Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 2002 Upper Deck Victory Baseball
2002 Upper Deck Victory Baseball features a 660-card base checklist. Of those 660, though, only 550 are available in Upper Deck Victory boxes. Are you confused yet? The other 110 cards were found mixed into packs of 2002 Upper Deck Rookie Debut. Included in the base set are a couple of subsets, Rookies and Big Play Makers. The Rookies subset, ironically, does not include any actual Rookie Cards.
Aside from the base set, the only other thing to look for in this one is Gold parallels for the core base set.
That’s it. No inserts on this checklist.
2002 Upper Deck Victory Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 10
Packs per box: 36
Price paid: $18
Shop for 2002 Upper Deck Victory Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Tim Hudson, Roberto Alomar/CC Sabathia CL, Pedro Martinez & Scott Williamson Gold (1:2 packs)
It’s never a bad start to a box when you find a Pedro in the first pack!
Pack 2:
Derek Jeter & Ken Griffey Jr.
Pack 3:
Juan Gonzalez, Carlos Delgado & Jon Garland Gold
Pack 4:
Sammy Sosa, Troy Glaus/Ramon Ortiz CL & Andruw Jones
Pack 5:
Charles Johnson, Roger Clemens, Paul Konerko & Craig Counsell Gold
Pack 6:
Freshly enshrined Scott Rolen, Billy Koch/Carlos Delgado CL & Shawn Green
Pack 7:
Austin Kearns & Bobby Higginson Gold
Pack 8:
Vladimir Guerrero & Derek Jeter/Roger Clemens CL
Pack 9:
Sammy Sosa, Carlos Beltran/Jeff Suppan CL, Curt Schilling, Jorge Posada, Jason Giambi & Livan Hernandez Gold
Pack 10:
Jose Vidro, Jeremy Giambi, Jeff Bagwell, Edgar Renteria, Greg Maddux, Moises Alou & Shawn Green/Chan Ho Park CL Gold
Pack 11:
Frank Thomas, Carlos Zambrano, Keith Foulke & Matt Morris/Albert Pujols CL
Pack 12:
Raul Ibanez & Adam Eaton Gold
Pack 13:
Jose Canseco, Aramis Ramirez & Alex Rodriguez/Rick Helling CL
Forgive me for forgetting about Canseco’s stint in Chicago. He played the final 76 games there, hitting 16 home runs.
Pack 14:
A.J. Burnett, Ben Grieve, Jason Isringhausen & Dave McCarty Gold
Pack 15:
Bartolo Colon, Barry Zito, Alex Rodriguez & A-Rod Big Play Makers
Pack 16:
Greg Maddux/Chipper Jones, Todd Helton & Richie Sexson Gold
Pack 17:
Mark Buehrle, Troy Percival, Tim Wakefield & Manny Ramirez
Pack 18:
Kauhiro Sasaki & Ivan Rodriguez Gold
Sasaki finished 19th in the AL MVP voting in 2001 after recording 45 saves.
Pack 19:
Mark Teixeira, Roberto Alomar, Roy Halladay, Mark Prior, Larry Walker & Carlos Delgado
Pack 20:
Mike Piazza/Al Leiter CL, Roger Clemens, Trevor Hoffman & Tyler Houston Gold
Pack 21:
Barry Larkin & Luis Castillo
Pack 22:
Gary Sheffield, Andres Galarraga, Kerry Wood, Josh Beckett & Terry Adams Gold
Pack 23:
Albert Pujols, Sammy Sosa/Jon Lieber CL & C.C. Sabathia
Pack 24:
Mike Mussina, Carlos Lee, Orlando Cabrera, Derek Jeter, Roy Oswalt & Denny Hocking Gold
Pack 25:
Randy Johnson, David Wells, Torii Hunter, Tim Salmon & Jeff Bagwell
Pack 26:
Chipper Jones, Manny Ramirez, Orlando “O-Dog” Hudson & Rey Ordonez Gold
Hudson won four Gold Gloves in five seasons between 2005 and 2009.
Pack 27:
Todd Walker
Pack 28:
Trot Nixon, Jeff Bagwell/Wade Miller CL & Hideo Nomo
Pack 29:
John Olerud, Brady Anderson & Aramis Ramirez Gold
Pack 30:
Greg Vaughn
A forgotten slugger, Vaughn hit 50 long balls during the 1998 season, finishing fourth in MVP voting.
Pack 31:
Greg Vaughn/Tanyon Sturtze CL, Ivan Rodriguez, Pedro Martinez, Mo Vaughn & Corey Koskie Gold
Pack 32:
Roberto Alomar, Raul Mondesi, Ichiro Suzuki & Ken Griffey, Jr.
Pack 33:
Barry Bonds, Orlando Hernandez, Luis Gonzalez & Eli Marrero Gold
Pack 34:
Brian Giles & Ryan Klesko
Pack 35:
Bobby Abreu/Robert Person CL, Rafael Palmeiro, Jeff Kent, Adrian Beltre & Jose Offerman Gold
Beltre appears on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year.
Pack 36:
Phil Nevin/Trevor Hoffman CL, Kenny Lofton, J.D. Drew & Edgardo Alfonzo
Lastly, the Lofton card back. I am a Lofton fan and still think he belongs in the Hall of Fame.
I feel like Victory could have been much improved with a few insert sets to chase. But, here we are — just base cards and Gold parallels. I guess that is what has kept this one so inexpensive.
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Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
