What I learned at Target yesterday

I got some contract work yesterday and once I had everything fixed up, packed up and shipped off I went to the Target looking for a blaster. I hadn't gotten a blaster in over three months and dammit, I needed a blaster. I did not walk out of the Target with a blaster, but I did come out with some nifty information.

Football cards are out in force

And not just Press Pass, Sa*Ge Hit and all the draft packs with the players in their college uniform. Real live football cards. The three I noticed were Playoff Prestige, Upper Deck Draft and Bowman Draft Picks. These are all still draft pick heavy sets, but the football card season is now officially underway.

Playoff Prestige was actually available in rack packs, the first time I've ever seen a rack from a Donruss, um, Panini product. 16 cards for 5 bucks. Prestige is a product I've consistently ignored and I wouldn't have noticed it at all if not for the rack pack. It is the product that fits Gellman's vitriolic rants against retail packs perfectly. For the past 7 years or so, retail Prestige meant one thing: 5 cards per pack for three bucks with one jersey card per box that got cherry picked the moment the box got put on the shelves. To add insult to injury, the card designs were all boring as sin and the one per pack rookie card subset had about 100 players so the rookie per pack you pulled is more likely than not an undrafted free agent that is barely hanging on to a practice squad spot. Apparently there are short prints and variations in the set, meaning I will avoid this like the plague. At least they're giving you more cards in a pack now.

Bowman Draft Picks are on the shelves too and it was somewhat jarring to see Bowman baseball and football out at the same time. It was a good idea from Topps to get rid of those awful Draft Picks and Prospects and Rookie Progression sets and replace it with Bowman which is supposedly the home of the rookie card in the first place. I saw a base card at a shop and the set looks good if you like the typical Bowman design. Black border, color coded, etc. etc. I'm utterly sick of Bowman so I didn't even pick up that base card of Warrick Dunn for a dime. Bowman football has jumbo packs too, but I wasn't impressed. Let me set the stage for you: there's rack packs of Prestige hanging up and just to the right of them are jumbo packs of Bowman. The packs of prestige had sixteen cards each. The jumbo packs of Bowman had seventeen cards each! Oh ho! Topps gives you more cards! How generous. Oh wait, just to the left of the Prestige racks are rack packs of 2009 Bowman baseball. 20 cards per pack. So Topps tried to one up Prestige by adding an extra card, and then completely undercut themselves by screwing the football collector out of three cards as compared to baseball. Apparently football cards are just more expensive to manufacture than baseball cards.

Upper Deck Draft has a pretty red wrapper with the official NFL Draft logo on it. I liked last year's set because it combined the Press Pass college uniform cards with actual NFL players. This was the pack I was actually slightly tempted to buy, but with collecting money tight I was able to maintain focus and pass it up because I also learned this:

I have completely lost interest in football cards

Now, ask me again in September when games are on and Topps is on the shelves, but right now I could not care less about football cards. It might be the heat, it might be the economy, it might be the fact that baseball is in full swing, but football is completely off my radar. I should probably think about selling or trading or giving away or burning all my football cards just so I can use the boxes they are in for my baseball stuff.

There's new baseball stuff out there too

Series two Upper Deck and Topps are both out in full force. Blasters, jumbos, cereal boxes, loose packs, all that stuff.

I saw the following stuff from Upper Deck: Normal packs have 18 cards in them, Evan Longoria on the wrapper and an Upper Deck U code inside for three bucks. Hobby packs have 20 cards and a much better shot at a jersey or auto in them for $5 a pop. I saw two versions of HUGE VALUE rack packs of Upper Deck. The first one is orange and has Cole Hamels on the wrapper. It has 36 cards including two exclusive StarQuest cards inside, but no inserts. The other is bluish, I don't remember who is on the wrapper and it has 36 cards and two Rookie debut cards instead of StarQuests. All I want from '09 Upper Deck Series Two is the Goodwin preview cards so no fat packs for me. If you really like Upper Deck U, get a rack pack, because the code inside is good for one month of play. There were also a bunch of blasters there with 10 packs (presumably 8 card packs like in Series one blasters) including a guaranteed jersey card. Avery dollar I spend on base Upper Deck is one I can't spend on Goodwin Champions, so I resisted the temptation of the UD2 blaster, but I may falter before the year is out.

