2009 Topps Chrome: The Review!

Ooh! Shiny!
(…didja miss me?)

Man, how long’s it been? Like… a week? Yeah, it’s been a crazy one. So crazy that when I found this blaster box last Tuesday, I still didn’t have time until today to say anything about it. Well, that’s how life goes, right? One day you’ve got a woodpecker drilling a hole into your soffit, the next day you’re "forced" to go buy a 42" 720p flat screen teevee. What’s a boy to do? I know! He can let a pen slip into the dryer! How fun!!

Aside from that, it’s cards as usual for this broke chap. I got a whole bunch of packages in the mail–all in the same day, too. I’ve been hunting cards down on eBay (something I’d rather not do). I’ve been binderizing, collating, sorting, logging, and phlogging. Actually, no, the other Chris has been doing the phlogging, not me. I’ve found a small bit of time for my hobby, but hardly any for the blog. Fear not, faithful followers! I’ve got a whole slew of teeny tiny posts for you to enjoy. Granted, they’re pretty much all dedicated to the aforementioned mega mail day, but I’ll keep it spicy.

PURCHASE TYPE: 1 Target Blaster ($19.99 – 32 Cards)

BASE

First of all, I have to apologize for wimping out and not spending the time to make these photos all fancy looking like I normally do, but these shiny cards just don’t scan too well. So, it’s photos for ye! Secondly, there really isn’t all that much to say about a product I’ve reviewed twice already, save for the additional layer of chrome-y coolness. I will say this, though. When I said that this design would look amazing in chrome, I was right. Although it suffers from the curling effect of the weighty top chrome layer, everything else about the near-perfect flagship design is accented greatly by the human bugzapper shininess. I’d love to spend a day in the printing plant that manufactures these to see exactly how this technology is implemented. Foil stamping is one thing. Xfractor-ing? A modern mystery, if you ask me. I’m as stumped as a felled tree! Hoo-haw!

REFRACTORS

I’m normally not a fan of parallels, but if you’re gonna do ‘em, you can’t go wrong with a good ol’ rainbow-y refractor. As if the chrome cards weren’t attractive enough, now you’ve gotta throw a cool layer of light reactive awesomeness in there. Every card looks better when refracted, even Nate McLouth! The Refractors are seeded 1:3 packs. They also come in a variety of colors–Blue (#/199), Gold (#/50), and Red (#/25). I only got the regular refractors. That sort of thing happens when buying retail.

XFRACTORS

I’ve never… NEVER… liked the XFractor parallels. I’ve never understood the point other than to give player and team collectors one more parallel to chase. However, this year there’s just something a bit cooler about the ol’ XFracs. It seems like the refractive areas react with a bit more strength, a bit more panache, a bit more umph if you will, than those in past Chrome-type releases. That’s not to say that I’m now a fan, but this year I’ll be happy to take every single Twins XFrac off of your hands! These also come seeded at 1:3 packs. Watch out for its mutant cousin, the Super-Fractor, a hobby exclusive 1 of 1 parallel. I’ve never seen one of these in person. Someone, please tell me… are they as gaudy as I think?

INSERTS – WBC

And the World Baseball Classic cards continue to flood Topps products like a much less appreciated version of Yankee Stadium Legacy. It’s too bad that these cards aren’t more popular. A lot of these guys will never have baseball cards in the states again. I got two in my blaster, and was quite surprised that I pulled an American.

INTERESTING TID-BITS:
Total Cards Pulled: 32 + 1 Checklist
Boston Red Sox: 3
Minnesota Twins: 0
Dupes: 2 (both of which are Parallel dupes)
RC: 7 (0 parallels)
Average Cost Per Card: $0.63

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Topps Chrome is one of the few sets that I look forward to every year, even with last year’s Wonder Bread set. I can’t help myself, I’m a sucker for shiny. Aren’t you? I think it was a smart idea to use new photography in last year’s chrome set, but this year it appears that Topps either couldn’t pony up the cash for new pix, didn’t have time to swap out photos in the existing flagship layouts, or got bit by the lazy bug. To me, not using unique photography to further separate itself from flagship as its own product is one of the few flaws in this set. Other than that, the design is, of course, aces, and they’re super uber duper shiny. How can you lose with that combination? YOU CAN’T, E. HONDA!

