2008 Stupid Year In Review - Part 11: Topps Updates and Highlights

I don't know what it means either so don't ask.

The Future of Blasters?

It looks like a lot of strange things are popping up in Target lately. Flash just found a tin of 2008 Sweet Spot there! I've found some Co-Signers Basketball at Target myself, which while it isn't as odd as seeing a Sweet Spot Tin, does seem to indicate that Topps and Upper deck are starting to really roll out their higher-end hobby products to retail now. I'm not sure what to think about this, retail is probably where a big chunk of their profits come from, but this can't be good for hobby stores in this economy. I don't know if I'm going to buy one of these tins or not. the only reason I like it is for the autographs and I can probably pick up a two or three of them for the price of a tin.

The next odd thing I found was this jumbo cello pack of Topps Heritage High Numbers. Topps has never done a jumbo pack of Heritage before, but I like it. You're basically getting one more card for one less dollar. The odds on the back are strange though. If you compare the jumbo with the regular pack the short prints are 1:3 for both packs and the Rookie Performers, Flashbacks and Then and Now still drop at 1:12. All other inserts like Chromes, relics and autographs show the odds are approximately halved. Who knows, maybe Topps is trying to lower expectations. I got both a Then & Now and a Chrome in my pack.

This is what I wanted to show off though:

Oh goody, a rack pack of Topps Updates & Highlights. How interesting. Yawn. But wait, this isn'tan ordinary rack pack, it's a...

MEGA VALUE PACK !

One thing I had noticed when this product came out is that there were no more ten dollar blasters. Only the 20 dollar blasters with a relic card in every box. I was bummed, because I didn't want the relic card, I wanted the retail only inserts to try to chase a Chipper. There were none to be found though. This 80 card rack pack is basically a 10 dollar blaster. The old blasters had five 12 card packs and a three card box topper. That's 63 cards total and a lot of extra packaging. This here is also 10 dollars but has 20 extra cards but also no box and five less wrappers. That is pretty dang cool if you ask me. The environment is better off because there is a lot less packaging to get thrown away. The manufacturer is better off because they don't have to purchase the extra packaging and the packaging weighs less so it take less fuel to ship. The retailer is better off because they can hang the rack packs up and have more shelf space. The consumer is better off because they get more cards. The only one screwed in this deal is the guy who makes the boxes. That's 80% happiness right there.

So is this a good idea? Hell yes. Upper Deck has their own 10 dollar value pack full of base brand cards that also has a much smaller environmental footprint than a blaster and also provides value (and they did it first!) so good job to both of them for innovating on the packaging a little. Last year saw the blaster box size shrink a bit so they're making incremental steps on reducing waste. You don't care about this tree hugging hippie crap though, you want to see the cards. Well, here ya go:

Top Half:
(The UH's have been removed from the card numbers for their own protection)

103 Chris Burke
277 John Rheinecker
31 Marco Scutaro
30 Brendan Harris
271 Brad Thompson
55 Cesar Izturis
13 Geoff Blum
218 Salomon Torres
278 So Taguchi
146 Carlos Gonzalez RC
70 George Sherrill
134 Joey Devine
33 Carlos Marmol
15 Kevin Cash

All the inserts were bunched up together. There were eight, which is roughly equivalent to what you would get in a five pack blaster with a 3 card bonus pack.

TCP42 Hidecki Matsui
TCP45 Johan Santana
TCP31 CHIPPER JONES

yessssssssssssssssssss

YR159 Curtis Granderson

FC-13 Millard and Abigail Fillmore

MRH-DG Dwight Gooden Ring of Honor

210 Joe Saunders Gold #1992/2008
292 Ryan Dempster All-Star Gold #1293/2008

ok, back to base cards:
286 Aaron Cook All-Star
137 Evan Longoria Highlight
316 Ben Sheets All-Star
136 Ramirez & Pujols Combos
37 Connor Robertson
112 Hamilton & Drew Combos
292 Ryan Dempster All-Star
323 Jorge Velandia
293 Adam Dunn
190 Manny Ramirez All-Star
215 Josh Hamilton All-Star
317 Brian Buscher
156 Roy Halladay All-Star
203 Joe Crede All-Star
222 Dave Borkowski
306 Casey Kotchman
96 Vladimir Nunez
204 Franquelis Osoria
12 Trot Nixon
318 Kyle Farnsworth
276 Corey Hart All-Star

