2008 Topps Sell Sheet Review

Ok, after rumination, deliberation, consternation and procrastination, here is my preview of the 2008 Topps set. It only took blackmailing myself with a box of Bowman Heritage to force it out of my brain on onto the screen. Scheduled delivery date is 2/04/08, so only three long months to go before we can open up some of this stuff.

All the info for the set can be found here. Just scroll down until you see a hot chick with wings and a big sword and look to your left (if you can) and you'll see the links to the 2008 Topps sell sheets. Here are the direct links to the downloads, but it's worth going to the site for the painting of bird woman.

Sell Sheet (Acrobat .pdf document)
Checklist (Excel document)
Product Information Sheet (Word document)

Ok, once you're done looking at the girl, here's my thoughts on 2008 Topps Baseball.

Base Cards:

Design:

This is my favorite design in a long, long time. There was a long stretch in the 90's were things looked really blah. 1995 started the ugly "Attack Of The Foil Names" theme and after a really attractive set in 1998, Topps mailed it in for a while with a bunch of metallic border sets that all blended together. There's been a few good ones lately, 2005 is really nice, 2002 and 2003 are pretty good as well. This year's effort was at least distinctive, even if it rubbed some people the wrong way with the chippy black borders and bizarre little squares. I like it simply because it has it's own unique look. Black borders haven't been used at all since 1986 and it was about time. We don't need a black border every single year (I'm talking to you, Bowman), but every fifteen years or so is about right. 1953 (on half the cards at least), 1971, 1986, 2007... Here's to more black borders around 2022. My point is, even if you don't like the '07 cards, at least they are distinctive, and don't look like every other set out there.

This is why I love the way the 2008 set looks. It has a unique, distinctive design, yet it is also fairly elegant. Most of Topps' classic sets can be described in a word or phrase. This edition can be identified as circus retro or little circles since there's no other design like it. While unique, it does build on the successful sets from the past. Circles were used to good effect in the '59, '63 and '83 sets. Using small circles to spell out the team name has been seen in the 1986 Topps 3-D oddball set. Many sets have effectively used the team name on top, player name on the bottom setup, notably 1964, 1975, 1986, 1988 and 2004. Using team colors on the circles will be nice for team sets. There are a few problems with the design, most notably the Topps logo dipping into the photo. That's an odd choice and it must have made life difficult for whoever cropped the photos. The borders look a little wide on the sell sheet, but I have a feeling they will be tightened up in the actual set. Finally, I am sick and tired of the player's name being stamped on the card in foil. Topps has done this every single year since they added foil to gold gards in 1992. The positives far outweigh the negatives in my opinion, and I'm looking forward to seeing if the backs look as good as the front. I don't know about you, but I'd like to see cartoons in this set.

Checklist:

The base set is pretty typical for Topps. 330 cards divided up into Vets, Rooks, Managers, League Leaders, Postseason Review, Award Winners and Classic Combos. No Team cards, which is surprising. I'm not sure if they've killed them off completely or saving them for Series 2. Only 15 managers too, and they seemed to insert only skippers with serious job security. Francona, Cox, LaRussa, Randolph, but no Joe Torre interestingly enough. The Dodger airbrush specialist is disappointed.The rookies look decent enough at first glance. Clay Buchholz, Luke Hochevar, Wladimir Balentien, Brandon Jones and Daric Barton jump up at me off the checklist. There's a few others like Clint Sammons who got a cup of coffee this September, but probably won't have a big impact in '08. I'm not sure how many of these guys already have cards out there, I'm guessing most are at least in some Bowman set. I'm going to be pissed if when it's all said and done the Bowman prospect inserts end up being the true rookie cards, just as I've given up on the base brand.

The subsets are your average star-studded leaders and awards cards. The Classic Combos cards features the Tigers, Nationals, Red Sox, Twins and a team to be named later. Howzabout a nice card of Smoltz and McCann, perhaps? Mantle is back at #7. Plenty of stars in the set, and they have given them the primo "divisible by 5" slots. A-Rod and Bonds bookend the set and Ryan Howard, David Ortiz and Chien-Ming Wang get the coveted 100, 200 and 300 cards. No Mark Teixeira though. I'll have to wait until Series two to get a Topps card of him where he isn't wearing a stupid poofy sweater.

Parallels:

Same stuff as usual. Gold numbered to 2008. Black (returning after being replaced by Copper) numbered to 57. Platinum one of ones. I don't see First Edition cards anywhere, maybe they are finally dead. Press plates are back if you consider them a parallel. There is some new thing called Gold Foil in the sell sheet that looks like it is in every other hobby pack. The only description of them is 'glittering cards'. I'm frightened. Hopefully the red stealth has been retired for good.

Insert Cards:

(takes deep breath)

As usual, there's a lot of them. I'm going to go through them from my favorite to my least favorite.

#1 Baseball Card History

I love this set. No, I really really looooove this set. I want to lay this set down and make sweet, sweet love by the fire. The sell sheet states this is a new set, but it's actually the same theme as the bonus cards in this year's Wal-Mart box blasters. This is the Topps insert set I've been collecting all year and as a result, I've passed up on hobby packs to get the blasters. Now I can go ahead and get the hobby box and not have to wait for the trucks to arrive at Wally World. This year's cards were done very well and included vintage card standards T206 and Goudey as well as some obscure sets like Helmar Stamps and Post cereal cards. I'm a retro fiend and this set is as retro as it gets. The checklist looks great too and has a Mark Teixeira/Jeff Francoeur combo card that I'm already losing my mind over. Is it a combo Topps card from the 60's? 1941 Double Play? T201 Mecca Double fold? I wantttsss it, my pressssioussss! Plus half the set is inserted into hobby boxes at 1:6 odds, and the other half are being given away at HTA stores each week. The shop I go to is real good at helping customers complete the weekly set even if they miss a few weeks so I've already got half the set in the bag. You just don't know how happy I am about this set.

#2 Presidential Stamp Collection

I know I said I was sick of President cards in my Turkey Red review, but I'll make an exception in this case. Goofy oddball cards with stamps on them are always fun in my book. There is no indication that they will be numbered but there's no odds on the Product sheet. I'm afraid these might end up super short printed, but it would be neat to get one of them.