GOT TWINS?
As you can see, I pulled ZERO TWINS cards. I did receive one recently in a trade, but that still leaves about seven to go. All of the Chrome I’ve busted from this box is for trade. These are the base cards I’m after.

22, 27, 41, 78, 94, 189, WBC49
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

2009 Upper Deck X: The 1 Pack Review!

X Marks The Spot
(…in which I question my hobby…)

Let me first start off by saying unequivocally that THIS IS NOT the worst product of the year. I know, right? Let me also follow up by saying that THIS IS NOT a good product. At all. Upper Deck’s release just prior to this so far, for me, anyway, still holds the crown of 2009’s Very Worst Cardboard Creation. Upper Deck X at least tries to be a little interesting. The fact remains, however, that I am still left with a feeling of emptiness. Is the emptiness caused by wondering if I could have gotten something better for the $2 I just spent on this pack? Is it caused by the overabundance of caramel corn that I indulged on at the movie last night? No, in fact, I know Xactly from where the emptiness stems. Yep. I just bought another pointless pack. I just wish that these secondary sets that fill up the shelves in between flagship and popular sets would at least have some point to them. I’m still trying to figure out why Icons was even a thought. And, really? The letter X is the reason this particular set is Xists? I would love to meet anyone that loves this set. I want to talk to someone that is Xcited about these cards. I want to be able to pick their brain. I want to know if I’m missing out on something–if I’m just not getting it.

Until then, however, I feel it my duty to give you fine readers a quick and early 1 Pack Review. Honestly, after this one pack alone, I highly doubt I’ll be buying any more. Unless, obviously, if they’re Twins related. That’s Xcusable.

BASE:

The design itself isn’t too bothersome… that is until you realize that the central theme to this entire set is a letter of the English alphabet. Thankfully we’ve got some facts on the backs of these cards. I know, no one reads the back, but, come on. A baseball card can’t be a baseball card without something fun to read on the back, right? Besides the letter "X."

A constant theme in baseball cards this year is how rediculously flimsy the card stock is. Sure, it’s a great way to save money for these companies, I’m sure. But I don’t even feel like I’m holding baseball cards with most of this year’s products. Upper Deck X almost seems to be the weakest of the batch to date–although I’m pretty sure they’re using the Xact same stock that they’ve used for most of their 2009 releases.

I will give Upper Deck credit for using crisp, clean, sharp, sensible action shots that fit the design. The colors are outstanding and brilliant, and all of the text is very readable. That’s really all I’ve got for a positive, though. If you like pretty pictures and readable text, then this is the set for you!

INSERTS:

It’s hard to tell by the scan here, but these Xponential cards are all foily and shiny and embossy. They do look decent, and inserts should stand out from their base card counterparts, so this set does the trick just fine. I just wish that this insert set had an obvious point to them.

And, of course, Upper Deck X wouldn’t be the same without their famous X Die Cut inserts. This is actually the first time I’ve ever had one of these in-hand. All the same, though, I just don’t find these kinds of die cuts to be all that interesting. Although, if you’re going to do a die cut for this set of cards, doing the smart thing is always the best idea. Die cutting any other shape around the "X" background would earn Upper Deck a few Xpletives.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
While opening this pack wasn’t necessarily Xcruciating, it also wasn’t Xhilarating, either. The price point of $2 for a retail pack of 6 cards seems fairly typical, so no real arguments can be made in that regard. Will I spend more money on this set? Likely not. I can’t imagine that I would even get many trades from this set. So, just sit back and relax, everyone. Save your cash. I’ve done the dirty work for you. Unless you loved last year’s Upper Deck X, I suggest that you save your money for something more worthwhile. If, however, you did enjoy last year’s effort, this go ’round is a bit of an improvement. While the cards do look very similar to last season’s, that should be Xpected. I mean, come on. It’s a baseball card honoring a letter. There’s not a whole lot you can really do with that. And now, I shall make my Xit.

