

Brad Balukjian tore open a pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards. He chewed the stale, brittle, powdery bubblegum. And then, he planned a road trip most sports fans could only dream about. The college biology professor set out to meet every player whose image appeared on those old pieces of cardboard.
From Dwight Gooden to Rick Sutcliffe to Carlton Fisk, Balukjian made his list. He wanted to see what life after baseball has been like for each of the former pros.
“I’m just fascinated by what happens when they’re done after the spotlight,” Balukjian said. “I always wanted to do something about those guys I grew up with. And I saw the pack as the perfect device to get a random sample of players from that era.”
Balukjian spent about nine months planning, researching, and exchanging communication with the players and their families to set up meetings. He funded the trip himself. It cost about $8,000 and took him in his 2002 Honda Accord across 30 states, over 11,241 miles, in 48 days. (He boasts 123 cups of coffee fueled him.) He collected his interviews and insights and published them in a book called The Wax Pack. The volume quickly became a favorite among baseball-hungry fans during the coronavirus pandemic.
Does that seem like a costly investment to go seeking a handful of folks who are mostly forgotten in today’s world? Consider this: No one is forgotten in God’s eyes if He has set His love upon them. God loved the world in this way: He sent His Son into it. (See John 3:16.) Jesus literally walked this Earth out of love for those who did, do, and will trust Him for their eternal wellbeing. He didn’t come to seek the famous, gifted, wise, or powerful any more than the common, humble, poor, and weak. All are equally worth His pursuit.
As Balukjian got into his project, he found that the individuals he was pursuing were also worth much more than their performance on the field. He discovered that even athletic greats wrestle with a universally human dilemma: fear and anxiety.
“When I actually started . . . talking to these guys, that’s when it really became something a lot bigger. It was transcending baseball,” Balukjian says, developing into “bigger themes like what is our relationship like with fear. . . . Baseball players and athletes, in general, they have to master fear to be successful. . . . The lessons that they passed on to me [are lessons] we can all benefit from.”
fist comment!
I don't really like baseball basketball is more of my thing but this is cool and Ewww I would not eat that old bubble gum. its kinda sad how kids don't collect cards as much anymore some cards are worth a lot now. wack pack lol kinda like the wacky pack from sonic
oppps just realized the wax
oppps just realized the wax pack not wack pack just erase my last sentence
typo
typo
it's cool, but also pretty random
I do think that it was a cool idea! I wonder if all of those players are still alive.
@London S yes it is super gross that he ate that gum. I am thinking about basketball this year, but right now I am playing volleyball. or, was. I still don't know if we're playing this year because of covid. Arkansas's becoming a hotspot.
Cool! That must have been
Cool! That must have been quite the trip!
Yesterday
I got a lot of baseball and football cards from a drawing lol I went through all of them like a thousand
This is Mylee
Eww the gum s nasty. Once we went to a museum and they had bubble gum from the 1930s. But no one ate it it. The book sounds interesting. I would like to have an old baseball card.
from us both
btw, what curriculum('s) r u all doing 4 school this year? our list is posted below: (it would b cool some of us were doing the same stuff! btw, we're homeschooled :)
Math: Teaching Textbooks
Language Arts: Learning Language Arts Through Literature
History: Sonlight Old World History
Science: Apologia Human Anatomy and Phisology
people do cool things to make cool things happen
because they are cool things
@Above
Yeah, I would not eat the gum. That is nasty. But I bet that trip was great. Trust a college professor to have that money!! lol, just joking.
cool
I'm doing teaching textbooks too!!!!!
Belwyn R. We actually started
Belwyn R. We actually started school today!!!!! My other things I am doing for school are:
Good and Beautiful language program
Classical Conversations
Sonlight readers and lapbook( we usually do way more with sonlight and, but this year we are changing things around!
Who all here are homeschoolers?
@ Maribelle
We do Sonlight too! This year I'm doing Core H (year 2 of World History). I don't do the lapbooks though. I also do AoPS math and Apologia science.
@ Maribelle B.
we did the Good and Beautiful last year!! :)
Homeschooled
Gross!! i would not eat that gum!! We are doing Apologia Science too!! And Math-U-See. !
Homeschooler
I am a homeschooler
Math: Math Mammoth
History: Mystery of History
Medical Investigation 101
Dog training
8 minutes in the morning PE
Baseball cards
I have 4 cases of top pick baseball card from the 1980s, each pack has like 400 to 600 cards. They still unopened!
Marvin S
I am homeschooled as well
@Marvin S That is cool!
@Marvin S That is cool!
I am homeschooled. I started school on the 24th of August. My family normally does Apologia, but I am using Experience Biology this year. The rest of my family is still doing Apologia. We just weren't impressed with the labs for biology when my older sister did them, and almost every one of them did not work or they couldn't see in the microscope what they were supposed to! So we are trying something f=different. I would recommend all the Apologia books except the biology.
neat
horrible story
I am Homeschooled
I have been homeschooled all my life. I am doing:
History\Writing\Literature: Sonlight Core F
Science: Anatomy & Physiology (Master Books)
Math TT
Grammar: IEW
and I am taking Welsh.
Everyone's right!!!;P
I don't want to eat that bubble gum! It sounds old. Oh, I don't like old bubble gum! [cheeks blow up with air] ;T
;T Okay, I'm leaving.
;T Okay, I'm done reading this article, don't feel well about the old gum part, I'm leaving.........;l Um... am I reacting a bit too much?