Weird Mike Piazza Memoribila Thingy from a Repack Box

I don’t really know what the deal is with repacks. Are they just packs that someone has felt up or weighed or whatever they do to determine if it contains a hit? Are they just random left over packs someone had laying around somewhere and boxed up and sold without testing them? I don’t know. I’m not sure what other folks opinions on repacks are, but overall, I’ve had not bad success with them. I’ve pulled a handful of relics, along with some pretty good rookies and inserts, as well as just cards that I’ve needed.

This particular card thing came from a repack box that I got at the local Toys R Us. It was in the neighborhood of $20-25 and had maybe 20 packs in it. The ones that were showing were cool enough. Turkey Red, Topps Heritage, Bowman Heritage, that sort of thing. The packs on the inside were your standard repack fare. 2007 Topps, 1992 Fleer,1989 Topps, 2006 Upper Deck, etc. The selling point of the box was that it contained an “Authentic Memorabilia Set”.

Now, I had gotten similar boxes from Toys R Us once or twice in the past, and they just had either a relic card or an autograph card, so I was a little confused as to what “Authentic Memorabilia Set” meant. But I was dying to bust some 1989 Topps, so I ponied up my $20 and headed home.

When I opened up the box, aside from the packs, there was this white envelope.

It might be hard to tell from the scan, but this is roughly the size of a greeting card. It clearly wasn’t just a regular relic card.

Usually, when I get any sort of product that has a guaranteed hit in it, I save that for last, whether it’s the Commemorative Patch from ’09 blasters or the box loader from a hobby box. I like to just have the unopened item in front of me as I open the other packs. This was no exception.

As I opened all the other packs, it kept eating at me. What the hell is this thing? Finally, once I was done with the packs, I ripped that sucker open.

Sweet, Mike Piazza! A ball! Weird! And look at that jersey! A four color patch! How cool is that?! Let me flip it over and look at the back!
Cool! It has an easel that pops out so I can display it on my desk! Yipeee!

Once that reaction wore off, I started to feel slightly weird about this thing. Maybe weird isn’t the right word, but I wasn’t so sure about it.

First of all, that jersey patch is clearly a Mets jersey, but the card (a 1998 SP Authentic Sheer Dominance #SD40) is Piazza as a Dodger. And the card is glued in there or something. What’s up with that? Secondly, the blurb on the back says that the jersey and the ball were obtained by Upper Deck, but it doesn’t say Upper Deck anywhere on this thing. Thirdly, the wording about the ball is a little vague. It clearly states that the jersey is from the player on the card, but not so much with the ball. And speaking of the jersey, it says it’s from the player, but doesn’t say squat about game worn.

Also, who the hell is Vintage Sportscards of Conroe Texas? And how did these items make their way from Upper Deck to Vintage Sportscards? There is a store in Conroe called Vintage Sportscards. Is that them? What the hell were they doing selling a memoribilia set in a Toys R Us in New Jersey? I wish I had made note of what company packaged the repack. I can’t remember if this Vintage Sportscards was the company or not.

I did some quick searches but I couldn’t find anything similar to this anywhere.

I like this thing, I think. If anything, it’s an interesting conversation piece. I’m just a little wary about how “authentic” this Authentic Memorabilia Set is.

Any ideas?

Tags: Mike Piazza, relic, repack
Filed Under: Card of the Moment by slangon
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