Come on, like you didn’t see THAT coming.

2009 Topps Allen & Ginter: The Review!

2009 Allen & Ginter: The Review!
(…face it, you’re only "reading this" for the pictures…)

Boy, I’ve been looking forward to this one all year long, so I had better make this one count. Why? What’s the big freakin’ deal? Oh, I don’t know. It’s only been the most popular baseball card product for the last few years. Now it’s my turn to explore the latest edition of this so-called winner. Ya see, I was a loser in school. I was made fun of by all the cool kids. To me, this is the coolest kid on the baseball card block. It’s time for some revenge!!

Oh, who am I kidding. I’ve LOVED the Allen & Ginter product since I first ripped open my first retail pack of the stuff in ‘07. In fact, these are the only cards in which my wife is even halfway interested. Just that fact alone persuades my opinion. Oh, but this year is going to be different, they say. This year Topps has decided to tinker a bit, to tool it up a little, to tweak, to meddle, to change the very thing that made this set so likable all along. They decided to change the base card design! Trust me, I was a bit up in arms about this decision, but, ya know what? Change isn’t always a bad thing… especially when all Topps is doing is borrowing from another past A&G design. See? It’s not like they were all-the-way cheating! It’s kind of like dry humping the secret photo of your girlfriend’s hot roommate that you have stuffed in your undie drawer. It’s not all-the-way cheating! Yick. It’s all sticky!

Let’s get down to the down and dirty… the brass tacks… let’s get down ta bidness…

PURCHASE TYPE: 2 Hobby Boxes – eBay ($65.05, $67.50), 1 Target Blaster ($19.99)

BASE

See? Told ya it was different. Thankfully, the backside that we’ve all come to know and love hasn’t changed one single bit! Hooray! In keeping with the A&G tradition, the subject, Justin Morneau in this case, has been given a Dragan-like effect to appear as if he were painted on dimpled canvass. A nice splash of color anchors the background, filling more space than it has in previous seasons. Other changes this year which faithfully mimics the 1886 A&G design are the border and the boxed-in nameplate. While this may seem like a treacherous thing to do to such beloved cards, especially since Topps has used the same theme for three years running, I think it’s nice to breathe a little fresh air every once and again, don’t you?

Something I’ve noticed with the base designs this year in particular is that in some cases the "photoshop" effect has improved greatly. However, on some cards, it’s hard to tell if any effect has been used at all. Perhaps this dilemma is most noticed on another new approach to the Allen & Ginter brand… the action shot, complete with full background.

The Rivera card looks absolutely stunning, save for the questionable feathering of the background. The Wright card however just isn’t, ahem… right. Ahem. Where the feathering on the Rivera card looks a bit unskilled, the feathering on the Wright card (which just so happens to be the card on the left… ahem) is absolutely atrocious. I honestly think that I would have enjoyed both of these cards about a nonillion times more had the photo simply been extended to the border. Take another look at these cards. On the Rivera, you can detect at least a small bit of photo manipulation to give it that classic Ginter look. The Wright card, however? It just looks like a really nice photo. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not… ahem… right… for this set. Ahem.

