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Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Wax Pack Road Trip & Book: Don Carmen 1986 Topps

Earlier this week Nick Diunte's Terrific Baseball Happenings blog featured a column on a book that may interest Card Collectors  "Wax Pack" by author Brian Balukjian

The project involves opening a wax pack of 1986 Topps and personally tracking down all the players in the pack. The pack included 14 players and a a checklist, the lone Phillies card  was Don Carmen - Bualukjian's favorite payer from childhood (yes, I shook my hood as well)

1986 Topps Don Carman (image swiped from WaxPackBook.com)

Balukjian met with Don Carman on the 9th of July. Carman is a now a sports psychologist and works for Sports Agent Scott Boras. Balukjian and Carman spent the day at the Zoo, topics they covered included Evolution, Family and Mike Schmidt.

I am not sure if it was Biran Balukjian's goal, but it appears that much of the material covered in the discussions is how the players handle retirement along with off the field interests and activities.  

The other players in the pack range from the forgotten (Jaime Cocanower) to the semi-stars (Gary Templeton, Steve Yeager, Rick Sutcliffe) all the way to the Hall of Fame (Carlton Fisk). Two players that spent time with the Phillies represented other clubs in 1986T, Randy Ready (Brewers) and Richie Hebner (Cubs).  

Check out the WaxPack site to find out more about Brian Balukjian's journey and the various players he encountered. What little I have read of the blog has been fun to check out. 

Sources and Links
Baseball Happenings
Wax Pack Book
Brian Balukjian

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