Bottom Half:

211 Brett Tomko
235 Eddie Guardado
260 Emil Brown
193 Jeremy Affeldt
307 Greg Norton
169 Eulogio Del La Cruz
176 Brad Wilkerson
38 Carlos Villanueva
242 Raul Chavez
14 Bartolo Colon
2 Sean Casey (this guy is in every pack I buy)
212 Guillermo Mota
49 Ryan Howard
123 Matt Joyce RC
39 Jose Molina
189 Micah Hoffpauir RC
20 Justin Masterson RC
57 Ramon Castro
201 Travis Denker RC
208 Kerry Wood All-Star
119 Ken Griffey Jr. Highlights
88 Haren & Martin Combos
313 Tim Lincecum All-Star
226 Brian McCann All-Star
268 Alfonso Soriano All-Star
287 Chase Headley
328 Billy Wagner All-Star
5 Chipper Jones All-Star
25 Lance Berkman All-Star
239 Milton Bradley All-Star
77 Ervin Santana All-Star
24 Tony Armas Jr.
219 Damaso Marte
264 David Ortiz All-Star
181 Rulelyvs Hernandez
258 Arthur Rhodes
186 Wes Littleton

There was also a checklist, a ToppsTown and a David Wright ad in there too. Not a bad stack for the money, 47 base cards I didn't have, a couple more T205's to send to JayBee and the T205 Chipper. Good stuff for 10 bucks. Keep it up the enviro-freindly stuff, Topps! Maybe bring back Vending boxes next year!

2008 Topps Updates & Highlights Blaster rip

Ok, time to do this. I'll rip each pack, type it up, ignore the typos, scan the money cards and post them one pack at a time. I'll keep a running tab of my points, but don't worry, I'll beat Hand Collated with no problems. Keep refreshing to see the updates.

Here we go!

Pack 1:
(The UH prefix on the card number has been omitted because it's bloody stupid)
199 Lance Cormier
87 Ryan Langerhans
63 Eric Bruntlett
68 Johnathan PApelbon All-Star
YR124 VLad Guerrero Year In review
WBC6 Jose Reyes WBC preview +3 -2 for met
MMS73 Mickey Mantle Story
300 Captain Cheeseburger gold parallel 562/2008
T538X5P

Point total = 1

4 inserts in the first pack? the rest of the box is gonna suck


Pack 2:
230 Jason Jennings
91 Billy Buckner
45 Eric Hurley
297 Cory Wade +1 dodger
100 Jay Bruce noooooooooooooo -1
35 Anley Ramirez All-Star
311 Best card in the set Oscar Salazar
52 Derek Jeter All=Star
checklist 2

Point total = 1


Pack 3:
247 Scott Podsednik is a rockie?
265 Tony Abreu +1 dodger
133 Tadahito Iguchi
105 Dan Giese
309 John Bowker
233 Grady Sizemore All-Star
124 Combo A-rod & Longoria
99 Combo Hanley & Ortiz
J3R3RSF

Point Total = 2

Pack 4:
151 Darin Erstad is an Astro?
175 Luis Vizcaino
187 Rod Barajas
81 JC Romero
225 Ryan Tucker
261 Matt Macri
184 Chutley Home Run Derby
319 Ruben Gotay +3 Brave!
Topps of the class David Wright cards don't count against me because they're garbage

Point Total: 5


IMPRTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

The jersey card was visible when I opened the box. No one guessed it. Make your guesses here, first person to get it right wins something whether I beat Hand Collated or not.

Pack 5:
67 Jamey Carroll
253 Josh Johnson
171 Brian Bixler
3 Freddie Bynum
165 Burke Badenhop
324 Griffey Jr as a Sox oh it's so beautiful
228 Joe Blanton
FC-19 Lucretia and GENERAL James A Garfield! +5
NCNRHMF

This is my THIRD garfield card, some one please take it from me

Point total = 10

Pack 6:
130 Mike Cameron
163 Miguel Cairo
205 Octavio Dotel
135 Jose Arredondo
177 Emmanuel Burriss
257 Casey Blake Dodger +1
156 Juan Rincon
Take Me Out To The Ball Game
take me out to the crowd
buy me some peanutrs and cracker jack
I don't care if I ever finish this box rip
checklist 3

Point Total = 11

PAck 7:
121 Jacque Jones
90 Dan Haren
325 Clay Hensley
129 Nick Adenhart
240 Clayton kershaw +1 Dodger
105Matt Murton
YR170 JR Towlie Year in review
RH-WF Whitey Ford Ring of Honor +3
3SHFKCN

i wonder if anyone has caught on yet. or if they even care?