Another thing that Topps decided to try this year that they hadn’t done with this set before is create regular base card parallels. Ah, but there’s a catch. Topps included a "Crack the Code" game last year that seemed to be quite popular. Problem was, apparently the puzzle wasn’t quite difficult enough. Topps must have felt up to the challenge, because, if you’ve been following this crazy story, this puzzle was at least a quintillion times harder. So, the combination of the return of last year’s game with regular base parallels gives us code cards! Last year’s code cards were a different set on their own, while this year takes advantage of 100 different base cards. I don’t want to spoil anything for you, but my man Neshek up there played an integral role to this year’s code. Way to go, Pat! Hey, I’m all for this game. I think it’s a unique gimmick that keeps a certain brainiac sector of the market coming back for more cards! Oh, wait, those same nerdy kids found a loophole in the system. They used images scanned in by other people instead of chasing down the cards! Oops! I wonder if Topps is up to the challenge of making THAT part of the game more difficult?

By the way, I don’t know if this has happened with anyone else, but every single one of my Code cards from both hobby boxes has ENORMOUS roller marks straight down the middle. At one point, I almost thought that was part of the game. Tisk tisk, Topps. You ruined my investment!

I just wanna quick note that I really think this was a classy move by Topps to include Negro League players in this set. Aside from paying homage to some of the best players the world has ever known, it is my own personal opinion that these are the best looking cards in the set.

INSERTS

Once again, just like last year, we’re treated to National Pride. Ah, good ol’ Scott from Mexico. I gotta say, I’ve never met anyone from Mexico named Scott. That’s like saying "I’d like you to meet my friend Jim from Japan." "Hi! I’m Jim from Japan!" Oh, yeah. A card review. Sorry bout that. I tend to get caught up in senseless tangents. Like that one. Anyway… remember how last year’s National Pride cards were, like, double-… maybe even triple-thick? Yeah. Not this year. Could the economy have anything to do with that decision? Frankly, I could care less what the economy has to say about the National Pride cards. I kind of thought it was a strange decision to make those cards so thick last year to begin with.

New to the A&G fold is our buddy Dick Perez and his Baseball Highlights sketch cards. Poor ol’ Dick must be bored with computers handling the Turkey Red inserts this year. See, I appreciate a good artist, I really do. And I really appreciate everything Perez has done for the hobby. What I don’t like is how, I dunno… amateurish these cards turned out. He’s put out so much amazing work over the years, even recently. I’m looking at these cards and I’m just… stunned. And not in a good way. I suppose there’s a reason they’re called SKETCH cards and not masterpiece painting cards. No offense, but I could have sketched that Thomas card and it would look just the same. To your credit, though, Mr. Perez, your bad sketching is the best sketching I can do.

ODDBALL CARDS

Allen & Ginter wouldn’t be Allen & Ginter without a good mix of some oddball cards. From science to buildings to national parks to historical figures to champions of legitimate professional sports to champions of completely useless not-really-sports, this part of the base card set is perhaps the most fun. Now, when Upper Deck does it with A Piece of History/Artifacts, they just somehow manage to suck all of the fun out of it. Well, and they just somehow manage to suck, too. Sorry, guys, but it’s true.

MINI PARALLELS

And, too, also, as well, Allen & Ginter just wouldn’t be Allen & Ginter without their famous how-the-hell-do-I-store-these-dang-things mini parallels! Each and every single card in the base set comes in a variety of different parallels. You’ve got your plain vanilla mini with no embellishments. You’ve got your Allen & Ginter back. You’ve got your black border. Someone said the Bazooka Backs are back this year, too, but I haven’t seen them yet. You’ve even got your hand numbered versions. There are more, but since I didn’t pull them, I won’t comment on them. First and foremost, I just have to say… now THAT’S how you do a border parallel! All too often you see cards with a border parallel and it’s just a boring old box of solid color. Topps went and put a little umph in their border this year and actually made them look interesting. Please continue this trend, guys, for reals, yo. Secondly, anyone trying to put together a master set like myself has to be friggin insane with all of the different versions of minis out there, especially considering how short printed some of them are. Being a player collector would be bad enough. Just multiply that by 350 and you’ve got a damned nightmare. A fun nightmare, in any case.