#3 All Rookie Team 50th Anniversary

50 years ago, Topps inserted the first Rookie Stars cards in the 1959 set. To commemorate this event, Topps has created this insert set in the design of the 1960 All-Rookie cards. Heh. I guess the designer of this set had just finished working on '59 Heritage and was sick of that design. It's still a cool idea for a set and will be easy to get at 1:5 packs. The checklist is a neat mix of old and new players, ranging from Ron Swoboda to Dan Uggla. I see at least 4 Braves in there too, and that's with 15 players to be determined. This is light years better than another mirror set. There are Auto, Relic and gold parallels of this set as well.

#4 All Rookie Team Promo

This could be cool, or it could be a crummy advertisement. From the sell sheet:

Promo cards will be inserted into packs directing consumers to vote online at www.topps.com for the Topps Golden Anniversary All-Rookie Team.

The product sheet states odds of one in 6 packs, and the checklist has TBD for the subject. At this point I'm going to assume it's just an ad. There is one other thing, however...

Instant win cards give the winner a replica Rookie trophy.

SWEEEET! I WANT A ROOKIE TROPHY!!!

#5 Year in Review

Continuity set that is 100% improvement on last year's Gen Now flustercluck. One card per day in the season, 60 per series. This is what Gen Now should have been, if you want to honor a big Ryan Howard home run or Kenji Johjima cutting down Aaron Boone at second, just put it on one card and move on. Nice one by Topps, although the newspaper design has gotten a bit hackneyed. People get their news from TV and the internet nowadays, keep up with the times and swipe Digg or the Drudge Report design for an insert set. Developing...

#6 Own The Game

Solid insert set that's been around forever. I have nothing bad to say about these cards although they don't excite me too much.

#7 The Mickey Mantle Story

These cards are actually not that bad compared to the stupid mirrors. At the very least Topps uses a different year's design for each series and includes different photos on each card. These should be the 1955 design.

#8 Campaign 2008

We've finally entered Fear and Loathing territory. When I first heard about these things I thought, "Ron Paul trading card! Sweet!". Now that I've thought about it, they are going to be coming out right in the middle of Primary season. I am going to be completely sick and tired of these clowns by then and now they will all be invading my baseball cards. The only thing that could save this set is if someone at Topps has a sense of humor and inserts a Stephen Colbert card in without telling anybody.

Oh crap, I think I just figured out the 2008 Series One Gimmick card.

#9 Mantle Home Run History

Thank God, it's finally over.

#10 Barry Bonds Home Run History

Just go away already.


Autos and Relics:

This section is all that stands between me and my Bowman Heritage box topper, so please don't be offended if I half-ass it.

Really, autos are autos and relics are relics. They aren't seeded 3 or per box so they are actually somewhat tough to get in Topps.
Jumbo boxes have an auto and relic per box. Regular boxes are a crapshoot.

Autos can be found in these sets:

2007 Highlights
World Champion Autographed Relics
Campaign 2008 Cut Signatures
All Rookie Team 50th Anniversary Autographs

Relics can be found in these sets:

Replica Mini Jersey Cards
Barry Bonds Home Run Triple Relic Cards
In the Name patch
World Champions
2007 Highlights
All Rookie Team 50th Anniversary Relics
Mantle Home Run History Relics

There are two new things in 2008 Topps. Topps is inserting letter patches from their All-Star jerseys in the In The Name relic set. It features 52 players and 312 total cards, all numbered 1 of 1. Letter patches are pretty popular and this should be a nice hit.

The other newcomer is a little strange. Topps created teeny little patches that sort of look like jerseys and put them on a card, all numbered to 499. There are 35 cards in all in the set, no Braves on the checklist as of yet. They aren't really relics, and they look kind of goofy, so who knows how well they will go over especially when they end up being one of the hits in a Jumbo box.

Conclusion: I really like the base set, I will definitely be collecting at least one of the insert sets. Barring a ridiculous publicity stunt, I have a really good feeling about this set. Let's cross our fingers and hope things go well in '08. Only three months to go!

Why this is a great time to be alive

Thanks to Google Translator, we can read baseball trade rumors from Japan in the most brilliant garbled language you can possibly imagine.

Masashi Kobayashi FA exercise the Braves win move

A total of 227 saves Lotte pitcher Masahide Kobayashi (33) is two days, at a press conference in Chiba Marine Stadium, FA (free agent) expressed its intention to exercise the right. Lotte is the future, including domestic, American baseball a view to negotiating a transfer, American officials ball, "Braves survey Moving" and several major teams have shown interest. At the time of a high salary is neck in the national team to win the negative, or residual, or a major situation. Seven years in a row 20 saves over Japan holds the record for a Japanese representative closer to the possibility of crossing the sea came.

...

Masashi Kobayashi's expressed by the American baseball official said, "Braves move in the investigation" and明KASHITA. In season from the Scouts have repeatedly inspect the background, and the relief team to win in the low positive. Mariners win in transit may have to move, several major teams have shown interest. Terms of the season will also record from the high salary of view on the market has gone down.

I'm not sure why the Braves are looking for a closer when they have Rafael Soriano. It's still really fun to be able to see these primary sources from overseas even though you have to do a little mental gymnastics to figure out what the article is talking about. Actually it's fun because you have to bend your mind to understand it.

2007 Bowman Heritage Box

Or: The Slowest Box Break Ever

Ok. I got my box. Didn't have to sell an organ or shake down old ladies for money either. I had enough saved up for a box already, this is one of the sets I always plan on getting. The owner at the shop asked if I wanted to get two in case the price went up. Um, right. This is the product that is usually still on the shelf 4 months later at a discount. I'll take my chances. Besides, Topps used up all their squirrelly gimmicks on that crap they just released.

