Some UD X fun

The past few days UD X has been popping up in the local Targets and of course I had to get my grubby hands on them. Well they weren't grubby 'til yesterday when they became covered in brake dust from running the Hot Wheels car wash outside, but that's a whole other story.

I like UD X for a few reasons: the XPonential cards, die cut cards, ease of set completion for those that choose that route. I know it will take me forever opening packs to pull 6 XPonential Pujols cards (yes, this year there are 6). The one thing I don't like about the XP cards is that one of them is horizontal, and if you're going to make a subset can we do it uniformly so that my binder page is nice? Just an idea. I am weird about stuff like that, I would prefer all cards of a subset to be uniform rather than half one way and half the other.

Anyway, here are some of the highlights without listing the many, many base cards. And clearly you all know I am missing all 6 Pujols XP, and the Pujols die-cut. Of course though I ended up with the Jeter XP6.

I am off to the Yankees v. Red Sox game this afternoon so there will probably be some tweeting and perhaps some twitpics as well since we're supposed to be sitting kind of behind homeplate.

What my blog was going to be about...

I had planned on writing about some cards I picked up in the last two days, however I ended up watching the Yankees v. Red Sox game which lasted 15 innings ending with the Yankees winning 2-0 on an "A-Bomb from A-Rod". Yes, I watched all 15. Sooz actually went to the game tonight, and yes she stayed all 15 innings. So needless to say you clearly won't be getting a baseball card blog out of me tonight, or Sooz for that matter.

The game was crazy, great pitching match-up with Burnett and Beckett though a scoreless game would generally mean around 2 hours for 9 innings but this is the Yankees and Red Sox and nothing is ever average or normal for that matter. This was a great game, and more importantly the Yankees depleted their bullpen which is already on the short side. Hopefully Papelbon isn't available later today for the game if they needed him. Luckily for us Hughes only pitched to one batter, and Aceves ate up 3 innings by himself. So we should have Hughes if need be.

This was a huge win for the Yankees creating a bigger gap in the standings and giving them a nice boost and the momentum going into tomorrows (later todays) game. I'm glad A-Rod has ended an 0 for 70+ AB's without a homerun and hopefully that gets him going again for the rest of this series.

I will be at the game tomorrow (later today) in field level seats which is cool, and I'll also be at Sundays game sitting in the moat. I plan on taking some pictures from both seats because I probably won't bother venturing outside the bleachers after this.

Marie's Gint-A-Pology

OK, so I caved.

There I said it, phew. I swore up and down, left and right that I would not buy a single pack of 2009 Allen & Ginter as a result of the previous years sucking royally (in my opinion). Part of what I never liked about these cards was the design was so bland and color-less, in addition to getting cards of Ferris Wheels.



Then the other day in Target I saw a random rack pack of 09 A&G, it was slightly opened for some reason and it was the only one. I figured if I were going to give in, going for a $5 trial pack wasn't terrible. I opened the pack while walking to the car, something else I never do. I was rather surprised at the cards design once I had them in my hands. I won't lie, I haven't really paid much attention to the scans on other blogs when reading them just from my own prior disgust with the design. So my apologies for cracking jokes and busting chops for the addiction, it isn't as terrible as years past. I won't throw anymore stones, promise.

Well, I got one card I will be keeping the rest are for trade if anyone needs them. The only card I will be keeping is the Tulo card for reasons I have not yet figured out. Here is the pack breakdown:

307 Hunter Pence
237 Trap Shooting Champion (stupid waste of a card)
247 Jeff Clement
197 Jhonny (dumb spelling) Peralta
10 Chone (what) Figgins
79 Subatomic Particle (another stupid card)
55 Alex Rios
115 Ryan Doumit
170 Lance Berkman
48 Troy Tulowitzki


National Pride Ryan Dempster

Mini Regular 322 Chris Volstad

Will I end up buying more of these? Perhaps, but with the card show coming up in a week or so I will probably just get what is left out of this set that I need that weekend.

Marie's View: You wanna know how I really feel?

(Warning: This is a rant and me going bananas in no sort of logical thought process exists here. Just remember I warned you.)

This whole denial of licensing for Upper Deck has put the final nail in the coffin of collecting a variety of different cards. I was enraged when Donruss was taken out of the equation, but now all we have left is Topps? This is bullshi#%.

I don't give a sh$% that Topps was the innovator of the industry, or that they have been around the longest or any other crap reason someone wants to spew. They supposedly want to create this monopoly to engage the interests of young children and young adults again and move the hobby in that direction. I'm sorry, isn't that what they were supposed to be doing all along? Maybe it's MLB saying the hobby is moving in the wrong direction, and maybe they should stop and think about who is buying tickets to their games, buying the gear, etc. because it surely isn't a 9 year old.

I understand that the hobby is dominated by adult collectors, but realistically what kid has means to get to the hobby store (which nowadays could be 30 miles from home), and has an allowance that will afford them packs at $5 a shot for 4 cards in some cases. In the last few years the only movement the card companies have made to engage young children in collecting were putting out Opening Day and First Edition. Not for nothing, kids aren't stupid and they want to get the packs where they have a chance at pulling a jersey card or an autograph, not a pack where there is no gloss and a garbage design.

This has me so amped up, you guys have no idea. I understood the explanation for cutting Donruss years ago because of the oversaturation of autographs and what not but this makes no sense. While I would love a topless set of cards, I would much rather be able to buy a box of Goudey, Sweet Spot, or Goodwin (which I'm still exicted about even if it will only be around one year) yet now we are stuck with Topps. Oh and I guess Bowman and their stale design.

