2009 Upper Deck: An Outfielder's Dream

The oh so tempting siren song of he care aisle caught hold of me once again this afternoon and I couldn't resist picking up a blaster of 2009 Upper Deck Series 2. While I find that I prefer the Topps set this year by a decent margin, I still like the UD offering and I'm pretty sure I'll pick up a box of series 2 soon.

As I ripped through the packs I had one eye on the cards and one eye on Hailey as she seemed determined to topple a pile of unsorted Halos off my desk. Even with only one eye trained on the action, a few things stood out.
1. The StarQuest cards are pointless. Hooray, I got a Nick Markakis Emerald Super Rare! Now what the hell does super rare even mean? Consider me a confused collector.
2. I don't really get the reason for the Goodwin Champions preview cards. Losing a baseball card from my pack for your advertisement doesn't inspire me to want to buy this future set. Especially when the subject on the card looks like the old guy who walks around my neighbor every evening.
3. The last thing I noticed, this set is an outfielder's dream. As evidenced below, there were a number of cards featuring outfielders making great diving catches. Don't believe me? Keep scrollin'.


I really appreciate that UD actually featured pictures of defensive plays on their Gold Glove Award Winner cards, at least the 2 I received. I get easily annoyed by cards like these that show the player hitting or high fiving a teammate.


Not as dramatic as teammate McLouth's leaping grab, but pretty decent nonetheless.


I'm thinking it may be time for the Pirates to invest in some ground ball pitchers. These outfielders are having to work way too hard.


Just a base card, but I much prefer this to my Emerald Super Rare StarQuestpalooza card I also pulled.


Perfect mid-action shot. The look on his face is one that is only seen right after the look of "I can do this" and right before the look of "Holy crap I better not blow this".


Probably my favorite of all the outfield play cards. If you're Trevor Crowe, you've gotta pretty stoked to have this as your rookie card. Beats the hell out of posing in front of the batting cage.

So is 2009 Upper Deck superior to Topps? After ripping through some retail I'd have to give that one a big nuh-uhh. But it's a worthy effort, especially if you're a fan of outfield defense.

Go Halos!

Is That Miguel Cabrera? Prince Fielder? Nope it's...

Big Foot.

While I've stated my general distaste for pop culture cards in base sets like Topps and Upper Deck, I do enjoy them in the Allen and Ginter release and I'll admit that this predictor card is kinda fun. I could do without the Historic Firsts cards, but at least they gave birth to this.

What exactly do all of us win if Big Foot is discovered this year? A set of Upper Deck like past predictor winners? Or maybe Upper Deck will be in on the slaying of Big Foot and we can all receive complimentary Big Foot DNA relic cards. Sweeeet! You gotta love that with the direction of this hobby, that's not so far fetched.

Go Halos...and Prehistoric Beasts Roaming Today!

More Upper Deck = More Halo Excitement

For my birthday, the wife found a few more packs of 2009 Upper Deck for me and luckily they were loaded with Angels.

First up: Team Checklist Gone Away-Rod

I realize that Frankie had a historic season, but Upper Deck had to know during production that he was leaving, would it be so hard to put someone else on the Checklist? Same with C.C. Sabathia on Brewers checklists. I'm sure the fans in Milwaukee are enjoying that reminder.

Torii "My Topps Cards Are Cooler" Hunter

Running out of the dugout cards never make for exciting cards, but at least we get the bonus of Macier Izturis and Reggie Willits in the background. The Angels desperately need Torii to have a strong season if they're gonna get to the playoffs.

Joe Saunders

Saunders made a huge jump last season, throwing almost 200 innings, grabbing 17 wins, making the All-Star team, but it seems like a lot of Angel fans are expecting the bubble to pop this season. I really like the lefty and hope he can keep the ball in the ballpark this year.

Black Magic

Santana's '07 was dreadful and his '08 was wonderful, as for '09...we'll see. I love the way this guy pitches and I'm really hoping for big things from Black Magic. You always roots for the guys on "your" team, but Ervin has a special place in my rooting heart.

HK 47

I love Howie. This guy was an absolute hitting machine in the minors, unfortunately while Howie has been pretty good in the majors, he just hasn't been able to stay healthy. On top of that, there are always the persistent rumors that he'll be traded for someone like a Jake Peavy. While I'd love to have Peavy, I hope it's not at the expense of my boy Howie.