Here's the deal with this box. As much as I want to rip open this box right now in an orgy of cardboard and flying wrappers, I'm not gonna do it. There are two reasons why this box wasn't halfway opened by the time I got it to the car. First, this is the last product I'm really looking forward to until next February. It's slim pickings as far as I'm concerned after this until '08 so I'm going to savor it. I might get bored and go back and get some UD Artifacts or Masterpieces, or God forbid, get caught up in '52 Rookies, but this is it as far as a set I really want this year. More importantly though, I have about a dozen or so drafts of posts sitting in my queue that I've been too lazy to finish and I'm forcing myself to do it now. This box is the carrot that will get my mule ass in gear. I'm not even allowing myself to take the plastic off the box until I get my overdue 2008 Topps review finished. I have the whole thing in my head, I've just been too distracted to type it out. Expect that tonight or tomorrow followed almost immediately by the Bowman box toppers. After that, I'm only going to open one pack per post I get out of draft and into published status. All those Topps U&H pack breaks, original Allen and Ginter cards, Red Sox tribute posts and the rest are getting out of my queue an on this blog before I open the last pack from this box. Of course I can always simply post about the box itself first...

Topps used a shoebox setup for the box this year. The owner at the card shop didn't like it because it took up too much real estate on the counter, but I think it's pretty cool. The design on the box and wrapper is the same as from the original '52 set with updated dates and logos.

I'm thrilled because Topps included a generic Boston Brave as their official mascot of 2007 Bowman Heritage.

I thought it might have been catcher Walker Cooper at first, but after looking through my '52 Braves cards, I'm leaning more towards reliever Sheldon "Available" Jones.

The bottom is pretty nondescript other than the Relic and Auto Groupings. The typical Copyright, website and legalese stuff. A-Rod Waste of Space autograph cards are one in 773 boxes. Whoopee. I was interested in comparing the player groupings for the hits and the odds for each grouping on the back of the wrapper. Yeah, wrapper, I did buy one pack along with the box to post on A Pack A Day. I'm not going to completely deny myself. The very first thing I noticed is the odds on the wrapper for Autos are probably wrong. Odds for a card from Group B is the easiest at 1:47, and the only player in Group B on the box bottom is Chipper Jones. While I am all for having a Chipper Jones Auto hit in one out of two boxes, I'm thinking Larry didn't sign 180,000 cards for this product. I think what happened with the Auto odds is either the groups or the odds got printed in reverse order with Group A actually having the odds for Group H. David Wright autos packing out one in 337 boxes makes more sense than if it was one in 339 packs. The prospects in groups F and G are probably the easiest pulls. The Relic odds look to be correct with Rocco Baldelli being the tough pull for some reason. It looks like Bonds relics will be somewhat obtainable. Interesting. Odds are below, click to enlarge.

That's all for now until I get that '08 review out...

What What WHAAAAAAT???

Bowman Heritage is live?!? What, Who, Where, Why... How is this out already?? Topps is supposed to delay all this stuff for weeks! I haven't even SEEN a box blaster of Updates & Traded Series Three Highlights yet! How am I supposed to jump straight into Bowman Heritage? GODDAMNIT TOPPS YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO SHIP A PRODUCT ON TIME!!!

Money! Crap, I need money. Should I sell my Ellsbury? Naaah. I have two kidneys, I don't need one of them... Hey, there's that little old lady down the street, when do Social Security checks get sent anyway? Screw it! I gots Visa, Amex and Diner's Club!

OFF TO THE CARD SHOP!!!!1

Two Amusing YouTube Sportkings Case Breaks

This break is epic. I'm going to use the "Steve Young Diaper" line every time I pull a crap jersey from now on.



It's actually kind of sad watching this guy go from being so excited about Dr. Price's new product to seeing his blood pressure rise after pulling the duplicate Poker player jersey card.



This one's a bonus, I found it searching for Sportkings on YouTube after I wrote the post. This guy busted six cases of the stuff. Check the sidebar, there's five more videos of busting Sportkings. I've only watched the first one so far.



These case breaks are pretty cool, it's like I get to bust some one else's wax while they pay. This kind of confirms what I originally thought about the product. The set's ok, the hits are nice, but no freakin' way is this stuff worth $400 and up for a pack. I am thinking about trying to pick up a Dominique card from the set if I can find one cheap. Heh. I just realized that the cost of all these boxes cost WAY more than my first four cars. I need to find 2 more case breaks so they all equal the price of the car I've been driving for the past 5 years. 140,000 miles or a near set of Sportkings and a bunch of random relic cards? You decide!

Guest Blogger - 1995 Stadium Club Series 1 Box Break

Reader Kevin recently busted a box of 1995 Stadium Club he found on eBay. The first pack break can be found over on A Pack A Day. Here's the whole box for your reading pleasure. I'll be adding scans from my collection for illustrative purposes.

A few weeks ago, I scoured eBay for a relatively cheap
(under $20) box of cards. I found a box of Topps
Stadium Club '95 Series One that fit my criteria and
took the plunge. You see, way back in 1995 I was a
scrawny, awkward middle schooler and a rabid card
collector. If I recall correctly, I'd already lost
some of my innocence as a sports fan thanks to the
horrors of the baseball strike, but I came back around
gradually. Although none of the basic 1995 sets did
anything for me, I was immediately drawn to the
beautiful photography and classy design on the front
of the Stadium Club cards...and I guess I overlooked
the butt-ugly clusterf*ck on the back. I never came
close to completing the set, so as a scrawny, awkward
mid-twentysomething I decided to jump back into it.
Let's rip some packs, shall we?

11 Carlos Garcia
28 Virtual Reality Paul Molitor
35 Barry Larkin
219 Roberto Kelly Best Seat in the House
122 Deion Sanders
232 Jose Lind
52 Denny Hocking
195 Eduardo Perez
193 Jeff Conine
245 Mike Bordick
72 Dennis Eckersley
22 Ken Hill

For a first pack, this is a real dud. I knew what I
was in for when I saw a Pirate looking up at me from
the top of the stack. I already had Molitor, Hocking,
and Conine. Eduardo Perez really amuses me on
Baseball Tonight. He sounds like his tongue is too
big for his mouth, but still, he just looks like he's
trying so hard to be cool and insightful. The Eck
card is great, though. No one takes an action shot
quite like him...that classic windup, the wild
mustache and hair frozen in motion, and of course the
ass-kicking squint.

