2008 Masterpieces Hobby

I'm going to end the year on a good note with a hobby pack of 2008 Masterpieces. I have the non-shortprinted set already but I took a gamble on a hobby pack hoping to get a short print or a framed card or a jersey or something. I succeeded.

36 Miguel Cabrera

Miguel's a first baseman now? When'd that happen? I guess you have to get that bat into the lineup somehow.

118 Bob Gibson

Yeeeeaaaah!! Gibson short print! That 1968 season was witchcraft. No way a mere mortal does what he did.

CC-BP Brandon Phillips Captured on Canvas auto

Well I certainly gambled and won on this pack. It looks like Brandon got a little excited and tried to sign the jersey swatch too. I'm sure one of the many Reds bloggers out there would like this card.

13 Curt Schilling

Last year's Masterpieces Schilling card was extremely cool, this years... not so much. Among the many problems with this year's card:

• Curt's dopey look
• Curt's turkey neck
• That big ol' Virginia ham attached to his butt
• and Curt's CC Sabathia belly.

This artist has to be a Yankee fan. That painting is too good for it to make Curt look that bad.

Ah yes, Masterpieces is good schtuff. If only every pack could be this good.

2008 Upper Deck Football Masterpieces Hobby

I splurged last weekend and got a pack of Hobby Football Masterpieces. I spent too much and I probably would have been better off getting Heritage High Series or some Donruss Threads, but I crumbled in a moment of weakness. Didn't do too bad though, let's check it out on this Turkey Day full of terrible, terrible football. All the blowouts you can eat!

56 Kevin Smith

This is my third Kevin Smith card from this set. They are really promoting the hell out of Zach and Miri Make a Porno.

68 Peyton Manning

Got the guy on the wrapper, nifty.

58 Limas Sweed

I don't know who any of these rookies are. This guy sounds like the title character of a Dickens novel.

CC56 Ray Rice Captured on Canvas

Who? It's a pretty purple jersey swatch at least...

8 Brett Favre

Some old drama queen. At least the floating spectre of Vince Lombardi isn't haunting the card.

89 Wes Welker

Eh, another double.

Got a hit of someone I don't know who it is, so that's a good pack right? I did better on my baseball pack. Did I mention I got a baseball pack? Well I did. I might show it off sometime. Or, maybe I might just save it for myself. We'll see.

2008 UD Masterpieces Football

I know it's bad form to post two of the same packs back to back, but after Thorzul's disaster pack I felt it my duty to assure the populace that Football Masterpieces isn't really that bad. Thorzul's pack was that bad. Holy crap, was that a bad pack. I know football products are driven by rookies but Jesus Christ. Masterpieces is not about rookies, it's about the Legends. This pack is probably too far over on the other side of the spectrum, but average the two out and you're just about right.

6 Bart Starr

THIS is why Masterpieces was invented. Bart Starr diving through the Cowboy line in the motherfucking Ice Bowl. The most famous quarterback sneak in the history of football. A STUPID play at that, if Bart doesn't get in, the Packers lose. But he got in, and Green Bay is now TitleTown as a result. And here's that play, done in a painting and put on a card with a fake canvas texture. This is why every collector out there is shitting their pants over Masterpieces.

43 Jim Brown

Not an unforgettable moment this time, just an unforgettable player. Pictures like this makes me want to sell my cards and buy oil paints instead. Upper Deck finally listed the names of the artists on the back of the cards for this set. Jeff Suntala, ya did good. (Jeff painted Bart too)

82 Terry Bradshaw

Another good action painting, this time from Arthur K. Miller. I've seen this picture before, I'm not sure what game it's from though. It's tough trying to convey expressions in a painting on football players wearing a helmet, but I think Arthur nails Terry's eyebrows in this one.

63 Jerome Simpson

Ok, I didn't get all Legends. I'm not sure who the hell Jerome Simpson is, either. He's a Bengal so he can't be any good. Even if he was good at some point the Bengals will beat all the talent out of him soon enough. Artist Ken Joudrey memorializes the death of Jerome's career after being selected by the Bengals in the draft by painting his football spirit in heaven.

So the rookies can be annoying, but this is actually a pretty good set. Since Thorzul got completely jobbed on his pack, I'll be sending him the Starr card soon. He'd help me out in the same way if I ripped a gawdawful pack like that too.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Football

I was surprised to see a pack of this at Target tonight, so one made its way into my basket. I know I'll be in the minority here, but I found the '08 Masterpieces baseball checklist inferior to last year's, so I've held off on buying any. The football debut, however, should have a full complement of iconic moments to choose from without having been picked over the year before.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
56 Kevin Smith (I saw Zack and Miri Make a Porno last week, and now I'm surprised a Detroit Lion was capable of making something that funny.)

