Wednesday, July 30, 2008

2008 Upper Deck II

My debut break on APAD is a 2008 Upper Deck II retail pack [$2.99 each] - I'm itching to bust some 'high brow' set builder products [Allen & Ginter and Goudey], but the retail versions aren't out yet. As far as strictly base cards, UD maybe the best product out there on a per pack basis, because there are 18 cards per pack, so it is almost like a 'modern jumbo pack.' It was only several years ago, where UD would only give you 10 cards per pack, for the same retail price.

Pack one [18 cards per pack]
#435 Tacoby Ellsbury - an up-and-coming young player who just does good things on the baseball field.

#481 Andy Marte - an uncorrected error card to add to my collection - sorry UD, but Victor Martinez is pictured.
#408 Chad Tracy - he's been somewhat lost in the desert in the last few years, but still a dependable player.

#604 Ryan Howard - another Howard card, which I don't particularly care for.
#584 Ramon Castro - wearing the shades
#535 John Lackey -
#592 Shelley Duncan -
#547 Jonathan Broxton -
#576 Ryan Church -
#608 Brad Lidge -
#523 Miguel Olivo -
#723 Matt Tolbert -
#765 Josh Willingham - even though the card is a common, it is disappointing to turn the card over and discover it is a team checklist card.
#736 Dustin Pedroia - Season Highlights subset.
#751 Torii Hunter - team checklist card; I hate these cards.

#713 Masahide Kobayashi - I like the reference to the former hot dog eating champion.
#SQ-36 Carlos Beltran Starquest insert - uncommon; whatever that means.

Comments - more cards in retail almost always means no 'hit' cards like autographs or game-used inserts [who needs those anyway?]. For a pure card afficionado however, ripping a pack of 2008 Upper Deck II may just cure the pack ripping craving without having to resort to busting a 'kiddie pack' like Topps or Topps Opening Day.

4 comments:

William said...

As a steadfast reader who most posters probably find odd and annoying, I'd like to say welcome to APAD and I look forward to your posts.

Jinxo56 said...

There are 3 versions of the Starquest cards, rare, uncommon, and common. If you buy a retail $20 blasterbox you get a game-used insert, at least they are in the boxes found at Wal-Mart. The same is true for Topps series 2.

Dan said...

I'll grudgingly agree that the card of Andy Marte is actually Victor Martinez. If you look at his glove, it has a #41 on it. That, my friends, is Victor.

Good eyes! and Welcome.

--David said...

Well, Victor, Andy, (non-)HotDog guy, whatever you wanna call 'em, they're TRIBERS! :-) Yeah, I get weird over things like that... It's something you just learn to live with...