2009 Upper Deck Series 2

I still can't find Series 2 Topps packs in my area for some reason. I would have been more interested in buying that, but Upper Deck became the consolation prize. I'm banning myself from buying cards again for awhile, so it might be well into summer before I pick up any Series 2 Topps packs. In the meantime, here's the Upper Deck pack.

795 - Justin Duchscherer (I drafted this guy in one of my fantasy leagues and he ended up being hurt. I dropped him almost right away so I have no idea what's going on with him now.)

732 - Ryan Braun (I can't look at this guy anymore.)

683 - Alberto Callaspo

515 - Conor Jackson (Jackson has yet to develop the power that everyone used to rave about.)

718 - Corey Hart (Hart has been terrible this year, which serves me right for drafting a player I can't stand.)

559 - Hideki Okajima

909 - Nelson Cruz (Upper Deck likes to save some star players for Series 2 and even throw in a second card of certain players - Pujols comes to mind - but there's still plenty of bench players and part-timers like Cruz.)

668 - Geoff Geary (Geary quitely had a solid season last year for the hated Astros.)

518 - Tom Glavine (Someone give this man a job! I just want to see him stick to it the Braves, really.)

SQ-38 - Dustin Pedroia StarQuest Blue Uncommon (The blue is your mind, man.)

566 - Micah Hoffpauir (Definitely not related to Cardinals farmhand Jarrett Hoffpauir.)

920 - Rod Barajas

694 - Jeff Mathis (Upper Deck Series 2 is also known as the Backup Catchers Series. Mathis would appear to be standing for some patriotic song or some such thing.)

587 - Brent Lillibridge (It's the classic signing autographs for kids photo. Wait a sec... those hands a bit too large to be kid hands...)

873 - Ryan Franklin (Franklin has been, surprisingly, one of the NL's top closers. Unfortunately, he's barely been used lately because the Cardinals have completely fallen apart.)

754 - Duaner Sanchez

527 - Manny Acosta

921 - Joe Inglett (For some reason his name makes me think Sniglet.)

1992 Stadium Club Series 2

Woooo! Stadium Club! Back before Topps rooned it with short prints and autographs an nonsense. Got this pack from Motherscratcher in a box-o-stuff. May as well open it!


593 Roger Clemens Member's Choice
361 Craig Wilson
390 Dave Stewart
498 Johnny Guzman
1992 Club Membership Card
452 Gino Minutelli
340 Tim Wallach
584 Rob Dibble
331 Bob Milacki
395 Tom Glavine
539 Danny Darwin
535 Joey Cora
575 Eric Anthony
356 Roberto Hernandez
492 Chris Beasley
412 Jim Poole
What the hell is Tim Wallach doing there? Seriously. What is he doing.

Not too bad for a series 2 pack! Dave Stewart, the unceremoniously dumped Tom Glavine and a Member's card of Needles Rocket. The Rob Dibble card is pretty interesting too just for the contortions. The best part about these cards are the backs with the rookie cards on them. Unfortunately about half the pack had those stupid "Topps Debut" rookie cards from 1990 and '91. The oldest rookie card in the pack is right here:

Pretty cool Bull logo on the Darwin and Sample caps. Why didn't Topps put rookie cards on the back in last years's Stadium Club set? It might have actually made up for all those damn shortprints.

2002 Upper Deck World Series Heroes

I picked this up at a local card shop for $1 (as you can plainly see) having no idea what it was. I'll buy almost anything for $1.

55 - Cal Ripken Jr. (According to the back of the card, Ripken only batted .167 with 1 RBI in the 1983 World Series, so I'm not sure he qualifies as a "Hero".)

27 - Luis Gonzalez

60 - Cy Young (This is almost certainly my first Boston Pilgrims card.)

33 - Steve Garvey (Now here's a true World Series Hero. Garvey went 10 for 24 in the 1981 Series and possibly made me cry as his rotten Dodgers went on to beat my beloved Yankees. Hey, my dad liked them, so I didn't know any better.)

120 - Steve Bechler Fall Classic Phenoms (This is a bit of a stretch. Upper Deck had to fill this set with a bunch of short-printed rookies, the best of which is probably Reed Johnson or Jose Valverde.)

2009 Upper Deck Artifacts A Piece of History Baseball, A Brand With a Name So Long That Footnotes Might Soon Be Required

This blog has been on life support for the last few months, due in no small part to my lack of posts. I guess that's happened mostly because I've become wary of retail and haven't bought that many cards in 2009. Perhaps this will change?

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
33 Miguel Cabrera

17 Kosuke Fukudome

105 Alfredo Aceves (RC) Green Parallel (023/150)

121 Chris Lambert (RC)

157 Discovery of Penicillin

Not the best pack, but not too bad for retail. Unfortunately there wasn't a companion card to the Historical Moments card that would have made good fodder for an STD joke. Oh well. I have to say that I like the design more than the last few years.