12 Earl Bennett

32 Joe Flacco

1 Donnie Avery

Grade: F+ (Only the Avery picture saves this pack.)
This pack was terrible. Is the whole set draft picks? Maybe it's my fault for not reading up on a product before purchasing it, but I feel duped. How are these guys Masterpieces? Which of them has produced a genuine Masterpiece Moment? I see Peyton Manning on the wrapper, I think I'm getting stars. I've got a free bit of advertising advice for the boys down at Absolut Vodka: Absolute Fail. Take a picture of this pack next to a bottle of the stuff. Run with it, Swedes, and run away from this product, everyone else. If this was a baseball pack, I'd have felt Bipped, but since it's football, I think I've been Bubby'd (as in Brister). Maximum suck.

2008 UD Masterpieces blister pack

Ok, trying to get back into the groove with a pack of UD Masterpieces. This is one of those blister packs you find hanging up at Wal-Mart. A big chunk of plastic and enough cardboard for two more cards all so a 4 card retail pack with nothing much in it gains a tiny bit of protection from being pocketed or searched. Shoplifters, pack searchers and idiots who buy these wasteful packs (like me) - YOU are ruining our environment. I open this pack in disgust.

44 James Loney

got it.

25 Joe Morgan

I saw an old-school player and thought I got an SP. I was disappointed. I need the card but fire Joe anyway.

71 Ryan Howard Dark Greenish frame #35/75

Nice card, nice green frame, nice number. I don't even want to know the technical name of the color for this parallel so don't tell me. It's just plain green.

YSL4481 Rick Cerone

Rick played a couple of years for the Braves and I can't figure out for the life of me how he's a Yankee Legend. Did he hit a famous ground rule double or pull off a triple play or something? Nice photo of him wearing the Tools of Ignorance.

2 Justin Upton.

got it.

Mother Nature was raped with extra packaging for two doubles, two inserts and Joe Morgan. Don't worry though, this blog is carbon neutral. I just threw a box of 1987 Topps commons into the compost heap to offset the blister pack.

2008 Upper Deck Legends Masterpieces Hockey

Apparently it's Thanksgiving in Canada (no, really!), so here's a Canadian thing I'm thankful for: Old Hockey Cards. I don't have an old hockey pack to open though so here's a pack of 2008 Legends Masterpieces. Apparently Upper Deck couldn't decide whether to do a legends set or a masterpieces set so the squooshed them together. It's like the Reese's peanut butter cup of Hockey cards. I recently bought a handful of packs, here's the best of the bunch.

21 Patrick Roy

Sweet looking card of St. Patrick. The backs of these cars look good too with a reddish wood grain sorta thing going on. A really cool thing that Upper deck did with these cards is they list the artist they commissioned for the painting on the back. Roy was done by Gardner. It would have been cooler had they listed the artist's first name too.

80 Mr. Hockey

Did someone trademark Gordie Howe's name so he couldn't use it any more? His Goudey card says Mr. Hockey too. He should be Mr. Pucky 'cause he sure does have a lot of them. The atrist here is R. Adair. At least I got an initial on this one.

Hockey Artifacts Advertisment

Don't be fooled by this card, it's an ad not an auto. Evgeni Malkin apparenty signes using his left foot. I got two of these in my 6 packs, why couldn't they put a few different players on each ad? Companies used to do that sort of thing back in the early 2000s before half a dozen manufacturers went kaputt.

CC-BN2 Bernie Nicholls Canvas Clippings

Yeah, a jersey! The blue swatch confused me a bit until I checked the back. This is from an Oilers jersey, not a Kings jersey. I'm cool with that, they were nice enough to tell me at least. Here's something else nifty I recently discovered. If you look up a player's stats on HockeyDB.com, you can click on a page that shows a list of their cards. That's pretty cool if you're a hockey collector!

49 Brian Leetch

The Ranger star is apprehensively holding a very dangerous looking trophy. That silver Leaf looks razor sharp. Be careful Brian! This one was painted by Ron Stark. The way things are going, I'll get the artist's middle name or social security number on the next card!

9 Richard Brodeur

Did you know there's another goalie named Brodeur? Well there is, and Richard's sweater is MUCH cooler than Martin's. This one was painted by Cash. Which Cash? Johnny Cash? Chinese cash? Cash Cab? How the heck am I supposed to Google this, Uppper Deck? If anyone knows who these artists are, please let me know in the comments.

Good stuff, this. I might try for a set if I don't go broke from Baseball Masterpieces.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces Blister Pack

I was torn between buying a blaster box or a blister pack of these during another visit to the local mega-giant retailer. I opted for the blister over the blaster for one reason: The blaster says "One Bonus Pack in Every Box!" down the side of it. How can it be a bonus pack if the retail box design incorporates the fact that there is an "extra" pack in it?? And, why do they even bother saying 'extra pack' anyway? We're all so jaded on the companies as it is, do we really even NEED another reason? I guess so...


