Domo Arigato: San Jose Fuji

Sorry, Fuji, I ripped off you trade post title. I was lucky enough to win San Jose Fuji's September contest. I don't win contests often, so it usually comes as a surprise to me. My birthday was in September, so maybe it was my lucky month.

Anyhow, Fuji sent a great assortment of 1980's wax. It felt like one of those cellophane grab bags fully of packs and odds and ends that were at K-Mart in the 1980's. Do you know the ones I'm talking about?

I set aside a few packs for my son to open one day. I've been doing this with a lot of the older packs that bloggers send me from time to time, like 1989 Topps and whatnot. Napkin Doon does this from time to time. I know that he won't score any hits or valuable RCs or anything, but I want him to see what it was like to open wax packs from the '80s (complete with old moldy gum), and hopefully learn about the players in the pack.

With that being said, I'm selfish and did open a few of the packs for myself. I left the stamps in the package though.

The first pack I opened was the Heads Up Baseball Stars. Each pack has one player head with a suction cup. I really wanted the Mattingly or Griffey Jr. As luck would have it, I got an Oakland A - Fuji's team! It was Mark McGwire. I may end up sending this back to Fuji at some point.

I then opened the 1986 Donruss pop-up, which unfortunately was a Red Sox. Of the three accompanying oversized cards, this Ryan Sandberg was the best. Any Cubbies collectors interested?

Next, I opened a pack of 1994 Panini stickers. I was lucky enough to pull two Yanks - Boggs and Pat Kelly. I also got a Doc Gooden.

Lastly, I opened two of the League Leaders mini packs. Nolan Ryan graced bother packs. I was the designs of these varied a little more from year to year, but the backs of the cards do.

Fuji, this sure was a blast from the past. Thanks!