Pack Rip - 1996 Fleer Update

Quick pack rip for you tonight, 1996 Fleer Update baseball.  14 cards for $1.99 in 1996, or you can wait 20 years like I did and get the pack for half that price.  Not bad either way given that your average pack nowadays contains just 8 cards and costs $2.99 or more.  I miss the '90s.

Here's my first card, Izzy Alcantara of the Expos.  Fleer was doing some prospecting here, as Alcantara wouldn't appear in a Major League game until the year 2000 (with the Red Sox!).

Here's a look at a back, which I think Fleer did a nice job w ith actually.

The design on the front is very minimal, and the cards are a matte finish rather than glossy, which is something unusual that 1996 Fleer is remembered most for.

Fleer seemed to do a good job producing a true Update set here, unlike the All-Star and subset-saturated offering we've gotten from Topps of late.  The last two guys here appeared in just a handful of games each for their respective clubs in '95 and '96, yet made the checklist.

Here's another one, as Pedro Castellano appeared in a total of 51 career games, all with the Rockies between 1993 and 1996.  Yup, if you like cards of obscure players this set is for you!

I received one insert, and I think I did pretty damn well with it.  This "Soaring Stars" Chipper Jones card is perfectly '90s.  Looks kind of like something you'd expect to see in a Metal Universe release.

Here's the back, every bit as loud and gaudy as the front!

The 15 games Ricky Jordan played with the Mariners in 1996 were the final of his MLB career.

Rey Ordonez appeared in an impressive 151 games as a rookie in 1996.  He was a staple in the Mets' lineup throughout the rest of the '90s and into the early 2000s.

So much green!

Had I actually opened this pack back in 1996, this may have been my favorite card.  Klesko was a beast that year, clubbing 34 home runs (which would turn out to be a career high).

Sweet, an appearance from Mr. Rec Specs himself, Chris Sabo!

This is a "Tiffany" parallel, which I believe fall one-per-pack.  They have a glossy finish, and use a shinier/rainbow foil.

Bobby Hughes finally broke through to the Bigs in 1998.  He appeared in 133 games for Milwaukee between '98 and '99, and that was it for Hughes.

Greg Gagne signed as a free agent with the Dodgers in late November, 1995.  My assumption is that based on this date, Fleer couldn't get a shot of him in a Dodgers uniform into the flagship set in '96, thus here he is in the Update release.

That's quite a facial expression from Gagne.  Is it me, or does he not look like he just spent a snowy winter in the Overlook Hotel?

Last card here.  Bob Tewksbury had been around forever at this point.  Like Greg Gagne though, he signed late in the 1995 off-season for what would be his lone season with the Padres in '96.

Each pack comes with a scratch-off game card as well.

I didn't win anything, oh well.

That was a fun rip overall, and a good excuse to kill some time typing a blog post as well, all for a dollar.  No complaints here!