Point Totol = 15

Pack 8:
UH235 Eddie Guardado
211 Brett Tomko
21Darrell Rasner
117 Jed Lowrie
159 Mike Aviles
251 Mark Redman
288 Evan Longoria
157 Mark Hendrickson gold parallell 383/2008
David Wright is not the Topps of the class and is a lousy fielder and doesn't deserve those gold gloves he stoled from CHIPPER

Point total = 15

no money cards so heer's some insetrs

Also here's a not-subtle hint on the jersey card:
the FIRST person to guess the PLAYER from the GROUP of jersey cards gets A prize.

PAck 9:
260 Emil Brown
193 Jeremy Affeldt @#!$%^@# Red -1
307 Greg Norton Hooray! Brave+3
280 Max Scherzer
9 Shawn Riggans
216 Jason Bay
72 Pete Orr (almost typed Brave here)
132 Jorge De La Rosa
BD7DZ56

Point Total = 17

LAST PACK BIG MONEY NO WHAMMIES STOP:
169 Eulogio De La Cruz
103 Chris Burke
277 John Rheinecker
141 Michael Aubrey
111 Brandon Boggs
245 Ryan Braun All Star
97 Sean Gallagher
ARGH 66 Robinson Cancel lousy stinkin Met -2
Checklist 1 - complete set of checklists!

LaST STINKIN CARD A MET IVE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF

HEre's what you've been waiting for... TEH BOX HIT:

RR-AC Asdrubal Cabrera

FINAL POINT TOTAL = 15 points

only 2 measley Braves.

Ok Scott, let's see how you did... go check out Hand Collated for the other box rip!

Contest Winners:
Guess the Braves:
White Sox Cards And AlbuqwirkE both guessed two Braves. White Sox Cards wins because he a) guessed first b) Angel Berroa used to play in the AL Central which is where Asdrubal plays, and 3.) AlbuqwuirkE numbered his picks. (I gotta break the tie somehow)

Guess the jersey:
Cardboard Addiction guessed the card (after a blatant hint) but PopGuyNYC made the funniest joke so they're sort of tied at the moment. It'll all work itself out...

Thanks for checking out the box break and get over to Hand Collated to see the bottom of the ninth!

Blaster Battle - The Ground Rules & Contest

As you can see on that poll up on the top right of the blog, Topps Updates & Highlights won over Allen & Ginter. So, Here is my blaster to rip LIVE right here at 9:00pm Eastern.

Ah, but there's a twist! Hand Collated saw I was opening a box of this junk and decided to challenge me to a duel! So now, I will not only open this box live in A Pack a Day fashion, but will be fighting for the immortal soul of Ernie Lombardi!

This is very serious you know, he was both a Red and a Brave (although he's really a Brave, don't listen to those Reds fans) and that's what this challenge is all about: REDS VS BRAVES.

Back in the day, the Reds and Braves were both in the National League West and we didn't like each other very well. I'd always boo the Baseball Bunch because that bum Johnny Bench was hosting. Bob Horner would have been twice the host Johnny Bench was and he would have taken the kids out for pizza and beer (root, of course) afterward! So this break is to determine a mythical 1994 NL West Championship. Or in Scott's own words:

From 1969 to 1993, the Braves and the Reds were both part of the NL West. 1994 brought realignment, new divisional foes to both teams, and a player’s strike to disrupt the whole season.

But what if things hadn’t changed? What if the Reds and the Braves had remained divisional foes? The Braves in 1994 stood at 68-46, six games behind the powerhouse Expos when the strike started. The Reds sat atop the newly created NL central with a 66-48 record. The teams, unmoved, would have been vying for first place in the NL West, probably until the end of the year while leaving the rest of the division in the dust.

