Box break : 2005 Upper Deck series 1

My titles are so informative now...I think I'm trying to bore myself to sleep.

Anyway, here's one of the two boxes I got for myself to attenuate some of the shipping charges for our box break with Matt (having one box shipped costs $30...then you add about $6 to $10 per additional box, depending on the number of cards). I might think at some point about collecting every Upper Deck base set, but for now I'll focus on buying at least one box from each series and from each year. Yeah, I'm a devoted fan.

I have to say that I did very well with that box. Nothing really huge, but I beat the odds on a couple of inserts, so I'm happy about that. Plus, the base set, though not as impressive as 2004, is very solid. I just wish they'd been less lazy with the backs. But hey, it's 10 years after the fact, I forgive them, especially considering what Topps (and...ugh...PANINI) are doing with their backs.

Reggie Jackson, Hank Aaron, Nolan Ryan, Johnny Bench & Joe Morgan, Ted Williams, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth and...Jeter (I think I'm missing one, but I can't figure out who). Baseball Heroes is a set that, like many, I really love. My first taste of inserts with 92 and 93 packs (I wasn't collecting in 90 and 91), and a brilliant idea. I'm happy they brought back the original design and I really hope I can get my hands on one of those 2005 and 2008 Baseball Heroes sets (boxes are way too expensive though, too bad). Anyway, I find it strange that they'd focus on a player who had only played 10 seasons to that point and to compare him with all those other players from the series but hey, why not. Odds are 1:6, there were 24 packs, I got 4, we good.

Another insert. I have no idea what the Wingfield collection is. I should look it up. Maybe one day.

One of those SP cards. But cards that were actually numbered SP, not the Heritage type SP that make you want to bang your head against a non-padded wall. They come one per box.

The box promised a couple of game used cards. I don't know why, but I seem to always pull Astros relics. And unless it's Biggio or Bagwell, I'm not really interested. The least I can say is that Clemens doesn't really have a likeable face on that photo. He doesn't make it easy for us.

The odds of pulling such a card are 1:266. One box out of ten. And I got one. Only 15 sets made, with a nice American flag to show how patriotic Matt Holliday is.

Another big hit, as those are also seeded one in every 10 boxes. Woohooo. A nice on-card signature with a very basic design from 2004 ROY Bobby Crosby. I suppose that's all we can remember him for.

And of course, nice all around photography as always

The other thing that was really nice about that box : no duplicates ! Plus, the 50 card 2004 UD update set, which is a nice addition.

I'll be back for more, Upper Deck. Be ready.

Collaborative box break : 2004 UD Play Ball

Ok, it's now time for our second installment in our ongoing Box break series with Matt. He went for Topps Turkey Red, so I went with Upper Deck Play Ball.

For those who don't remember the concept : we each break open a box, each at one end of the Atlantic Ocean. We draft teams (I always get the Blue Jays, Matt always gets the Pirates) and then hope for the best. The funny thing is that I'm sure that I can speak for Matt also, but we always end up rooting for the other guy instead of our own fortune. We're just happy to see that the box is a good one. This time, I got the NL (minus Pirates) and he got the AL (minus Blue Jays).

I didn't know much about that set and actually didn't own any of the Blue Jays from it, so it was all brand new in front of my eyes full of stars. Stars a little tainted because of the $40 customs fees (even though merchandise totaled for about $100, which is usually low enough to get past customs...but I suppose it's just a giant lottery), but hey, sometimes you win...

I'm not too impressed with the base design. It looks like something Panini would do today (I'll let you decide whether you think it's a compliment or not ! ).

A mix of HOFers (a handful, actually) and current (well, current in 2004) players

The backs of the cards are lackluster, but the text isn't too generic. I feel they could have stopped at 'talent alone' on Clemens' card...yup, sometimes you need a little outside help...And he'll need help from the Veteran Committee if he hopes to make it to the HOF one day.

Those are the first SPs, numbered out of 2004.

Those are the other SPs, numbered out of 1999

I got pretty lucky with that one. I didn't get any of the other parallels (there were 4 others, they all went to Matt), but at least I scored a Blue Jay on a low numbered one.

Those are inserted at 1:24. Never easy to unload a Sosa card, but it's still a nice thick card !

