The Fleer Group/Community Break is Now Open!

It is time, ladies and gentlemen!  You helped create it, now you can finally obtain the cards you selected from the boxes that I get to open!

The Second Annual (?) Community Break is now open!

It’s going to be a big one, but it won’t be as expensive as you might think.  But before I get into that, why don’t we take a look at what we’re opening?

When I posed the question about what brands people were interested in ripping, the overwhelming favorite was Fleer.  When I asked the years, the overwhelming majority picked years from what I lovingly refer to as “the dead zone” (aka that period of time when most of us bloggers were out of the collecting scene and pursuing other interests that ended up being less fulfilling thus driving us back to card collecting around let’s say 2008-ish).  The result:  An all Fleer break covering the years 2000 to 2005.  I was going to keep it to one box per year, but I wanted even more variety so we have 2 boxes for one of the years.  You’ll see.

2000 Mystique Box

2000 Mystique Odds

We start off with some 2000 Fleer Mystique.  I tried to keep scan the odds on the sides of the boxes and keep them as legible as possible.  This way you can see what we’re expected out of any given box hit/insert wise.  I’ll keep a running tally for the hits.  Oddly enough the relics are 3x as tough as the autos here.  Autos come in every other box, so we’re really only looking to pull some good inserts out of this.  I’m also intrigued by the “covered” cards.  Basically this is a low cost box to whet our appetites.

Guaranteed hits so far:  zero autos and zero relics.

2001 Platinum Box

2001 Platinum Odds

The 2001 Box was the toughest to decide.  Most of the prices are up there because of Ichiro and Pujols rookies.  A little warning the Cardinals and Mariners collectors, I don’t believe the official RCs for either of those guys are in this box.  I think they’re in the Update version.  The good news is that means your team slot prices will be the same as everyone else and no one will feel ripped off!  The “preview pics” I saw when I was browsing looked really nice for this product and I just couldn’t pass it up.

Guaranteed hits so far:  zero autos and 1 relic.

2002 Authentix Box

2002 Authentix Odds

This is the box I teased a couple weeks back.  The interchangeable tickets you can find here sound interesting and it’s a year of Authentix that isn’t as commonly found as some others.

Guaranteed hits so far:  zero autos and 1 relic and 3 either.

2003 Avant Box

2003 Avant Odds

Requested by my blogmate Andy.  I already had a 2003 box that was calling my name as well as someone else’s, but I wanted to incorporate people’s wishes as much as possible.  This looks to be a very fine choice and I look forward to seeing what’s inside.  From what I can tell, we’re not guaranteed anything.  The relics are in in 3 boxes.  There may be an auto in here.  I can’t confirm but something I saw said there is 1 per box

Guaranteed hits so far:  1 auto (?) and 1 relic and 3 either.

2003 Splendid Splinters Box

2003 Splendid Splinters Box

This is the only year with 2 boxes.  Andy wanted Avant, Colbey(flywheels) requested Splendid Splinters.  They both looked fantastic so I thought, what the heck.  I’ll get both.  And that, my friends, is the story of how I bought 2 2003 Fleer boxes of cards for this group break.  The pictures I’ve seen of these really do look great.  The picture is scaled way down because the box is massive.  I had to put it in my scanner lengthwise.  That alone intrigues me.  There’s also two actual wood cards in the box!  How can you not love that?  No fake A&G wood minis here!  Actual wood cards.  Of your favorite player?  We’ll see!

Guaranteed hits so far:  1 auto (?) and 3 relics and 3 either.

2004 Classic Clippings Box

2004 Classic Clippings Odds

This is my attempt at going high end on a budget.  As the font indicates, these cards are a little classier.  I can’t find the info anymore (probably because I bought out the inventory), but I believe this has more retired players represented in it than your typical box.  The game used is numbered to 225 or less and the autos are all serially numbered as well if that sweetens the pot for you.

Guaranteed hits so far:  2 auto (?) and 4 relics and 3 either.

