn't a big fan of these back in the day when it came to sorting. They're tough to handle with their slightly smaller than typical card size -- and even tougher to sort, pile and photograph right side up. The design here is a pretty blatant homage of the 1976 Crane potato chip discs but with licensing, better card backs and plenty of parallels, short-prints, inserts and hits. The parallels have very subtle coloring changes on the fronts -- but they're noted on the backs -- and then the designs change for SPs and inserts. It is a pretty simple rip but there definitely was enough here to make it satisfying. (The low Fun grade is more about the base set being a little lean on big names -- or it's too big depending on how you look at it -- because there are a lot of guys in here where you might say "Why?" ... but that's also a sign of then vs. now.) This box wasn't bad with some numbered inserts for Hall of Famers and a pair of Nomar hits, but those hits haven't aged as well as the ante has been upped in the years since when it comes to memorabilia cards, let alone bat cards "limited" to 529 copies. The price here was a draw for me -- I've seen other boxes with higher asking prices I wouldn't touch -- along with the possibility of autographs from Barry Bonds and Derek Jeter, the only signers for the product. They signed a total of 880 cards (four types) for the release.

Product Grade: A-
Box Grade: A-
Fun Grade: B+

What's next? Be back in an hour ...

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