Box #3- 1996 Emotion XL

Basic Info:

Hobby
18 packs
7 cards per pack

What we're chasing: "Rare Breed" (1:100 packs)

This was another one of those sets that qualified under "Well thought out design". I received the Piazza base in a trade awhile back and was really glad to be able to pick up a box for this. Each card is "framed" with a kind of matted feel to it. Very cool. As you'll see below, the photos by themselves, if put into a regular flagship release, would be boring and bleh. But with the frame, the simple photos work perfectly!

Also, each card had one word that I guess describes the player on the card. I feel Fleer was going in the right direction with this, but missed on a couple golden opportunities. For instance...

Ozzie Guillen should have read: Rambling (Walt Weiss somehow got that instead)
Alex Rodriguez should have read: Douchebag
Roger Clemens should have read: Cum-Guzzler (the hyphen makes it one word)

etc.

Let's begin with the 'serts...

D-Fense 1:4 packs



Greg Maddux. Good choice to have in this set I guess. 18 career gold gloves will do that for ya!



Raul Mondesi, Mark Grace



Matt Williams, Barry Bonds

These are pretty cool. They're almost the inverse of the base cards, with a glossy frame and a matte center photo. Really nice feel and look to them.



N-Tense, Tony Gwynn. Ehh, not really diggin' this line. It's die-cut in the shape of an N, but it has a full size white backing to it. Also, not sure if it's only this card, but the picture dosen't really fit well with the cut out. It is a Tony Gwynn though, so whatever. haha



Rare Breed, Garett Anderson. We hit it! The toughest insert of the set (1:100 packs) came about 1/2 through the box and it's pretty cool. It's along the lines of what Sportsflics used to do with their cards, not sure what the "technology" is called, but yeah.

Now the base...



Frank Thomas. He was one of those guys whos voice never really matched his face.



Wanna hear a joke?
Chuck Knoblauch! Get it?



Ken Griffey Jr. One of the greatest players ever. EVER.



Kirrrrrrrrrrbyyyyyyyyyy puckett



John Smoltz, Dennis Eckersley.s eemd fitting to show these two together.



Craig Biggio. True story, in 287 times being hit by a pitch, he was only called back once for not trying to move out of the way.



Ken Caminiti. Alot of people don't remember, it was Caminiti who first broke the steroid stories to Sports Illustrated. Canseco was really the first to drop names, which is what everyone's latched on to.



Derek Jeter, Shawn Green. Some nice early cards of these guys.

So there's some of the highlights of the box. I could have posted another 30 players with minor ramblings of each, but there is a game on right now, so I need to finish this up. I'm going to break the Score tonight, but I won't post on it unless we hit one of the autos. No inserts and a thousand base cards, my eyes will bleed if I post all of them! haha So the Topps Chrome should be next up for tomorrow.

(...Joe)

NL
East
METS: John Franco
Bobby Jones
Rico Brogna
Carl Everett
Bill Pulsipher

EXPOS:Mosies Alou
Yamil Benitez
David Segui

PHILLIES:Gregg Jefferies
Lenny Dykstra
Mark Whiten
Todd Zeile
Ricky Bottalico
Curt Schilling
Darren Daulton

BRAVES: "D-Fense" Greg Maddux
John Smoltz
Chipper Jones
David Justice
Ryan Klesko

MARLINS: Gregg Colbrunn
John Burnett
Jeff Conine
Kurt Abbott
Kevin Brown

CENTRAL
BREWERS: Ben McDonald
Greg Vaughn
Matt Mieske
John Jaha
Ricky Bones

CARDINALS: Dennis Eckersley
John Mabry
Gary Getti
Ron Gant

REDS: John Smiley
Brett Boone

ASTROS: Craig Biggio
Mike Hampton
Sean Berry

CUBS: Frank Castillo
Mark Grace
Brain McRae
Jim Bullinger
Rey Sanchez
"D-Fense" Mark Grace

WEST
PADRES: "N Tense" Tony Gwynn
Ken Caminiti
Brad Ausmus
Fernando Valenzuela
Andy Ashby
Bob Tewksbury
Steve Finley

GIANTS:"D-Fense" Matt Willimas
"D-Fense" Barry Bonds
William VanLandingham
Shawon Dunston
Mark Carreon
Rod Beck
Barry Bonds

DODGERS: "D-Fense" Raul Mondesi
Chan Ho Park
Todd Worrell
Ramon Martinez
Eric Karros
Todd Hollandsworth
Karim Garcia

ROCKIES: Walt Weiss
Ellis Burks
Andres Galarraga
Larry Walker
Eric Young

AL
EAST
BLUE JAYS: Shawn Green
Otis Nixon

ORIOLES: Randy Myers

YANKEES: Derek Jeter
Dwight Gooden
David Cone
Bernie Williams
Wade Boggs
John Wetteland
Ruben Rivera

RED SOX: Mo Vauhgn
Roger Clemens
Dwanyne Hosey
Jose Canseco
Wil Cordero

CENTRAL
INDIANS: Charles Nagy

TWINS: Chuck Knoblauch
Kirby Puckett
Roberto Kelly
Marty Cordova
Brad Radke
Pat Meares

WHITE SOX: Ozzie Guillen
Frank Thomas
Lyle Mouton
Robin Ventura
Darren Lewis

ROYALS: Jeff Montgomery
Kevin Appier
Jon Nunnally
Tom Goodwin

TIGERS: Chad Curtis
Cecil Fielder
Felipe Lira
Chris Gomez

WEST
RANGERS: Will Clark
Rusty Greer
Juan Gonzalez
Dean Palmer
Ken Hill

MARINERS: Alex Rodriguez
Ken Griffey Jr.
Russ Davis
Dan Wilson
Randy Johnson
Paul Sorrento

ANGELS: "Rare Breed" Garrett Anderson
Chili Davis
George Arias
Garrett Anderson

ATHLETICS: Terry Steinbach
Pedro Munoz
Todd Van Poppel
Ariel Prieto