Sox Or No Sox: 1-13-08

Let's play America's rippingly good game, Sox Or No Sox.

The rules are simple. We take one unopened pack of baseball cards that was randomly selected by yours truly. We then go through the pack card by card looking for those elusive White Sox cards.

Along the way, there are two tricky and abundant traps to look out for. The first trap is the Cubs card. While hailing from Chicago, it is definitely not a Chicago White Sox card. The second trap is the Red Sox card. While technically a Sox card, it is vastly different than a White Sox card. Both traps are not necessarily bad things, but they get in the way of the games true goal: to find White Sox cards.

1/2 point is awarded for each card in the pack. 1 point is deducted from the score for each trap card. 1/2 point is taken away for each pointless mirror card. 2 points are awarded for each relic or autographed card (only 1 point awarded for a relic or autographed trap card). 2 points are given for each White Sox card.

For the benefit of our regular viewers, this will be the last time that the rules are explained before the game.

Our player in tonight's game is a 2007 Bowman Heritage pack. The pack contains 8 cards and features an old school looking wrapper. Very cool. Let's begin.

#1: Shawn Hill – 5 – Washington Nationals
Who? Says here he’s coming back from Tommy John surgery. We’re off to a promising start.

#2: Ryan Zimmerman – 189 – Washington Nationals
A National I’ve actually heard of. Yet, I still can’t sell off his Moments & Milestones cyan printing plate.

#3: Kory Casto (Rainbow) – 203 – Washington Nationals
OK, what the hell?? Three Nationals in a row, including the rainbow card?? There is a conspiracy here! But the rainbow card is shiny and oh so pretty.

#4: Ryan Adams (Prospect) – BHP93 – Baltimore Orioles
Ryan Adams… yeah. The singer/songwriter/baseball player. Born in 1987? I feel old.

Halfway through the pack. What the hell is up with all the Nationals cards?? This would be a perfect pack for the D.C./Maryland area. No Sox cards, no traps, nobody even close to Chicago. 4 cards left to go. Let’s see if we can get a White Sox card!

#5: Kala Kaaihue (Prospect) – BHP5 – Atlanta Braves
A native Hawaiian! That’s interesting. I can’t think of any native Hawaiian baseball players off hand.

#6: Nick Markakis – 196 – Baltimore Orioles
Another Oriole? This pack is sure D.C. friendly! Kevin must be jealous with envy.

#7: Barry Bonds – 200 – San Francisco Giants
AW HELL NO!! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! This pack is now complete torture! I thought the D.C. area thing was cute, but this really sucks. Do I even want to look at the last card?

#8: Paul Lo Duca – 36 – New York Mets
A Met that was born in Brooklyn and he was named in the Mitchell Report. Fantastic.

OK, our pack opening is complete. This pack sucked big time! It was a semi-decent pack until the sneaky trap card showed up. It was so sneaky, that there wasn’t anything in the rules stating it was a trap card. From now on, any Barry Bonds card will be –2 points.

So, that’s ½ point for each card in the pack, -2 for the Bonds card.

Final score: 2 points

No White Sox cards in this game, but there's always next time on Sox Or No Sox.