Nothing like the excitement of opening a pack of cards and realizing that things aren’t going like you expected… in a good way.

In my case, I opened a lone hobby box of 2004-05 Fleer Authentix, in the twilight of Fleer’s run producing basketball cards, and I was about halfway through the box, if my memory is accurate. Each hobby pack of 2004-05 Fleer Authentix had 5 cards per pack, and although this wasn’t necessarily my favorite design for Authentix (2002-03 tops my list, but that’s a separate post), the brand is nostalgic for me today.

So I open this pack, and I see Gary Payton. Cool, I don’t even necessarily notice the parallel right off the bat. Next card… Gary Payton? That’s weird. Quickly flip through the rest of the pack… all Gary Payton! And now it hits me, I’ve come across what some would call a ‘Hot Pack’.

The 5 card pack had one of each parallel version. The General Admission /100, the Balcony /75, the Mezzanine /50, Club Box /25, and the Standing Room Only out of just 10.

A couple interesting things here. Payton, while known most for his time with the Supersonics, is shown here in a Lakers uniform, but is listed as a Celtic, where he played the 2004-05 season. The green parallel sure would have looked great with Payton in a Sonics or Celtics uniform.

Four chances at a serial number that matches Payton’s #20 jersey number. Can’t be too greedy.

What also jumps out at me is the lack of advertising for a ‘Hot Pack’. I can’t imagine these show up much for each particular player, since there’s only 10 Standing Room Only copies, and I doubt they are all only in packs such as these. How many of these types of packs were/are out there per player? And I can’t find the answer there.

But I did finish with a serial number 1/10 on the Standing Room Only version. What a pack!

I want to hear about your experiences with hot packs. What was the product? Were the cards all from the same set (base/insert, etc…)?