But who would have prevailed? Who would be the NL West champ? Computer simulations only go so far to solve this puzzle, but I think the best way to end this horribly convoluted construction is simple:

BLASTER BATTLE!!!11!!!1!!

So how will this battle be fought? With a beefed up version of Steve's Sox or No Sox pack ripping format. We get points for pulling good stuff, lose points for pulling junk. Here are the scoring rules:

Number of Points per pull:

Our Teams:
Reds player: +3 for Scott, -1 for Dayf
Braves player: +3 for Dayf, -1 for Scott

The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend:
Dodgers Player: -2 for Scott, +1 for Dayf (NL West, remember)
Mets player: -2 for Dayf, +1 for Scott (Mets beat us in '69, the jerks)

Insert Sets:
WBC Preview: +3
Ring of Honor: +3

Political Crap:
First Ladies: -3 (are we sick of poilitics yet?)
If the President was a General: +5 (It is Veteran's Day)

Bonus players:
Pull that player: +5
Pull an insert of that player: +10
Scott's bonus player: Jay Bruce:
Dayf's bonus player: Chipper Jones

Jersey Card Bonus:
Pull the Jersey card from a player from your team: +15.

So there's the ground rules so you can play along at home. But wait there's more...

CONTEST FOR LOYAL JUNKIE FANS!

That's right, root on the Braves and get swag. The two winners (if there are any) get 25 cards from the team or set of their choice and an insert/rookie card from their favorite team or player. Here's the deal:

In the comments, make a guess at two things:

1. How many Braves will I pull?
2. Who will my jersey card be?

Here is the list of all the possible players I could pull (subject to change).

Here's the catch, if I don't win, you don't win. I don't care if you guess right or not, you'll have to pester Scott for something if he wins. This is for the title! No rewards for losing! Be back here in about an hour and a half and watch the packs rip!

2008 Topps Updates & Highlights - Hobby vs., Retail part 3

Ok, I finally found some Target packs to finish up the Updates and Highlights posts. I was hoping to find a $10 blaster, but I haven't seen any of them at all. I'm worried they may have discontinued them for some reason. The $20 ones have a jersey card in every box, but I want the three card bonus pack of T205s instead. Oh well. I'm just not emotionally invested enough in this set to drop $20 on it right now, especially since I'm likely to get a ton of it in Heritage High Numbers anyway. $10? Yeah, I'll drop a Hamilton on some Topps, no problem. Here we gooooo:

THE RETAIL PACKS:

5 packs purchased from a display at Target on 11/03/08.

First Pack:

UH158 Chad Durbin
UH200 Luke Scott
UH45 Eric Hurley RC
UH297 Cory Wade RC
UH100 Jay Bruce Right Side Up RC
UH107 Jason Varitek All Star
UH68 Jonathan Papelbon All Star
UH35 Hanley Ramirez All Star
UH311 Oscar Salazar
YR140 Bobby Jenks Year in Review
RH-WF Whitey Ford Ring of Honor
UH298 Dan Haren All Star Gold parallel #0582/2008
ToppsTown

Well this was an ass kickin' pack! Jay Bruce, a buncha rookies and All Stars and three inserts. I like the Ring of Honor cards, even if they decided to honor the '86 Mets this year. According to the '09 images released yesterday, it looks like they are back next year. Howzabout a '95 Braves Ring of Honor, eh? Throw us chumps outside New York a crumb, maybe? Bobby Jenks throws his 41st save in a Year in Review set that I just don't care about anymore. The gold parallel is nice, I like the way these cards look and it's a nice continuity thing with Topps. They've been doing them since 2001 now if I'm not mistaken, and they're nice and familiar in a world full of gimmicks.

