Upper Deck retail gyp product vs Topps cheapo 'ya know, for the kids' product match up in the final battle of the first round.
The packs:
2007 Upper Deck
234 Jonathan Broxton
4 Devern Hansack RC
40 Cesar Jimenez RC
90 Todd Jones
52 Brandon Fahey
277 Ray Durham
178 Adam LaRoche
176 Luis Vizcaino
136 Willie Bloomquist
FPA-BW Brandon Webb
2007 Opening Day
76 Rocco Baldelli
124 Mark Teixeira
58 Miguel Cabrera
2 Mike Piazza
61 Alfonso Soriano
184 Jeff Salazar RC
Meet Mr. Wright contest card
Number of Cards:
Even with the bonus David Wright Contest card, Opening Day comes up short to First edition.
UD 10, Opening Day 7
Number of cards that are actually good:
UD has Adam LaRoche, a Webb insert and a couple of rookies I've never heard of before. Opening Day is packed with stars, including heavily airbrushed Piazza and Soriano cards.
UD 12, Opening Day 12
Inserts and Short Prints:
Upper Deck's insert per pack nets a Brandon Webb First Pitch Aces card. UD encroaches on Topps' turf by sneaking in an insert set dedicated to opening day starters. Opening Day had no inserts except for the David Wright contest card. It's a neat looking card, but will probably get annoying once you've pulled your twentieth copy.
UD 15, Opening Day 13
Attractiveness of the design:
Both sets basically swiped the base set's designs and tweaked them slightly. Topps reversed the background from white to black and added gold foil and an opening day logo. Upper Deck changed the Borders from white to gold and slapped a first edition banner on the bottom. The UD design is actually much better than the white bordered product, the gold frames the design more effectively. Opening Day looks more like a traditional Topps design, although the floating tiny squares are a little more eye bending with the white background. The backs are a push, UD has a bunch of wasted space, but at least they didn't recycle the front photo for their tiny headshot.
UD 19, Opening Day 16
Best card in the pack:
Upper Deck: 4 Devern Hansack RC
Opening Day: 2 Mike Piazza
The rookie with the All-Star name started a couple games for the Sox last year and managed a 1-1 record. He also had a much more respectable ERA than Cesar Jimenez's 14.73 scorcher. Yipe. Mike Piazza looks like a deranged leprechaun in his beautifully airbrushed Kelly green A's uni.
UD 20, Opening Day 21
Spokesman on the pack wrapper:
Poor Topps. They put David Wright on the pack and even hold a contest to let a fan meet the guy, and he still gets bumped off the back of the tabloids by Derek Jeter.
UD 25, Opening Day 24
Intangibles:
This one's tough. Opening Day is a nice pack, but it's still the product you blow a 10 dollar bill on in April and forget about by May. Upper Deck First Edition is actually what I wish Upper Deck regular edition would be. Paying a buck for 10 cards from a 300 card series is much more appealing to me than dropping 3 bucks for 8 cards out of a 500 card series. If Opening Day had netted a puzzle piece or a mascot it might have pulled this one out.
Final score:
2007 Upper Deck First Edition 27, 2007 Opening Day 26
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