The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball's Afterlife Hardcover – Illustrated, April 1, 2020

I just finished reading The Wax Pack and I really enjoyed it for several reasons:1) I loved the premise. As a baseball fan and a kid who collected baseball cards as a youngster, I really could relate to the excitement of opening a pack of baseball cards. I also loved the idea of tracking the guys down from an old, unopened pack from years ago.2) My favorite sports book of all-time is Ball Four, not because of Bouton’s stories about his playing days (which were interesting and funny) but because of Ball Five, Ball Six and Ball Seven, the chapters he added in later editions. Each of those last three chapters are approximately ten years apart and Bouton does a beautiful job telling stories about what’s happened to his old teammates, and their families, since their playing days ended. Like with this book, it was interesting to see all the ups and downs life hands us as the years go by, whether we were once big leaguers or not. (If you haven’t read Ball Four, through Ball Seven, I would definitely recommend it).3) I loved the vulnerability in the book, the author's and some of the players he interviewed. The humanity revealed really made the book.4) I loved the little life philosophy nuggets sprinkled throughout the book — from both the author and some of the former players.5) The author's creative beginning and ending, involving the old Topps factory and some of the veteran Topps factory workers, was cool.6) I personally love road trips through the American landscape, with little jewels of Americana along the way. I found myself wishing I was with the author on a couple legs of his trip, shooting the bull at some points, talking philosophically at others, and singing along to Whitesnake in-between.7) What really makes this concept work is the fact the author is a very good writer.I hope the author finds the time — and takes the time — to write another book, preferably sports-related..

The courage it took for this to author to put his dreams into action as he set out on this coast to coast adventure, not knowing if he would come out with happier or regretting his decision to meet his childhood stars, then writing about it. So many people talk about their dreams or scenario's about doing something great or life changing, but then don't do it out of fear, rejection, or laziness, but this author put his money with his mouth was and gave us a compelling story that didn't always put himself in the brightest light. As we open the next pack of sports cards, which one of us wouldn't want to say "hey, let's go meet these athletes that are in the top 1% of their sport and get to know them as people and not just an object on a tv screen." Would you have the courage to follow thru? The humility to get them to know or reject you? The time to setup, meet, and have a intelligent conversation? The cost to travel and loss of income if you took off from your job? I am more then happy with the time I spent getting to know the author and their story.

The idea of opening a pack of cards from 1986 and trying to hunt down each of the players to find out what became of their lives sounded brilliant to me when I first read it. 1986 was my peak card collecting time, so this was such a neat idea to me that I had to get the book on Kindle so I could start reading it right away.The book is good as is, but maybe could have been so much more. On one hand, I wanted to learn so much more about these players, but I think the fact that the author is a baseball fan and regular guy is what makes it so cool. In other words, a professional sports insider with access could have done this same thing and really gotten into the lives of these men in a way that Brad couldn’t, but that’s what makes this book so great. The author is a regular guy like me and he made the most of the access he worked so hard to get to these players.Some of these guys are cards I would have put into the spokes of my bicycle to make it sound like a motorcycle and others were hall of famers. There’s a lot to like about this book beyond just the baseball. There’s some family talk and OCD talk and it’s just totally worth the read

Thanks for the outstanding book. For anyone who has ever opened up a Topps wax pack! Sentimental, eye-opening, thought provoking, and just wish I could have gone on this trip with Brad - an so will you!I’m about the age of Brad's father and my big year collecting Topps cards was 1966. However, my son was 10 in 1986 and he started collecting cards the following year.We’ve had great times getting autographs (for free primarily at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore). My son and I share great memories of two specific players: Reggie Jackson (many stories of our paths crossing!) and Cal Ripken (whom I umpired when Cal was 16, and he provided many signed materials for my son).I’ve taken two sentences from the book that I thought really gave meaning to the whole experience, and turned it into a poster. “Fishing isn’t about catching fish. Baseball isn’t about hitting home runs.” I’m not selling it, just creating one for me to share with whoever comes to my house (not many these days of Covid ).BTW, my dad was critical in getting me into the whole baseball scene, too. He was an orphan who fought in WW2, tried out for the St. Louis Browns in 1944 (he had hurt his shoulder just before the tryout so it didn’t go well), and was full of stories of playing ball with Joe Garagiola and others from The Hill in St. Louis, meeting Stan Musial and other players who came out to support the orphanage, etc. He retired from the Navy after 26 years in 1970 and sadly passed away in 1994 at just 66.Thanks for the wonderful stories!