The pack features a whopping FOUR cards! Let's just hope there is someone worth collecting in here...


Felix Hernandez (Mariners). Had his first shutout in '06 against the Angels, according to the back of his card. Yeehaw.


Hey, look at this! The ORIGINAL "Pappa!" Willie Stargell (Pirates HOFer)! I actually used to watch him play when I was kid! Ahhh, the days when Steeltown was Tops! Oh, these are Upper Deck, aren't they?


Next up is Big Frank Thomas (Blue Jays). I have to admit, it is weird seeing Thomas on a card wearing a uniform other than the Sox. On 06/28/07, he belted his 500th homer.


Whitey Ford (Yankees), playing with his two balls. Well, not so much playing as he is showing them off. Of course when you pitch back-to-back no-hitters, not only do you get more than your fair share of hyphens, you get to hold your balls for the world to see!

Overall, a couple of HOFers and a guy who will most likely end up a HOFer one day. Not a bad blister, I believe.

2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces

This UD Masterpieces set is kind of like a favorite, mid-priced, local restaurant to me. The kind you stop by every now and again. In Milwaukee, it's The Chancery. The food is good, the menu is full of smart-aleck comments and inside jokes, and it's the perfect fallback when friends are visiting from out of town and you don't want to think too hard about where to take them.

This is the 2007 set that I haven't gone whole-hog on, but haven't completely given up on either. A pack here and there is enough to satisfy. Here's the most recent.

Let's tear in:

Top to Bottom:
82 Tim Lincecum RC

30 Derek Jeter
CC-GL Captured on Canvas Tom Glavine (Game-Used Gray)

2 Babe Ruth
27 Daisuke Matsuzaka RC

Grade: A
The jersey pull is my first from this set. Both hot rookie pitchers from the year and The Babe in the same pack? Sweet. Looks like I got 5 cards in a 4-card pack, but I'm not complaining. If anyone else is trying to collect this set, I've got cards to trade and I've got my want-list as well.

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.

2007 UD Masterpieces Blaster: Box #1

I had a thing for Topps' old Gallery set. It was one of my favorites, and was disappointed that they discontinued it a few years back. I also had a similar thing for Diamond Kings -- that is, before Donruss paralleled the crap out of it to the point of self-parody. So when I first saw singles from Upper Deck's new UD Masterpieces set, I was impressed.

This past weekend I went to the card show looking for a Hobby box of UD Masterpieces. $100? For 18 four-card packs? I don't think so, jerky. I don't care if a Hobby box yields (on average) three gamers, a player-touched autograph, seven framed parallels, and an over sized chiptopper. All I'm asking for is less sizzle, and more steak.

(And yeah, I could have bought a hand-collated set; but dammit, I write for A Pack A Day! That's not how a Doctor of Gonzo Baseball Card Journalism rolls.)

So thank God for Wal-Mart Blaster boxes. They give you everything you want (base set cards) without the stuff you don't -- and at a fraction of the price. I picked up two $19.99 eight-pack Blasters, which is slightly less than a Hobby box.

Pack #1
Billy Butler (RC)
David Wright
Ryan Howard
Curt Schilling

Pack #2
Andy LaRoche (RC)
Cole Hamels
Jered Weaver
Carl Yastrzemski

Pack #3
Vladimir Guerrero
Ryan Howard
Albert Pujols
Phil Hughes (RC)

Pack #4
Kirk Gibson
Ken Griffey, Jr.
Roy Campanella
Delmon Young (RC)

Pack #5
Cal Ripken, Jr.
Ozzie Smith
Chase Utley
Albert Pujols

Pack #6
Hideki Matsui
Andrew Miller (RC)
Richard Nixon
Luis Aparicio

Pack #7
Carlos Beltran
Travis Hafner
Roberto Clemente
Don Larsen

Pack #8
Stephen Drew
Bill Clinton
Chase Utley
Roger Maris

For the record, some players (i.e. Howard, Pujols, et al) have multiple cards.

The first thing I have to say is WOW! To say that the images UD chose are iconic is the understatement of the year. You don't even need to look at the reverse side of Kirk Gibson's card to tell that he just took Dennis Eckersley deep. But that's not all. "The Perfect Game," "2131," "The Bloody Sock" -- they're all here too.

But my favorite is card #19: a head-over-heels Ozzie Smith captured in mid-flight. Fuckin-A!

And to think, I still have another Blaster to go!

