Forty four days ago I made a purchase that rubbed me the wrong way. You see, I went out of my way to find a retail tin of 2008 Sweet Spot. And when I busted the three packs that were contained within and came up with nothing to add to my collection (that’s not hard to do by the way), I became angry. I was pissed off at UD; pissed at myself for making a dumb purchase. That day I told myself to stop buying cards for a while. And for more than a month I was good.

But on Tuesday I made a trip to the card shop for some supplies and wound up digging through three plastic bins full of bargain packs. I came up with four 1994 Flair Series 2 packs priced at $3 each.

I’ve always loved Flair. When this product debuted in 1993, I was mesmerised by the high quality cards offered in this unique looking box/packaging. I was not able to afford many of these cards in my early teens, so when I did obtain anything from this set (including the pack/boxes) I cherished them.

So after cleansing myself for more than 40 days and 40 nights, I decided the best way to put the joy back into MY hobby was to kick it old school and relive some old memories while giving me a shot at a rookie card of a future hall of famer, Alex Rodriguez. Here are the results of my four pack break:

Pack One:

John Hudek, Houston Astros, 390

Charlie Hough, Florida Marlins, 382

Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs, 363

Bill Risley, Seattle Mariners, 339

Mike Oquist, Baltimore Orioles, 256

Carlos Reyes, Oakland Athletics, 332

Jody Reed, Milwaukee Brewers, 308

Mark Langston, California Angels, 274

Mickey Tettleton, Detroit Tigers, 295

Julio Franco, Chicago White Sox, 276

Pack Two:

Larry Walker, Montreal Expos, 404

Devon White, Toronto Blue Jays, 351

Bryan Eversgerd, St. Louis Cardinals, 427

Bernie Williams, New York Yankees, 326

Henry Rodriguez, Los Angeles Dodgers, 399

Omar Vizquel, Cleveland Indians, 290

Charlie Hayes, Colorado Rockies, 374

Ivan Rodriguez, Texas Rangers, 346

Bip Roberts, San Diego Padres, 440

Gregg Jeffereies, St. Louis Cardinals, 429

Pack Three:

Tony Gwynn, San Diego Padres, 436

Dave Burba, San Francisco Giants, 443

Allen Watson, St. Louis Cardinals, 432

Jose Lind, Kansas City Royals, 301

John Kruk, Philadelphia Phillies,415

Denny Hocking, Minnesota Twins, 313

Tom Candiotti, Los Angeles Dodgers, 394

Jack Morris, Cleveland Indians, 285

John Roper, Cincinnati Reds, 369

Mickey Tettleton, Detroit Tigers, 295

Pack Four:

David Nied, Colorado Rockies, 376

Checklist (Greg Vaughn / Mickey Tettleton), NNO

Pat Mears, Minnesota Twins, 316

Bernard Gilkey, St. Louis Cardinals, 428

Darryl Strawberry, San Francisco Giants, 444

Mariano Duncan, Philadelphia Phillies, 411

Jim Abbott, New York Yankees, 318

Nelson Liriano, Colorado Rockies, 375

Kenny Rogers, Texas Rangers, 347

WAVE OF THE FUTURE Mark Acre, 1 of 10

Comments: As you can see, there was no A-Rod lurking within these four packs. But the act of busting these 15-year-old packs brought back lots of memories. There’s just something about these cards that makes them almost angelic to me. They are thicker than all other cards from the time, they are covered in super high gloss and emblazoned with enough gold foil to make the card special, but not distasteful. And the photography looks great.

This particular break yielded nothing of great significance, and no Red Sox for my collection. Although I pulled my fair share of Mickey Tettleton — Two base cards and a checklist in three packs.  I haven’t seen this much Mickey Tettleton since the days of RBI Baseball for Nintendo.