2009 O-Pee-Chee Hobby Vs. Retail comparison

Here is the first retail pack of retail O-Pee-Chee and the first pack of hobby O-Pee-Chee I opened. Let's compare, shall we?

PRICE:

Hobby
$1.75 at Champion Sports Cards
Retail
$1.57 at Wal-Mart

Strange how the cents got transposed like that... I've vowed to only buy Hobby O-Pee-Chee from now on to support the local card shop. Of course that means I won't buy any at all, because I'm saving my money for a box of '09 A&G. Isn't it a shame I'm so undisciplined that I have to trick myself like that?

NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS:

Hobby
Game Used Memorabilia card - 1:108, Autographed card - 1:216
Retail
No odds for retail buying plebeians!

THE WRAPPER:

Hobby
Blue and red wrapper design with yellow lettering and a stylized drawing of what appears to me to be Ken Griffey Jr. in a Mariners uniform. Very reminiscent of a typical Topps wrapper from the 70's. Actually, very similar to a '77 O-Pee-Chee wrapper.

Retail
Huge photo of Ryan Braun with a bright yellow border and a red banner beseeching you to collect all 600 cards. The O-Pee-Chee logo is also much more prominent.

UDU CODES:

Hobby

Retail

Be nice and only use one and let us know in the comments which one has been used up mmmkay!

THE CARDS:

Hobby

137 Rick Ankiel
Solid portrait, although I wish these whippersnapper douchebags would freaking SMILE. You made more money in one at bat where you struck out with the winning run on third with one out than I'll make working 80-hour weeks until 2038. SMILE ALREADY.

WK4 JD Drew Walk-Off Winners
My first insert and it's this guy. MEh.

439 Johnny Damon Black border
The black border just makes him look smarmier doesn't it?

544 Ichiro Moments DP
ICHIRO. Alll Riiiiiight. You'll notice I've put a DP up by the card name. This is shorthand for "Double Printed" which was a common tag for Topps cards made before they upped the set size to 792. Basically, the way they printed up the cards had several cards on more than one sheet so they are more readily available. Since the cards from 501-600 are more readily available they are now DPs as far as I am concerned. So don't be fooled when Beckett lists them as SPs at a premium in their next price guide, because they are not short printed and should not have any premium attached to them.

158 Steve Pearce
Why is Steve standing in front of a shower curtain??
Why does this make me like the set even more than I already did???

438 Eddie Guardado
Eddie are you ok, are you ok Eddie...

Other than the Ichiro, this was not a great pack by any means... Yet I still am strangely drawn to the set. Could cheesy posed shots in front of shower curtains really have that much of an effect on me??

Retail

72 Jhonny Peralta
Cool pattern in the background with the mesh. There is also the slightest, barest hint of a smile on Jhonny's face. Not a manic grin, but just a subtle look of contentment. Much better than that crosseyed mushmug Ankiel. SMILE DAMMIT!

332 Kyle Kendrick Black border
An actual diamond cut card in 2009. How retro can you get?
For those who don't know what the heck a diamond cut card is, imagine it this way. There's a sheet of cards going through the cutter to be separated. The horizontal cut goes fine, but in trasferring the card to the vertical cutter the strips get a tiny bit askew. As a result the vertical cut is no longer perpendicular to the horizontal cut so the card is now shaped slightly like a diamond. This was common in the '80s and earlier, but not so much recently.

1495 Minnesota Wild 20th anniversary
This one is already in the mail to VOTC so no pic. It's a hockey dude, much to Chris Harris' chagrin.

550 Jonathan Papelbon Moments DP
He sure ain't no Ichiro...

342 Brian Moehler
Well, if you're going to have 500 players in a set there's going to be a few Brian Moehlers running around.

41 Xavier Nady
This is a very nice action shot amidst the cheese. Fulls swing by Nady, the catcher looking to see how far that hit will go, Yankees milling about the dugout, a healthy crowd in the Bronx. Very nice indeed.

This was the first OPC pack I opened and had I not bought three more it would have been the last pack I would have opened. Lord, this pack was teh s uck. Yet, from this bad start I ended up really liking the set. Imagine that.

NUMBER OF CARDS WITH A ROLLER MARK RUNNING RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE:

Hobby
1 - JD Drew so who gives a flip
Retail
3 - Papelbon, Moehler, Nady

I'm beginning to view roller marks on Upper Deck cards not as a flaw but a feature, much like foil stamping or a hologram. Maybe one of these days I'll build an entire set of roller marked cards and play it off like they are a rare parallel set.

