Buzz Break: Boston Red Sox Mystery Publications Grab Bag

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: Boston Red Sox Mystery Publications Grab Bag
Where to buy: Via Red Sox on MLB.com (find new MLB cards at BlowoutCards.com)

Keep reading for a full breakdown and a gallery of what was in this box. (Yes, it was a box and not a bag ... but that's their image.)

Programs/magazines in this box: 10
Official Yearbooks: 1996
Game Programs: September 2021, 2022 Third Edition, May 2021, 2022 First Edition, 2022 Fourth Edition, April 2021, June 2021, July/August 2021
Other: 2018 Harvard-Yale at Fenway Park

Names on covers: Chris Sale, Rafael Devers, Kiké Hernandez, Nathan Eovaldi, David Ortiz, Mo Vaughn, Matt Barnes and others

What's Buzz-worthy: This one is likely (I say that firmly this time) my last of these as, well, it arrived with no real surprises and the one program in this one that I hadn't seen before arrived with substantial damage as you can see at right despite the front being pristine. (It got folded over at some point.) The Big Papi is again a highlight issue, while the rest are pretty standard and I'm not sure if there's going to be a vast stock of stuff like this for the Sox in the future as, really, that newest damaged program was like 75 percent sponsor bits and ads with little to no actual content ... to the point where I doubt programs might exist in the future unless they're just for ad money. (I flipped through the Sale issue before it hit the trash bin ... no need for it in such bad shape and I have no use for his erratic actions of the past.) ... These are only $15 direct from the Red Sox on MLB.com (sometimes less with sales ... closer to $10-12) and I decided to grab one more time as the quality is there and nearly everything would be clean enough to consider grading, too, if that's your thing. These are coming straight from the Sox ... so old stuff here has been sitting untouched for, in some cases, years and other stuff is new. This time it was a new show as that's actually the nicest stuff print-wise and perhaps normally stuff with the least damage ... but the star power wasn't as heavily there in this batch vs. names I have seen in my past breaks here. ... The mystery box listing is a little lean on the MLB mothership, simply promising "eight to 12 different publications that can be from the 1980s to current day" with the thought that "you never know what you'll get." They had me at mystery. There's very little downside to a cheap, different "break" like this from time to time ... other than storage since these mags are a little bit bigger than cards. It just comes down to what kind of stock they have left and whether it gets repetitive after you open a few. I've reached that stage -- but a good mystery box will get me almost all the time if the price is right. We'll see what else I can find in 2024 ...

Product Grade: A- (good volume and value most times)
Box Grade: C (see below)
Fun Grade: C (big damage on the one issue and I've reached the stage with these where nearly all were duplicates)

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