Topps had a bunch of stuff out there too. Single packs with 12 cards for 2 bucks were plentiful. There were also a few cereal boxes with Jackie Robinson on them. I only saw 4 boxes and all of them were Jackies. Same as Series one, the cereal boxes have 50 or so cards in them including 1 of each of the insert sets and a bonus gold refractor of a legend all for ten bucks. You can see a samble one opened up by Night Owl if you like. I didn't have anything to write down the special refractor cards on, and my mind was too frazzled to memorize them after a long week.Luckily, this guy knows jut about everything about Topps cards and has the lists here. They also had blasters of series two in there where I learned...

Holy Crap, Chipper has a patch card in Series Two Blasters

Anyone pulling a Chipper patch, name your price. I have Tom Seaver and Mike Schmidt patches. I also have autographs, relics, whatever. I NEED that Chipper. There are also patch cards of Greg Maddux and John Smoltz in there too. I might trade the Seaver for Maddux, maybe even Smoltz, but I'll only trade Schmidt for Chippah. The UPC code on the side blaster was a 10 meaning they are normal old base cards and not the retro version with the old timey Topps logo. Remember - 10 or 11 on the UPC code means normal cards and 12 or 13 means the black border or old style variations. Save yourself some heartache and check that UPC code so you know what you're getting. Which brings me to the last thing I learned at Target:

I probably waited too long to buy a Throwback Blaster of Topps Series 1

Not a single box there. This store had at least 5 of them the last time I was there too. Sigh. That's what I was looking for when I walked in the store and I struck out. Now that Series two blasters are out I'm not feeling good about finding the Throwback blasters anymore. There were plenty of 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights blasters there though. Failing in my quest for Throwback Topps, I kept my wallet in my pocket and headed to the local card shop instead. What I got there will have to wait for another post.

You be the judge

Breaking news!

Wax Heaven just passed one million hits. Go add a few more to the counter and maybe have a chance to win something cool!

Now back to your regularly scheduled program...

I have been completely busy all day long and I still have a ton of stuff to do tonight. I don't have any time to write, so I'll do this instead:

Here are three cards from the three products that hit the shelves in the past couple of weeks. Take a look and decide for yourselves which one is the best.

2009 Upper Deck Series 2

2009 Bowman

2009 Topps Series 2

So, waddya think?

Premature epackulation

In addition to 2009 Upper Deck Series Two blasters sneaking onto shelves early, 2009 Topps Series Two packs are out as well. Looks like Target is reacting to the Wally World blaster leak by whipping out the gravity feeds. I think I might have 2 bucks in change hiding under the couch... time to check out some Targets.

Aaarrgh

Series two products are imminent. I still haven't picked up a Target retro blaster of series one yet, series two can't be out already! Beckett has some previews:

2009 Topps Series two with a ton of photos including a surly Smoltz in the wrong uniform

2009 Upper Deck Series two including a preview set of... Goodwin Champions preview cards?!?

nooooooooooooooooooo! Why couldn't Upper Deck have put this out two years ago when I could actually afford it??

Chris Harris managed to get a blaster of the UD that sneaked onto the shelves early if you want to take a peek.

Defending Goudey

I'm not going to do the pack rip tonight. I don't have enough time to do it properly for one. But mainly because I need to set the record straight on this set. I've read a bunch of the early reviews of this set and so far they are not what you'd call positive. I want to make something perfectly clear.

The 2009 Upper Deck Goudey set is NOT ugly.

No, I'm being serious. '09 Goudey is not ugly. Let me explain. This is the very first '09 Goudey card I got out of the pack I got today.

Curtis Granderson. Great player, the card itself is kind of... odd. The design looks almost the same as last year's set just without the Jeter/Griffey stripe and the figures in the background. The picture is sort of, well, bad, and has the fuzzed out fake painting quality on it that works ok on some cards and is horrifying on others. There's a weird outline around the photo. Overall, the whole thing looks bland. No, not just bland, flat out ugly. BUT... check out two originals from the 1933 Goudey set:

Now, what do we see here? Same exact puke green background. Same red band across the bottom just with different ad pitches. Same style of low detail painting used for the photo. Same thick black line around the picture. See what I'm getting at? Let's look at one more.

