Box Break: 2003 Flair Hobby (5 Hits)

This is the first of two boxes that I bought with some of the greenbacks I scored from selling my Jason Heyward auto on eBay. 2003 Flair is a fun box to bust for around $30-40, especially considering that you get 5 hits, 1 numbered rookie and 1 serial numbered parallel for less than the price of 2 blasters. This is the second box of 2003 Flair I've busted and this particular one far outshines the one I opened in January. Here's the goods:

Lance Berkman/Jeff Bagwell Dual Power Tools Bat #23/200: Yes I cracked some jokes about the name "power tools", although from what I know both Berkman and Bagwell seem to be standup guys. It's nice pulling bat chips rather than the garden variety jersey swatches--the fact that it's a double is just icing on the cake.

Troy Glaus Diamond Cuts Jersey Gold #49/100: I really need to find an Angels collector to trade with. As a Mariners' fan I despise the team, yet that doesn't stop me from pulling Angels left and right. Am I the only person who enjoys meaningless parallels like this "gold" version? I love serial numbers.

Chipper Jones Diamond Cuts Jersey: I've always liked Chipper Jones. Perhaps it's because his real name is Larry but he goes by Chipper and my real name is Matthew but I go by Bud. The similarities don't end there: He was a first round draft choice, I got picked first one time in softball; he's a switch-hitter, I've been known to crush longballs from both sides of the plate in whiffleball, etc. It's like we're living the same life. He looks really tired in this picture. Chipper always looks tired. Is he the next player to become embroiled in a "Napgate" after Griffey Jr.?

Greg Maddux Diamond Cuts Jersey: This was a real Braves hot box, perhaps a bit ironic because I ordered these from Atlanta Sports Cards (very underrated site). Even more ironic is the fact that my brother pulled both Chipper and the Mad Dog from his box of 2003 Flair that he opened a few months back. I don't think that's actually ironic, but since no one actually uses the word correctly (I'm looking at you Alannis), I'll let it stand.

Pedro Martinez Sweet Swatch Oversized Jersey #155/1480: If you follow my life as closely as I do (I hope not) you'd realize that I pulled this exact oversized jersey card the last time I opened this box. I guess it's good because I was able to save my scanner some trouble, but otherwise I don't have much use for a giant Pedro swatch. In fact, I care about this card so little that I'm not even sure where the first one of these is. Maybe next box I'll walk away with a jumbo patch--or maybe just another Pedro.

Overall Thoughts: Though the base set is dull and there aren't any noteworthy rookies in the set, it's hard to complain about 5 jerseys/bat cards for $30-40. The game-used checklist is pretty strong and I was happy to walk away with three future Hall-of-Famers and six game-used pieces total. I'm sure I'll bust another box of this if I get the chance, and I highly recommend you do the same. Thanks for looking!