First Bipping of 2011

UPDATE: Justin of Justin's World actually did the Bipping. I goofed.

Jeremy of No One's Going To Read This Blog bipped me with a mess of '88 Donruss when he sent his payment for the Smallest Group Break Ever. The interesting thing about this bippery: there were only two cards of each player. Thirteen pairs of '88 Donruss cards. Now, according to the generally accepted guidelines agreed upon by the more bellicose members of the blogoshpere, a proper Bipping consists of at least 5 cards of one particular player. More informal rules state that a large amount of cards in multiples of three can also be an effective Mini-Bipping. Thirteen pairs of two has never been done before. However, much like Shwartz' breach of protocol by going straight to the Triple Dog Dare, I believe this is surely a True and Successful Bip simply because of this one fact:

Any sufficient quantity of 1988 Donruss is a Bipping in and of itself. 

Do you want to receive any 1988 Donruss? Most experienced collectors have at least two shoeboxes worth of this stuff down in the basement or shoved in a closet somewhere. Even people who only collect high end autorelics and graded cards still find 1988 Donruss cards lying around inexplicably amongst their collection every so often. 1988 Donruss is the baseball card equivalent of weeds, they just show up all of a sudden and don't go away. I think there is a printing press in Waukegan, Illinois that has been running non-stop for 23 years still printing up this set.

Bravo Jeremy Justin, you've not only provided my first Bip of the year but added an important corollary to the Rules of Bippery.

Zman Repack Box & Contest - Pack 1: 1988 Donruss

Ok, I'm going to do something fun with these packs that zman40 sent me as a contest winner. There are seven packs that I'm opening that are from the years 1988-1990. Here are the packs:

1988 Donruss
1988 Score
1989 Donruss
1989 Topps
1990 Donruss
1990 Fleer
1990 Score

These packs all suck today, but they didn't back in the day. So, I dug up this:

This is the May 1991 issue of Tuff Stuff with David Robinson on the cover. The bottom is cut off because the magazine is about twice the size of my scanner bed. I'm going to open those 7 packs first and price the cards in that old issue of Tuff Stuff to find out the book value of these cards around opening day in '91.

YOUR MISSION IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACCEPT IT:

Rank the packs from highest total book value to the lowest total book value in 1991 prices. If you think 1989 Donruss will be the best pack, rank it #1. If you think 1990 Fleer will be the worst pack, rank it #7. You get one point for each pack in the correct slot. Simple enough? The person who gets the most points wins. I'll also be asking a question from the Tuff Stuff magazine on each pack rip. The first person to get the answer gets a bonus point. You can make your pick at any time up until right before the last pack is ripped, but I'll dock you a point for each pack I rip after this one.

So what's the prize? A card or cards equal to the total 1991 book value of all the crap out of these packs. The winner gets to choose.

First Bonus Question:

What is the caption on the cover of this magazine?

Ok, here's the '88 Donruss pack rip. Look it over and make your guesses while I take a few minutes to check the prices and scan the cards.

77 Ed Lynch with big wax stain on his face 2¢
427 Greg Harris 5¢
294 Tom Niedenfuer 5¢
163 Alan Ashby 5¢
660 Jerry Royster 5¢
515 Craig Lefferts 5¢
381 Kirk McCaaskill 5¢
248 Fred Lynn 5¢
117 Chris Bosio 5¢
601 Joe Table 5¢
468 Hubie Brooks 5¢
212 Vance Law 5¢
561 Lester Lancaster 5¢
428 Johnny Ray 5¢
295 Robin Yount 35¢
Musial Puzzle 13 14 15 0¢

Total Book Value: $1.02

Hoo boy, this pack was a stinker. Not one card was in the guide, not even Yount! I counted him as a regional star though. The man won two freakin' MVPs and he's stuck in the Minor Star ghetto. What a load of crap. It's not like they didn't have room for him, the magazine is the size of a tabloid newspaper. Here's the three 'best' cards from the pack:

Robin Yount

TOTALLY saved this pack from utter oblivion. A little off center, but what the hell.

Jose Mesa RC

Look at the size of that boy's head. It's like an orange on a toothpick. A virtual planetoid. It has it's own weather system! Hurricane Jheri's about to make landfall! The fact that this is the second best card in the pack is troubling. I see #7: 88 Donruss upcoming in a lot of contest entries.

Hubie Brooks

No matter how dreadful the pack is Hubie's got a positive attitude. He makes me feel better about the whole thing. Thanks, Hubie!

Here's an interesting 1988 Donruss fact from the investment potential section in Tuff Stuff:

If Jeffries, or any of the other 39 cards which were single printed, start to perform, the set will propel even more.

There are single printed cards in this set?? I didn't think anything in this set could possibly be single printed. Maybe sextuple printed instead of octuple printed...

Up next: 1989 Donruss. I'll have it posted at 9:00pm tomorrow. Any contest entries after that time get docked one point. If you have a preference for the pack after that, let me know...

Trivia answer:
Bay Rat gets the first bonus point but recuses himself from the rest of the trivia since he has the magazine. I had a nice chuckle over the "Move Over Wilt" caption, but when you come to think about it, the Admiral had a helluva career. It's not like Olden Polynice is the one supposedly shoving Wilt off his perch.