2005 Showcase Box

2005 Showcase Odds

Now that you know what’s all included, here’s how it’ll all work.  I’m going to keep it open until March 14th for people to join and buy up a team.  After that, I’ll just keep whatever teams are left and hopefully trade them off for more quality stuff.

The cost for each team will be a flat rate of only $28.00 (which will also pay for the shipping).  That equals out to about $4 per box opened.  But you can earn yourselves a discount!  I didn’t get much of a response to my initial group break, so if you promote this on your blog, you get $2 off!  Just leave a comment with the link (after you claim is perfectly fine).  So, for the price of a blaster after tax, you get 7 boxes worth of your team’s cards.  I’m also going to institute a two team maximum but the second team you claim is only $23.00.  If it’s still out of your price range, perhaps I’ll accept cards as additional payment to make up the difference.  All I’m saying is go ahead and claim now and payment is secondary for now.

Plus, since part of the reason I’m doing this is to boost my player collections the following teams are going to be even cheaper:
Braves:  $21.00 (I’ll be keeping the Greg Maddux cards – back to the Cubs in 2003)
Padres:  $24.00 (I’ll be keeping the Tony Gwynn cards – retired after 2001)
White Sox: $20.00 (I’ll be keeping the Frank Thomas cards – with the White Sox the entire run of these boxes)
Knock off $5 more off the price if you’re choosing any of these three as your second team.  I’m practically giving them away!

I reserve the right to reduce the price for unclaimed teams as the deadline approaches, or allow people to claim more than 2 teams at that time.  Any cards featuring multiple teams will be given to the team without a hit, or randomed off between those teams if neither/both have a hit.  Any cards featuring no team will be randomed amongst all teams without a hit.  If it’s between me and someone else, the someone else gets it (the only exception is if it’s one of my player collection guys, which I will take and compensate you for in other ways).  If some other unforeseen circumstance arises, we’ll take a community vote as to how it should be handled.

The box breaks will be done on video where you can see the cards and not my ugly mug.

As a recap, here’s what’s currently included in the break:
2000 Fleer Mystique
2001 Fleer Platinum
2002 Fleer Authentix
2003 Fleer Avant
2003 Fleer Splendid Splinters
2004 Fleer Classic Clippings
2005 Fleer Showcase

Payment is due on the closing date of March 14th.  Paypal Gift payments preferred (send to: djibuti80 at yahoo dot com), or email me through our communitygum at gmail address to arrange something else).  I will be breaking these on video that following weekend and uploading the results and scans hopefully shortly after that.

Who’s Signed Up:
Anaheim Angels –
Arizona Diamondbacks – Alec (paid)
Atlanta Braves – Colbey (paid)
Baltimore Orioles – beardy (paid)
Boston Red Sox – TJ (paid)
Chicago Cubs – Jon (paid)(host)
Chicago White Sox – 
Cincinnati Reds – Damon (paid)
Cleveland Indians –  One Out Away (paid)
Colorado Rockies – hiflew (paid)
Detroit Tigers – Grand Cards (paid)
Florida Marlins –
Houston Astros –
Kansas City Royals –
Los Angeles Dodgers – Night Owl (paid)
Milwaukee Brewers –
Minnesota Twins –
Montreal Expos – Trader Cracks (paid)
New York Mets – The Sandlot (paid)
New York Yankees – Wicked Ortega
Oakland Athletics – Nathan (paid)
Philadelphia Phillies –  Dan’s Other World (paid)
Pittsburgh Pirates –
San Diego Padres –
San Francisco Giants – This Card is Cool (paid)
Seattle Mariners – Beardy (paid)
St. Louis Cardinals – Mojo (paid)
Tampa Bay Devil Rays –
Texas Rangers – Play at the Plate (paid)
Toronto Blue Jays – Things Are Funner Here (paid)

So, yeah!  The second Community Break is open!  Tell your friends and leave a comment if you’re in and for what team.  Also feel free to call dibs on teams for trading if no one picks it up.

Ready????? BREAK!!!