First Box Break of the Year: 2008 Timelines - Packs 15-18

Last four packs. Let's have a big finish!

Pack 15:

19 Prince Fielder
28 Derek Jeter
58 Kosuke Fukudome RC
128 Russell Martin '92
23 Matt Kemp Gold parallel
145 Alex Rodriguez '94
201 Nick Blackburn RC '95
244 Troy Tulowitzki '04

COMPLETE BASE SET! Yessssssss. I think I sent Prince to Thorzul, but now I got him back. Sweetness. I'm so happy I'm not even irritated by the useless gold card or 80 billionth Kosuke rookie I've pulled out of UD packs.

Pack 16:

46 Torii Hunter
10 Chase Utley
90 Brian Bocock RC
109 David Murphy '92
63 Masahide Kobayashi RC Gold Parallel
136 David Ortiz '94
183 Burke Badenhop RC '95
258 Blake DeWitt RC '04

The problem with completing the base set is that now every one of them from now on is a double. Tons of doubles for me in this pack, as well as one more useless gold card. I got a Papi I needed at least.

Pack 17:

36 Jim Thome
54 Jeff Clement RC
118 Hernan Iribarren RC '92
329 German Duran RC '93 SP
YSL4747 Willie Randolph
163 Joe Mauer '94
206 Russell Martin '95
272 David Wright '04

Good news for Yankee fans: I found all my YSL cards, or at least most of 'em. I'm sure there's a few more hiding in my collection somewhere but I've got 68 of them all in one place now. Well, now it's 69. Giggety. I'll figure out what I want to do with them soon and disperse them as needed. Apparently my Reds mojo has run out, only to be replaced by Dodgers. That's four in three packs including 2 Russell Martins. Nice to see half the pack knocking out needs on my want list after only one in the last pack. Let's finish the box.

LAST PACK:

9 Mark Teixeira
27 Alex Rodriguez
63 Masahide Kobayashi RC
127 Rico Washington RC '92
346 Justin Masterson RC '94 SP
147 Brandon Webb '94
184 Calix Crabbe RC '95
286 Ryan Howard '04

A pack with no Reds or Dodgers! Amazing! four more for the set too including the normal Kobayashi card, a short print, another Brewer I probably gave away and a Ryan Howard Timeless Teams. Strong finish. Let's look at the stats for the box:

Base cards - 28
Base Rookies - 18
1992 design - 18
1994 Heroes design - 18
1995 minors design - 18
2004 Timeless design - 18
1993 SP design - 6
1994 SP design - 5
1995 SP design - 3
Yankee Stadium Legacy - 4 - Don Baylor, Lou Piniella, Ron Guidry, Willie Randolph
Gold Parallel Base - 4 - Johan Santana, Justin Verlander, Matt Kemp, Masahide Kobayashi
Gold Parallel 1994 - 2 - Max Scherzer, JR Towles
Autograph - 2 - Brandon Boggs '95 Minors, Micah Gibbs USA Baseball

Well, I'm pretty happy with the box. Even though they seem to be ubiquitous, the autographs are pretty good. I got a bunch of stuff off my wantlist and finished the base set. I'm not crazy about the Gold parallels, but Upper Deck has to waste cards with something. I might get another box of this one of these days. 80% of the box is subsets or short prints or inserts which ain't bad at the price. I'd end up with a hell of a lot of doubles since I already have well over half the set, but it's a fun rip and the autos and short prints might be worth it. This set isn't for everybody to be sure. The ridiculous amount of short prints will turn off most set collectors. The hits aren't very spectacular. The checklist has a ton of duplication. But, hey, I think it's fun. If you think you're finally at the end of Timelines though, you're wrong. I have a surprise for you this weekend.