Cards 229 and 230 in the Kouz collection

I've dipped back into the basket of bubble mailers to pull out these two cards, which came in the same package.


2010 Upper Deck baseball and auto cards.

I would like to think these are going to be the last Upper Deck baseball cards I ever buy, but that's not true. There are still so many cards I need to get to complete my collections, including that Heroes rainbow (which I am sure I have more cards of somewhere).

The base card almost makes him look like he's with the A's already.

Despite the shady business practices of Upper Deck, I will miss them. I enjoyed the competition they created in the industry and do hope to see them again in the baseball arena.

2010 Upper Deck variations

Upper Deck confirmed several short-prints exclusive to retail and Trader Jack's blog has some of the info here.

So far one of the Sarah Palin cards has popped up on eBay. How many of you are really going to go after this card? Political affiliations aside, I'm not that interested in collecting this card. But, if some of you have read the blog before you know I don't care for variations and the such.

Perhaps as a set collector that just isn't my thing.

There are other variations that have appeared on eBay. Like this Jorge Posada card.

That, according to the eBay auction, is the variation card.

This card is the regular one.

Some one wanna tell me the difference?

2010 Upper Deck Series 1 Blaster

I have officially opened everything from 2010 Upper Deck except a retail pack which I almost picked up today and decided I didn't care that much. The blaster was fun to open while being snowed in, and while the "hit" of the box rhymed with the word hit, it still wasn't fun.

Honestly my favorite part of the blaster were the inserts, I didn't pay much attention to the base cards except for separating the rookies, which I think I would like to complete that 40 card set. I also kind of want to complete the Biography set, but at the same time I am not willing to make an effort to collect 2 of each Pujols and Cano so there is one in the set and one in my PC because I am crazy.

My favorite part of the blaster were the Celebrity Predictions. For some reason these make me laugh and I also thought about a set of these, partly because I like them and partly because I am sure no one else does.

Anyway, enough with the jibber jabber. Here is what I got, minus all base cards.











While there were other rookie cards in the box, I didn't feel like scanning the rest. I am keeping the Buster before anyone inquires, I like what I hear about him.

I still haven't gone through the pile of UD on my desk to see if there are any variants or any doubles for that matter, but if I find any I will post the pictures.

Trip to the Hobby Shop

Saturday I was in the gym and I noticed my phone had the blinking red light indicating a message. It was an e-mail from Dave over at the Baseball Card Store saying they opened a pack of 2010 UD and decided not to leave it out because I would want it and to stop by when I had time. We all know what happened next. I finished up my workout, grabbed a shake, and hit the road for the card store.

You can't send me an e-mail like that and expect me to not run there immediately. I have no patience, and no will-power. I hauled tail to Jersey and no one was surprised that I was there so fast. Dave throws me the pack and I flip through them somewhat slowly to enjoy whatever I was going to find.

Here is why they saved the pack for me:

However, the pack also contained these pretty awesome cards...

I have to say this is the most hilarious card I have seen. I might even like it better than the Pujols card. It is perforated down the middle for separation but I'm leaving it intact. Awesome card. They could really make a whole set of these caricatures but as baseball players, I think they are fun.

Oh yeah, and instead of a thick cardboard filler I ended up with this:

Ichiro 2010 Exquisite serial numbered /75. These cards are super thick and very nice if you ask me.

I may make a trip to the shop after class since I am anticipating being snowed in tomorrow I will need something to keep me occupied. Oh and I will need something to blog about, which is always a great excuse right?

2010 Upper Deck Series 1 Rack Pack

Don't get too excited, this blog is short and sweet. I noticed not many of you have seen the Tape Measure Shot cards, so I decided to scan them for you all to see. I bought one pack pack and it guarantees 2 of these cards per rack pack.

All that was in the rack pack were the 2 Tape Measure Shots, and a Biography card. The rest were base cards so I'm not scanning those since we have all seen them already.

I still have to show you guys what I got in the pack from the hobby shop the other day. Well worth driving down there for it.

2010 Upper Deck Series 1 Hobby Packs

Since my favorite card shop was still waiting on their delivery of this product I resorted to my back-up store to check out. Normally this store is incredibly overpriced, however, on this product they are probably the best price around at $4.75 per hobby pack. I have zero patience when I want to check something out and will exhaust all avenues before waiting which is why I ended up getting packs at this place.

I asked the guy behind the counter to pick the packs for me since I always pick air, and the last time I bought packs there I pulled a BTL auto from 09 SP Authentic. He picked out 3 packs for me, I paid and left. Sort of. I can't buy 3 of anything and it felt dirty almost so I had to go back and get one more. I opened the one I picked first just to see how great my instincts are, and well wouldn't you know... AIR! Overall, I think I did ok on what I pulled.

Here is what I like about the product so far:

-Card design is great, reminds me of the old ESPN sets they used to put out

-Pictures are good, despite most of them being of the back end of a swing or some odd angle they are still nicely done for a company who supposedly couldn't make cards

-Biography subset is exactly what last the Documentary set should have been if they had put an hour of thought into that set in the first place. This set chronicles one game for each game of the season, with the correct player on the card (what a concept).

-Big fan of die cut cards as inserts, they are always fun to pull.

Dislikes, well I don't really have one yet. If I were a set builder I might be kind of annoyed that there are 600 cards in Series 1, but that is the norm for Upper Deck so I would also be used to it, I suppose. I also think the game used jersey card design is the same as a year or two ago with minor tweaking.

The only card that wasn't grouped into the same pack as these base cards was Jeter, the rest of the scan were in one super glorious pack.
I scanned the Rookie cards I got so you guys could check them out. The logo they designed isn't terrible but not sure they needed to point out that it's a rookie card twice on the card.
Biography subset, 2 per pack. Nothing too exciting to me.
Portraits cards, which some of you seem to hate. I rather like them, but then again I like vintage looking cards of todays players.

Pure heat die cuts
Crawford, the next Yankees outfielder... LOL, kidding.

This last card I actually bought from the store. They opened up one pack to show what the cards look like and what not and I asked to look through them and saw this. I picked it up for a buck, which is way better than paying $3 shipping on eBay.

All World Russ Martin.

There you have it. 4 packs of hobby fun.

I was also at the hobby shop tonight after getting an e-mail from them. I'll tell that story after I put in some study time with my Anatomy & Physiology books.