Second Pack:

UH103 Chris Burke
UH277 John Rheinecker
UH31 Marco Scutaro
UH30 Brendan Harris
UH10 Evan Longoria Right Side Up RC
UH179 Johnny Damon Highlights
UH227 Carlos Quentin All Star
UH275 Rich Harden
UH11 Matt Holliday All Star
UH237 Manny Ramirez
FC-21 Grover & Frances Cleveland
TCP43 Russell Martin T205
ToppsTown

Well I've got all three of the 'Big' rookies now. All of them are right side up too! No faulty cards for me, nosireebob! I'm generally bored by the First Lady cards, but this one is a pretty good one. Francis Folsom was a rock star back in the day as she was the first (and so far only) woman to marry the President in the White House. She was hugely popular and is famous for her pronouncement to the staff of the White House after her husband was defeated by Benjamin Harrison to take care of the place because they woud be back in four years. This isn't her rookie card by a longshot though, as she was featured on many cabinet and tobacco cards, including the N26 Allen & Ginter's World's Beauties set. I nabbed a T205 card of Russell Martin too, I wish I could find a checklist of these suckers. I need to know if there's a T205 Chipper.

Third Pack:

UH242 Raul Chavez
UH14 Bartolo Colon
UH2 Sean Casey
UH212 Guillermo Mota
UH159 Mike Aviles RC
UH280 Max Scherzer RC
UH9 Shawn Riggans
UH216 Jason Bay
UH72 Pete Orr
UH132 Jorge De La Rosa
WBC17 Frank Catalanotto WBC
UH213 German Duran Gold Parallel #181/2008
Checklist 1 of 3

This can't possibly be my first checklist card, can it? Weird. I freaking love the WBC cards. that and the Ring of Honor cards I will be collecting from this set. Pete Orr is the closest thing to a Braves I've gotten from my Target packs so far. It's weird seeing Bartolo Colon, Sean Casey and Jason Bay in Red Sox uniforms. Did they just go ahead and trade for everyone last year? I've been seeing Max Scherzer hype all over the place and I just don't see it with his 0-4 record. I must be missing something.

Fourth Pack:

UH73 Jonathan Albaladejo
UH157 Mark Hendrickson
UH145 Kip Wells
UH142 Classic Combos Adrian Gonzalez & Matt Holliday
UH143 Chipper jones 400th Home Run Highlight
UH304 Brad Lidge All Star
UH131 Manny Ramirez 500th Home Run
UH89 Joakim Soria All Star
UH59 Cliff Lee All Star
UH263 Eric Patterson
YR147 Jayson Werth Year in Review
MRH-DS Darryl Strawberry
ToppsTown

CHIPPER!!!! Aaaaand... other stuff. But, CHIPPER!!!!

Fifth Pack:

UH242 Raul Chavez
UH14 Bartolo Colon
UH2 Sean Casey
UH21 Darrell Rasner
UH117 Jed Lowrie RC
UH159 Mike Aviles RC
UH280 Max Scherzer RC
UH288 Evan Longoria All Star
UH216 Jason Bay
UH72 Pete Orr
FC-20 Chester A. and Ellen Arthur
TCP34 Evan Longoria
ToppsTown

Uhhhhh... Haven't I seen this pack somewhere before? I'm getting deja vu here. Target was good for an Evan Longoria fix as I got his RC, All Star and T205 cards. The T205 is pretty slick too. Best card in the pack though is Chester A. Arthur and His Amazing Mutton Chops. Upper Deck isn't the only one who needs a fact checker though, as Topps completely buggered the back.

"Ten months before winning election to the White House, President Arthur lost his beloved wife of 20-plus years. "

Actually Garfield won election to the White House, Arthur won election to the Naval Observatory or the shed out back of the White House or wherever the Vice president lived back then. Arthur assumed the presidency when a nut looking for a job shot Garfield. And I don't want to hear anyone bad mouthing Chet either, he was a damn good president for his time. It takes balls to completely reform the same corrupt government institution that created your success in the first place.

The gory details:

49 base cards
9 RCs
2 Gold border parallels
2 T205
2 Year in Review
1 WBC
2 Ring of Honor
2 First Lady
4 ToppsTown
1 checklist

Well, I did a hell of a lot better at Target than Wal Mart. I still am hesitant to spend a Jackson on a blaster of the stuff though. I'd really like to know if there's a T205 Chipper. If there isn't I'll probably only get this stuff at Wally World since there's a Dick Perez Chipper to chase. I'll have a review of this junk up sooner or later now that I got a nice little pile of inserts.

2008 Topps Updates & Highlights - Hobby vs., Retail part 2

As promised, here's the 5 packs of retail Topps U&H. You decide for yourself if these five random packs are better than the other five random packs. Some would argue that retail is the path to failure and despair, but let's open them anyway. I'll find some Target packs so I can be fair and balanced if anyone so desires.

