Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 1992 Upper Deck Baseball
1992 Upper Deck Baseball was released in two separate, but very unequal, series. The main release has a 700-card base checklist. The High Series checklist features just 100 cards. The base design remained pretty consistent early on, and looked very similar to Upper Deck’s first full set baseball release in 1989.
Here, you’ll find a few subsets. Two of them can be a bit confusing for some collectors. Star Rookie and Top Prospects seem pretty self-explanatory. However, appearing in either of these subsets absolutely does not mean that the card is an actual Rookie Card. For instance, only three of the Star Rookies, Brian Jordan, Rob Maurer and Brian Williams, are RCs.
There is just one insert set to look for in this one, the 10-card Ted Williams Baseball Heroes. The good news? With some incredible luck, you could find one of the 2,500 autographs.
1992 Upper Deck Baseball Box Break
Cards per pack: 15
Packs per box: 36
Price paid: $16
Shop for 1992 Upper Deck Baseball boxes on eBay.
Pack 1 highlights:
Matt Williams & Royce Clayton SR
Clayton’s only RC appears in 1989 Bowman, after he was drafted in the first round of the 1988 draft.
Pack 2:
Rickey Henderson, Mike Mussina, Dave Parker, Rondell White TP, Brian Jordan RC & Ted Williams Baseball Heroes
Pack 3:
Omar Vizquel, Sandy Alomar, Jr., Raul Mondesi TP & Ted Williams Baseball Heroes CL
Pack 4:
Tom Kenke, Kirk Gibson, Kirby Puckett, Jim Thome SR & Jim Abbott CL
Pack 5:
Cecil Fielder (w/ San Diego Chicken), Ellis Burks, Harold Baines & Dmitri Young TP
Young recently appeared on an episode of MLB’s Carded and chose this card as one of his favorites from his career.
Pack 6:
Kevin Appier, Howard Johnson & Roberto Hernandez SR
Pack 7:
Ozzie Smith, Mark Wohlers TP & The Griffeys BL
Pack 8:
Ruben Sierra & Shawn Green TP RC
Pack 9:
Craig Biggio & Will Clark
Biggio was mainly a catcher the first four seasons of his big league career. After 1991, he wouldn’t appear behind the plate again until crouching back there one more time in 2007, his final season.
Pack 10:
John Smoltz, Rafael Palmeiro & Eddie Murray CL x2
Pack 11:
Fred McGriff CL, Craig Biggio CL, Mark McGwire, Bernie Williams, Omar Vizquel, Joe Carter & Jim Abbott
The back of the Abbott card pleaded with kids to “stay in school.”
Pack 12:
Willie McGee CL, Jack McDowell, Bo Jackson & Bobby Bonilla
Pack 13:
Ken Caminiti, Shawon Dunston CL, David Justice CL, dual Tino Martinez, Jim Abbott & Ted Williams Baseball Heroes
The checklists make for some of my favorite cards in the set. They have great artwork.
Pack 14:
Bo Jackson & Dave Winfield 400th HR Commemorative
Pack 15:
Howard Johnson CL, Bernie Williams & Reggie Sanders SR
Pack 16:
Rickey Henderson, Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd & Pedro & Ramon Martinez BL
Pack 17:
Craig Biggio CL, Andres Galarraga, Fred McGriff CL & Dave Winfield
Winfield turned 40 during the 1992 season, but was still very productive. He hit .290 with 26 HR and 108 RBI in his only season in Toronto.
Pack 18:
Darryl Strawberry
Pack 19:
John Kruk CL, Terry Pendleton, Jeff Bagwell & Derek Bell SR
Pack 20:
Kenny Lofton SR, Mike Greenwell, John Olerud & Ted Williams Baseball Heroes
Pack 21:
Tony Gwynn, Oil Can Boyd, Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, Carlos Baerga & Ryan Klesko SR
Three great action shots in one pack — Gwynn without a hat, Ryno attempting a catch with a runner bearing down on him, and Baerga laid out flat trying to turn the double play.
Pack 22:
Barry Larkin, Paul O’Neill, Dennis Eckersley, Greg Vaughn & Alan Trammell
Pack 23:
Mark Grace, Dave Stewart, Dante Bichette & Bret Saberhagen
Pack 24:
David Justice, Jose Canseco, Gary Sheffield & Ted Williams Baseball Heroes
Pack 25:
Mike Mussina & Roger Clemens
Clemens would finish third in the AL Cy Young balloting following the 1992 season after going 18-11 and leading the AL with a 2.41 ERA.
Pack 26:
Ken Griffey, Sr. & George Bell
Pack 27:
Pedro Martinez SR
Pack 28:
Steve Avery CL, Gary Carter & Arthur Rhodes SR
Pack 29:
Kevin Mitchell & Albert Belle
I am willing to bet that Steinbach was happy to see Belle was sliding on this play and not lowering his shoulder.
Pack 30:
Eddie Murray, Robin Yount & David Wells
Pack 31:
Marquis Grissom, Julio Franco & Dwight Gooden
Pack 32:
Robin Ventura, Barry Bonds & Rondell White/Marc Newfield CL
Pack 33:
Carlton Fisk, Tom Glavine & Juan Gonzalez
Fisk played in 2,499 games in his career. He played first base in just 27 of those games.
Pack 34:
Wally Joyner & Chuck Finley
Pack 35:
Fred McGriff & Ivan Rodriguez
Pack 36:
Paul Molitor & Ron Gant
Lastly, the Barry Bonds card back. Upper Deck even included some fun photos on the backs.
No Williams autograph. That would be an all-time Cheap Wax Wednesday pull.
There are definitely some fun photos in this one. Upper Deck typically included some unique photography, and this one was no different. Outside of that, there’s not a whole lot of excitement due to the lack on inserts. Still, this is a fun (and super cheap) rip that is absolutely loaded with Hall of Famers.
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Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
