2008 Topps U&H Presents 2008 Heritage High Number Series retail jumbo 'hanger pack'

2008 Topps U&H Presents 2008 Heritage High Number Series retail jumbo 'hanger pack' [$4.99 each] - about double the number of Heritage High Number cards and a little less of the Updates and Highlights cards.

2008 Topps Heritage High Number cards

#630 Ryan Ludwick - after his breakout year in 2008, I suddenly need more cards of him.
#645 Masahide Kobayashi - the retro 'Topps News Rookie Stars of 2008' design does nothing for me.

#671 Chris Davis - Texas Rangers' rising star
#603 Joel Pineiro - he was poised to be an ace, but flamed out. Maybe he will 'breakout' in 2009, with the help of Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan. His spelling of his last name always got me confused. Is it 'ei' or 'ie' in 'Pineiro?'

#513 Darin Erstad - looking back at his career, it could have been so much more, but I don't think Erstad has had any regrets as the all-or-nothing, lay it out on the line, grinder.
#618 Matt Diaz - after having a breakout season in 2007, kind of disappeared in 2008.
#616 Brian Schneider
#563 Doug Mientkiewicz
#641 Omar Infante
#541 Jon Rauch
#555 Jeff Keppinger

#TN 6 Del Crandall/Russ Martin - Then and Now insert
#C207 Geovany Soto - Chrome parallel insert serial #'d 1306/1959

2008 Topps Update and Highlight cards
#UH 104 Omar Infante
#UH 51 Fernando Tatis
#UH 78 Dallas Braden
David Wright - Students Work Hard, Get Cards

Influenced by this APAD post - I decided to pick one up for myself and while I don't it was such a great pack of 'content,' it was OK.

2008 Topps Baseball Updates & Highlights Presents 2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers Series Jumbo Pack

That's right, Jumbo Pack. I didn't know that these things existed either until I found one lonely cello pack sitting on top of a fresh box of TBU&HP2008THHNS which looked untouched. I literally said aloud "what the hell is this??" right out in the middle of the store. Or, actually the frontish part of the store by the Pizza Hut snack bar. In any case, I exclaimed in an audible voice in a public place my surprise over a pack of baseball cards. Yes, I'm that guy. I don't like this set and I have decided to wait about 6 months and buy a box for about $25 when dealers will be begging to get rid of them, but I can't resist something weird and a jumbo pack of Heritage fits that description. Rip.

587 Mike Napoli
642 Nick Punto
558 Adam Kennedy
646 Marco Scutaro
533 Jonny Gomes
551 Clete Thomas RC
623 Eric Hinske
614 Russell Branyan
665 Texas Rangers
612 Jeff Baker RC
613 Houston Astros
TN4 Willie McCovey & Ryan Braun Then & Now
C283 Cody Ross Chrome #0423/1959
UH2 Sean Casey Topps
UH81 J.C. Romero Topps
Topps Head of the Class David Wright

So here's the deal with these packs. They are basically like two packs of Heritage mooshed into one. They are actually better, because two packs of normal Heritage High gets you 12 Heritage cards, 4 Topps cards and two awful pieces of gum for $5.98. This pack has one more Heritage card, one less Topps card and only one piece of horrible gum for $4.99. More Heritage for less money = happy, joy and frolicking bunnies as far as I'm concerned. I've only seen this one pack though, so as far as I know it was the only one in the universe.

Ok now for the pack itself. Well, the base cards are a pretty good reflection of the checklist. That is to say, something only a team collector could love, and they'd only love 1/30th of it at that. Seriously, who's the star out of that mess? Adam Kennedy? Russell Branyan? I guess if you squint you can see Josh Hamilton on the Rangers team card. Um, actually I don't see him. He's gotta be there somewhere. I got two inserts though, which is nice. Cody Ross is nice and shiny and the McCovey/Braun Then & Now card is a cool pair of Rookie of the Year winners. Sorry Thorzul, the McCovey is off the table. I don't care a whit about the Topps cards, but there were two annoyances in this pack. Apparently David Wright ad cards count as one of the three Topps cards in the pack, and I pulled what seems like my 80th Sean Casey card. The worst part about the pack is that all the cards reek of that gum. I chewed one piece of the new gum for less than two minutes and now even the smell makes me nauseous. Yes, I am going to harp on the gum for the rest of my life, or until Topps fixes it. Bring back the Mexican gum, Topps! this Chinese gum ain't cutting it! Anyway, If you do like Heritage High Numbers and you have a choice between normal and jumbo packs, go for the jumbo. More cards, cheaper packs, no brainer.

2008 Topps Baseball Updates & Highlights Presents 2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers Series

Topps Heritage High Numbers is out, here's the first pack I opened. As you can see, I got lucky.

Yes, the wrapper actually does say 2008 Topps Baseball Updates & Highlights Presents 2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers Series and it does look pretentious as hell.

The gum is serial numbered now too. At least the wrapper is still an aphrodisiac.

Heritage:
646 Marco Scutaro
533 Johnny Gomes
622 John Baker
713 Seth McClung
HCC JD Jermaine Dye Clubhouse Collection jersey
Topps Updates & Highlights:
UH195 Chris Carter RC
UH300 CC Sabathia

What can I say? Jermaine Dye Jersey with stripe right off the bat. Not too shabby. The rest of the pack is a bit meh, but it's Heritage so who cares. After opening a few packs I am beginning to think that Topps put the Updates & Highlights cards in so there would be at least a fighting chance at pulling a star card out of any given pack. Well, that and forcing us to buy 25% more packs that is. There's a whole lot of rookies and bench players in the high numbers from what I've seen so far. Of course the original '59 set had some rookie pitcher from the Cardinals in it, some guy named Gibson. So, maybe rookies and scrubs ain't that bad. It's Heritage, so I don't have much of a choice now do I?