VERDICT:

The two packs are virtually the same thing for the same price. You've got a slightly better shot of getting something nice if you buy a hobby box but buying by the pack it doesn't really matter. Like I said, I'm limiting myself to Hobby packs partly to support the local shop and partly to make sure I don't waste any more money I could be spending on A&G. I have to say this though: this set has grown on me like a fungus. I'll be squirting the hell out of it with Tinactin right now, but a couple months from now I'll get slack and end up with a box or three and a horrible, burning itch.

2009 Heritage Retail Pack

This is the first retail pack of Heritage I bought. I actually bought five of them all at one, this is just the first one I opened. I also bought them a month ago and am now just getting around to posting the pack. Yes, I'm slow. It was worth the wait though! Well, not this pack actually, There's not much in here. No duplicates at least. But the other ones - they will be worth the wait! Well, most of them anyway. I'm not selling these posts very well am I?

55 Nate McLouth

Nate McLouth hit 26 homers last year?? According to the cartoon on the back one splashed down in the river. Do Pittsburghers (Pittsburghians?) camp out in kayaks on the river to retrieve home run balls like in Frisco? Wouldn't they all die of hypothermia right now? Why white letters on pink? So many questions...

322 David Murphy

I will be confusing this guy with the Mets' Daniel Murphy for the rest of my life. I know I will. He's got a wicked cool card though.

57 Win-Savers

K-Rod is gone, but Shields remains as the Angels' set up guy. He might get a few saves id Fuentes struggles. I'm not feeling very snarky today so I'll leave K-Rod and his new team alone.

152 Jorge Cantu

Jorge's already got two homers for the Fishies. LEt's hope he can get a few more in the series against the Mets this weekend!

235 Ryan Freel

What what what? Ryan Freel is an Oriole?? That's not right, Ryan Freel is a Red. He'll always be a Red. He can't not be a Red. The Reds wouldn't trade Ryan, give me one reason why anyone would trade Ryan Freel. He talks to invisible midgets in his head? Ok, it's not a 6-foot invisible rabbit, but that's still not a good reason to trade Ryan Freel. Shame on you Reds!

298 Aaron Cook

Aaron got hammered opening day, but it's a long season, he'll bounce back. That ERA will look ugly for a while though.

The cartoon where Aaron leaps out of bed into a dead sprint while suffering from pulmonary embolisms risking his very life just to play in a ballgame made me chuckle far too much considering the curcumstances.

273 Alex Rios

So is Alex Rios any good or is it simply Canadian trickery like when they conviced us that Vernon Wells was a superstar? 'Cause I keep hearing he's a star and then I look at the back and see 15 homers, 79 RBI and a .291 average with a 111 OPS+. That's a decent outfielder in my book, not a superstar worthy of a Mayo Cut Plug insert card.

105 Brad Penny

It's in the original set too, but white letters on a pink background is not a smart idea. B A P N Y is now a Red Sox hurler, which weirds me out just as much as the Freel thing.

The packs get better from here on out. There's always the occasional stinker with no inserts or SP's in Heritage though. they seem to be hitting me one in every five packs like clockwork. I'll give you a hint though - there's a short print of an MVP in the next pack. Can you guess who it is?

2009 Topps Heritage Mayo Checklist

I finally scrounged around and figured out the checklists for the retail-only Mayo Cut Plug inserts in this year's Heritage. They may have been posted already or might not. I'm posting them here anyway for reference. There are 20 cards in the set, 10 are inserted into Target packs and 10 more are found in Wal-Mart packs. I heard a rumor that they could only be found in jumbo packs, but I've seen one come out of a normal retail Target pack. I haven't seen any loose Wal-Mart packs other than a Jumbo and I don't know if they can be found in blasters or not (Update: looks like they aren't in blasters from the comments). Target packs list a "Target Continuity Card 1:4" in the odds on the back, Wal-Mart does not list any odds. The cards look pretty much exactly like the football version of the set, except the photos are in black & white. Thanks to Scott at Hand Collated for sending me this Chipper to examine.

Target Topps Heritage Mayo Checklist:

TME-AR Alex Rodriguez
TME-ARi Alex Rios
TME-AS Alphonso Soriano
TME-CJ Chipper Jones
TME-DP Dustin Pedroia
TME-HR Hanley Ramirez
TME-IS Ichiro Suzuki
TME-JS Johan Santana
TME-RB Ryan Braun
TME-RH Ryan Howard

Wal-Mart Topps Heritage Mayo Checklist:

WME-AP Albert Pujols
WME-DM Daisuke Matsuzaka
WME-DO David Ortiz
WME-DW David Wright
WME-EL Evan Longoria
WME-GS Grady Sizemore
WME-JH Josh Hamilton
WME-MR Manny Ramirez
WME-TL Tim Lincecum
WME-VG Vladimir Guerrero

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 - 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.