THE RETAIL PACKS:

5 packs purchased from a display at Wal-Mart on 10/27/08.

First Pack:

UH31 Marco Scutaro
UH30 Brendan Harris
UH271 Brad Thompson
UH55 Cesar Izturis
UH303 Taylor Teagarden RC
UH327 Hernan Iribarren RC
UH315 Sean Rodriguez RC
UH213 German Duran RC
UH76Francsico Rodriguez AL All-Star
UH58 Scott Kazmir AL All-Star
UH23 Christian Guzman NL All-Star
UH234 Carl Pavano Gold parallel #0582/2008
ToppsTown

I got more rookies in this back than in all the hobby packs. Got the first gold border card too, of Yankee flop Carl Pavano.

Second Pack:

UH253 Josh Johnson
UH130 Mike Cameron
UH163 Miguel Cairo
UH166 Ryan Braun Home Run Derby
UH148 David Wright NL All-Star
UH255 Brian Horwitz RC
UH75 Matt Treanor
UH34 Nate McLouth NL All-Star
UH64 Joe Nathan AL All-Star
UH95 Ichiro AL All-Star
FC-5 James & Elizabeth Kotright Monroe
WMDP22 Johan Santana Dick Perez
ToppsTown

7 straight packs with a ToppsTown card. Guuuuh. Two inserts in the pack, a snazzy looking Dick Perez card and a First lady card. I am so goddamned sick of presidents I could puke. How about some Vice presidents? Or Chief Justices? Speakers of the House? President pro tempore of the Senate? Postmaster General? Mayors of Pittsburgh? For Pete's sake, Topps, there are other freaking people in the government beside the stupid president.

Third Pack:

UH128 LaTroy Hawkins
UH74 Corey Patterson
UH152 Steve Trachsel
UH330 Johan Santana
UH125 John Smoltz 3000th Strikeout Highlight
UH262 Brian Wilson NL All-Star
UH232 Geovany Soto NL All-Star
UH167 Justin Morneau Home Run Derby
UH156 Juan Rincon
UH162 Eric Stults
UH102 Matt Murton
WBC20 Johan Santana WBC
David Wright Topps of the Class

Wouldn't ya know it, 8 packs in and I've got doubles of my only WBC card. Oh well, I got Smoltzie at least.

Fourth Pack:

UH205 Octavio Dotel
UH121 Jacque Jones
UH90 Dan Haren
UH325 Clay Hensley
UH!95 Chris Carter RC
UH51 Fernando Tatis
UH279 Alex Hinshaw RC
UH1 Kosuke Fukudome RC
UH17 Russ Martin NL All-Star
UH41 Joe Mauer AL All-Star
UH53 Justin Duchscherer AL All-Star
UH47 Dustin Pedroia AL All-Star
David Wright Topps of the Class

I am a KoFu magnet. I don't know what I did to deserve this.

Fifth Pack:

UH170 Greg Smith RC
UH182 Sidney Ponson
UH21 Darrell Rasner
UH117 Jed Lowrie RC
UH159 Mike Aviles RC
UH280 Max Scherzer RC
UH287 Chase Headley
UH328 Billy Wagner NL All-Star
UH5 Chipper Jones NL All-Star
YR172 Melky Cabrera Year in Review
MRH-GC Gary Carter Ring of Honor
UH14 Bartolo Colon Gold Parallel #0121/2008
ToppsTown

Three inserts, four rookies and a Chipper in this pack. Feast or famine, I suppose. I've been interested to see a Ring of Honor card, they look pretty much like the football insert. I guess they chose the '86 Mets to balance out some of the Yankee lovefest that's been going on this year. Maybe by 2038 a non-New York team will be honored in a trading card set. Of course then it'lll be one season of Boston Red Sox love then back to the Yanks. Ah screw it, I got my Chipper.

53 base cards
12 RCs
2 Gold border parallels
1 Dick Perez
1 Year in Review
1 WBC
1 Ring of Honor
1 First Lady
3 ToppsTown
2 David Wright ads

What's interesting about this stuff is that there are no odds for relic cards on the back of the pack. So, if you like jerseys Hobby is the way to go. Series 2 blasters has a jersey per box though, so maybe that's where Topps is hiding 'em.

