Tribe or No Tribe #1

Steve, over at White Sox Cards, has a game he plays every so often called "Sox or No Sox." In the game, he opens a pack of cards and gives the pack a score based on several criteria (which I have borrowed and modified for my own version).

As some of you know, I have joined the ranks over at A-Pack-A-Day and recently posted an article containing three of the packs from a box I bought at Wal-Mart recently. Well, I decided that I would play "Tribe or No Tribe" with the whole 20-packs for 20-bucks box!

(Borrowing from White Sox Cards) There are two traps to look out for. The first trap is the Reds card. Since this is an adaptation of the White Sox Cards game, I though it befitting that the "other" team from Ohio be the main trap card. The second trap is the Braves card. Why Braves? It is the "other" Native-American-based team, that is often confused with Tribe cards by young, new collectors (read: my daughter) Traps are not necessarily bad things, but they get in the way of the games true goal: to find Indians cards.

Scoring is done in the following manner:
1/2 point is awarded for each card in the pack.
2 points are awarded for each relic or autographed card (only 1 point awarded for a relic or autographed trap card).
1 point is awarded for any Thome card in a non-Indians uniform.
2 points are given for each Indians card.
1 point is deducted from the score for each trap card.
1/2 point is deducted for each card featuring more than one team.

Okay, being that this is my first foray into the realm of "Tribe or No Tribe," I am starting out with the packs of cards that came from a Wal-Mart "Hidden Treasures 20-for-$20" box. Each pack contains +- 5 cards, so working through 20 packs should be quick:

Pack 1: Leon Durham (Cubs), Brent Mayne (Royals), Shawn Abner (Padres), Rich Garces (Twins), Rickey Henderson (Yankees). Pack total: 2.5 points.

Pack 2: Britt Burns (White Sox), John Courtright (Reds), Jim Presley (Mariners), Chris Codiroli (A's), Fred McGriff (Padres). Pack total: 1 point - dang Reds card!

Pack 3: Ricky Horton (Dodgers), Mark Portugal (Astros), Jack McDowell (White Sox), Dave Righetti (Yankees), Dave Windfield (Angels). Pack Total: 2.5 points

Pack 4: Mike Henneman (Astros), Jesus Talvarez (Marlins), Tom Pagnozzi (Cardinals), Moises Alou (Expos), Don Baylor (Twins). Pack total: 2.5 points

Pack 5: David Justice (Indians), Tony Phillips (Tigers), Chris Gomez (Tigers), Gary Ward (Yankees), Mark Johnson (White Sox), Geronimo Berroa (A's). Pack total: 4.5 (Tribe card and an extra card in the pack to boot!)


Pack 6: Jeff Frye (Red Sox), Bill Russell (Dodgers), Ken Griffey (Braves), Chuck Finley (Angels), Julio Franco (Indians). Pack total: 2.5 (Thank goodness for the Franco to offset Griffey!)


Pack 7: Bert Blyleven (Twins), John Franco (Mets), Eric Plunk (A's), Cal Ripken Jr (Orioles), Geno Petralli (Rangers). Pack total: 2.5 points

Pack 8: Jose Canseco (KayBee - A's), Mike Birkbeck (Brewers), Mark Eichhorn (Blue Jays), Thad Bosley (Cubs), Delino DeShields (Cardinals). Pack total: 2.5 points

Pack 9: Greg Litton (Giants), Pedro Guerrero (Cardinals), Ken Patterson (White Sox), Larry Parrish (Red Sox), Wade Boggs (Red Sox). Pack Total: 2.5 points

Pack 10: Neifi Perez (Rockies), Tom Brookens (Tigers), Royal Leaders, Jim Clancy (Blue Jays), Charlie Hough (Rangers). Pack total: 2.5 points

At the halfway mark, this box has accumulated 25.5 points! Let's see how the second half fares:

Pack 11: Brook Jacoby (Indians), Mark Grace (Cubs), Charlie Hough (Rangers), Bill Doran (Astros), Teddy Higuera (Brewers). Pack total: 4 points!


Pack 12: Danny Graves (Indians), Mark Thurmond (Orioles), Vince Coleman (Cardinals), Carmen Castillo (Indians), Milt Thompson (Cardinals), Keith Moreland (Cubs). Pack total: 6 points thank to TWO Tribers and an extra card in the pack! Wahoo!



Pack 13: Cal Ripken Jr (Orioles), Rick Lysander (Syracuse Chiefs-Blue Jays), Richard Dotson (not to be confused with the Family Feud guy...) (White Sox), Ramon Martinez (Dodgers), Matt Lawton (Twins). Pack total: 2.5 points

Pack 14: Pat Tabler (Indians), Pedro Lopez (Waterloo), 1984 Topps AL Active Career Stolen Base Leaders, Mike Greenwell (Red Sox), Jose Canseco (A's). Pack total: 3 points



Pack 15: Dave Winfield (Yankees), Mark Portugal (Astros), 1984 Topps AL Active Career Stolen Base Leaders (WTH!? Back-to-back packs!? UGH!), Bob Stanley (Red Sox), Eddie Taubensee (Astros). Pack total: 1.5 points


Pack 16: Darryl Kile (Astros), Howard Johnson (Mets), Rich Reed (Pirates), Bo Jackson (White Sox), Reggie Jackson (Angels). Pack total: 2.5 points

Pack 17: Jose Canseco (A's), Eddie Murray (Orioles), Kevin Seitzer (Royals), Gary Carter (Mets), Lance Blankenship (A's). Pack total: 2.5 points

Pack 18: Stan Berry (Royals), Don Robinson (Pirates), Mark Langston (Expos), Gary Thurman (Royals), 1984 Topps AL Active Career RBI Leaders. Pack total: 1.5 points - curse you Topps Leaders cards!


Pack 19: Todd Jones (Astros), Mickey Hatcher (Dodgers), Craig Reynolds (astros), Johnny Ray ("Come On Eileen!") (Angels), Tim Salmon (Angels). Pack total: 2.5 points


Pack 20: Jim Rice (Red Sox), Manny Ramirez (Indians), Shawn Abner (Padres), Duane Ward (Blue Jays), Wally Backman (Mets), Gary Matthews (Cubs). Pack total: 4.5 points


The score from the second half: 30.5 points! We can see that despite the run of mixed-team Leader cards, there were enough Tribers (and extra cards in several packs)in the mix to pull out quite a score from the 2nd set of re-packs. We can also se that things would have been much worse if this box has been opened up by Steve over at White Sox Cards! While there were a lot of White Sox in this box, there were quite a few Red Sox and Cubs in there as well!

I hope you enjoyed the game! Don't worry, most of my "Tribe or No Tribe" challenges will focus on single packs in the future...