Oh my Lord, look at the mug on that guy. Now compare that to the Dave Concepcion Horror that is more or less universally hated by fellow bloggers. Both are pretty freaky unsettling. You see, this is not a bug, this is a feature. The 1933 Goudey set is supposed to look like that. In fact I'd go as far as to say that

The 1933 Goudey set is Ugly as Sin.

I'm sure there are a couple of people out there reading that whose mind just got blown. Mr. Vintage here thinks an old set is ugly?? A classic set like 1933 Goudey? Ugly??? Dayf thinks the very first modern card set is ugly??? How can this be?

The '33 Goudey set is just ugly, folks. It's not the set's fault. This was 1933, the country was in the middle of a deep depression so money was tight and printing technology was light years behind what it is now. These cards were trying to sell bubble gum. They didn't really have to look good. They just had to be somewhat recognizable and in color. That right there put them head and shoulders above most of the competition. Still, to today's eyes, they're kind of ugly.

I remember when I first had the revelation that '33 Goudey was ugly. I was looking through my vintage stuff and I came across #124 Earl Whitehill. That was one of the very first Goudey cards I ever got and I just liked it because it was old and a Goudey. Then one day I really looked at it. The card is awful. Bland picture, bland background, bland design. Just awful, especially compared to sets like T206 and 1953 Topps. But it's 1933 Goudey so who cares?

Now don't get me wrong, some of the individual cards in the set are absolute classics. No Babe Ruth card released in his lifetime can ever be considered less than fantabulously gorgeous. But take some time and look over the whole set. There's some good looking cards and a whole lotta bland. Check out Dick Bartell, Dib Williams and Joe Moore (fielding) for some real horrorshow cards.

Now, I've established that '33 Goudey is ugly. But what about 2009 Goudey? It's ugly too right? No, it's simply a very faithful retro set that happens to be based on an ugly set. It's not '09 Goudey that is ugly, but the original '33 set that it takes its design from. As far as a retro set goes, it's a pitch perfect replica of the original. But the '07 and '08 sets actually looked really good, why doesn't this set look as good as them? Because the '07 and '08 sets got their designs from the 1934-36 Diamond Stars set and the 1934 Goudey set, respectively. And both of those designs are superior to the '33 Goudey design.

So if you still think the 2009 Upper deck set looks ugly and you hate it and refuse to buy it forever, that's fine. It is pretty weak looking especially when compared to the past few Goudey and Heritage sets. Just understand that there's a reason behind the ugly, and Upper Deck actually got the ugliness right on this one.

You make the call

I just completed a long delayed trade with reader Howard today when I dropped off his package at the post office. Lo and behold, the cards he sent were waiting for me when I got home. The trade was a little strange, it started out as a swap of American Heritage cards we both needed to finish off our sets and it ended up including some jersey and autograph cards.

The base cards that were swapped were just about even. He sent six cards off my want list* including Houdini, Edgar Allen Poe, George Washington and an Obama SP. He got three cards from American Heritage and a healthy pile of Cubs cards. Two relics and an autograph were swapped as well. Here's a comparison of what was sent and what I received:

I sent:
A 2008 Allen & Ginter relic of Carlos Zambrano. I got this from Tribe Cards in his Scratch Off Tournament contest. I love A&G, The swatch is a pretty blue, Zambrano is a good pitcher, but Howard will enjoy this a heck of a lot more than me.

I received:

A 2008 Spectrum A Piece of Hollywood jacket swatch from Capote. I already pulled a bit of Austin Powers' pants from a pack so I'm familiar with these cards. It's a nice gray wool swatch, no pinstripes. A nice touch with these cards is that Upper Deck shows the original pre-chopped-up jacket:

Unfortunately Upper Deck didn't bother to pony up the license fee to put a photo of the actual actor the cloth was wrapped around on the card. The writeup signed by Dick McDouble-U does indicate that the jacket was worn by "Philip" in the movie. We all know who Philip is, and I'm actually pretty thrilled to have a bit of memorabilia from one of my favorite actors, Philip Lockwood.

I know, I know. It's supposed to be Philip Seymour Hoffman. The man was in Lebowski and I worship him for that. He was also pretty cool in Charlie Wilson's War, check it out**. My point is that it could be Philip Lockwood for all we know, because Upper Deck half-assed the driving gimmick in their crummy set. Still, I like the movie, I like the actor and therefore like the card.