105 Cade Gaspar Draft Pick
89 Virtual Reality Luis Polonia
198 Orlando Merced
255 Wil Cordero
235 Randy Myers
57 Raul Mondesi
139 Kirk Rueter
10 Roger Clemens
185 Craig Biggio
241 Ken Griffey, Jr.
9 Gary Gaetti
29 Shawon Dunston

Now we're talking! I guess all of the stars that were
missing from my last pack just migrated to this one.
Clemens, Biggio, and Griffey, that's three Hall of
Famers in a row. You've also got Ratface Gaetti with
his old-school helmet without the earflaps. Ben Henry
recently mused on all of the '90s prospects that
flamed out, and there's plenty of that in this pack as
well. A draft pick I've never heard of, and one of
the all-time head cases, Raul Mondesi.

132 Wilson Alvarez
48 Virtual Reality Danny Bautista
231 Hal Morris
132 Wilson Alvarez
256 Al Leiter
37 Orel Hershiser
21 Rey Sanchez
187 Kevin Gross
129 Todd Jones
165 Allen Watson
178 Dave West
78 Danny Bautista

NOOO! What the hell, Topps? Dupes in the same pack?
The Bautista base card and parallel being together
seems weak as well. I'm starting to get a bad feeling
about this box. It's a shame, too, because Alvarez's
photo is hilarious. He appears to be standing in
front of his Venezuelan palatial estate, sporting a
glorious dirt 'stache and a polo shirt from the Bill
Cosby collection. Another great photo has good ol'
Orel seemingly using telekinesis to suspend a baseball
in midair. What's more, he's wearing his specs.

240 Jeff Bagwell Cause & Effect
112 VR Mike Stanley
148 Larry Walker
231 Hal Morris
226 Matt Mieske
61 Jeff Kent
1 Cal Ripken
267 John Burkett
245 Mike Bordick
27 Mariano Duncan
190 Bernard Gilkey
158 William Van Landingham

Ripken saves another subpar pack. Five duplicates,
two of which I've already pulled in my first three
packs. You may have noticed that the Virtual Reality
parallel is slotted #2 in each pack, but I'm not sure
why you'd care. I never really understood the allure
of the VR cards. They're numbered as if they were
regular cards, and look practically identical to the
base set. All they had were the "Virtual Reality"
foil wordmark on the front and the computer projected
stats and bio on the back. However, there are only
parallels for half the cards in the base set. They
just sort of confused me, really. Larry Walker is
holding a hockey stick, which is the kind of pointless
gimmicky crap that you can blame on Upper Deck. I get
it, he's Canadian.

For my sanity and yours, I didn't blog the last 20
packs in the box. Take a look at this box break:

24 packs X 12 cards a pack = 288 cards

263 base cards: 164 originals, 72 doubles, 24 triples,
3 quadruples
(164 of 270 complete base set - 60.7% complete)

24 Virtual Reality parallels: 23 originals, 1 double
(23 of 135 complete parallel set - 17% complete)

1 Clear Cut Finest insert - Bobby Bonilla (odds 1:24)


Now I want to travel back in time to twelve years ago
and hit some Topps execs with a shovel. Over a third
of the base cards in this box were duplicates! Sure,
you might have to pay $40 or more for a decent-sized
box of cards these days, but at least they collate the
packs so you're not stuck with a load of doubles.

Oh, and as a bonus slap in the face, I got eight
Orioles cards in the whole box: Ripken, Ripken Cause &
Effect (x3), Sid Fernandez (x2), and Jeff Tackett
(x2). As a kid, I always assumed there was some sort
of distribution scheme that keep my hometown team in
higher demand in this region...but considering that
this box was shipped to me, I'll chalk it up to crappy
luck.

In other news...does anyone want to trade?

Card Of the Week 11/05

It's looking like I might end up with another all nighter at work, so I'm getting the scan up for this week's Card of the Week now, and I'll get to the rant eventually right now! Enjoy...


Just the flat-top alone makes this a great candidate for Card of the Week. Ol' Bob Bruce is the quintessential example of a mid-sixties' hunk of a man. Clean shaven, hair trimmed high and tight, eyebrows allowed to roam free as nature intended, both overlooking a steely gaze of azure blue, and a radar dish on each side of his head listening, always listening, for those sneaky Russian subs that could be lurking on the coast of Florida at any moment. Forget those long haired mustachioed hippies that would befoul Topps cards in just a few short years' time. This is a real ball card of a real ball player. The Braves traded Eddie Mathews to get him, for cripes' sake! But WAIT! There's a flaw in this seemingly perfect card.


Atlanta Arbavees? #$!&@* the heck? This must be some sort of liberal conspiracy to deny the white man's God-given right to exploit Native Americans. Georgia was responsible for the Trail of tears and now they can't even use Braves as the name of their baseball team?? The quality control team at Topps wouldn't stand for anything so un-American on such a perfect card and they fixed this error lickety split. That's how things used to be done at Topps but somewhere along the way they got all weird and started putting Psychedelic Tombstones and Technicolor Tartans and weird little squares all over their cards. It's gotten so bad that they've started dabbling in necromancy, godless cloning experiments and purposefully leading young prospects astray with bi-curious behaviour. Are these the baseball cards we want our children to have?? Somewhere a fine American card hero weeps for the state of our hobby.

Major Trade Announcement

I looked high and low for the "CANNONBALL!" clip from Anchorman on the internet but I couldn't find it. I'll just have to jump right into this announcement then.

Blogs Cardboard Junkie and Thorzul Will Rule have completed a multi-player swap to kick off hot stove season. Thorzul sends 6 cards from the 2007 Allen and Ginter set plus 3 Dick Perez inserts to Atlanta, while the Junkie sends a 2007 Topps Own The Game Jermaine Dye, two Distinguished Service inserts and a Robin Yount to be named later in return. The two also swapped two undisclosed draft Packs, to be opened soon on A Pack A Day.

Buster Olney reports this trade as a win-win for both sides, as critical holes in their lineups were addressed with the swap. Or he would, if he knew about the trade and cared.

In other news, The Cardboard junkie is down to needing 23 11 9 cards for the 2007 A&G set, and is not ashamed to beg. Any trade offers considered. And if you suggest SportLots in the comments, please tell me how to use the site. That place confuses me.

