2007 UD Masterpieces Blaster: Box #2

Pack #1
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Lou Gehrig
Justin Morneau

Parallel:
Windsor Green: Roy Campanella

Pack #2
Miguel Cabrera
Jackie Robinson
Chase Utley
Roger Maris

Pack #3
Sandy Koufax
Bucky "Bleppin'" Dent
Alex Rodriguez
Randy Johnson

Pack #4
Frank Thomas
Johan Santana
'69 NY Mets
Jason Bay

Pack #5
Tim Lincecum (RC)
Derek Jeter
Michael Jordan
Babe Ruth

Pack #6
Bill Mazeroski
Alex Gordon (RC)
Bobby Doerr
Joe Mauer

Pack #7
Tom Glavine
Brooks Robinson
Troy Tulowitzki (RC)
Kei Igawa (RC)

Pack #8
Akinori Iwamura (RC)
Cal Ripken, Jr./Tony Gwynn
John F. Kennedy
Bruce Sutter

If you want to know just how awesome UD Masterpieces is, check this out. First pack out of the second Blaster, and I pull a Cal Ripken, Jr. But this isn't a run-of-the-mill Ripken. No sir! This Ripken uses the same stock-photo Topps used fifteen years earlier!

And then the very next card in the pack: Lou Gehrig! If not for the worthless Roy Campanella parallel, this easily would have been the best pack I opened this year.

Speaking of which, a gander at the unbelievably vague Upper Deck website shows that they went completely "Donruss" on the parallels. There are sixteen different parallels in UD Masterpieces -- which in my book is sixteen too many. There's no mention of the insertion ratios or production figures on any of these, or whether or not any of them are Hobby/retail exclusive. However, if you do get a Hobby box, you're going to get seven of them; two numbered to 99 or less. (For the record, the "Windsor Green" Campy I pulled was not serial numbered.)

Between the two Blasters, I received 61 of 90 base cards; two doubles; and the aforementioned Roy Campanella Windsor Green parallel. (Which, as far as I can determine, is not made out of people.)

All-in-all 2007 UD Masterpieces (at least the Blaster version) is one of the better "high-end" products I ripped in a while. Most "high-end" products are chock-full of short-prints and base set autogamers, that even attempting to build a set from scratch is an exercise in futility. It's refreshing to have a high-end product on the market, that's actually collectible.

As the Cardboard Junkie mentioned, the retail version is a better rip than Hobby -- mainly due to price. Don't get me wrong, there is room for improvement if UD decides to bring Masterpieces back next year. The base set could have been bigger, and it could have used a non-parallel, non-autogamer insert, or two. But that's just nit-picking.