09 Upper Deck Series 2 Box Inserts & Autogamers

So I didn't realize that I had not posted in a week. Blogger has been a pain in my ass of late and my patience has been very low - anyone else have this issue? I have to do all of my posting in the Edit HTML box - if I got to compose, it will not allow me type anything - also, I keep getting locked in at the log in page -

Whatever - I got it to work now.

So anyway, I picked up a second box of UD series 2 - missing only 2 cards from that set now which is very nice - here are all the inserts and hits from said box,

The team USA cards received are for Tommy Mendonca, Mike Minor, and Micah Gibbs - The only one of these dudes I know of is Mike Minor who was the 7th pick of the Braves - who really I don't care about anymore because they aren't good - Congrats Atlanta - you are now LESS hated than Philly!



Next up we have the O Pee Chee preview cards. You know I like this set - its classic, clean - nice design, classic card stock - but 6 cards in a pack? I have no choice but to call bullshit - I'll just buy a completed set on ebay in a month after someone busts a few cases for the 6 hits that won't be worth $14.

So we got Johan Santana, Mark Teixeira, Josh Hamilton, and Jonathan Papelbon. As a Mets fan I am of course digging the Johan. Tex has come up huge after (another) slow April. Josh - did anyone else see the article on The Onion about how his former drug dealer is upset that he is now playing baseball becuase he had so much "Junkie Potential"? It was fantastic - I'm all for guys quittin the shit, but I wish he wasn't all about the God stuff. Finally - Papelsmear - any card that doesn't have that "I just won the World Series, I'm gonna shit on the field" picture is good by me.



Carlos Villanueva gold 95/99

Who said nothing exciting ever happens?!



20th Anniversary Buy Back Rich Gedman - wow between this and the Carlos Villanueva card I've not gotten 2 corner stone collection hits in one box!



All right now - time for the good stuff -

oh wait - its UD Series 2?

The hits are gonna suck?

Really?



Yup.

AJ Griffin Auto
Ryan Lipkin Table Cloth
Alex Romero ball gag slice
Charles Johnson Spankerchief

Ugh

2009 Topps Jumbo Box - Last pack

Finally - we have come to the end...

Fantasy Teamers -

Taylor Teagarden - he's in a dynasty league so I am not giving up on him yet
Willy Tavarez - I play him about once every 2 weeks for a steal here and there - he does not let me down



Inserts

ROH -- Bobby Cox - ugh

Jorge Posada Gold 768/2009 - finally a good player -- albeit one I dont really like

WBC - Ichiro - ok

Legends of the Game Ryne Sandberg - I must disagree with Mario - I like to look of these cards

Topps Town - Ian Kinsler - very nice

Turkey Red - josh Hamilton - am I the only one who doesn't care this dude used to be a junkie?

And the last relic - Aroldis Chapman - cool . who wants it?

All told - I am okay with this box - the Braun Auto is really cool - We'll see how happy I really am when I break it down and see if the whole set was there or not.

2009 Topps Series 2 Jumbo box pack 9

Down to the last 2 packs - does this one have the missing relic? - no - that would be pack 10 tomorrow - here is what 9 had for me

Fantasy Dudes

Jim Thome - Been a nice player in my points league

Jorge Posada - Before he got hurt was great - glad I drafted 3 catches (Napoli and Soto the others)

Adam Dunn - dude just hits homers

Nick Swisher - Waiver wire guy when I got sick of waiting for Travis Snider to play more



First Met in 3 packs is Jose Reyes - I do not like this card -why make a card of a guy when you cant even see his face at all? Just not that into this card

Insert wise we do OK this go around

Legends of teh Game - Tom Glavine - I grew to appreciate him while with the Mets although he wasnt very great with us.

Turkey Red - Jay Bruce - Have him in 2 of 3 leagues this year - doing ok - at least the power is there

Topps Town - Carlos Beltran - having a hell of a year

ROH Aaron Rowand - you know how I feel

WBC - Chris Denorfia - dont like these

Austin Kearns Gold 1704/2009 - meh

1 more

2009 Topps Series 2 jumbo box Pack 8

We are winding down the pack breaks, which is great for me because I'm doing them all in one day then scheduling them out - As you can tell by the infrequency of posts - lately I haven't had too much time to be able to devote to this, so when I have an unfettered morning, I need to take advantage of it.

