Imagine if a pack of 1986 Topps baseball cards came to life? San Francisco-area college professor Brad Balukjian had that fantasy – and he made it happen.
Balukjian hit the road in his modest Accord, Whitesnake blaring, in search of what happened to those players, who run the gamut from Hall of Fame inductee to relative unknown, post-baseball.
Book cover courtesy Amazon
It’s fitting that The Wax Pack: On The Open Road In Search of Baseball’s Afterlife has the same element of surprise as opening a fresh pack of cards. However, for those who can’t wait, here are some of the players whom Balukjian pursues: Rick Sutcliffe, Doc Gooden, Gary Templeton, Lee Mazzilli, and Carlton Fisk.
Considering its inspiration was a pack of baseball cards, Wax Pack is surprisingly intense with an often-solemn tone. One of Wax Pack’s pivotal scenes takes place in a cemetery, and Balukjian doesn’t shy away from racial issues. Wax Pack was published months before the protests were in the news cycle. More than anything, Balukjian wants his subjects to bare their souls.
Balukjian, then 34, scores plenty of interviews, but he does strike out a few times. Some players would prefer not to be interviewed, much less bare their souls. In perhaps the lightest moment of the book, Balukjian, uh, aggressively pursues an interview-phobic, a notoriously sour Hall of Famer at his upscale golf club. During a sad episode, a Hall of Fame-caliber player with a history of substance issues goes AWOL right before his scheduled interview, one Balukjian even agreed to pay for.
Indeed, Balukjian is a man on a mission.
When Balukjian does nab interviews, he doesn’t settle for canned quotes or get stuck on stats. More often than not, the conversations are intimate, diving deep into family and spousal issues. Yes, there’s no shortage of emotional moments in Wax Pack. In fact, at times, it felt as if I was eavesdropping on a therapy appointment. At one point, one of the players confesses to wanting his father dead.
Brad Balukjian (photo courtesy Alta Journal)
No one’s crying that their playing days are in the past. Among the players, it’s accepted they’re nothing more than temporary, fragile place holders until the next prospect lands. It’s all very Moneyball. With that said, most of the Wax Packers, as Balukjian refers to them, are still affiliated with the game in one form or another.
In the course of his epic road trip, Balukjian, a man who admits to being a sucker for the underdog, reveals his own story. He doesn’t steer away from his imperfections, including his OCD and his flawed relationships with his father and his ex, the one who got away. He also touches on a new potential love interest.
It’s somewhat appropriate that Wax Pack was published during the pandemic’s relative isolation, because it’s quite reflective. With baseball season arriving soon, Wax Pack is worthy of being in your lineup.
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Jon Hart is the author of Unfortunately, I was available.
