2007 Upper Deck Goudey

Intrigued by what I saw online about the set, I broke down and got some Upper Deck Goudey. Here's the first pack I busted:

-No.83- Pedro Martinez
-No.127- Freddy Sanchez
-No.100- Zach Duke
-No.274- Reggie Jackson Heads Up
-No.65- Johnny Damon
-No.72- Lance Berkman
-No.197- Delmon Young
-No.124- Mark Teahen

I'll save a full review of the set for my own blog, but this is a damn good pack. Pedro's back with the Mets ready for a playoff run. Screw the Mets, I'm talking about my playoff run. I've had him stashed on the DL all year long and now he's back just in time for my league's playoffs. Can you say Championship? After Pedro are a pair of good young Pirates. Hopefully that franchise doesn't screw them up, or at least has the decency to trade them before they do. Just please not to the Mets. Seriously, how'd they get Oliver Perez as a throw in?

The next card is the jewel, a Reggie Jackson Heads Up card. The two things I really wanted from this set when I first heard about it were good looking Diamond Stars cards and the Heads Up subset. UD exceeded my expectations by patterning the entire base set on the Diamond Stars design, and on top of that I managed to pull a Heads Up straight off. Plus it's Reggie! I can't think of another '38 I would have rather have besides this one. Maybe the Ruth, but then again maybe not. The Babe's cartoon card doesn't have an Israeli flag, a cartoon of Jax looking like a mob boss and a mention of Reggie's performance on The Naked Gun on it. I must kill... The Queen...

The red backs keep the goodness coming. The background of Johnny Damon's card looks like the grandstands are on fire. Berkman's card is even better. I can't decide what I like best about it, his steely gaze, the computer generated art deco background with the little guy from Adventure in the bleachers, or the fact that the photo was taken a fraction of a second before Lance clobbered the photographer in the face with his bat. Next we have a Delmon Young RC, although I could do without the Rookie Card Logo cluttering up the place. Mark Teahen finished off the pack with a self-assured look that says "Alex Gordon may have stolen my position, but no one's going to run me out of The Show".

I have to hand it to Upper Deck, They really really nailed this one. Let's hope there's more of this to come.