I also sent:

A 2003 Topps Pristine Sammy Sosa bat card. High end set, funky chromey design, thick as a brick, 600 home run hitter, bat piece without any cork, what's not to like about this card? This is a very nice card, I just have over a half dozen Sosa relics. Time to let someone else appreciate one. I think I got this as the bonus in a repack box anyway. I know for a fact I've never bought a pack of Pristine in my life.

I received:

A 2009 American Heritage Franklin Pierce Letter patch #28/50. I know manufactured patches are cheesy, and this is a pretty contrived set, and Franklin Pierce is one of the most disasterously inept Presidents in history (including the bumbling batch of bubble brained buffoons we've had in my lifetime), and the concept of an 18th century president wearing a baseball jersey is ridiculous at best, but the card is kinda nice looking. The red and black/very dark blue letter just plain looks good. I can see why Joe Collectors go nuts over these things. And now I have an example of one to put in my American Heritage binder. You know how I dig the type cards.

Now to the autographs. I sent:

A 1996 Old Judge autograph of Ed Larregui. Ed never made the bigs, sadly. Actually two years after this card came out, he was out of baseball. Ed never got a major league prospect card, but he's on about a dozen or so minor league cards. This guy wants seven bucks for a copy, so it has to be worth something, right? If you're a really hard core Cubs collector this is a check off of the "every Cubs card ever made" checklist at least.

I received:

A 2009 Upper Deck Chris Resop Inkredible autograph. Since these are the first two cards that can be directly compared let's do so.

Ed: minor league set, Chris: major league set. Ed 0, Chris 1
Ed: on card autograph, Chris: sticker auto. Ed 1, Chris 1
Ed: clear, legible autograph, Chris: epileptic chicken scratching in an earthquake***. Ed 2, Chris 1
Ed: peaked at Double A, Chris: 4 years in the bigs before being sold to the Hanshin Tigers. Ed 2, Chris 2.
Ed: mini retro card, Chris: generic autograph insert with a goofy name. Ed 3, Chris 2
Ed: airbrushed minor league Cubs uniform, Chris: Braves spring training uni with full tomahawk visible. Ed 3, Chris 3.

Dang, a tie! So, who do you think got the better of this deal? Or as is the case in many transactions, is the beauty of the cards ultimately in the eye of the beholder?

* I just noticed that Hookman posted that he needed a bunch of cards from that set. If you still need 'em, e-mail me if I don't e-mail you first. I have a lot of doubles.

** Great acting, stuff blowing up and Tom Hanks in a hot tub surrounded by nekkid ladies. What more could you want in a movie?

*** Per Night Owl's request, an artist's rendition of a typical Upper Deck signing session:

09 Macs

Gotta post something, I suppose... If I stay gone too long you'll think I immersed myself into Achewood's massive archives and ended up lost in that world forever. Nah, I do need to post some cards though. How about Brian McCann's two base set cards this year? He did hit a homer against Canada yesterday you know. I won't mention his celebrating the victory with a Met pitcher. T'was a breif moment of victorious exuberance, nothing more.

Anyway, so which is better, Brian the catcher:

or Brian the hitter?

(I'm leaning towards Brian the catcher myself)

Cards courtesy AdamE, who will be getting some Red Sox eventually.

Reconnaissance Report

Ok. I just got back from Target.

They had blasters, but the code on the back was 1-825-50-10-9 and not 1-825-50-12-9. I guessed that meant that they were the normal blasters and not the Throwback ones, so I didn't get one. They also had Cereal boxes there. Same deal as Wal-Mart with the following differences:

Gold refractor instead of Platinum.

The player list was the big three plus:
Bob Gibson
Roy Campanella
Cy Young
Walter Johnson
Jimmie Foxx
Ty Cobb
Roberto Clemente

So when I said I would have replaced Munson and Sisler in the Wal-Mart Boxes with Cobb and Clemente I was sort of half right.

There was also a ton of new Upper Deck stuff in there including:

Blasters

36 Card Fat Packs

And...

Retail packs.

I finally got a pack of UD retail. No one tell Topps though, because if I hadn't known about the code trick for Throwback blasters I would have bought one of the regular ones instead of the pack of Upper Deck. I don't want to discourage them from actually giving us relevant information in the future so shhhhhh. I'll rip this either here or on A Pack A Day this weekend.