2008 Topps Updates & Highlights - Hobby vs., Retail part 1

Let me first say that I am not buying a hobby box of this stuff. I might not even buy a blaster depending on how ornery I get. 2008 Topps Baseball has just been disappointing to me this year. Thankfully the 2009 design should be leaking any day now so maybe I can get a little glimpse of hope for the future. You all out there aren't interested in my existential angst though. You want to see the cards and I'm gonna let you see them!

So here's the deal: in lieu of my usual multi-post rip of a hobby box starting off with the packaging materials, I've bought five Hobby packs from a fresh box and five retail packs from one of those cardboard hanging things at Wal-Mart. The packs were all neatly placed in two rows inside the box, so either it was just opened or an anal retentive pack searcher had just passed through. It's not a spectacular sample size, but it's a comparison between Hobby and retail at least. Later in the week I'll be reviewing the set. Now is the time for packs. First up, the five Hobby packs.

THE HOBBY PACKS:

5 packs purchased from a freshly opened box at Champion Sports Cards on 10/22/08.

First Pack:

UH217 Willy Aybar
UH7 Josh Anderson
UH19 Johnny Estrada
UH238 Dan Uggla All Star
UH155 BRUUUUUUUUUCE Highlights
UH43 Chip Ambres
UH162 Eric Stults
UH108 Shin-Soo Choo
UH48 Grant Balfour
UH314 Wilson Betemit gold foil
ToppsTown Gold code card

Read all about it on A Pack A Day.

Second Pack:

UH193 Jeremy Affeldt
UH307 Greg Norton
UH169 Eulogio De La Cruz
UH185 Joey Votto Gone, Gone, Gone Highlight
UH214 Carlos Zambrano NL All-Star
UH22 Brian Moehler
UH35 Hanley Ramirez NL All-Star
UH311 Oscar Salazar
UH119 Ken Griffey Jr 600 HRs Highlights gold foil
ToppsTown code card

A couple of All-Stars, a couple of Highlights and a Greg Norton Braves card. My insert was a crummy gold foil card for the second straight pack though.

Third Pack:

UH98 Denny Bautista
UH326 Kevin Mench
UH120 Angel Berroa
UH279 Alex Hinshaw RC
UH153 Armando Galarraga RC
UH12 Trot Nixon
UH318 Kyle Farnsworth
UH276 Corey Hart NL All-Star
WBC20 Johan Santana Venezuela
UH308 Shelley Duncan gold foil
ToppsTown code card

Things I learned from this pack: Angel Berroa is a Dodger. Trot Nixon is a Met. I really, really like the WBC cards. I really, really hate gold foil cards. I am really, really sick of ToppsTown.

Fourth Pack:

UH133 Tadahito Iguchi
UH151 Darin Erstad
UH175 Luis Vizaino
UH1 Kosuke Fukudome RC
UH298 Dan Haren NL All-Star
UH322 Edinson Volquez NL All-Star
UH196 Dan Uggla Home Run Derby
UH269 Robert AndinoUH191 Ian Kinsler
UH83 George Sherrill AL All-Star
UH222 Dave Borkowski lousy gold foil
Die ToppsTown die

Out of 4 packs, I've gotten 4 ToppsTown cards, 4 stupid gold inserts and ONE insert. I couldn't pick 4 worse packs out of a box if I tried, Fukudome card or no.

Fifth Pack:

UH248 Doug Mientkiewicz
UH116 Odalis Perez
UH275 Rich Harden
UH158 Chad Durbin
UH227 Carlos Quentin AL All-Star
UH11 Matt Holliday NL All-Star
AS-CQ Carlos Quentin All-Star Stitches
UH8 Jeff Mathis gold foil
ToppsTown again?!?

I apparently saved all my luck for this one pack. The jersey cards are pretty nice looking although I'd bet this one gets traded eventually. The Rich Harden card shows him in a Cubs uni, I can't tell if it's 'shopped or not. Someone with math skills out there tell me what the odds are for pulling five straight packs with a gold foil parallel and a Topps Town card in them. It has to be astronomical.