2006 Ultra - best pack

Got a hobby box of this stuff at my local shop for less than $20 (Don't ask - that's just how I roll there). This was the best pack. I like the inserts even better than the base cards, which are still pretty decent looking. The silver foil strips with the name and position scanned black here...

Number one in the pack, and #1 in the set - Vlad Guerrero (front and back) Looks like he just schwocked one and is still watching it go on the back.

RBI8 Gary Sheffield RBI Kings - The best looking insert series in the set. This is why Fleer is missed....

162 Johan Santana - Great horizontal photo card. There are a lot of these in the set. And they're oriented the right way. I just started an older Pinnacle set where the horizontal ones face the opposite direction in relation to the backs. That always throws me off.

106 Erik Bedard - Did OK with the O's, but was soon traded off and started slow with the Mariners. Which makes us O's fans smile. Not to be confused with Kris Benson.

93 David Wright - Nice to get a Wright that's not about students. Card back says he's a highly regarded prospect and was a former Virginia High School Player of the Year. I think they have better accolades than that now.

37 Albert Pujols - Nice to get a Pujols that doesn't show him in the squat. Best player of this star-studded pack.

URS5 Chase Utley Ultra Rising Stars - Guess he proved them right last year. Say Utley Ultra five times fast!

151 Mike Sweeney Gold Medallion - Looks more like Rockies playing the Royals in the photo. Frankly, these can be rather annoying if you're trying to build the base set unless you know someone who is collecting all of them.

Great pack overall. All the packs in the box had two inserts, plus the occasional scarcer Retro Lucky 13s. It's a nice set with the typical Ultra trademark photography. I fell into building this one while helping a friend with his set.

A side note about the site ~ Not to steal the thunder of A Pack To Be Named Later (I wish that site all the success), but what's up peeps? Has our habit decreased from A Pack A Day to a couple a week? Just trying to rekindle the fire here....

2009 Topps Heritage Wal-Mart Jumbo Pack

I've had a lot of problems buying loose packs this year. I got an Obama pack at a Target that was bent in half by an angry partisan. I've gotten American Heritage packs that had the top card scratched all to hell by someone with a bizarre pack searching technique. The worst has been Topps Heritage. I have gotten no less than three packs this year where I discovered the pack had actually been opened in the store by someone peeking inside. I've found quite a few more opened ones too, it's reached epidemic levels. This pack here was in fact, partially opened. The bottom was pulled apart just enough to see inside. I didn't notice it until I had left the store or I would have passed up the pack. I'm glad I didn't notice it, as you will see.

73 David Price RC

8 Gil Meche

319 Mike Aviles Rookie Cup

282 Chris Volstad

263 Dioner Navarro

198 Chris Dickerson

C51 Rich Harden Chrome #0318/1960

WME-AP Albert Pujols

363 Coco Crisp

386 2008 World Series Game 2

369 B.J. Ryan

54 Jonathan Papelbon

24 Marco Scutaro

158 Gregor Blanco

David Price rookie sitting nicely on the top of the pack and the searcher passed it up since there was no jersey card inside. Ha!

Plus there was a Mayo Cut plug card of Prince Albert. How could the guy not notice that? The card is pitch black. Both sides.

Oh, yeah. There was also a Chrome card. So the dork opened up the pack in the store and missed a David Price rookie on top of the pack (and the wrapper is see though, take a close look at the next one you buy), a black as night card of Albert Pujols and a card that has a chrome metal finish. What a doofus.

No worries, I picked it up instead and the opened, rejected pack ended up being a home run.

2009 Topps Attax

Yes, I gave in. I have no excuses. Oh, I tried to come with a few such as, "I've been busting a lot of oddball stuff for APTBNL," or "I was standing in the line at Wally World and it just... spoke to me..." or "Hey! How about the newest baseball-themed TCG!!" But, really, I just walked over, picked the pack, and threw it on the conveyor. And this is my penance (as opposed to pennants).

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Justin Upton (Diamondbacks) and Kevin Kouzmanoff (Padres) start things off. The cards are colorful and I actually like the pictures on them. I have never played the game or bought a starter box or whatever, so I only have a vague idea as to what the numbers are for across the bottom.

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Yunel Escobar (Braves), Albert Pujols (Code Card - Cardinals) and Bobby Abreu (Foil Hot Streak - Yankees) come up next. The packs have 10 cards and collectors are 'promised' one foil and one code per pack. I thought about blanking the code, but really, why spoil someone's fun? Have at it.

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Javier Vazquez (Braves), Edinson Volquez (Reds), and Lastings Milledge (Nationals) usher in the middle of the pack, or the not-quite-end of it anyway. The card backs are red with "Topps Attax" in huge letters and the team's logo. There's also to the toppstown.com address for good measure.

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Vernon Wells (Blue Jays) and Rick Ankiel (Cardinals) finish out the lineup. If Topps could figure out something else to put in place of the three stats at the bottom, these wouldn't be too awful for base-set cards.