MINI INSERTS

I gotta be honest with ya. I’m not normally a big fan of non-baseball in my baseball cards. However, Allen & Ginter just pulls it off so well that I would be highly disappointed if the set were strictly nothing but baseball. While the subjects may seem a bit dopey or even a touch boring, these cards are incredibly beautiful! I never thought I’d say that about anything with an image of The Ponz on it. Ehhh!

It seems like every year there is a card or two put out by one of The Big Two that "must be pulled at the last possible moment" because of questions of ethics. This set’s questionably unethical card is a Hoaxes mini of Bernie Madoff. Normally, this type of yanked card still slips through the cracks and ends up sold on eBay for a few thou, but so far I’ve not heard of anyone finding Madoff swimming around. Could this be the year that a card that is pulled at the last moment actually DOESN’T get leaked?

HIGHLIGHTS

The very first hit we pulled was also the very first autograph card I’ve ever pulled from Allen & Ginter. Sure, Mr. Jackson has a bit of a squiggly siggy, but he’s got a tiny area to deal with. If I have one complaint about these framed cards, it’s that those tropical borders have GOT to go. Please, please, PLEASE… I dunno, tie them in with the rest of the set somehow? I keep expecting Tucan Sam to pop out from behind the card and offer me a bowl of cereal. Like he’d offer me a bowl of anything else. Cha!

Three jerseys, two common and one star. No stripes. No biggee, though. That little wood sliver is cool considering it was once part of a bat held by Vlad Guerrero during some random BP session. I’m not planning on keeping these hits. Although, I have to admit, it was nice to finally pull a star relic out of A&G. That being said, those are the absolute most teeniest tiniest jersey swatches I have EVER seen in my life. Really Topps? Is that saving you any money? Yeah, I know, they have to fit into that teeny tiny little mini card. But, wow. Really? Wow.

Oooh, fancy! My very first pulled silk card! The bad part about these cards is that there is no printed backside–for obvious reasons. Being that only the last name is printed on the front, I wasn’t sure if I got Scott, James, or Brooke. In any case, this, to me, was the highlight of the boxes I busted. It’s not a huge hit, and it would have been cool to find a Rip Card (something else I’ve never pulled before), but it wasn’t necessarily a dud, either. Had this card been of a star I might have sold it. Had it been of a Twin I would keep it. Since it’s neither, I’m holding it for trade. In fact, all of these hits are FT, so just LMK, OK? KTHNX.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Product of the year? It’s still very early to tell, especially with the very promising Goodwin Champions around the corner. Product of the year so far? Without a doubt. I don’t think Topps knocked it completely out of the park as they have in the past, but it at least bounced off of Torii Hunter’s glove and over the wall. I clearly made the right decision in making this the very first set I’ve ever attempted to put together.

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By the way, something I found kind of interesting. Ya know how on the bottom of the hobby boxes they list the different subject groupings for relics/autos/etc. in unspecified print run clusters? Let’s say that Group A has a print run of 1,000, Group B 10,000, Group C 100,000, and Group D 500,000. Well, I noticed something peculiar on the bottom of both of my boxes that caught my eye and gave me a good chuckle. Perhaps one of you can explain this madness to me.

Also, as a side note, an interesting story. You may have noticed that I got a tremendous deal on my boxes. The only reason I got them so cheap was that I won them as pre-sells way back in early June before anyone knew to start looking for boxes of A&G. Now, a reasonable amount of money to spend on a box of A&G is around $90 + S/H, right? Well, I went to my local card shop, Beyond Shinder’s, and to my complete shock and awe, I saw that they were selling hobby boxes of 09 Allen & Ginter for over $140 EACH! I sure hope the guy sells them all because, wow. Just wow. I spent less on my two boxes than he’s charging for one!

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ALLEN & GINTER PROJECT
If you’ve busted any A&G this year and have any extra cards to trade off, please let me know. As I’ve already mentioned before, I am working on completing the master set and need all of the help I can get! You can either leave a comment for me here, or e-mail me at topher {at} designyouridentity {dot} com. Thanks!