As for this card, one of the better action shots I've seen and easily the best Halo action shot in the series so far. The odd part though is the back. While most of the pictures on the back are just a cropped version of the picture on the front, Howie's card has a whole new picture on the back.

I hate when companies just crop the front pic for the back pic, so this is a nice surprise, just not sure why they did it. The Saunders card also has a new picture, but not the Hunter or Santana.

Oh well, so there we are. More Upper Deck packs ripped into and more Halos to show for it. Hopefully my box of Topps will finally arrive tomorrow and I can start enjoying those.

Go Halos!

2009 Upper Deck: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good:


Upper Deck can still pull of the great action shot from time to time. While the Martin card is less dramatic than the Schumaker, it's still cool shot of Martin out of his crouch, gunning down a runner at first.

The Schumaker is now a part of the many great cards that came out of plays at the plate. It should be a prerequisite for card companies to issue these at a minimum of 10 per base set, or perhaps as its own subset.

The Bad:

Uggh.
1. The whole subset just seems pointless. I'm tired of pop culture and history in my baseball cards. I want baseball players and that's it.
2. Do we really need to rehash more of the political muck that ruined last year's releases? I'm not even sure who the audience is for this stuff. Are there really political junkies out there, buying up packs and just tossing the baseball players in the garbage?
3. I don't like polarizing non-baseball playing figures in my card sets.

The Ugly:

I kinda get the Starquest cards, they're insert-like, without being too over the top, but this is just ugly. Is there a point to this subset? Did the guys at UD just sit around trying to figure out another subset where they could include the word "star"? This looks like it came out of Spx or something.

Go Halos!

2009 UD: Déjà Vu

I don't know where people find the energy to post as much as they do on their blogs. I wanted to do an in-depth post on my 2009 UD Blaster Experience, but I just don't got the juice today. Instead, a look at déjà vu.

Beloved Lefty Slugger, First Baseman, Late Bloomer and World Series Champion #1:


Beloved Lefty Slugger, First Baseman, Late Bloomer and World Series Champion #2:


Both pictures on their own make for pretty sweet looking cards, but when you pull both of them withing two packs of each other, it just feels kinda lazy. Oh well, I like 'em both and enjoyed finally opening up some new product. The uniqueness of the photos has definitely slipped a bit this year, although the photos are as always crisp and colorful. I like it. I don't love it. I'll probably pick up a hobby box and some point and put together the base.

I'm not sure where I fall on the spectrum when it comes to liking or disliking the '75 OPC inserts, but I wish they would have had Hamilton in his Rangers jersey. I realize the Home Run Derby was historic, but the color combo is killed on this card by the All-Star jersey. Oh well.


Go Halos!

2009 Upper Deck: My Frist Halos of 2009

While I'll hopefully find the time to scan and post tomorrow after work, I wanted to at least get up the images of my newest Halos from 2009. Unfortunately, 2 of the 4 have already moved on to other teams.

Francisco Rodriguez Season Highlights

Frankie is sporting the always fashionable Angels moomoo on this card. I really liked the Stars and Stripes hats that were worn over 4th of July weekend and I think on 9/11, so it's cool to see one pop up on my first Angel card of 2009.

Jon Garland...no longer a Halo

While Jon is now long gone, at least he left with a pretty cool card image. I love anytime throwback unis show up on cards and this is no exception. His 14 wins will be missed, but the nearly 5 ERA will not. So long Jon, thanks for the throwback uni card.

Big John

It's a pretty mundane card, but who cares. This guy won Game 7 of the World Series as a rookie and will forever be a Halo legend because of it. I'm gonna be heartbroken if this guy leaves as a free agent. Get off your ass and sign this guy to an extension Reagins. I Heart Halos officially Hearts Big John.

Starquest

I ended up with 3 Starquest cards, but only one that mattered. Vladdy. I don't know much about Starquest, but it's a decent looking insert. Vlad, we need you healthy and mashing this season. Please.

So there they are. My 4 new Halos...or 2 new Halos and 2 new cards of former Halos. More 2009 UD tomorrow, featuring a '75 OPC Josh Hamilton card, another sweet looking card for Russell Martin in 2009and some other stuff I just thought was kinda fun.

Go Halos!

Victory is Mine!

The long search has finally ended. Thanks to the valiant efforts of my wife, I now have two blasters of 2009 Upper Deck Series 1 in my possession. Sah-weeet!

So combined with the Office coming on in an hour, my Thursday night is pretty much kicking ass. Base cards have never been so elusive. Here's hoping for some good Halos.

Go Halos!