BOX BREAK: 10 Packs of 2001-02 Pacific Vanguard

This break comes from the bulk lot of packs that I picked up a couple weeks ago at the local card show. These pack once retailed at about $6-7 a piece, but I managed to snag 10 of them for a buck a pop.

2001-02 Pacific Vanguard

At only 3 cards per pack, these were a bit more high-end for the time. Definitely not so by today's standards. :)

I was excited to see some of the old Pacific product sitting on the one table as I never did break this stuff back in the day. I just picked up the singles I needed for my collections at the time instead.

Some of the specs for the product...

First and foremost, these cards do not scan well. My apologies.

This set was released in early February 2002. This 130 card set consisted of 100 regular base cards and 30 rookie cards serial numbered to 404 copies each.

There were a number of parallels (as were prevalent in all Pacific releases back in the day)...Blue - numbered to 89 copies, Red - numbered to 38 copies, Premiere Date - numbered to 83 copies.

There were memorabilia cards as well...the jersey cards were double-sided two-player cards with simple jersey pieces. There were also dual patch cards of the same display.

There were some insert sets as well...'East Meets West', 'In Focus', 'Prime Prospects', 'Stonewallers', 'Quebec Tournament Heroes' and 'V-Team'. Can you say stereotypical insert set names or what. None of the inserts were of the high-end variety but there were some that had some pretty long odds of being pulled.

With that, let's take a look at some of the goods.


The base cards are pretty nice. Thick and shiny. They look like they are very susceptible to scratching or damage so having them in protective sleeves would be beneficial. The player selection is pretty select and going for the most part with the top players in the league at the time.

It's neat to see some of these guys on teams you kind of forgot they played on. Like Jeremy Roenick with the Flyers.


I landed two of the Quebec Tournament Heroes inserts. These were inserted 1:25 packs so getting 2 in 10 is definitely beating the odds. These cards showcase players who played in the Quebec Pee-wee tourney (which is considered one of the top tournaments of its kind).


This Pavel Bure V-Team insert is a great example of the kind of inserts you would find in Pacific items back 10 years ago. Nothing more than an excuse to put a player's face on another card.


Here is the one parallel I got in the packs. This Glen Murray is obviously the blue parallel (too bad it wasn't one of the more high-end players) and is a decent pull as they were inserted 1:49 packs for hobby and 1:25 packs for retail.


This last card is one that has me stumped. The card on the right is the regular base card. The one on the left is some sort of parallel or error. It is completely chrome on the front but is the exact same as the base card on the back. Same thickness and no serial numbering. I don't think it is a noted parallel so all that I can think of is an error card.

Kind of cool. Again, too bad it wasn't one of the more high-end guys (like Linden...ha ha ha).

Overall, this was a pretty fun break. There's great variety and the opportunity to hit some cool inserts and/or parallels. The downside would be the fact there's only 3 cards per pack. No regrets on this purchase.