Product: 2012-13 Fleer Retro Basketball
Break Date: December 13, 2013
Hit Breakdown: three autographs
Summary: I should have known to stay away from Fleer Retro, it being Friday the 13th and all. But no, I couldn't stop myself, and what I got was a big knife right between the shoulder blades from Upper Deck/Fleer.
A buddy and I went to the card store after our department holiday outing, and there was a mini box of Fleer Retro on sale. I really didn't want to buy a whole box, but a mini box? Reasonable, I thought.
I have three boxes of cards on the way as it is, so I knew I should stay away, but I couldn't resist. I should have resisted.
Fleer Retro itself is a cool product. It's got all the inserts/parallels that are nostalgic for anyone who collected in the 90s/00s, but with historic players. So, that 96/97 Magic Johnson Legacy Row 1 insert numbered to 150 would have been awesome if it wasn't mangled coming out of the pack. That was as good as it got in this disaster, unfortunately - a tarnished Magic insert.
There were other inserts, that, if they weren't highlights of an otherwise awful mini-box, would have been fine. The EX Dominique Wilkins is cool enough, and the two Michael Jordan base cards are great since they book for around $8 a piece.
But, anyone who breaks boxes is looking for the real hits - the autographs. Here was an absolute whiff - an air ball, if you will.
The first auto that came out was a redemption, and one where the label was barely legible. I could read John, so I was hopeful for the last name to be Stockton, but alas - he's not even in the product.
No, this was the immortal John Shurna. Who is he, you ask? Who knows. He's not in the NBA. He plays in Europe, somewhere...Italy, or maybe Spain. It doesn't even matter.
The second autograph was Khris Middleton. At the very least, he's in the league, and had a nice big 27 point night the other night. He's averaging over 10 a game in Milwaukee. But still, not what we're looking for.
The last of the three was Mark Price. Sure, he was a good ball player back in the day. But, when it comes to legends in Retro, everyone's looking for Jordan, or Magic, or Bird...not Mark Price.
So, this was a complete trainwreck of a break. The best card was the Magic insert, and even that one has me sending an email to get a replacement since it was damaged from the beginning. Retro as a product is a fun break, if it breaks right for you, and this one was no good.
Grade for the product: A
Grade for the break: C
What we pulled:
Black Refractor /299: John Jenkins (RC)
Purple Refractor /499: Jamie Collins (RC)
X-Fractor: Darius Slay (RC), Josh Boyce (RC), Kawann Short (RC)
Refractor: Travis Frederick (RC), Sylvester Williams (RC), Zac Dysert (RC)
Die Cut Rookie Refractor: Stepfan Taylor
1959 Mini Rookie: Zach Ertz
1965 Rookie Tallboy: Giovani Bernard
1969 Rookie: Tyler Eifert
1986 Rookie: Stedman Bailey
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