69 Curtis Granderson
Grand is carrying my fantasy team right now. The average is down slightly, but he's got 8 dingers so far. Great card to lead off the pack.9 Jeff Francoeur
I hate to say this, but we are very rapidly approaching "Million dollar arm, ten cent head" territory with Frenchy. He's got his average up this season at least so I'll cut him some slack for now.23 Josh Beckett
Beckett got a little beat up in his last start but he's looking ok tonight against the Yanks. This card is a good example of the 'too much dead space' problem with the design of this set. I agree with a previous commenter that this set would look much better if Upper Deck had made all base cards mini sized like they did in 2007.273 David Wright Heads Up SP
Speaking of 2007 Goudey, the Heads up concept returns to the short prints of this set. The Wright card looks good, but a Chipper would look better. I have to admit I have not obsessively examined the checklist like I normally do, partially because I don't want to be depressed by all the short prints I have no chance of getting.Instant Savings Code - Matt Kemp
I love the fact that UD finally did something interesting with their thick decoy cards.867 UD 20th World Trade Organization Established
In the past, I have had little problem with these inserts. That was when I could pick up a blaster or two whenever I wanted and rip to my heart's content. Now I am in the position where I have vastly limited my pack consumption to the point where this is likely my one and only hobby pack of Goudey this year. To have one of the very few cards in the pack replaced with this worthless piece of garbage with some bald old bastard who was probably instrumental in creating some of the policies that led to our current economic boondoggle really, really pisses me off. I will be the first to admit that had this been a card of the Braves winning the 1995 World Series instead of the World Trade Organization being formed in 1995, I would have a very different take on the matter. I didn't pull a Braves card however, I pulled this.Meh.
106 Bill Hall
Bill fell off the face of the earth the past couple of seasons, but it looks like he's happy to be back playing at third base for the Brewers. He's hittting better than Frenchy is so far. He's got Mat Gamel breathing down his neck, so he better produce.190 Ian Kinsler
Nine freaking homers! In the first month of the season! Playing SECOND BASE! Ian is a total beast. Upper Deck gave him Goudey Dork Face Disease for all his effort. For shame, Upper Deck, for shame.128 Johan Santana
This card is entirely too orange for my tastes. I guess Mets fans wouldn't mind so that's ok. What Mets fans would mind is the massive roller mark right down the center of the card that pretty much puts a crease in the card. Hopefully Upper Deck relocated one of their senior level roller tighteners to Charlotte to put an end to this.Not a bad pack at all, 5 legit stars with one of them being a nifty short print. The annoying insert and production mishaps drop the pack a letter grade or two, but overall not too shabby. The big problem with hobby Goudey is the price. Eight Goudey cards should not cost 5+ bucks a pop. I don't give a rats ass if there is a chance to win the auto or buyback lottery, that's too much money for not enough cards. UD undermined their own product again with their retail backs as well. Remember, the last two years they had hobby packs for $5 and retail packs for $3 with the exact same number of cards in the pack. They've one upped themselves this year though! Guess what I just found at Wal Mart yesterday? Jumbo packs. 16 cards. Five bucks. There is absolutely no reason and no excuse for buying a hobby pack of Goudey this year. If you want a case, go for the hobby. If you're in the market for a slightly less pricey ripping experience go to your nearest gigantic discount store and find you a rack pack.
3 comments:
You hit it right on the nose with your comments about the pricing.
Being pure cardboard (i.e. no foil/gloss coating, etc.), these cards are no more expensive to produce than cards were 20 years ago.
Yet whereas 1989 Topps, Donruss, & Fleer packs/boxes cost roughly 3 cents a card at retail...2009 Goudey costs about 65 cents a card (hobby)/35 cents a card (retail).
That's essentially a 1000-2000% price increase (cumulative inflation over the same period has been about 70%) for an identical quality product.
And manufacturers wonder why collectors are fleeing the hobby in droves?
The fact that there was like 20 something companies making cards in the early ninties and now there are only two has a lot to do with it too.
I've got to say, that Grandy is one nice looking card. He's going to carry your fantasy team all year--he bulked up a little in the offseason and now all of those gap doubles and triples are going out. Oh, and he was just moved down in the lineup to become a potential RBI machine.
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