2007 UD Masterpieces Live Box Break

Over on my own blog I'm chugging through the Slowest Box Break Ever, a Bowman Heritage break that so far has taken 3 weeks. Just to show I can do things speedy-like if I want to, I'm going to live blog a UD Masterpieces blaster box break tonight at about 10:00pm eastern. It's been a little slow here lately so it's time to liven things up a bit. Here's what I'm a gonna do:

• At or around 10:00pm, I will update the post announcing the box break is on, noting the time.
• I will rip open each pack, list the cards out, scan the best one, and post it, again noting the time.
• I will rinse and repeat seven more times for each of the packs.
• At the same time I am doing this, I will place each card in plastic sheets along with the rest of my set.
• Dupes will be segregated and listed out at the end of the box break.
• All dupes from the box will be immediately up for trade, first come, first served.
• To make a trade: e-mail me at dayf13 -at- gmail -dot- com. Just tell me which ones you want and we'll work out what's coming back in return later.
• If the Collation Gods smile upon me and there are zero dupes in the box (I have 42 cards out of 90 so far, so it's possible, but unlikely) sorry, you're out of luck. No trades this time.
• BONUS: if I can't break this box and post it in fifteen minutes from the first rip to the last pack, everyone* who comments on this post within 24 hours of the break gets a free Masterpieces card even if I have to buy another box to fulfill the offer.
  
• BONUS BONUS: if this box nets a 'hit' of either an auto, gamer, or framed parallel, everyone who comments while I'm breaking the box gets a free prize. I'll be checking the comments as soon as the box is done, so don't try waiting and sneaking in a comment late.
• BONUS BONUS BONUS: No SASEs! You win a prize, I'll put the stamp on the package!

That's it until 10pm tonight, let's see some action here!

UPDATE: ok, it's ten o'clock, let's do this thing. I have before me the unopened box. How do you know it's unopened? You don't. You'll have to trust me on this one. When I give the signal, I'm ripping. I'll post all 8 packs within 15 minutes or you get a free card. On my mark...

10:05pm - RIP!!!!

Pack 1: 10:06pm
4 Bill Mazeroski
65 Alex Gordon RC
1 Babe Ruth
79 Chipper Jones

All doubles except the Gordon, not a good start.

Pack 2: 10:08pm
82 Tim Lincecum RC
30 Derek Jeter
66 Howie Kendrick
86 Boston Red Sox

More dupes, get your trades in..

Pack 3: 10:10pm
39 Frank Thomas
52 Johan Santana
21 Walter Johnson
8 Lou Gehrig

Big train & Lou!

Pack 4: 10:13pm
26 Sandy Koufax
11 Bucky Dent
73 Justin Morneau
47 John F. Kennedy

Sandy and da Prez!

Pack 5: 10:15pm
37 Miguel Cabrera
24 Jackie Robinson
60 Bruce Sutter
34 Troy Tulowitzki RC

Jackie!

Pack 6: 10:16pm
89 Reggie Jackson
63 Stephen Drew
28 Kei Igawa RC
59 Bobby Doerr

Gotta hurry...

Pack 7: 10:17pm
76 Bill Clinton
50 Carlos Beltran
35 Joe Mauer
46 Michael Jordan


90's special, Bill & Mike

Pack 8: 10:20pm
36 Travis Hafner
44 Hideki Matsui
22 Babe Ruth
85 Mets

Post! No scans!

Final: - 10:23. The posts got in on time but the scans got all jacked up. Stupid scanner. I'm typing up the dupes now, Everybody who gets a comment in before I post a comment myself, gets a free card. I said fastest box break, not fastest scanner.

10:33 - Here's the list of dupes, claim yours now in the comments section or by e-mailing me. First come first served! Cards in bold are still available for trade, the rest have been claimed.

1 Babe Ruth - Claimed by nmboxer
4 Bill Mazeroski - Claimed by Thorzul
8 Lou Gehrig - Claimed by Kevin
24 Jackie Robinson - Claimed by shanediaz82
30 Derek Jeter - Claimed by mmosley
39 Frank Thomas
66 Howie Kendrick (2)
73 Justin Morneau
79 Chipper Jones - Claimed by Brian
86 Red Sox (2)
89 Reggie Jackson - Claimed by tc

Update: These cards are available too, I just found my stash of doubles. If you've already claimed a card, feel free to change your mind.
51 Delmon Young RC
70 David Wright - Trades pending
83 Billy Butler RC - one claimed by darkship, one left

10:53 - Post-Mortem.

All in all a pretty good break. No big hits, but I got 21 cards to fill out my set and a few to trade. I really wanted that Ruth Red Sox card too. If you are eligible for a card, claim the one you want in the comments and send me an e-mail telling me where I can send it to. I'll try to have them sent by Friday. This break went fantastic, look for another one in December. Next time maybe I'll give you more than a few hours notice!

*THE FINE PRINT: Free Masterpieces offer limited to the first 32 commenters. I'll buy a blaster and a book of stamps to fulfill my bet, but I'm not risking this getting posted on Digg or Fark and ending up with 800 comments.
The 'hit' offer is unlimited, but if we somehow get 50 unique comments in 10 minutes, it may take a while to send them all out.