The only fantasy guy in pack 8 here is Huston Street - Thank goodness he got that closer job back - but I really didnt think that Corpas would hang onto it - so all is good.



Insert was this pack was lackluster

Topps Town - Vladimir guererro - Just not the player he was anymore due to injuries

Lgends of the Game - Trevor hoffman - for some reason I just never bought into this guy - I know he's great - but just doesn't do it for me

Turkey red - ryan zimmerman - I've been burned by him the past and stayed away this year - dumbass me

ROH -Dusty Baker - ok

Humberto Quintero gold 1721/2009

WBC Aroldis Chapman - Anyone know anything about this dude?

only 2 more to go

2009 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Box Pack 7

Well 1 pack after wondering if I had cleared out all of my fantasy guys from this box, I get 5 mor from pack 7.

Joba - don't be hurt too long ok?

Lyle Overbay - Injury replacement for Carlos Delgado

Jason Bartlett - AL MVP? Don't snicker - if the Rays make the playoffs and no one else has an Incredible season - you will see this guy get some real votes

James Loney - For a dude this big he needs to hit for more power - I dont need 30 bombs, but would 20 be too much to ask?

Dan Haren - one of the best in the National League



Inserts -

ROH - Dave Justice - man - this set sucks

Doug Davis Gold 1615/2009

Jin Young Lee - WBc - uummm - ok

Legends of the Game - Chipper Jones - deservedly so - HOF all the way

Topps Town - Derek Jeter - Remeber the Wham song Jitterbug? in the intro the say "do the jitterbug"? well, me and my friends always call Jeter here
"Jeter-fag" to the tune of "Jitterbug". I know we arent funny. but really dont have too much to say about this dude unless its about all the ladies hes gotten to know intimately.

Turkey Red - Alfonso Soriano - another very classy card

And the relic - Angel Berroa Game Used Bat card - I honestly considreed throwing this cad away because I can't even imaging anyone wanting this card

3 more packs left

2009 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Box Pack 6

Working on pack 6 of the break now and for the first time there was not a single player from any of my fantasy teams here - have I cleaned them all out? I doubt that, but we will see.

I did get one Met - Brian Schneider - not exactly waiting with bells on for his return - he's a nice player - he's exactly who we traded for - just so underwhelming though - I'd rather take my chances with Santos and Castro - but money says that Santos will take the trip to AAA when Brian comes back.



There was a nice batch of inserts in this pack that you can see below.

Legends of the Game Reggie Jackson - Man - these are really nice - Topps really nailed some of its insert sets this year.

Topps Town Ian Kinsler - a man who is helping my dynasty league quite a bit this year.

Turkey Red Mark Teixeira - he's finally hitting for the Yanks - so that sucks

Kurt Suzuki Gold 1656/2009 - man my gold cards have stunk this box

ROH - Chris Carpenter - meh

Red Hot Rookie Redemption #9 - when does the list come out? not until August right?

Thats a bit more like - there are now 4 redemption's I am waiting for from Topps dating back to November 2008

2009 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Box pack 5

...and now we are half way there...

The long representative from the fantasy teams this year in pack 5 is Ted Lilly - who has been having a very nice Ted Lilly year - I bet the Yanks regret letting this dude go.



Finally we have a few more Mets - we have the new bullpen of K rod (who has been getting it done, but rarely w/o making it interesting) and JJ Putz who has pitched how I feared he would - also in this pack was the first I started noticing some doubles slipping (another Cora for example).

finally the inserts -

Jon Lester Turkey Red - Almost kept him from last year to this year - at this point glad that I let him walk.

big Prince Topps Town - Nice looking card

Legends of the Game steve Carlton - He looks like a cartoon in this picture - weird

ROH - Miguel Cabrera - meh.

Javier Valentin Gold 1631/2009 - meh

This box has had its mojo almost stopped by now - Lets hope it kicks back up

2009 Topps Series 2 jumbo Box Break Pack 4

Here we go with Pack 4 -

This was another pack where nothing really sham - wowed me. but thats okay - When you are building a set - they are all nice.