I also hit the card shop. Good News, everyone! You're all hearing this post with the voice of Professor Farnsworth in your head now! Oh, Also they finally had T51 Murad!

Apparently they had it a few days ago but some jerk bought it all up. I got a pack of it to check it out. Looks good! I'll post it here soon enough.

But you don't care about that.

You want something else.

The good stuff.

The Really Really GOOOOOOOOD Stuff!

You want...

Chocodiles!

Oh my God, these Chocodiles, oh my God.

Oh yeah, also some of this:

I got the absolute last five packs in the store. They got in four boxes today and vultures gobbled it all up. SQWAWK *ahem*

Bad News, everyone!

I'm meeting my wife to go see Frost/Nixon in about 45 minutes.

So you'll have to wait until this evening to see the goods.

Oh my God, this Heritage, Oh my god.



It's even funnier in Italian!

2009 Upper Deck Braves

Weird thing - I like 2009 Upper Deck better than 2009 Topps, but it seems like I have a bunch more Topps than Upper Deck. Maybe because Topps has had single packs out since January. That's the thing with Topps packs, they're like potato chips. You try to eat just one and next thing you know half the bag is gone. You can't just buy a pile of Upper Deck blasters all at once. Here's a start to my UD Braves collection, plus I have the checklist so I actually know what cards I need!

StarQuest Common

StarQuest Blue Uncommon

StarQuest Gold Rare

StarQuest Emerald Super Rare

StarQuest Black Ultra Rare

StarQuest Plaid Ludicrous Rare

17 Jair Jurrjens

18 Mike Hampton

19 Brandon Jones

20 Tom Glavine

21 John Smoltz

22 Chipper Jones


23 Yunel Escobar


24 Kelly Johnson


25 Brian McCann

26 Jeff Francouer

27 Tim Hudson

28 Casey Kotchman

427 James Parr RC

452 Team Leaders


473 Team Checklist

2009 Upper Deck Blaster Insert Review

All righty then. I finally picked up my blaster of 2009 Upper Deck. I hate to say it, but I like this set a hell of a lot better than 2009 Topps and I actually really like Topps. 500 card base set? Full bleed borders? Twice as many insert sets as Topps? Frickin ALIENS? Yeah. drooling Topps fanboi here likes '09 Upper Deck better. What a revoltin' development. You don't care about my existential angst though, you just wanna see the cards.

This bizarre spiky haired anime looking kid is all over the packaging. On the front, on the side, on the wrappers, he's everywhere. The box has ten packs in it with 8 cards each. Like the hobby packs, the wrappers all have a code inside them for the Upper Deck U site. So one blaster = 10 codes. If you want to play the games or whatever on UDU, blasters are a good value. Inside the box the pack with the guaranteed jersey card was over by itself on one side. Now that know that actual people pack out these things I am now curious if putting the hit pack by itself is company policy or just the personal preference of Earleen J. McGillicuddy, Blaster Packer Outer #47.

Hey look! Cards on the side of the box! I love cutting out cards on the side of the box! Ok, so they're just examples of the 20th Anniversary cards. I can dream of cards on the bottom of wax boxes, can't I? Besides, I don't remember that Desert Shield card being on the other boxes. Maybe they're different? Maybe I can collect them all?!? No, it's too good to be true. I just didn't notice Upper Deck using a card of a war in Iraq to promote their flagship set on the other boxes. It's a pretty obvious choice actually. At least they didn't use something wildly unpopular like A-Rod. Boy Howdy, what a disaster that would have been!

I'm going to do this box break a little differently. Every single pack had an insert in it. As a matter of fact, every single pack had a different insert in it. Plus 7 base cards (except for the pack with the hit in it), but I'm not going to get into them right now. Instead, let's go over all these wild and wacky inserts. We'll start with the StarQuest cards which were in half the packs in the box.