19 Mario Andretti
26 PT Barnum
65 Andy Marte
133 Carlos Gomez
141 Brian McCann
158 Jason Kendall
177 Rafael Furcal
180 Alfonso Soriano
191 Jeremy Hermida
195 Mike Piazza
207 Chris Burke
209 Randy Johnson
219 Dan Uggla
234 Joe Crede
235 Barry Zito
248 Ron Washington
252 Bud Black
266 Freddy Garcia
272 Mia Hamm
283 Chris Capuano
295 Jake Peavy

Dick Perez
24 Raul Ibanez
28 Michael Young

Since you read through my list, you are hereby rewarded with some highlights from Brick for your efforts.

LOUD NOISES!!!

Upper Deck's Redemption Redemption

I frequent the Topps and Upper Deck message boards looking for neat card tidbits from people who have the money to open cases upon cases of cards. While we gripe about stupid designs and contrived error cards and lament the death of cardboard stock, the biggest complaint on those boards is easily about redemption cards. They take too long, they don't get the card they want, they do get the card they wanted but it's scratched... lots of complaining about redemption cards. Upper Deck is sick of redemption cards as well and last April they changed their policy toward them to try to get them shipped out faster. We're still waiting on them to return odds of inserts to wrappers so who knows.

I've never had a problem with redemptions. I've gotten maybe 10-20 redemption cards in my collecting career and I've been happy with them most of the time. The only two problems I've had were with an Eddie Belfour Topps stick card and an Upper Deck Legends Mel Blount autograph redemption. I bought the Eddie redemption card on eBay around 2001 or so with the idea that it was for a Belfour stick, not a card with a little bit of a stick on it. That was totally my fault and I'm not sure what I was thinking at the time. I sent it in, waited a while and got back the note that "we could not process your request for this card bla bla bla." Instead of Eddie, I got a hockey auto, a jersey card and a pack of Stadium Club Hockey. Not bad. The Mel Blount was another bonehead move on my part. You can't redeem it if you misplace the thing and don't find it again until 2 years after the expiration date. So in the time I mailed in my first Topps BlackGold set redemption card to now, I've only had 2 bad experiences with redemptions and both were caused by stupidity on my part.

Then again, I'm not the type of collector that would have problems with redemptions. If I pull a high-dollar card I think "wow what a cool card, what a lucky person I am" not "ok, there's another one I need for that set, let's finish opening these cases then I can hit eBay for the rest". For player collectors, high-end insert set collectors and dealers trying to flip the card for a profit, a slow redemption or no redemption for the card they are seeking can be maddening. The ball is certainly in the manufacturer's court on this problem. A little extra time and effort in planning out the autogamer inserts would go a long way to eliminating redemptions. Print out the autograph cards first to get them signed, and have a backup supply of autographed stickers to use. A sticker auto is better than a redemption card for all parties involved. Don't promise a game used card if you don't have the thing in stock. There have been too many half-assed rush jobs lately, especially in my favorite brand. If redemption card must exist, a reorg of the process like UD is attempting is a good start to fixing the problems.

Here's the reason why I'm posting about this instead of doing my 2008 Topps review. Less than 12 hours after being in Wal-Mart at 7:30am looking for pads I was back in Wal-Mart again to resolve the ZOMG we're out of milk crisis of '07. I was sick of Wal-Mart at this point and I decided to go to the other one near me (yes, I have two SuperWal-Marts within about 4 miles of my house) to buy a box of something dammit. Still no Topps U&H, and nothing else that really caught my eye. I was getting some cards no matter what so I grabbed a couple packs of Topps Basketball (got about 8 cards for my set) A couple packs of Goudey (Manny Ramirez SP) and a Pack of Artifacts. I opened up the artifacts and saw that familiar green and silver card:


Woot! a reedemption card. Let's flip this puppy over and see who I got.


Jeter Autograph! All right! That was worth spending half my weekend in a discount store. The card books at $75-$125 in the October Beckett and there's an auction for the Jeter redemption card online for $90 right now. I briefly considered selling the thing but decided against it. A Jeter in hand is worth a bird in the bush or some such thing. I scratched the sucker and after spending a few minutes racking my brain for my forgotten Upper Deck password I sent in the redemption code at about 2am Sunday morning. The card is in stock, so let's see how long it takes to get here. Here's a real life test of UD's new policy. I'll post a scan of the card when (if?) it arrives. The clock is ticking, Upper Deck...

Programming Note

I had ESPN news or some such channel on as background noise yesterday and I heard a promo for this week's E:60 news thingy 60 minutes ripoff. I normally find ESPN's feeble attempts at being real journalists to be useless and obnoxious but this caught my attention. Apparently Tuesday night one of the segments on the show will be Bill Simmons touring the Upper Deck factory. I can't find anything online about it and I only sort of half-heard the promo so I'm not even sure it wasn't a sleep-deprived hallucination from working too many all-nighters. I don't know if it's true, and I don't know what time it's on, but if the reptilian subconscious part of my mind that craves all things baseball cards heard it correctly,

BILL SIMMONS TOURS THE UPPER DECK FACTORY ON E:60 TUESDAY NIGHT ON ESPN

And yeah, if this is actually happening, it deserves the bold red italic blinky tag for sheer Bill Simmons awesomeness. I'm half-listening to Mike & Mike right now so if the promo comes on again I'll pay attention and confirm the date and time.

Update: Beckett has a link to the segment for your viewing pleasure.

Topps Hobby 20 pack break part 2

I originally said this was a 15 pack break, but you know how it is. I couldn't resist. 20's a nice round number, I promise I'll stop here. At least until the Wal-Mart blasters come out.

Pack 6:
UH301 Bob Howry
UH307 Kyle Davies
UH103 Antonio Alfonseca
UH156 Matt DeSalvo RC
UH43 Ubaldo Jimenez RC
UH119 Matt Stairs red
UH34 Paul McAnulty red
MMS36 Mickey Mantle History
UH11 Matt Morris
UH249 Billy Wagner NL All-Star

Matt DeSalvo's signature looks more like a logo than an autograph. Matt Morris looks somewhat bemused to be a member of the Pirates. It was a pretty bizarre trade, so I don't blame him. Kyle Davies, now he looks pissed. He went from future Braves' ace to Royals' spot starter in about two years time, I'd be upset too. Ubaldo's rookie card comes about a week too late to mean anything. The red cards are boring as hell, and the Mantle History card is really the only thing worth a damn in here. Switching up to the '54 design for this series is a good change of pace, it would have been nice if they had done the same thing with the mirror set. Oh who am I kidding, a bootleg '55 design repeated 532 times with slight variations in photo and color is pure genius and I'm just jealous because I didn't think of it.