2009 UD Icons: The Review!

Raise Your Hand If You Bought This
(…before you bought Allen & Ginter)

I can’t have been the only person that forgot all about this product until they were searching for blasters of Allen & Ginter at the nearest Wal*Mart, right? To be completely honest, I have yet to hear of anyone but Mario talk about this set. Just from the previews of this set, and with the poor timing of its release, these cards seemed doomed from the get-go.

PURCHASE TYPE: 1 Hobby Pack ($10.69), 1 Wal*Mart Blaster ($19.97)

BASE

Big crisp photographs masked over beautiful bold colors with a textured background. Flipping the card over and… that’s it? The same thing as the front side with just a couple lines of stats? No interesting factoid on why that particular player is an icon? Well, I suppose it is only the back of the card–the least looked-at portion of any card. But, still. Speaking of which, the backsides of these cards look suspiciously familiar. Hmmm…

PARALLELS

These must be incredibly hard to chase because this is the ONLY parallel card I pulled. Granted, I didn’t throw down $80+ for a hobby box. These silver board parallels could be nicer if Upper Deck didn’t blow their foil board load on their Starquest inserts.

ROOKIES

The design for the "high numbered" rookie set is just a T-O-U-C-H different than the base set, and you’ll notice that they are also numbered to 999. I pulled two of these short printed bastages, and ended up with two fairly recognizable rookies. Phil Coke and David Price. Coke & Price. Sounds like a really bad cop drama rip-off from the 80s, doesn’t it? Nothing could jump the shark more than a really bad 80s cop drama rip-off named Coke & Price. Thankfully in reality they’re numbered rookie cards in the 2009 Upper Deck Icons set. One can dream, though, can’t one? Oh, look! More than just stats! Yippee!!

HIGHLIGHT

The box clearly stated that I was due one jersey card in my box. Normally I end up with some thumbnail sized piece of armpit worn by some perennial AAA guy who made one major league appearance and ended up on a baseball card. Complete with pit stain and all! *heebie-jeebies* This time I got a swatch twice the size that Allen & Ginter is offering up this year, complete with stripe no less, of the guy on the box–Phillies star pitcher Cole Hamels! NOT A YANKEE!!

INTERESTING TID-BITS:
Total Cards Pulled: 52 + 1 Decoy
New York Yankees: 6
Minnesota Twins: 0
Dupes: 2 (1 Parallel dupe)
RC: 2 (2 Black)

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Now, what you don’t see here in this review are cards that I didn’t pull. Those would be the infamous Manufactured Letter Patches–this perhaps being the worst offender. I mean, how can you call that an autograph? And where is the "L" in his name? And… yeah I could go on all the live long day, but the negativity in here is killing my M&Ms and Diet Dr. Pepper buzz. It might not be crazy delicious, but it’s pretty friggin’ close. What you do see here in this review is a nice crisp design with sharp photography that somehow still seems a bit "meh." The cards look nice and everything, but they just don’t hold enough interest for me to want to collect them. Of course, I’ll still be chasing the Twins cards, obviously.

GOT TWINS?
I got no Twins. NONE! Not surprising considering that there are only two in the base set. There are a handful of Twins subjects in the gamer and the manupatch subsets, but I can take or leave them. The Mauer auto card looks enticing, though. Below is a list of the Icons cards that I have for trade as well as the teeny tiny little list of Icons Twins cards that I just have to have. Contact me in a comment here or at topher [at] designyouridentity [dot] com if you can help me out. Thanks!

NEED: 57, 66, FF-JM (auto)

FOR TRADE: 1, 6, 9, 10, 12, 15, 15 (silver board parallel), 18, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 33, 36, 37, 38, 42, 45, 46, 47, 51, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 62, 63, 64, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 79, 81, 83, 85, 87, 89, 90 (2), 96, 98, 99, 123 (192/999), 124 (677/999)

2009 UD O-Pee-Chee: The Review!

The Art of Ripping Off a Rip-Off
(…well, sort of)

So, Upper Deck, you thought you’d take a shot at Topps and release a product just similar enough to something they used in 1971. The design, also branded by O-Pee-Chee, was just similar enough to your "homage" for Topps to take notice and take action. Sounds like this might have been a brilliant move, especially if all of your remaining product gets recalled.

