Asked one of my recent graduates where his friend was. "He's dropping the Browns off in the Super Bowl."

2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects

These cards are the latest in my discounted Target finds.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
BDP43 Clayton Richard

BDP15 Blake DeWitt

BDPP89 Elvis Andrus

BDPP102 Clayton Richard (Ummmm... how can he be in both? The answer: Clayton Richard Hot Pack. Odds - 1:20,000)

BDPP66 Carlos Carrasco Chrome

BDPP75 Dexter Fowler Chrome

BDP40 Michael Hollimon Gold

Like that annoying girl we all knew in high school, this pack is crying out for you to give it a grade.
My assessment: C-
It was a fairly average pack with a few guys who are starting big leaguers by now, but the Clayton Richard onslaught knocks it down a peg or two for all but the most die-hard of White Sox fans.

2005 Upper Deck All Star Classics

So a bunch of these discounted packs have started showing up at my local Target, and for $1.59, I can't resist.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
36 Nomar Garciaparra
22 Jason Varitek

20 Ivan Rodriguez
1 Albert Pujols Gold Parallel (250/499)

71 Oliver Perez

79 Bob Gibson
65 Joe Mauer
86 Jim Palmer

Not sure if all packs are like this one, but it seems like the front half is all then-current players, and the back half alternates between All-Star Futures and Legendary All-Stars. Great looking cards, a little hit-or-miss on the checklist given the time period, but a fun pack to open. The Pujols alone makes up the cost of the entire pack. Not bad.

2009 UD Signature Stars

*Pfff* *Pfff* Whoa, what is up with all the dust around here?  This is a pack a *DAY* right?  Man, we need to step up, fellow bloggers!

The 2009 Upper Deck Signature Stars cards come in a box that lets you know in BIG, BOLD PRINT that these cards are NOT AUTHORIZED by the MLB.  I'm sure if I look hard enough, I will find a little logo of a guy sticking his tongue out on there somewhere.

Each Signature Stars box comes with an autographed card.  What that really means is that of the whole six packs you get, one of the packs has an autographed card in it.  Though I opened all six packs, I will only show the one with the "hit" in it. 

First up, Jason Kubel - Twins.  I actually like the looks of these cards a lot.  The picture is center and large enough that the starred border does not take away from the player.  The player's name, city name and position are shown at the top along with the UD logo.  The "SignatureStars" script is centered at the bottom. 

Next up, Brian Roberts - Orioles.  The backs of the cards mimic the name/city at the top, then some biographical info is provided along with a paragraph about the player.  At the bottom of the back are stats from the last four years or so.  They are very clean without a lot of distraction (though the back does have the same starred design altered slightly from the front)

Third, we have the signature card.  This is the "hit" of the box.  This is the reason this box retailed for $30 when first sold.  Who is the reason?  Jason Anderson - Royals.  I don't follow KC, so I don't know if I struck gold or struck out.  Given my genral history with such things, I'm guessing the latter.

Fourth, batting clean-up is Andruw Jones - Rangers.  Oh sure, I couldn't get HIS auto...

And rounding out the pack, we find Pablo Sandoval - Giants.

1992 ProSport Peanuts Classics Series 2

I received this pack as part of a recent non-sport purchase.  As it turned out, there were some sport-related packs of cards in the mix after all!  I had never heard of these before, and when I saw there was a chance of pulling a "Stan Musial Hologram," well, I jumped at the chance to open it.

The cards feature a gold or silver border on the front with the "Peanuts" logo.  In the center, a single comic panel related to baseball appears.  While this is a very cool thing to behold, it was not until I flipped the card over that I gazed upon the true coolness of the card:

On the back of each card, a full comic strip depicts the scene on the front plus the rest of the story for context!  Also on the back, the card number and a tiny Snoopy "Classics" logo.  There is no copyright information, so I had to poke around online to find the date of production. Turns out, these were made over the course of several years.  I just picked the 'middle' one for good measure.

Because there are 10 cards in the pack, I will show some of the backs on here, but will mainly focus on the fronts for this post.  You can find the backs of all the cards in another post on "A Pack To Be Named Later" (link below).

This is a cross-blog post. Related articles appear on the following blogs:

A Pack To Be Named Later
A Pack A Day
Things Done To Cards

2008 Topps Stadium Club Retail

So... Target hit the secret number in my head that would get me to buy any more of this garbage. It's still overpriced by about a buck-and-a-half.

The fronts of the wrappers make a clear promise: "ONE ROOKIE CARD INSIDE!" I got four. Well, which one is it guys? With all these youngsters, let's check and see how many on the same team's roster for 2010.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
127 Blake DeWitt
Status: Starting second baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers

46 Fausto Carmona
Status: Starting pitcher for the Cleveland Indians, currently 4-1

148 Chris Perez
Status: Relief pitcher for the Cleveland Indians

103 Nick Adenhart
Status: Sadly, deceased

117 Hernan Iribarren
Status: Playing for AAA Oklahoma City RedHawks (Texas)

Well, two out of five ain't bad.

Now, off to file these away in my impossible-to-complete drawer. Sigh.

2007 Schmeer Schmultra

Sometimes it's fun to transpose the initial consonant sounds of two word, like in a name. I am told that my wife's relatives make a habit of this, especially when masking light profanity, such as doing something for "gits and shiggles." Let's try it out as we open this pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra Baseball.

20 Schurt Cilling

68 Wontrelle Dillis

172 Jenji Kohima (surprisingly close to Weeds creator Jenji Kohan's name)

124 Donny Jhamon

136 Rimmy Jollins Gold Foil

Alright, that last one turned my stomach a little bit, sounding more like someone who starred alongside a Jamie Gillis or a Harry Reems than a National League MVP.

But wasn't that fun?