One of the two relics included in the box, and it's of one of my favorite players, so yay

So all in all, it was a fun box to open. That set would've probably annoyed me 10 years ago, as I'm not too sure what they were trying to do, and it looks more like one more set among others instead of a real solid effort (and 5 card packs were $4 at the time. That's a lot. Really). But at $50 a box, I won't go as far as to say it was worth it, but I do like the inserts and the overall checklist. Plus, the dispatching is almost equal, as I got a relic, a low numbered parallel and another insert, whereas Matt...well, you'll see on his end once he receives the envelope filled with goodies !

Along with the box for our box break, I got a couple more to soften S&H charges. I'll be showing them shortly !

Morpheusly annoyed

There I was, sorting my cards, enjoying my Sunday evening (which is technically my Saturday, since I work on Saturdays and not on Mondays), watching the NBA playoffs and just plain chilling. When I saw this :

Those two are from the same year (2013) and, even though I don't have any beef with Gose (though the Blue Jays' centerfield doesn't look too good now, especially with Pompey back in AAA), they straight out annoyed me.

Because they are the exact same picture. And the left one was photoshoped.

It's silly, but I feel cheated. The thing that annoys me isn't the fact that they photoshoped a photo. I suppose it's a step forward from airbrushing logos on caps. No, what bugs me is that they photoshoped a photo they had already used elsewhere. We're aren't talking just plain lazy here, we're talking PANINI lazy. In this day and age, I need to dream a little, to feel some magic out there. I need to believe that those are actual photos of game situations.

And they just took that dream away. Now I know. I took the wrong pill and followed the white rabbit and it's ruining my evening.

I hope I don't stumble upon another horrible truth tonight. Maybe I should just leave my cards alone and live in denial...

Bad die cut days

I've said it many times : Ebay is my LCS. It's sad, I agree, but that's the way it is. And factoring in shipping charges is as if I had to travel 150 miles to get to that LCS and pay for gas. Only to find dollar card boxes and nothing cheaper, and no deal to be made no matter how much I spend. Yeah, that's a crappy LCS, but at least, it's one I have access to.

So here I was browsing, and I started bidding frantically. I tend to get frantic because the other day, I won a .50 ct auction. I had my eyes on another card that I did not win, and was just bidding on that other one to soften the shipping costs. And it softly bit me in the ass. A 50 cent card I'll end up paying $5 for. Ah well. It comes with the (French) territory.

So here's what I got from that seller. Nothing exceeded $1.5 and total shipping cost was $9, which is very reasonable. There were 3 other cards I'm not showing because they're going out to ******

Don't ask...I think I just wanted to see what exactly that card looked like in person, if it was as 90s crazy as it seemed. And guess what : it is. A bad die-cut day.

If you'd found that card in a dollar bin, you'd never have picked it up. Yet, I did. Always nice to add a Halladay to the collection. But yeah, it's absolutely not worth .99cts

Do not check your browser, yes, you are still on my blog, and yes, this is a Prizm card. The worst cards ever made in the history of bad card designs. And yet, I bought a Prizm auto. A sticker at that. And I'm glad I did. Even though it doesn't look like Dickey (do people make fun in the US of people named Dickey ?) will have a killer season.

This is my second auto of a player who never made it to the majors in a Blue Jays uniform. Not bad. It's a great looking on-card auto nevertheless. If an LCS had a Blue Jays box filled with overpriced cards, I'd be all over it. I'm stupid like that.

Great player, great patch, very nice set. Woohoo !

I do not know why I bet on that card. Really. I probably just liked the looks of it, and I still do. But it suits in no way my collection. Good thing I don't really care about that, I just like nice cards.

Speaking of which, here's another one I picked up just because of its good looks. That's an awesome patch of a player that was never able to really show his full potential because of injuries. Ah well. That card was probably pretty hot in 2004. Assuming that SOME people collected cards back then.

Finally, and I haven't shown any basketball in a long time, a sticker auto of a favorite of mine from way back when.

So there you go. Nothing fancy, just nice cards. I'm glad I made the trip.

Jay Barker in Blue Jays clothing

While we were all busy watching West Virginia's bombing by Alabamian troops wearing game worn jerseys and bats and carrying tons (literally) of cards, Wes figured he'd go for a sneak attack overseas (it's pretty easy to sneak-attack us) and send me an envelope filled with Blue Jays goodness.