Without any competetion from other companies Topps can continue to produce mediocre base sets, reused designs, and the same BORING sets year in and year out with no worries of people buying Upper Deck or anything else. Great move MLB, bravo idiots. Maybe this will make Topps actually attempt to come up with new designs, or bring back some retro set that people liked from years and years ago like the Heritage.

I would love to see the first year sales report for Topps as the sole provider of baseball cards. Can't wait to see how many children buy Triple Threads and Sterling.

Sooz's View: I still don't like it

After getting the night to digest the information reported by the New York Times, my initial reaction hasn’t changed much.

I don’t like the idea of a monopoly. Upper Deck’s products had gotten a little stale over time (what were all those Xs about), but there were still products I definitely enjoyed. One of my favorite all-time Upper Deck products is 2007 Sweet Spot.

In reality, there is nothing the collectors can do about Upper Deck not getting its MLB license, however, it still has the MLBPA license.

Last night, during my outcry about the news, one of my Upper Deck Twitter buds (@ScoobyCub) said they could still use the players on the cards, just not any team logos. So, apparently there will be Derek Jeter cards just nothing that says New York Yankees or have the NY logo on it.

I am thinking portrait shots. Perhaps topless shots?! Guys in just uni bottoms and no tops?

Maybe this isn’t a bad thing for the female collectors out there.

All kidding aside, in a year’s time we will be able to gauge how this has affected the industry.

Topps will come out with invigorating products and drive the market because collectors want to get everything that is out there.

Or it will shut out the people keeping this business alive because they don’t like the idea of the companies pretending we don’t exist. This could have potentially big ramifications in the industry.

I am interested to hear MLB’s explanation for going with just one company.

Breaking News: Topps gets exclusive rights to MLB cards

Just posted on the New York Times website was an article that Topps will gain exclusive production rights in a multi-year deal to be announced on Thursday. This is a crushing blow for Upper Deck, and all the collectors who love it. We will be commenting and writing more on this in the coming days. Here is the article:

Initial reaction: We don't like it.

By RICHARD SANDOMIR

Published: August 5, 2009

The Topps Company will become the exclusive trading card maker of Major League Baseball next year in a multiyear deal that appears to seriously hurt Upper Deck, its primary competitor in the once-vibrant business. READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

Takin' it back to the old school

The other day I was leaving Shop Rite, and yep you guessed it... I left with a pack from the vending machine. Poison of choice was a pack of 1998 Topps Series 1 Hobby pack. I took a picture of the wrapper so everyone could have a good chuckle of it like I did when I saw it.



I got only 2 decent cards in the pack and the rest of the cards were draft picks that never were, and scrubs. I got a Tony Gwynn and Vlad Guerrero.




It was a fun blast from the past for a change of pace. Anyone else open something old and get something cool lately? I'll be back a little later, got no sleep last night between this stupid cold and Step Brothers was on again, so of course I watched it. Last test is tomorrow and then I will have completed 12 credits in 10 weeks which I know know is quite possible, yet brutal.

Coming down the stretch

I know we haven't updated our blog fantasy league in some time so I will start the blog off with the current standings up to today.

The Dude - 5836
Grand Cards - 5760
Purple Donkey - 5490
Carolina Xfractors - 5220
Legion of Boom - 5212
Victorious Secret - 5131
The Franchise - 5047
Cards on Cards - 5029
gcrl - 4636
WESTCOAST PIMP - 4129
Boneyard Braves - 4113
Gabe's Babe - 4043

My team (The Franchise) was doing very well for a short period of time and was in the top 5, and now since my pitching isn't that great (and I forgot to set my line-up a few times) I think I'm pretty much done.

So what does everyone think of the division races right now? The two hottest teams in baseball have definitely been the Phillies and Yankees (if you can't forget the weekend series the Yankees just played). Lee is going to be a great addition to the Phillies rotation, and from what my inside source (Sooz) tells me, they didn't give up all that much to land Lee.

Any predictions of the playoffs from anyone? I think the A.L. East is going to be a tight race this year, and after last year I won't be complaining. I see the Phillies and Dodgers in the N.L. so far, and the A.L. I don't have any solid prediction though I will go with the Yankees taking first and Boston getting the wild card. I know many people dislike Torre now, but I really want to see them to well again and they seem to be a lock for making hte playoffs. Yankees/Dodgers World Series would be awesome and very old school.

Let me know what you think, entertain me. I'll be back in bed feeling sick and maybe opening some packs...

Sunday Question: What is your missing piece?

With everything in your collection, there has to be something you're missing. Is there a card or piece of memorabilia that every time you see, you have to have it?

If there an item that keeps slipping through your grips?

I'm not really sure I have something that I need that way. My Derek Jeter collection feels fairly complete when it comes to the cards that are out there.

I have an auto, patch and plenty of game-used jerseys. I also a signed baseball and all his rookie cards.

I'm feeling good with my collection, but what are you missing?

I'm going to keep my promise

I will not post anymore O-Pee-Chee blaster or box breaks for fear of being stoned by most of the blogosphere. However, I will be posting a highlight of things I find here and there. This gem was too good not to showoff, and I also wanted to point something out on it.

Clearly, this card is freakin' awesome!! Not sure why Bedard is pictured wearing a Baltimore uniform, but that is not what I wanted to point out. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you can see that around the letters is a brownish color like it was stained or burned when putting the card together. It's like the old treasure maps we all made as kids, that brownish type color on the edges. The fact that I got 2 stripe swatches on the card made it that much sweeter.

Currently at 501/600 of the set complete, which makes me happy. Anyone by chance pull the Cano triple?