Away we go with the fantasy men

Brandon Morrow - He's been bad.

Mike Jacobs - he's been Mike Jacobs

Brett Myers - We all know that he can hit (his wife) but here is a shot of him being more gentle and bunting

jimmy Rollins - discussed yesterday - If I have any hope in my leagues of winning I need this guy to step it up ASAP



Inserts

Topps Town Gold of Alex Rios - also discussed a bit yesterday - this guy has all the tools to be an all star each year - just need him to put it all together

Ichiro Legends of the Game - First. Ballot. Hall. Of. Fame. yup - also got him on one time this year for the first time ever.

ROH - John Papel-smear - my wife hates when I call him that.

Matt Cain Gold 1830/2009 - every year i manage to pick up or trade for this guy on the cheap - yet to happen so far this year

Stephen Drew black 34/58 - a lot of people were thinking he could be a top 5 short stop this year - I think right now they all just hope he stays healthy

Career Best Cy Young - This is a pretty sweet card - I WISH it was a relic, but I'm not that lucky.

Pee Wee Reese Turkey Red - Nice card - I've said it before, love Turkey Red as an insert, hate it as its own set.

Almost half way there.

2009 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Box Break pack 3

Moving on the pack 3 here - This was the least exciting pack so far out of the box - hopefully its all up hill from here.

Representing my various fantasy teams we have

Jayson Werth - I hate his goatee or soul patch or douche identifier that he has, but I enjoy his skills

Alexei Ramirez - please start hitting buddy - please - I used a keep pick on you

Jimmy Rollins - has been hotter of late - I'm just treading water now in the leagues I own him - if he gets hot - I will shoot up quickly

Prince Fielder - Also finally going deep on a regular basis - I traded Jason Bay for him 9I needed a 1b bad and my partner did not even own a left fielder, so it worked out so long as Prince keeps hitting.



Now there were only 5 inserts in this pack - no WBc card - but thats ok - lets see what did show up.

Topps Town Kevin Youkilis - also on one of my teams - has been great so far.

Carlos Lee Turkey Red - How has he been so far? I dont ever really come across him doing anything incredible - I've owned him in the past, but not this year.

Legends of the Game Albert Pujols - this is a VERY nice card - Welcome aboard Albert.

Ring of honor - caveman Damon - back when he was cool

Ryan Doumit gold 1624/2009 - ok

Se - pretty disappointing pack - not even a single Met - WTF.

2009 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Box Pack 2 (auto hit)

Here we go with pack 2!

For the players on my fantasy teams we have as follows

Robinson Cano - Having a very nice season at 2nd base for the Yanks and my standard roto team

Alex Rios - anyone else fall victim to his siren song every year at the draft and then be frustrated all year?

Milton Bradley - Been good lately.

Chris volstad - Grabbed him real late and has been great in my points league

Adrain Beltre - not the contract year I was looking for....



Mets Players

Tim Redding and Carlos Beltran.

Redding has been - well, it's only been a few starts so I'm not going to really discuss him - Beltran has been great this year though - I want that stick to get hot again soon though.

Now we have our inserts.

Legends of the Game Manny Ramirez - While I was never a huge fan of Manny, I had great respect for him... I hate when anyone, let alone one of the biggest names in baseball tests positive for PEDs. Breaks my heart.

Topps Town Carlos Zambrano - ok

Turkey Red Walter Johnson - This is more like it

Ring of Honor - Yadier Molina - yesterday Ruiz, today this twatte-waffle? ugh.

Frank Francisoc Gold 1785/2009 - ok

WBC - Jose Reyes - Dont like these cards - but I love me some Jose.

Finally we have the best hit of the box - probably also the best auto I have ever pulled - Ryan Braun #82/100. This is one card I will be hanging on to unless someone ponies up a Reyes or Wright auto for me... then Mr Braun could be had.

