Box Break: 2009 Razor Sports Icons: Cut Signature Edition

Let's do it.

Here's the box (which was provided by Razor):

Inside there's one card - a cut signature. It could be Babe Ruth or it could be Al Barlick. The checklist covers all the major sports, not just baseball. I still haven't figured out why Ringo Starr or Ozzy Osbourne are in a product called Sports Icons, though. This is a product where even when you don't pull a big-time player, you're still going to get something solid. As in no late-round draft picks who came up, played a game or two then disappear into the abyss of the dugout bench.

The set appears to be popular from a busting standpoint as well. eBay has little unopened product left and what's there is being listed for about $125 per box.

Here goes.

Jim Plunkett limited to two copies.

Jim Plunkett isn't a baseball player so I'm off to Google for a second. Pardon me if Plunkett is an all-time all-time great and I just commited blasphemy for not immediately knowing who he is.

From Wikipedia:

James W. "Jim" Plunkett (born December 5, 1947 in San Jose, California) is a former American football quarterback who played collegiately for Stanford University, where he won the Heisman Trophy, and professionally for three National Football League teams: the New England Patriots, San Francisco 49ers and Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders. He led the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories (XV and XVIII). He is the only retired quarterback to start, and win, two Super Bowls who is not also in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

Not a bad football player, I guess. But he's no Babe Ruth either.

From a busting perspective, there's two conflicting thoughts here. My first is, "Jim Plunkett - dang." But on the otherhand, it is limited to a pair of copies. Yes, it's manufactured rarity but I'm sure there's more than a couple of people out there who would find trade value in such a card. To that end, Razor's done a good job of ensuring value in Sports Icons. Although I could have done better with the player, it's still far better than busting a similarly priced box like SPx and getting a rookie I've never heard of and only a handful of shiny cards to go with it.

Design wise, Razor continues to do clever things without any sort of license. There's no picture of the athlete anywhere. In fact, they're name isn't anywhere on the card itself other than the signature. It's Beckett who identifies who it is and the rarity.

The design is very clean. There's a patriotic feel with the color scheme and stars. It's not too cluttered, in my opinion. It's a little disappointing to see the Sports Icons logo so large and the signature window not much bigger, especially when a couple of loops in Plunkett's names are slightly cut off.

With all the possibilites this box offered, it was a fun break. Granted it wasn't my money that was on the line here thanks to Razor providing it, but I imagine if I'd spent the money on this rather than most any new product not named Allen and Ginter I'd feel a bit better about how I'd spent my c-note and change.