Totals from five hobby packs:

41 Base cards (3 RCs)
5 gold foil parallels
1 WBC insert
1 All Star Stitches
5 ToppsTown

Tomorrow I'll post the results from the retail packs.

The Boycott Is Over

Chris Harris ends the boycott and buys a box of 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights.

I for one am glad.

I will not be buying my own Hobby box, but I'm glad.

In other news, I really like the WBC insert set.


If you didn't click on that Stale Gum post the first time, I suggest you do. It's very, very good.

i can tell from the pixels and by having seen quite a few shops in my time

I think the Jay Bruce and Kosuke Fukudome inverted cards on eBay are bunk (Update: or at least not an error) and here's why:


First here are the two Bruces that have popped up so far:

first one:
second one:

Ok look closely at the foil on the inverted ones.

Now here's a Jay Bruce highlights card I pulled from a pack today:

Notice that the foil on my scan is dark and flat. Same with the right side up Bruce in the top scan. The other two have a more silvery look to them like actual foil. I've seen this effect before, in the Topps Sell Sheets:



There's two from a sell sheet and the second Bruce. Notice how the gradation makes it look sort of shiny? Like real foil? The official Topps sell sheet images are a little more slick, but the Bruce seems to use the same principle. But while it looks good on a sell sheet, foil doesn't scan like that. It scans flat and black. Even in a photo, it usually shows up black unless there is a light source directly hitting the foil and even then it can end up looking like this:

The two inverted Bruces don't look like photos anyway, they're too flat. The other thing I find strange is how both the cards seem to have the same highlights on the foil. Look closely at the darkest part of the foil: The shading is darkest in the RU of Bruce, at the very top of the T in Topps and the lower left corner of that T. If you ask me, the second Bruce is simply a copy of the image from the first auction.

Until I see a photo or a video of one of these buggers, I'm calling it a hoax. I'm not saying Topps wouldn't do a gimmick like this as they quite clearly have in the past, but the fact that the foil doesn't look right combined with the sheer goofiness of the error (seriously, having a reverse negative slip by is a common mistake, but inverted?? that only happens with stamps) makes me think Topps is in the clear on this one. I will likely be proven wrong (Hell, they might be printing a mess of 'em now to cash in!) but I say these aren't real.

UPDATE: Two more of 'em, same image, same gradation pattern, RU is darker than the rest of the letters, bunk bunk bunk.

one:
two:


I don't understand how all four cards could have that same 'shine' pattern unless it's a hoax.

Possible non-hoax reasons for the sake of argument:

• By sheer coincidence the first guy to pull one is the only seller with a scanner or camera of any kind and the rest just used his image.
• There is no foil on the card and the name and logo are printed on the card that way in ink.
• I have turned into a conspiricy theorist lunatic.

Until I see an image of the card that doesn't look exactly like all the rest I say bunk. Bunk! BUUUUNK!

Another Update:

Two Kosukes, both with the same gradation (darkest on the Ks), one scanned, one appears to be a photo. One, two.

Now, if the card have no foil and the name is printed on with silver in, then yeah, the cards are legit. Topps has inserted cards into the base set at the last minute without foil before, I seem to remember a Boston Red Sox World Series victory base card from a few years ago that had no foil. HOWEVER - if that's the case than these are NOT error cards and are instead bullshit gimmick cards. Why would a corrected error originally be printed with ink instead of foil when the rest of the base set has foil for the names? Basically what I'm saying is:

The name and the logo on the inverted cards do not appear to be in foil on any of these auctions.
If the cards were not printed with foil stamping, that means they are either fakes or Topps had no time to add the foil to the cards so they used ink instead.
The more cards that show up on the market (I've seen 4 so far) makes the likelyhood of a fake inverted card conspiracy much more unikely.
If they are real and have no foil, then that means Topps inserted them as a gimmick and they are not in any way an error.

In other news there is a variation in the David Cone Ring of Honor card as well:

David Cone

David Con

This I think is a legit error. Or at least plausible enough to be a legit error.

Yet another Update: It just keeps getting weirder...


Note again the foil. The Topps logo looks like all the others. Topps got cute and inserted these at the last minute. You'd think they could at least do some long-term gimmick planning up there. Another hat tip to Holy Hitter, who's been tracking these auctions down all day.