I’m going to do this review a little bit differently this go ’round. Normally I’d have little images of the product on the left side with a block of text to the right. Well, I find that the dinky images really do no good, so I’m going to go back to the justified center look with larger embedded pickypix. So, keep up with the tempo, and watch for the changes.

PURCHASE TYPE: 4 Hobby Packs ($2/ea.), 1 Wal-Mart Blaster ($19.97)

BASE

Everyone knows what the gimmick here is. Anyone who has ever seen real O-Pee-Chee cards is well aware that they’re just Canadian Topps cards with a different name and logo slapped on them, along with some good old French language on the backs for good measure. Somewhere down the line, Upper Deck acquired the rights to O-Pee-Chee. The assumption was that the name would be used to create new and original product and not recreate older designs. Possibly in the mood to ruffle the feathers of Topps on what could likely be Upper Deck’s final year with a license to produce baseball cards, they did just enough to earn a lawsuit ordering them to cease production, sales, and delivery of this set. Fortunately enough for fans of the set, and certainly Upper Deck, either shop owners will buy up all of the available product right away, or UD will pull them before too many get out, which will cause this set to become a scarcity, which in turn will drive up the value of the set exponentially. Either way, the secondary market wins.

Now, I’ve gotta be honest with you. If you’re going to rip-off a past design, I don’t think 1976 was the best choice. The 1971 set, one of the most plain sets I’ve ever seen, somehow still managed a bit more intrigue. There’s just something very K-Mart about the look of these cards that just don’t sit well with me. Roller marks pressed down the middle of every other card isn’t too thrilling, either. The backsides of the cards, however, are a nice touch. Using that old school cardboard, like Topps does with their Heritage line, gives the set a more old-school and relaxed feel. Even though this set is essentially a reproduction, there is just something that seems more authentic to bareback cardboard. The fronts are just barely glossed up, so you can get these graphed pretty easily without any prep work. One thing that I noticed that should have been included, especially if you’re going to do an O-Pee-Chee retro set, is the French translation. Way to be faithful to the original product!

PARALLELS

Speaking of the 1971 set… the original idea of the 09 OPC set included a complete chaser parallel set of each card in the 1971 Topps/O-Pee-Chee design. This subset is what got Upper Deck in the most trouble. Comparing the 09 OPC set with the 1976 set, you can see some similarities, but if you check out the mock-ups for the original 09 OPC parallels with the 1971 design, you can see that there are just too many similarities to ignore. Thanks to all of this, UD either had a backup plan set in place, or they had to sprint to get a replacement parallel set in order. Either way, they took the cheap and easy way out. The 1971 parallel set would have been more intriguing and more fun to chase. Putting together what basically amounts to a mirror set is boring and, well, lame. Whether due to time constraints or lack of effort, UD opted not to go with a redesign. Instead, they simply changed the color of the border (and you KNOW how much I love that), and inked up the back cardboard with yellow, and replaced the blue print with green. Too bad that happened because, in my estimation, the 1971 chaser set could have made this product worthwhile. Now it’s just looking like an overpriced, bloated, cheap immitation retro set. Which, ya know… it is.

MINI BLACK PARALLEL

Just barely smaller than its big brother, the black bordered parallel, these guys are even harder to come across. In fact, in the 19 packs that I ripped, this is the only one I came upon. Thankfully I pulled someone I recognized, namely Troy "Tul Time" Tulowitzki. All too often I come across hard-to-pull (HTP) cards of guys like Alberto Arias or Juan Rincon instead of guys with some star power. I wasn’t able to find any information on whether or not any past O-Pee-Chee cards used this size of card at any time. Perhaps they just had extra card stock in that size left over from Goudey. (Obviously, that’s not the case–mostly due to the printing process–but it still sounds kind of funny… and maybe even a bit typical.) If anyone has any information on what point these minis serve, please pass along the info. Thanks!