Pack 7:
UH64 Cliff Floyd
UH9 Adam LaRoche
UH328 Kenny Lofton
UH153 Mark Reynolds RC
UH212 Justin Verlander Season Highlights
UH230 Ken Griffey Jr. NL All-Star red
UH300 Kason Gabbard red
GN456 Kenji Johjima Generation Now RUNNER CAUGHT STEALING ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME #5
UH281 Cole Hamels & Russell Martin Classic Combos
UH236 Johan Santana AL All-Star

Just when you thought the Generation Now inserts could never get any more ridiculous, Topps pulls out runners caught stealing as an insert-worthy stat. Twenty-nine inserts actually. He threw out Aaron freaking Boone! Who cares! The rest of the pack is star-studded at least. Griffey and Santana All-Star cards, Hamels & Martin at the All-Star game and Verlander's no hitter card make up for a stupid insert. Just barely. Kason Gabbard is another weird choice for a card number divisible by 100. Abraham Nunez, Brad Salmon and now Gabbard get the 100, 200 and 300 cards. Aren't these supposed to be given to decent players? The checklist is kind of dicey since this is a set full of players who were traded, called up this year or just weren't good enough to get into series 1 or 2, but come on. Sosa, Teixeira and Joba. There's numbers 100, 200 and 300 right there. It's not that difficult to do these things right. Then again, the #100 slot was used for the Ellsbury variation, so maybe they put crappy players there on purpose. Perhaps there is a #200 A-Rod variation hiding in blaster boxes shipped to Des Moines and a #300 Bullwinkle J. Moose card variation so rare the only known copy is in Keith Olbermann's sock drawer.

Pack 8:
UH97 Shawn Hill
UH1 Tony Armas Jr.
UH61 Shawn Chacon
UH150 Ryan Braun RC
UH37 Jason Simontacchi
UH164 Chase Wright RC red
UH216 David Ortiz AL All-Star red
B*rry B*nds H*me Run Hist*ry 745
UH74 Luis Castillo
UH265 Jorge Posada AL All-Star

Jason Simontacchi is still in the league? Huh. Never mind that, I got the Ryan Braun rookie! All right! The good one, not the Royals one. I can't believe I have this awesome player's very first card. Oh wait, never mind. Another good red card, keep 'em coming. B*rry B*nds is b*yc*tting my bl*g f*r gr*tuit*us and *bn*xi*us *pplic*ti*n of *sterisks. Don't be mad at me Barry! I didn't want a stupid asterisk branded onto that home run ball. I wanted the damn thing shot into space!

Pack 9:
UH12 Marlon Anderson
UH330 Brian Burris
UH42 Chris Snelling
UH41 Ryan Langerhans
UH9 JD Drew
UH257 JJ Hardy NL All-Star red
UH13 Jorge Julio red
HRK Barry Bonds #1 All-Time Home Runs
UH279 Chase Utley & Ichiro Classic Combos
UH241 Trevor Hoffman NL All-Star

Uh oh, I pissed off Barry and now he's going to keep showing up in my packs. This card is numbered HRK which coincidentally enough is the sound I made in the back of my throat when Bacsik threw him that meatball. It just occurred to me that JD Drew now has a ring. Ugh. Trevor Hoffman helped that happen indirectly. Man this pack depresses me. Let's go to the next one quick before I try to figure out what is going on on that Classic Combos card. Chase isn't really punching Ichiro in the guts, is he?.

Pack 10:
UH87 Jeff Karstens
UH142 Jeremy Guthrie
UH195 Marcus McBeth RC
UH130 Eric Gagne
UH206 Tom Glavine Season Highlights
UH81 Kelly Shoppach red
UH287 Alex Rios Home Run Derby red
GN573 Josh Barfield Generation Now Waste of Space
UH146 Freddie Bynum
UH242 Manny Ramirez AL All-Star

Well, at least I got Manny. I can say one thing about this pack, it's sheer awfulness prompted me to buy 5 more packs of the stuff which turned out to be a great move on my part. Find out why in part three.

For anyone interested here's the breakdown of the first 10:

Base set -70 cards
Red parallel - 20 cards
Gold parallel - 1
Mantle History - 1
Barry History - 2
Barry HRK - 1
Gen Now - 5 cards
Rodents - 0
no dupes

The Allen Ginter Project: Card #4 - N34 World's Sovereigns

Not all of these cards I bought have a good story behind why I chose them. While I would like to choose them based on some personal preference, the fact is that these are still 120-year old pieces of ephemera. As such, sometimes you just got to get what's gettable. The only reason I picked Alexander Bras-De-Fer as my card for the N19 Pirates set is because there was no paper loss on the back that would screw up the story there, and that it was a winnable auction. Other cards from that series with full backs and decent fronts are going for upwards of 100 bucks, so snagging one for 9, even though I still don't really know who the guy is, was well worth it.

I'd like to get 'favorite' cards from each of the set or at least 'cool' cards if for no other reason that it will be easier to write about those kinds of cards. I don't really have a set list of cards I'm targeting though, and I still haven't gotten together comprehensive checklists of the sets. I'm going more by feeling and by looking through the scans of the cards I find online to figure out what I like and don't like. Having a pop-culture reference to attach to a card would be nice for these articles, but for collecting's sake a card that is a) cheap b) cool looking c) available to buy or best of all d) all of the above is a great card for a type set. The N4 Birds of America card I picked up (which will be the next one I post) fits the all of the above category. This card from the N34 World's Sovereigns set was bought more because of the cheap and easy factor.

This card of Próspero Fernández Oreamuno, the President of Costa Rica from 1882 to 1885, is a nice example from this somewhat tough set. It's a really nice looking card, with El Presidente in full uniform standing in front of some awesome paisley wallpaper, a nice picture of boats and mountains in the corner, all framed in the golden ink that's so prevalent on many of these cards. The absolute highlight though is that beautiful Mustache. Now that's a mustache you can grab on to. I'm tempted to offer its services to the operator of this wonderful site, although I'm not sure they take submissions. The back of the card is a little beat, but the the title and logo is mostly complete and you can more or less read the checklist. I guess if you look at him long enough you can see a resemblance to Manuel from Fawlty Towers, but that isn't the reason why I bought it. There were three main reasons why I bought this when I did. It is from a tough set, it was there waiting for me to bid on it at a good time and it was dirt cheap.