Pack 8:
SQ-8 David Ortiz StarQuest Blue Uncommon
Pack 4:
SQ-4 Chipper Jones StarQuest Gold Rare
Pack 2:
SQ-11 Hanley Ramirez StarQuest Emerald Super Rare
Pack 9:
SQ-9 David Wright StarQuest Black Ultra Rare
What are the odds that I would get four different kinds of StarQuest cards in one box? Unless there's a StarQuest Plaid Ludicrous Rare card out there somewhere I think I got 'em all. The blue Uncommon cards look black to me, but maybe they're a midnight blue or navy. I got two of them in the box including one more in the hit pack. The Gold Rare cards actually look gold and in my opinion are the best looking ones of the bunch even though they don't have the shiny holo foil like the next two cards. The Super Rares look really green and the black Ultra Rares (bring back Fleer Ultra ya bastids!) look black. There's no telling how rare is Ultra Rare since once again Upper Deck doesn't deem us proles worthy of insert ratios on the packs. I'm guessing they are not easy, but not impossible either. Of course this leads to the question: where the heck are the Common StarQuests? I have no idea, but here is my wild theory: Remember how last year First Edition had those shamrock green StarQuest cards just in time for St. Patrick's Day that were the same as the normal StarQuest cards, just really really green? I'm going to guess that instead of putting common StarQuests one per pack in Upper Deck, they put them all in First Edition instead. That way Upper Deck gets the cool funky StarQuest colors like, um, black and First Edition gets the common SQs that people can actually build a set with. I have no idea if this is actually the case, but that's what I think will happen. Didja notice I got Chipper? WOOOOOOOOO!

Pack 1:
GG-RB Stars of the Game Ryan Braun

This card is way shinier than it appears. The bits that look puke green are actually gold with a holographic shine on them. It looks a lot better in person, let's just say that. I've seen this ZAP design somewhere before though. I want to say a Donruss product, maybe? Someone help me out here, sleep deprivation has killed my memory.

Pack 3:
OPC-37 Magglio Ordonez O-Pee-Chee sort of retro

It's not exactly like the original '75s but it's close enough for government work. They're a lot closer than the UD '70s Decade set that originally ripped off 1975 Topps. Plus the back isn't that horrible red and green unreadable combination. I'll probably do a post one of these days comparing the originals with the fakes as long as five other blogs don't do the same thing in the meantime.

Pack 5:
248 Cincinnati Reds 20th Anniversary

You know, this 2500 card set is catching a lot of flack. Probably deservedly so. However, every time I see one of the cards posted online I usually can think of at least one collector out there that would scream OH MAH GAWD I WANT THAT CARD as soon as they lay eyes on it. I'm sure all the Reds fans out there will be pestering me for this.

Pack 6:
18U-JB Jake Barrett 18 and Under USA Baseball

What the hell? This kid was born in 1991! I was in COLLEGE in 1991! A kid born the year I went to college isn't allowed to be in a baseball card set! That means I'm an old geezer! Damn you Upper Deck for turning me into an old fart before my time!!! OH NO now I've got the gout. Just up and got the gout the moment I opened this pack because I'm so damn old now. I'm now an old fogey with gout and bad lumbago and senile dementia because Upper Deck had to put someone born the same year I was a freshman in college into a baseball card set at least 6 years before he'll even have the longest of longshots at making a Major league roster. Get off my lawn, Upper Deck!

Inexplicably, these cards have gold foil stamping on them while the rest of the set has silver.

Pack 7:
YSL9702 Alex Rodriguez Yankee Stadium Tedium

BAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRFFFFFFFF

I'm ditching all these damn things as soon as I can figure out what I did with 'em. Babe and Yogi I'll keep, the rest are up for grabs. Eric gets the Pettittes, Steve gets the Yankees vs. White Sox and one of the gals from A Cardboard Problem (I forgot who is collecting the set) gets whatever they need out of what's left. Everyone else put your claims in, 'cause I'm done with these annoyances.

Pack 10 AKA 'The Hit"
2 base cards
SQ-13 Josh Beckett StarQuest Blue Uncommon
Upper Deck U Ad Card

They're really pushing this aren't they... Too bad it's not even online yet.

HP-7 Historic Firsts Predictors

You see, I'm not sure about this set. I love the hell out of the Alien card, but last year's predictors were at least funny. I mean, what have we got here...

College Football Adopts a Playoff System

BWAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!!

*gasp*

AAAAAAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!!!!

College Playoff. Yeah right. That'll happen when the College Presidents and the greedy bastards in the NCAA give up all that loot they're getting under the table. I.E. When it's pried from their cold dead crooked moneygrubbing hands. The back even insinuates that President Obama will have the justice department put the squeeze on the colleges to institute a playoff. You know, once Barack has a little free time after keeping the entire global financial system from crashing and burning. And winning two wars with his bare hands. And fighting Rush Limbaugh to the death. Naked. In a pit of Jello. Lime jello. With pinapple chunks in. This set is pretty damn funny after all!

