2008 Heritage Box Break - Part 2: Packs 5-9

Pack 5:
271 Andy Phillips
251 Alex Gonzalez
203 So Taguchi
478 Jason Bay
294 Jay Payton
291 Pitching Partners
BF7 Brooks Robinson Flashbacks
350 black Jimmy Rollins

The first thing that struck me from this pack: Alex Gonzalez played for the Reds?? I can't see him in anything but Marlins teal and the red uniform with matching red border threw me. Then I saw So Taguchi in a Phillies cap and the mind blowing was complete. Jason Bay's #478 in the middle of the pack blew my all high numbers theory for short prints. I got my first legit insert card, a Brooks Robinson Flashbacks.Not a big fan of the design, it's just different enough from the base cards to look off. The Nationals' Pitching Partners card amuses me. The way they are standing together (or are photoshopped together) makes it look like they are taking one last look around the dugout to make sure no one's there before making out. When this break is done I might have to go back through the set and see what players are on the original cards these combos are patterned after. The unneccesary computer photo manipulation is heavy in this pack but J-Roll's photo looks good. I wish the whole set were like that.

Set Completion - 7.4%

Pack 6:
375 Baseball Thrills Man-Ram
287 Matt Kemp
319 AJ Burnett
139 Jeff Ridgway
405 Dave Bush
198 Jerry Owens
NF9 News Flashbacks In Cold Blood
360 black Magglio Ordonez

First Jack the Ripper, now shotgun murders. I'll get my game used Zodiac card yet! I'm not crazy about this news Flashback set. I'm not really interested in a card of a farmhouse. The exception though is the card of Luna 2. Look for it on eBay. Coolest card in the entire set. The photography is much better in this pack with the exception of Jerry Owens. Maggs looks like his picture was taken at the same golf course as Griffey's Trading Card History card. The Manny Ramirez card is killer, check out that swing.

Set Completion - 8.8%

Pack 7:
244 Carlos Pena
26 Fausto Carmona
257 Jarrod Washburn
163 Brad Ausmus
362 Clint Sammons RC
90 Hideki Matsui
496 Victor Martinez All-Star SP
178 black Adam Lind

If I see one more - just one more - Mariners card with that same brick wall background I'm going to scream. I got my first Brave in this pack, rookie catcher Clint Sammons. For some reason Clint didn't get the fancy rookie subset treatment, but gets a cool black border as a consolation prize. Clint was signing at the Braves Fan Fest that I went to but never got around to posting about. Maybe someday... Not a bad pack, got a short printed all star card, the out-of-nowhere Carlos Pena and the man with the cool name, Fausto Carmona. I'll be watching him closely this year to see if that overworked arm can keep from falling off. I'm starting to think that the cartoons are actually new ones done in the style of the '59 cards, as there's no way the one with a Japanese guy? girl? bowing to the baseball player on Matsui's card was used in the original set.

Set Completion - 10.4%

Pack 8:
208 Daisuke Matsuzaka
146 Joey Votto RC
249 Jonathan Papelbon
48 Orioles Checklist 40-95
312 Tom Glavine
401 Chad Gaudin
196 Jose Valverde
58 Paul LoDuca

Ah. The natural order of things has been restored. Another black border though. My '59 Braves team set has mostly yellow borders with a few blues and greens sprinkled through. There's also one pink border, but no black. I wonder how much thought was put into the choice of border color for this set, I'm seeing a lot of team color borders for star cards like the Dice-K Red border, the Jason Bay yellow border and the Orioles team card has the obvious orange border. There's also been some hideous ones like, well all of the pink borders come to think of it. I haven't spied any cartoons I recognize from the original set, but I caught my first duplicate cartoon in this set. Joey Votto has the same burly guy making contact with a pitch with a bizarre POK! sound as Adam Lind does on the back of his card. I've come to a solid decision on the black back cards. If they have a good player on them, they're great. If you get a stink bomb like in this one, they suck. It seems like every blogger ripping packs has been pulling LoDuca cards like mad lately and I'm sick and tired of them. I'm pulling for Estrada to win the Nationals job just so I don't have to pull any more Lo Dookie inserts.

Set Completion - 12%

Pack 9:
202 Nick Swisher
278 Delwyn Young
279 Kurt Suzuki
314 Mark Kotsay
218 Rafael Soriano
34 Pitchers Beware
471 Jose Bautista SP
81 black Torii Hunter

Pitchers should beware the entire Tigers' lineup, not just Maggs and Granderson. Of the two transplanted A's outfielders Nick Swisher is airbrushed into a Sox cap and Mark Kotsay still has an A's logo. grrrr. He doesn't even get a "Traded to Braves" blurb on the back like the "optioned" variation found on some '59 cards. Topps didn't however airbrush out the generic western rocks seen in the background of Kostay and Suzuki's cards. I did get the Braves' closer though, aka BMF. I'm not sure if Bautista is a short print or not. I'm so confused! I mentioned the Torii Hunter card in my fist post on Heritage. This is actually a pretty funny picture of Torii, but compared to the A&G card it's lame by comparison. Add the airbrushed Angels uni (but not for Kotsay, grrrr) and it earns the Caddyshack 2 moniker. I calls 'em like I sees 'em.

Set Completion - 13.6%

The box so far:
68 base cards (common, black back & SP's)
8 black backs
4 Short prints
1 Chrome
1 Flashback
1 News Flashback
1 Buyback