One thing I've been doing since I started looking for original A&G cards is to save any images I find online of the cards. Going back and looking at all the cards you've seen already is a great reference tool for learning about the set. After doing this for 4 months or so, it's obvious that some sets are more scarce - or at least not sold as frequently - as others. Flags are everywhere right now, no doubt in part to the Topps insert set. The past few months have been probably the best time ever to sell original non-sports A&G cards with all the heat the Topps issue has brought to the hobby. American Indian cards are also seen frequently, often with high prices due to their popularity right now. Some of the sets I hardly ever see are N15 Generals, N7 Fans, N23 Songbirds, N26 and 27 Beauties, N3 Arms and the sports issues N28 and N29. I still haven't gotten a real reference book about nineteenth century cards yet, so I've relied finding info on these cards online. This forum, one of the best for non-sports cards, had this post that talked about relative scarcity. They listed the N34 set as one of the tougher ones and I took it to heart. When this card popped up I was ready to grab it.

I bought this card from As Time Goes By along with another Allen and Ginter card back in September. At the time, the plan was to get a couple of original flags to go along with my now postponed set of Topps flags. I targeted one card that I really wanted that night (my N11, you'll see it soon) and after I won it I saw this guy along with a few other N34s up for bid as well. Most of them had active bidding if I remember correctly, but this card had none. I figured what the heck and put in an opening bid which turned out to be the only one. The seller charges a flat fee for up to ten cards shipping so it cost me nothing but the bid since I had already won an auction earlier in the evening. This guy may have been the one that inspired me to go for a type set, as finding a supposedly rare card so cheaply got my confidence up.


I ended up getting this card for the opening bid price of $3.99, the price of a hobby pack of Turkey Red. That's all it took, the shipping was essentially free since I had already won a card from that seller. That's some nice value on an original card seeing how the ones inserted into the Topps product book for a hundred and up just because they have a frame. Part of my type set goal is to pick up these cards for less than the price of a blaster each. I'm not entirely sure how feasible that will be since the N28 and N29s are all pretty high priced, the N14 fruits set seems to be universally slabbed and graded and I may be lucky to even see another N15 General card, let alone afford one. If I do end up blowing way too much money on one of those cards, at least this one brings down the average.

More Topps Goofs

Let's see... Series 1 Jeter & friends. Series 2 Betancourt/Guillen. What could possibly go wrong with Updates & Highlights?

Ruthlessly stolen from the Beckett boards: Spot the patch card!

Is this a patch card?

Or is this?

Before you decide, look closely...


This isn't an isolated instance, it appears to be set-wide. It's not even the first time they've done this, 2006 Bowman Heritage had the bat/jersey jersey/bat mix ups in their relic cards. This is a bit more troublesome though, as the Becketteers note, there are a lot of unscrupulous eBay Sellers who will cut up a patch. stick it in a regular jersey card and sell them for big bucks. Do that with these cards (although I don't know how you could get one in that die cut) and there's a little added authenticity to dupe the gullible. Caveat emptor, I suppose.

It's still a pretty dumb mistake for what is supposed to be a flagship product. I'm starting to think Eisner slipped a few bucks to someone in quality control to cause all these brain-dead mistakes before the sale so Mikey can ride in and look like he's cleaning up the joint.

The Allen Ginter Project: Card #10 - N1 American Editors

I know I haven't posted cards #1-4 or 7-9 yet, but I just got this one in the mail today so why not do card #10 of my type set now. This one is from the set labeled N1 (or rather 1, since the Ns were added later) in the American Card Catalog. Yep this is the #1 set in the ACC mainly because American starts with A as does Allen & Ginter and Jefferson Burdick organized 19th century cards more or less alphabetically. This is one of the few N sets that has numbers on the back instead of a checklist or ad. The set states it's the "First Series" of American editors, but I don't know of a second one unless it's the large sized version of this set (N35).

I got this card for 9 bucks from Ebay seller howards201. If you ever buy anything from Howard, don't worry at all about the packaging. This card showed up in a mailer as thick and as soft as a pillow. The card was in an Ultra-Pro semi-rigid holder, between two thick pieces of cardboard, wrapped in three layers of bubble wrap, packed in a tough plastic bubble mailer and stamped FRAGILE. That's a lot of work to ship one tiny little card.


When I first looked through the checklist for this set I decided I would try for #22 Henry W. Grady. He was editor of the Atlanta Constitution and now has a nearly bankrupt hospital named after him. Grady Hospital is the premier tourist attraction for out of towners who get shot in Buckhead at 3 in the morning when the bars all close. So far the only one I've seen is a copy graded 70 Excellent+ by SCG. It's a bit outside my price range for this project. I stumbled upon this copy in an auction listing that was still waiting on a bid very close to the close. I kind of did a double take and decided that this was a great card for the type set.

This here is #44 William M. Singerly, editor of the Philadelphia Record, a Philly morning newspaper that eventually went Bust in 1947. Willie actually ran for Governor of Pennsylvania as a Democrat in 1894, but lost in a landslide to Republican Daniel Hastings. He was tragically taken in 1898 from heart disease due to excessive cigar smoking. He should have smoked Virginia Brights so he could have collected these cards on his deathbed. This card is a pretty nice example. No creases, corners are pretty darn good considering and no paper loss n the front except for a tiny bit on one corner. It still has some dings which is why I got it so cheap. The back has a glue stain and a small bit of paper loss that took off the second 4 in 44. The real killer on this card is the fact that the bottom edge is a little trimmed, and badly at that. Basically PSA will never touch this card with a ten meter cattle prod, which is fine by me. I want a card, not a status symbol.

So why did I decide on a chain smoking failed politician who edited a defunct newspaper in a town I'm not from? My grandfather might have read the Philadelphia Record, but I sure haven't. I know of at least one reader who may have figured it out but for the rest of you here's why:

William Singerly is apparently Captain Peacock's grandfather! Don't believe me? Check it out!