Ok, I've drug this out long enough. All you vultures want to see is the hit. Show me the hit! Base cards are for composting! Where's that mojo! Ok, here it is:

GJ-CD Chris Duncan Game Jersey/Auto #16/99

Hmmm. Not bad. The card looks pretty damn good, this is how to use a sticker auto. That looks more like Chris Snyder than Chris Duncan to me though. I looked at some of his other sigs on eBay and most of them have that odd squiggle in the last name so it's not another mix-up. I shouldn't look a gift blaster auto in the mouth though. I am now firmly convinced that the Upper Deck spies are trying to butter me up with autographs to get me to voluntarily submit to the New World Order before they have to resort to torture. Hello spies!

Well, I'd say that was one of the better blasters I could have picked out. AutoRelic AND Chipper? Can't beat that with a stick. Much better than that dog of a Mayo blaster I got. Blech. I'll show that off once I find a short print list for that set.

What's that you say?

Base cards?

You wanna know about base cards?

Really?

Well ok, then...

64 base cards in the box. (12.8%)
1 double (A.J. Pierzfbvitazriqhki)
1 Brave (Kelly Johnson)
4 RC logo cards
4 Team Leaders
2 Highlights
4 Team Checklists

Here's the top 3 base cards I pulled other than the Jeter and Mauer cards that I showed off already.

If there a law that every card that Russell Martin is on has to make him look like a complete badass? I'm getting tired of this. If Russell doesn't stop having cool cards than people are going to start thinking he's a better catcher than Brian McCann, which is JUST PLAIN WRONG.

Even though this might be Trevor Hoffman's last Padres card it's a pretty awesome one.

Ok, so I just like the car ad in the background on this one.

Honorable Mention:

This would have been my choice for most awesomest base card in the box were it not for the fact that Andre Ethier just scored on Molina. Than again, that makes this card extra awesome for Dodger fans.

Oh there was one more card I pulled that I forgot to show you.

Wooooooo! Ken Griffey Jr. buyback auto! What an amazing pull this would be if I hadn't cut if off the box. Hooray!

The Best Upper Deck Pack I've Ever Opened

Every time I get mad at Upper Deck they send a spy out to make sure I end up with a loaded pack. Here's my first look at 2009 Upper Deck and boy, is it a doozy.

50 Julio Lugo

The cards have a gold stripe on the bottom that looks really good. I don't remember that on the preview images but it looks all classy and junk.

15 Adam Dunn

Here's the back, nice design. Everything in its own little compartment. The picture on the back is a cropped version of othe photo on the front, but it looks good.

78 Nick Swisher


22 Chipper Jones

Ok, all together now: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

179 Torii Hunter

144 Andrew Miller

This card has a slight roller mark on it Mario, so you decide if you want it or not.

123 Jeff Francis

Another slight roller mark. You have to really eyeball it in the light to see it though.

461 Carlos Zambrano Season Highlights

This card celebrates his no hitter.

471 Team Checklist David Wright

Here's the checklist for you Mets fans.

HP-5 I WANT TO BELIEVE

Not a Mets fan. There is intelligent life out there!

20th Anniversary - 8 Touchdown Jesus

See why this pack is freaking awesome?

Mystery Discount card featuring Ken Griffey Jr.

This is the super thick decoy card. I'm not sure if the UD discount cards are all Griffey Jr, or if there are different pictures, but these are MUCH cooler than last year. Golf Claps for Upper Deck for making these interesting.

AL Aaron Laffey Autograph

Pitcher for the Indians.

452 Team Leaders Atlanta Braves

Let's say it agin... WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

466 Derek Jeter

This is the first card I've seen with a different picture on the front and back. Upper Deck has lots of Jeter photos apparently.

244 Carlos Delgado

277 Joe Mauer

Stars a Plenty. Check out that photo.

261 Derek Jeter

Sooz is jealous now...

310 Tom Gorzelanny

327 Randy Winn

361 James Shields

Note the transition from Devil Rays to Rays on the back.

Two Chippers, two Jeters, an Alien,Touchdown Jesus and an auto. Tough to top that. Thanks Upper Deck spies!