2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes

While picking up groceries to feed my face, I swung by the card aisle to pick up a pack to feed my habit. As I looked, I saw a box of 2008 UD Baseball Heroes packs. I reached in and grabbed one. Why? Because they reminded me of the old "Heroes of Baseball" set. When I got home, I opened the pack to find these:


Clay Buchholz (Red Sox) - 9/1/07 Throws No-Hitter In Second Start. The cards have a wrinkled paper-like background. In the upper left corner is the player's name and team (and "Rookie Card" logo, if appropriate). The upper right corner features the reason why this card exists. The center has a cool circle with the player photoshopped coming out of the frame of the circle. It's a technique my grandfather used when he painted oils when he was alive. I always thought it was a cool effect. The lower right of the card features the "UD Baseball Heroes" emblem.

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Well, crikey! The second card out of the pack is a Mariano Rivera Game-Used jersey card! Sweet! Well, actually, the card never says if it is a jersey, pants, dirty underwear or what... That's kinda scary... Will this one go into my collection, or be added to the prize pool for the scratch-off tourney? Only the shadow knows! (That reference may be a bit before some of readers' times). Any way, it's Mariano (Yankees) as 1999 Named World Series MVP. The back of this card features the "Congrats! You got a game-used card!" as if I didn't know that by holding the thing in my hand. The backs of 'regular' cards feature the "rest of the story" behind the 'headline' on the front.

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Since this pack had a game-used card, I only get three cards (pack label says 5 cards per pack). That's okay, this one is a double-header featuring Albert Pujols and Stan Musial! The back reads, "Birds of a feather flock together." Although it is supposed to show how much alike the two are, the back actually almost serves as a slap in the face to Pujols: "Although four decades separate (them), the duo are birds of a feather when it comes to adding up their huge numbers for the Cardinals. Musial retired with 475 HRs and 1,951 RBI while Pujols has delivered 282 HRs and 861 RBI in his first seven ML seasons." So, Pujols has HALF of Musicals accomplishment... How are they alike again? Oh well, it's a cool card anyway!