INSERTS

I’m not entirely certain of how many insert subsets are included in this product, but from what I can see, it doesn’t seem too terribly out of hand. Personally, I’m perfectly happy with around 3 subsets in a low-end set like this. These subsets don’t really stand out too much, aside from the Face of the Franchise series, which features large, crisp head shots and a little write-up on the backside. I also pulled a Highlights and Milestones card (possibly another jab at Topps?), a Midsummer Memories card (featuring a highlight of ManRam from 2004 for some reason), the usual 20th Anniversary Retrospective throwaway, and a 2008 O-Pee-Chee All-Rookie Team card (thankfully for me I scored a Twin). They’re nice enough, but nothing too special. I could do without them, but the FotF cards look interesting enough to build.

HIGHLIGHT

Apparently, this card was the box hit from the 4 hobby packs I snagged at Beyond Shinder’s. Really? This is the box hit? A Chien-Ming Wang "Chung" insert card? Without even so much as a sticker auto or 1 inch jersey swatch? Or both? I’m sorry, but I don’t quite get this set. I mean, I get that it’s in tribute to New York City baseball clubs and their players, but why should a card like that be the box hit? Aside from being seeded 1 card per hobby box, the only thing that sets this apart from the base set is that it’s pretty thick, and it’s glossed up on both sides. Yeesh. Sounds like a used condom. GROSS…

IMMORTALIZED

Remember, kids. Any time you go to a baseball game, you could end up on a baseball card! I wonder if these folks know they’ve made it to national circulation? I wonder if I could get their autographs TTM?

INTERESTING TID-BITS:
Total Cards Pulled: 113 + 1 Decoy
Boston Red Sox: 8
Chicago White Sox: 0
Dupes: 2 (1 of which is a Parallel dupe)
Black Parallels: 19 (1 mini, 2 Moments, 2 RC)
RC: 11 (2 Black)
Average Cost Per Card: $0.24

FINAL THOUGHTS:
To be perfectly honest, if it weren’t for this blog and for my curiosity, I wouldn’t have laid down dime one for any of these cards (except for, of course, the Twins cards). It’s hard to say what the real intent of this set is, beyond the obvious factor–money. While its appeal isn’t quite lost on me, I just don’t feel like there was much heart put into the creation of these cards. Not only that, but I can really only take so many retro sets in one year, and we still have at least Allen & Ginter and Goodwin to get through this year. At a quarter per card and 600 cards in the set, it’s going to take approximately a minimum of $150 to complete this set without trades and/or gifts. The price point seems to be comparable to Heritage and UD Flagship, so it’s not too spendy for a quick loose pack fix. In the grand scheme of things, this set seems to be of the "either you love it or you don’t" variety. I reside in the community of the latter. I’m a hater, what can I say? I’ve read about many collectors being in love with this set. On the other hand, I’ve heard other folks’ weariness of yet another over-priced flimsy retro product that should only be about $0.15 per card. I can’t say that I completely disagree with that sentiment, other than to say that the cards aren’t necessarily flimsy. In the end, for anyone on the fence about this set, I put forth this suggestion. Buy yourself a couple of packs to test out the waters. That way, if you don’t like them, you won’t have to feel like you are obliged to build the set.

GOT TWINS?
I did manage to pull some Twins this time around. They seem particularly challenging for me to pull, so I’ve counted myself very lucky to find any at all. Below is a list of all of the base Twins cards that I am still in need of. If you can help me out, please contact me. Thanks!

95, 129, 153, 224, 271, 311, 328, 337, 350, 388, 411, 455, 458, 531, 563
Any help would be greatly appreciated!