Once I pulled that Braun Card I was happy with the box

2009 Topps Series 2 Jumbo Box Pack 1

Last week (Friday to be exact) I was able to pick up a box of 09 Topps Series 2 Jumbo packs - However, due to the Terminator and other holiday weekend activities, I had only about 20 minutes to rip it. that is not enough time to really take these cards in. So I will be going back through them pack by pack and letting you all into the process with me. At the end of the box if there are still cards needed (which there will be since I am collecting some of the insert sets) that will be posted at that time - any doubles I get will be available. Lets start with pack 1.

Since most of these cards have been scanned and shown to the blogosphere so far, I willl again use my fail safe option of showing dudes on my fantasy teams, Mets, and inserts. That should work.

First we have Joe Mauer who I grabbed in the 13th round in one of my 3 leagues - WOW! Is he not the best pure hitter in baseball right now? You'd be hard pressed to find one, especially at catcher. I could have had him for a song in my dynasty league when he was hurt but I fucked that one up. However, I do have the first pick in the 1st year player draft - so maybe I can flip him for Strasburg?

Next up we have the underwhelming Chris Davis - he is slugging homers and thats about it - the league I have him in is a points league though, so his average isnt as detrimental as it would normall be.

Finally - Justin upton - I was really hoping for a breakout this year and it appears I am going to get it - the kid is streaky,but when he is on, you can see that the D- Bags have a star in the making.



Next up we have a smattering of Mets cards.

John Maine who has been able to pitch pretty well this season, still needs to stop walking people - it's what will prevent him from ever becoming anything better than a #3 guy. Alex Cora who was doing a very nice job filling in at 2nd and Short until he landed on the dl, leaving us with Ramon Martinez. Finally - Nick the "Stick" Evans - Evans couldnt hit sand if he fell off a camel in AAA but I like him anyway - He is now back in Binghamton - Hopefully I get doubles of this card and could get one signed before he gets called back up.



Next up is the SP of Steve Carlton - To prove my point I didnt know I had gotten this card until I looked back through the pack this morning. I have a feeling Jay Bee will be getting this one eventually - if you are reading this my friend - Let me know if you need it.

Now finally we get to the insert cards.

We have a Ring of honor card for Carlos Ruiz - Hate these cards and he's a douche Phillie so lets move on.

Taylor Teagarden Gold 1743/2009 - meh

WBC Dustin Pedroia - Don't think I will be collecting this set.

Legends of the Game Greg MAddux - I WILL be collecting these - very glad to see them back for Series 2.

Topps Town Ryan Braun - Hmmm- Blue? OK - I'll collect

Finally we have a Turkey Red of K Rod - Again, I will be collecting these cards - so if you dont want them, I do!

So not a bad haul for pack 1 - Coming up in th ebox are a few underwhelming relics and a very nice auto - so stay tuned!

09 Heritage Jumbo Box - Inserts

Here are all the inserts received from my jumbo box I grabbed last week.

Here are the New Age Performers and Then and Nows. I really love the NAP design, the then and now-- eh - and what is with Bob Friend being featured twice?

Here are the news flashbacks - meh. and the baseball flashbacks - just eh- little better than meh

The Relic - Trade Bait.

And here is the best shit of the box - The mayo reprints - these are fantastic.

Thats it!

2009 Heritage Jumbo Box Part 1

So last week I made quick stop at the card shop to see if any Heritage had arrived and boy had they. This was not your normal box though, this was something I had not seen online or anywhere else (granted I wasn't looking per say...) but for $99 he had Jumbo boxes of the 09 Topps Heritage line. 20 packs, 16 cards per pack, Sps 1:2 packs. So although I really only wanted to spend about $70... it got the best of me. Heres the highlights.

First of course - the Mets - I figured this is the best way to highlight the normal base cards. I did not think I was going to really like this years set, but once I got them in my hands - blows last year out of the water as far as I am concerned. I like the small action shot - I love the clean backs - Home run.

Here are some SPs from the set - the only way to differentiate them from the regular cards this year I think is the shaded backs - am I right on this? I have not yet seen an official SP list so I am not sure.

Here are some more SPs, Allstars and floating coaches.

And here, go figure is the highlight of the set for me... I love these coach cards - the design on the front is fantastic and could be a whole set on its own. This is classic baseball carding right here. And gain - they nailed the backs.