Eerie, isn't it?? No wonder Mr. Humphries looks so weirded out. Grady would be nice, sure, but he's too damn expensive and the AJC is a crappy fishwrapper anyway. I'd rather have a nice card of my favorite floor walker from Are You Being Served. Or his grandfather at least. I'll give Captain Peacock card #52 in my extended N1 set.

Now I just have to find a card of Mr. Humphries. I have a feeling I'll find it in the N31 set. Thanks for the card and the awesome packing job Howard. You've all done very well!

Topps gets out Toppsed

Upset that after 2008 Topps Series One there will be no more Mantle Home Run cards to pull since Mickey's unlikely to hit any more?

Miserable because Generation Now inexplicably didn't make it back into next's year's product?

Despondent that Topps will only be able to insert the A-Rod Bullshit Waste of Space set into a few more sets where it completely doesn't belong?

Well perk up my friends, because Upper Deck is going to make you forget all about those piddling little insert sets. Feast your eyes on this:


Ho Hum, another Babe Ruth insert. So what? Here's so what. Download the Powerpoint presentation if you dare and behold in awe the specs for this 2008 Upper-Deck cross brand insert set. For those with weak hearts, I will transcribe:

Upper Deck Yankee Stadium Legacy

Upper Deck celebrates all 85 historic years of Yankee Stadium with the Greatest insert set ever created. With one card for every game played in Yankee Stadium, no set will ever tell a more complete story of this legendary baseball landmark.

But wait, here's the good part:

Base Set: 7500 Regular Cards, the Largest Insert Set Ever Created

Seventy five hundred cards.

Let me repeat: and insert set with seventy five HUNDRED cards.

One more time with feeling: SEVENTY Five HuNdReD Cards!

Over nine 2008 sets! Holy crap!!! One card for every game played at Yankee Stadium. This isn't a continuity set, this is the Bataan death march! If the normal insert set is like a Bugs Bunny cartoon, then this set is Shoah. This is something like five times more cards than one of every SportsFlics card ever produced.You know those boxes in your closet, the ones that hold all your complete Topps sets from 1983-1991? Plus a couple of Traded sets for good measure? THIS IS BIGGER THAN THAT!!! But wait, there's more:

Yep gamers, autos and buybacks too. Goodness Gracious Me. My thoughts:

Please Lord, don't let this be 1000 cards each from Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Jackson and Jeter all looking exactly the same. If Upper Deck puts 1000 Yogi Berra cards in there, I'm totally fine with that though.

Will it be all superstars or will there be guys like Snuffy Stirnweiss, King Kong Keller, Tommy Heinrich, Allie Reynolds, Jim Bouton, Chris Chambliss and Oscar Gamble in there too?

I don't know how you can do a Yankees set without Mickey Mantle. I wonder if it would be cheating to cut out the picture on one of my numerous Topps Mantle Home Run #1 cards and paste it onto one of these...

Will people really be interested in pulling a card of this game?

After the 7th set of pulling this stuff, will we still like it or will we cringe like we do when pulling that oh so familiar red foilboard card?

Gotta hand it to Upper Deck. I don't know how well this set will go over, especially in Boston, but they have some colossal swinging cojones to even attempt something as crazy as this.

Scott Boras nonsense

Here's a gem from Scott Boras whining that he doesn't understand why the Yankees all of a sudden won't play nice and offer to overpay for his client so he can get the bidding frenzy nice and hot:

"Why is it that Alex is the only Yankee who can't become a free agent?" Boras said Wednesday. "That question was not answered, and we think it's a question that's going to be asked for years to come."

Ooo! Ooo! Mr Kotter! Ooo! OOO! I want to field this one. Because by opting out of the contract instead of negotiating with the Yankees to extend said contract, you cost them THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS YOU DIPSHIT. You cost them THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS so you could 'test the market' and thus extort even more money out of them by claiming a bunch of phantom teams are bidding on his services like you do with every single one of your other clients. And when you cost an entity THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS, whether that entity is an individual or a massive multinational corporation, the entity that just lost THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS tends to get a little pissy about losing THIRTY FREAKING MILLION DOLLARS, you dumbass. Get the Rangers to overpay for Rodriguez, you just saved them that THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS that they would have had to pay the Yankees. Good luck with that, seeing how brilliantly signing Alex worked for them the first time.

Fuck breaking Bonds' record, here's where I'd like to see A-Rod play for the next few years via my dream 2008 Topps Heritage Card:


Update: Toledo would work too.

And this is what I'd like to see Scott Boras have to go through for the next 11 months or so while his client remains unsigned.



If I seem just a wee bit snarkier than usual today don't worry, I'm grouchy because Atlanta doesn't have a date booked on Cake's new tour.

Topps Shortprint nonsense

More Alex Gordon bullshit going on in the new Topps.

Via Stale Gum, Beckett is reporting that some dude busting 20 cases of new Topps Series 3 AKA Updates & Highlights found 2 unannounced cards, #UH100 Jacoby Ellsbury and some squirrel #SQ1 Poley Walnuts.

The Jacoby card is already getting mentioned on the message boards and some fool has bid up an auction to $200 on eBay.

It can't be that shortprinted if I've already got one. (Pack #13 of the 15 pack bust that I still haven't finished posting)



At least I didn't get the stupid Squirrel.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!!

Topps screwed up not once but twice on Joba Chamberlain rookies! We have an '89 Upper Deck Dale Murphy thing going down with a reverse negative picture, and factory sets supposedly have a Joba with the Houston Astros for the team name. As expected, people are freaking out about this one too. To be honest, the Jobas look like photoshop to me. I'm not very trusting though.

Meh. We'll see what happens with all this crap as it shakes out the next week or two. If this causes the price of hobby packs to skyrocket and blasters to vaporize off the shelves before I can get my set, I'm gonna be pissed. If anybody wants my super-rare Honus Wagner knocks up Alex Gordon and they have a short printed lovechild card it's up for trade. All I want in return is a 1954 Topps Hank Aaron. Hey man! This shit's super rare! So pony up the Hammer if you want it so bad.

Update: Poley Walnuts. Ah. A Sopranos pun. How droll.

Updated update: I've never heard of the Alay Soler card before today. Weird.

Yet Another Update: That freakin' squirrel is even being mentioned in blogs in Japan!