Is this a legitimate card?

Simple question.

Is this a legitimate card? 

A few of these cards from 2003 have turned up on e-Bay ranging from the $99 price range to $9.

The $99 card does little to explain the pedigree except to say it is 'extremely rare' and it is 'Jacoby's first rookie card from summer ball in Alaska'. 

The $9 card explains in greater detail, and there are 10 available. 

'This is Jacoby Ellsbury amateur baseball card. The Alaska Summer League is a amateur only league for young college players on the west coast to play in all summer. ITS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY PRO-LEAGUE.   All the players don't (sic)get paid. This was made by the team it appears. This is NOT a mainstream issued card. The team had them made in town and they are on card stock.'

 However the picture is terrible and it is possible that anyone with decent scanner/printer and equipment could whip up their own.  The seller, although has a few negative feedbacks, appears to be legit.
It would be a nice addition to the collection but is it the real thing?

30 Unopened packs of baseball Cards

It doesn't happen very often but when it does... I'm talking about unopened packs of baseball cards on eBayUK. Just last week, a seller put five lots of unopened baseball cards up for auction, I was lucky enough to win four of them, I was hoping for the fifth but was beaten out. Hopefully it went to the good home of one of my fellow UK card bloggers.
All the packs are from 2002/3, Donruss and Upper Deck. I have a sneaking suspicion that they are from repack boxes because there is clear plastic glue on the back or front of about 5 packs.
Some of these sets are familiar, but most were new to me.
Included was;

1999 Upper Deck Powerdeck 1pack,

2001 Donruss Studio 4packs,

2002 Upper Deck Rookie Debut  pack,

2002 Donruss Fan Club 5packs,

2002 Donruss 1pack,

2003 Upper Deck First Pitch 4packs,

2003 Upper Deck Series 1 2packs,

2003 Upper Deck Series 2 2packs,

2003 Upper Deck MVP 2packs,

2003 Upper Deck Standing O!  2packs,

2003 Donruss Team Heroes 2packs,

2003 Upper Deck Honor Roll 2packs,

2003 Upper Deck 40 Man 2packs.

They were delivered in a lovely big brown paper covered brick. I'm not ashamed to say it was a tad exciting. There was only one draw back - postage. It started as £15.00, I was able to knock it down to £8.00, knowing full well that it wouldn't come close to that. The actual postage cost was £2.80. I'm not sure why sellers do this and it is one thing that puts me right off eBay.
But look at all these unopened packs, such a glorious sight.
I will be cracking them open at Pursuit of Red Sox, my bold mission to collect Red Sox cards from packs and complete the occasional set.
All other cards will go into various trade piles.

2003 Fleer Hardball

This pack took me a little by surprise. When the auction mentioned round cards I knew it was for me. And yes unsurprisingly the cards are round.
There are 240 cards in the base set which includes 25 All-around Stars and 15 Rookies on deck.
There are two parallel sets: Gold and Platinum (#to 50).
There are inserts: 20 Round trippers, 15 On the Ball, 20 Discs and 14 Round Numbers (#to 1,000).
There are also Game Use and Autographed cards.
There are 7 cards per pack.

The pack:

#35 Kevin Mench Rangers

#45 Junior Spivey D-backs

#76 Mark Teixeira Rangers

#94 Ben Grieve Bay Rays

#137 Roberto Alomar Mets

#165 Bubba Trammell Padres

Well there was no Red Sox, but I was not disappointed by this set. This was a one-off set by the looks of things, so it appears not too popular with collectors.

It's not a new concept either. Take a look at the 1977 Pepsi Cola cards.

Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks

I picked this item up om e-bay recently. It is unusual for two reasons. Firstly Cracker Jacks are not available in the UK so the seller must have bought these back-unopened- from the US in 2003 (sell by date 14th October 2003) with the intention of eating them or keeping them to sell in the future on e-bay. Furthermore the auction was for 1 unopened box, an opened box and 11 cards plus 5 stickers. The picture is from the auction and is exactly what I received.

So now I am in a quandary, to open or not to open. The contents are from 2003. Do Cracker Jacks go off?

2003 FLEER Authentix

These packs contained 5 cards. There is a possibility of a memorbilia card in every 8 packs.

The regular set consists of 100 base cards, 10 Future Stars, 15 Tickets to the Majors (numbered to 1,850).
There are inserts Ticket Stubs and Ballpark Classics.
The parallels are Balcony (numbered to 250), Club Box (numbered to 100) and Standing Room (numbered to 25).

Base cards:

#2 Tom Glavine Braves

#21 Moises Alou Cubs

#35 Raul Ibanez Royals

#95 Paul Konerko White Sox

Insert:

#108 Future Star Michael Restovich Twins

A nice concept. Cards that look like tickets, number, tear off section, darker colours. All that effort and they use the same stadium picture on the back of the card. I would rather have the ticket to be honest. No Red Sox again.

2003 FLEER Showcase

The pack contains 5 cards.

The regular set consists 105 basic cards and 10 Showcasing talent cards.

There are inserts SweetStitch.

There is a parallel set Legacy (numbered to 150) and Masterpieces (numbered 1 of 1).

Base cards:

#80 Kazuhisa Ishii Dodgers

#84 Scott Rolen Cardinals

#91 Craig Biggio Astros

#93 Austin Kearns Reds

#98 Robin Yount Brewers

Really nice looking cards. A plain grey outer border and off white inner border with the gloss player picture on a matt background, that makes the player stand out. Good card stock. I bought these from a seller on e-bay who was also selling 'hit' packs, so I guessed there would be nothing but base cards in here. Pity there were no Red Sox.

2003 FLEER Platinum Jumbo Pack

This jumbo pack contained 25 cards.
The regular set consists of 200 base cards, 20 unsung heroes, 15 prospects.
There are inserts Guts and Glory, MLB scouting report, Portraits and Heart of the Order.
There is a parallel set ~Platinum Finish, numbered to 100.

Base cards:

#7 Jose Cruz Jr Blue Jays

#13 Eric Milton Twins

#14 Andy Pettitte Yankees

#43 Johnny Damon Red Sox

#44 Ken Griffey Junior Reds

#49 Mark Prior Cubs

#50 Kip Wells Pirates

#73 Jamie Moyer Mariners

#74 Brad Radke Twins

#92 Ivan Rodriguez Rangers

#93 Steve Finley Diamondbacks

#118 Vernon Wells Blue Jays

#124 Sean Burroughs Padres

#128 Bobby Higginson Tigers

#145 Javier Varquez Expos

#152 Jermaine Dye Athletics

#167 Tim Salmon Angels

#172 Jeff Conine Orioles

#185 John Smoltz Braves

Inserts:

#209 Unsung Heroes Mike Lowell Marlins

#211 Unsung Heroes Eric Hinske Blue Jays
#218 Unsung Heroes Jason Jennings Rockies

#223 Prospects Bobby Jenks Angels

#16/20 Heart of the Order Cardinals

Greg of Night Owl would be happy with these colours. I am not sure about the yellow and blue stripes. The inserts are a nice design and 5 inserts out of 25 is a pretty good ratio.