And here are just a few of the other designs in the base set - we have the All Star Rookie Team - we have the regular Rookie Stars, we have a poorly photo shopped James Shields who just saw someone get hit in the nads with Kazmir and Price, and finally - the is it or is it not an SP of ARAMIS.

Inserts tomorrow.

2008 Upper Deck Timelines Box Bust

So, in the spirit of getting this all done before the move so I can get everything put away properly - this is going to be just a quick show of the 2 shitty hits I got.

who wants them?

I will be getting a want list together - any doubles will be up for trade if there is anyone else out there building this set - lets get together!

2009 upper Deck Series 1 box 2

All right, so here goes box 2 -

for other peoples favorites - I know that Chris @ Stale Gum is a big fan of Chase "fuckin" utley, a know a certain lady with a "problem" who likes her Pujols (get your minds out of the gutter!), and Dave is a big fan of Mr. Longoria.

Next up are a few of my favorites from box 2 - I love the new Hebrew Hammer Ryan Braun, I have a bit of a man crush on Soto thanks to being on all of my fantasy teams last year, We have Wright, Beltran, Santana -whats not to love? And the rest of the homegrown B Mets to make the big club next year Dan "The Irish Hammer" Murphy who means business and John Niese who has sweaty palms!

A few more inserts - Reyes for me, CC For thorzul, Chipper for Days, Manny #'d to 99. also, I did not bring up how much I do not like the history subsets -I don't care about what happened, I don't care about some suits bullshit predictions (I know they don't really believe them, but this is a waste of my time). also, I don't feel good having a bunch of cards now of high school kids... just weird to me.

Finally we have the hits

Elijah Dukes "Inkredible" - trade bait

Aramis Ramirez 2 swatch 144/149 - trade bait - I am an Aramis Magnet on these GU cards

Phil Hughes Quad swatch (w/ 3 stripes) #'d 10/15 - This one I like - a normal one I'd trade right away, but 4 swatches, only 15 made of an over hyped Yankee? if he ever gets his shit together I might be able to turn this into something I really want... so this one goes aside for the time being.

2009 Upper Deck Series 1 Hobby Box

OK - So last week I grabbed up 2 boxes of 09 UD hobby - I planned on spacing them out a bit more than this - but I am moving in about 10 days which means that my cards need to get packed and my focus most move on for a few weeks - so you may see a post up here or there, but probably not until we are totally settled in the new place - I might schedule up some TTM posts or something - we will see.

Anyway - here are the results from box 1 - i'll show off box 2 tomorrow and also get my want list up. This first group of cards is for all my fellow bloggers - I know I haven't seen as much Upper Deck on the blog scene as Topps, which I feel is okay, since I really like the Topps product better this year (and last year i got totally hard for UD) -so if you haven't seen your favorite players yet - here you go. We've got Granderson for Grand Cards, Martin For the Night Owl, Miller for Mario, Chipper for Dayf and Captain Canuck, Mauer for Gelman, and a few "Linceys" for Bailey.

Next up were my favorite cards from the box, which of course are Met-centric. Of course Wright and Reyes - the centerpieces of this franchise - we have a great photo of L- Millz, My ROY preseason pick Travis Snider, and a few local Binghamton Mets who grew up last year, Nick Evans and Bobby Parnell.

Next up are just a few of the inserts received. No one cares about YSL, no one cares about documentary. I don't care about the Upper Deck Legacy, and I really don't care about these - as far as the insert card goes, Topps totally busted a good one all up on upper decks proverbial face. The OPCs are nice - I'm glad I got Wright, but really - don't care. The Stars of the Game are nice - Glad I got Wright, but really, who cares - and the rivals.. whatever. All but the Wrights are available - I will be pursuing all the Mets from these however, so if you also don't care, keep me in mind for those.

And Finally, the 3 box hits - First we have a triple swatch of Chris Duncan 73/99. Trade block

Brandon Phillips 2 swatch 134/149 - Trade Block

Troy tulowitzki game used swatch and auto 44/99

So, the Tulo I Might hang onto for a while seeing as this is my only card with both a GU and Auto on it - but I am sure eventually if I see a Met I need and someone comes calling for old Troy here, I wont shed a tear to see him go.