Here's a sample of it, while I have some nurses take a look at my wounds.

In the beginning there was darkness...And then came Heat activated fun cards. It's horribly designed (they were just starting to use Photoshop back then, obviously), but it's a lot of fun indeed.

A baseball card magazine card (what happened to all those publications ? Do any of them exist outside of Beckett ?) and....O-Pee-Chee !

The funny thing about that Classic card is that at the back, there's a small space designed for the autograph. A card is made to be signed on the front, dangit ! I only have the Blue Jays players from those US playing cards sets. Makes solitary games really short.

This is an SP. A Wall-mart blue bordered SP. I've quit trying to keep up with parallels.

I won't deliberately chase them (because there're simply way, way too many of them), but I'm always glad to find them in trade packages ! Target red, Wall-mart blue...I wonder who decides which retailer gets which color.

More parallels ! But at least I can keep up with those. That Stottlemyre is weirdly framed.

Technically, that Shawn Green is a Dodgers card. But I'd rather have a non BLue Jays card of a player in a Blue Jays uniform, than a Blue Jays card with just the logo and another uniform. I find it ironic that Wes would send me a "Pacific" card...

More goodness, including Masterpieces, which is rapidly growing as one of my favorite post 2000 sets ever. And I only have something like 5 cards from that set.

Lots of shiny stuff going on here ! I like those Topps HD, though I'm not really sure I understand what they were trying to do. Packs were apparently $4, for 4 cards. Ouch. The Donruss Throwback is numbered 02/100

SN /424 ? Ok, why not.

More very shiny parallels, this time including very low numbers. Remember when Finest refractors went for quadruple digits because of the rumored 242 copies of each ? Does it mean that Wells and Arencibia should go for 5 times more ?

 Wes probably thought Lawrie would spread controversy among enemies. But no such thing here, we all fight in peace ! (I like the sound of that)

Mr Jaybarkerfan passed this card along, after rubbing my face in it on his blog a few weeks ago. It's such a weird card with that plastic helmet embedded in there ! The on-card auto comes almost as an afterthought. I LOVE it !

It was a ton of fun following your battle with Matt at a (safe) distance, and I was very happy to try and (modestly) hit you with a few bombs of my own. And even though I'm not a big fan of the military and am a pacifist at heart, all those war metaphors were pretty fun too. Now let's watch the trees blossom and each bring some marshmallows to the campfire.

Even though it's hardly ever a fair battle with Wes, it's always fun trying to match his madness. I haven't surrendered yet (now, let's not make jokes about French surrendering, shall we ?)

Trading for mustaches

Richard has a bunch of Blue Jays cards he's trying to unload, as he's focusing (well, trying to) his collection on Joe Carter cards. And since many are sent my way, whenever I get a double, I never forget to add it to my Richard stack and once in a while I'll send him some his way. To thank me for my surprise package (I love surprise packages), he looked at my want list and fille the wholes in many of my non-Topps 80's needs.

Plus that card :

There's something weird about that card. Burnett had one nice season out of two for the Blue Jays, so he's a player I like, but there, it shows him in a Marlins uniform beside a Yankees logo. Even though he played for the Blue Jays in 2007 and 2008 before joining the Yankees in 2009 (date of that card). THIS DOES NOT MAKE SENSE. Or maybe they didn't want people to think this was a Blue Jays only card. I dunno. I'm pretty sure there are as many Blue Jays collectors as Marlins collectors, if not slightly more (does anyone know a Marlins collector ? Do Marlins collectors have a special handshake ? So many unanswered questions...)

The Barry BOnnel card is either a cool photo, or a very badly cropped one. I have yet to decide.

The day of the mustache...a nice trio of smiling mustaches on top, and some...Well...action shots (especially Bomback) at the bottom. Tough to find action shots during practice.

More mustaches ! You'll notice the headshots were taken the same day at the same stadium (I should know which one it is, I'm a little ashamed I don't.)

More 80's Donruss, more facial hair, more empty seats.

Richard also included a bunch of 2011 Topps needs, and those couple of Griffeys. I already have a few of that Donruss RC, but the Classic was new to me, so yay !

Thanks a lot Richard, even though you're starting to have a bunch now, I'll keep the Carter pipeline open !