The Beckett Blog

We know you love box breaks so we’ve dug around to find some wax with a little dust on it for some box breaks where we go oldschool.

This box isn’t all that old — just eight years — but its lack of a single autograph or memorabilia card shows the changes that have come over the years. Now, those things are virtual staples of collecting.

This year’s version of Score football arrives in July and has more bells and whistles as well, but the 2001 box holds within it an example of one thing to always remember — just because a box isn’t brand new, doesn’t mean you can’t find some decent cards inside.

Here are the results from a randomly selected box of 2001 Score football cards I recently opened …

Suggested Retail Price: $.99 a pack (It says so on the box — “the most value-packed 99-cent product on the market!”)
Packs per box: 36
Cards per pack: 10
Cards in this box: 360
Base set completion: 216 of 220 (98 percent)
Duplicates: 94
Triplicates: 18
Quadruplicates: 1

Insert/short-print cards found: 31
– SPs (1:4 packs for Reds; Rookies, League Leaders, All-Pros, Sophomore Showcase) — 24. Notables rookies include Michael Vick, Chad Johnson, Rudi Johnson, Reggie Wayne, while notable others include Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb, Peyton Manning, Brian Urlacher.

–- Scorecard (serial-numbered to the points player’s team scored previous season) — 2. No. 133 Amani Toomer (/328), No. 277 David Rivers (/316).

–- Millennium Men (serial-numbered to 1,000 copies)— 2. No. MM 17 David Terrell, No. MM 33 Brett Favre.

– Settle The Score (1:35 packs) — 1. No. SS-18 Mike Anderson & Jamal Lewis.

– The Franchise (1:35 packs) — 1. No. TF-31 Donovan McNabb.

– Complete Players (1:35 packs) — 1. No. CP-27 Barry Sanders.

Thoughts: None of the cards found in this box will break the bank, but it’s a pretty healthy lineup of players among the rookies and inserts, particularly around the time of release. Sure, there wasn’t a LaDainian Tomlinson RC, or a Drew Brees in this box.  But in 2001? Vick was en vogue. … There were a ton of doubles — even triples and quads — but when you’re just four cards short of a set it’s not that painful. And there were plenty of stars — some now Hall of Famers — among them, too. … The only autograph and memorabilia cards to be found in these boxes were the Millennium Men autographs (limited to 25 per card) and the Franchise Fabrics cards, which were found one in every 359 packs.

Box Grade: *** out of *****

Chris Olds has collected sports cards and memorabilia since 1987. Before coming to Beckett Media, he wrote about the hobby for the Orlando Sentinel on his blog, SportsStuff, and for the San Antonio Express-News and The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News. Do you have a comment, question or idea? Send e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com.