2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes

I opened one of these packs on here before, so when I saw the pack laying there on the shelf, I wasn't sure if I should pick it up for APAD or not. And, of course, I did... There is just something nostalgic about these... I like them...

John Maine (Mets), Jermaine Dye (White Sox), and Bo Jackson (Royals). The Jackson is a very cool red serial #'d parallel (#061/249). Bo knows serials. Jermaine Dye is a fan favorite. Dunno know much about Maine. Sorry Mets fans...


UGH, YAYSLC Don Mattingly (Yankees) and Mariano Rivera (Yankees). Well, at least the 'yet another yankee stadium legacy card' is Mattingly... And, once upon a time, I owned the jersey version of the Rivera, but I offered it up as one of the prizes in my scratch-card tourney... :-)

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes

During a recent trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, I eschewed the opportunity to spend my green on colonial trinkets or amusing candid rollercoaster photos and instead wandered into K-Mart and took a flier on a blaster of Baseball Heroes. All in all, it's a fairly uninspiring, harmless set. There were a couple goodies, though, so I'll share the best two packs out the nine I ripped.

Pack 1

11 Jeff Francoeur - Frenchy hit a pair of home runs on 4/12/08. His season went downhill from there.

65 Justin Verlander - Last year: a no-hitter. This year: crushing disappointment.

132 Daric Barton RC - Yeah, just making your ML debut does not a hero make. At least he reached base four times that day.

12 Josh Hamilton Green 019/499 - That's a purty color. Josh was pretty much single-handedly responsible for an April Fools' win over Seattle in 2008.

183 Steve Carlton/Johan Santana Black - a Phillie and a Met? FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT


Pack 2

49 Aaron Harang - In 2006, he led the NL in wins and K's. Now, he's had his arm ruined by Dusty Baker. Join the party!

197 Yogi Berra/Reggie Jackson/Joe DiMaggio/Derek Jeter - It would've made more sense to list them chronologically, putting Joe D. at the beginning. But what do I know?

56 Matt Holliday - 2007 was a helluva year for Matt, with his NL-leading 216 hits and 137 RBI. Now he can be yours, if the price be right.

YSL731 Joe McCarthy Yankee Stadium Legacy - In Game #731 (06/05/1932), the Yankees clobbered the Red Sox 12-1. George Pipgras got the win. That's THE George Pipgras, of course.

18 Frank Robinson Black - This was the pull of the blaster for me, since there were no relics to be found. You can't go wrong with the catalyst for the Birds' first World Series Championship!

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Retail

I'll be honest with you all. The only reason I bought this pack is because I fondly remember the Baseball Heroes insert cards from the early 90's Upper Deck packs. There's also no way I would have paid more than $1.99 for a pack of this stuff. At least I knew that there would not be a Tom Morello card coming my way no matter what happened here.

168 - Luke Scott (ugh, seriously? Luke Scott? I guess I better keep quiet, because you know that he's packing.)

35 - Nolan Ryan (exactly the reason why I bought this pack. anyone want some original Nolan Ryan Baseball Heroes cards?)

131 - Andre Ethier (I'm not sure if he qualifies as a Hero, either, but Luke Scott will make anyone look heroic to me)

83 - Torii Hunter Sea Green 15/99 (apparently this is "Sea Green", and not "Emerald" or just plain "Green"? is that even right? I have no idea.)

81 - Bo Jackson Black, or maybe Charcoal, or perhaps a Charbroiled Marble (Bo Knows One-Per-Retail Pack Parallels)

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!