5 on the 5: First 5 2009 Topps Packs

"5 on the 5" is the name of a song by the rock band The Raconteurs. I have no idea what it means, but I have the tendency to purchase packs of baseball cards in groups of five. It's not an even number, but it usually results in me allocating an even, manageable amount of funds towards purchasing said packs and gives me enough things to open to at least be temporarily satisfied with looking at small pieces of cardboard featuring baseball players.

Here are the first five packs I purchased of any 2009 product. And the first 2009 card for me is...

Pack 1:
150 - Kosuke Fukudome (Aw, man, seriously? Boooooo!)
288 - Guillermo Quiroz (And two cards in, we have the first player of 2009 that I've never heard of. We do get to play Six Degrees of Mantle on the back of the card, though.)
26 - Jason Giambi (The mustache card. That should be worth at least $20 in the latest Beckett, right?)

110 - Hideki Matsui (Matsui is an RBI machine when healthy.)
275 - Alex Rios
314 - Matt Treanor

LLG-9 Cal Ripken Jr. Legends of the Game Target (The Target and Wal-Mart exclusives situation gives me a headache, so I bookmarked an informative blog post awhile back courtesy of Cardboard Junkie to keep it all straight in my head, because you know Beckett won't get it right.)
TTT25 - Daisuke Matsuzaka ToppsTown (Bleh, ToppsTown. It's nice that they feature actual players now, but it's not nice that they count towards the 12 or 10 cards per pack or whatever. And this one came complete with some blob of glue or something more sinister on the front of it.)
97 - Willie Harris (I see what people are saying about the card numbers being hard to read on some of the cards now...)
94 - Adam Lind (And my apartment is poorly lit...)
23 - Gerald Laird (I think that's 23? This pack is making me sleepy.)
287 - Greg Maddux (Topps hasn't quite gotten Photoshopping out of their system.)

Pack 2:
260 - Manny Ramirez (Every second I hear about this guy is a waste of time. Waste of cardboard, too...)

256 - Reggie Abercrombie (Yes, Topps has stepped it up with the photography this year, although I can't decide if this is a great photo or the best thing they could find in the archives featuring a guy who only had 55 ABs with Houston last year.)
170 - C.C. Sabathia (Non-Photoshopped version)
178 - Frank Catalanotto
1 - Mr. Orange
TTT20 - Lance Berkman ToppsTown
134 - Evan Longoria Rookie of the Year

217 - Albert Pujols MVP (Albert is saluting the big baseball card company in the sky.)
317 - Jarrod Saltalamacchia
220 - Jay Bruce
48 - Mike Napoli
42 - Jeff Francoeur (This guy was really scary at one point.)
- David Wright security tag card

Pack 3:
135 - Carlos Delgado (Delgado is quietly approaching 500 career HRs. Good for him.)
82 - Miguel Cairo (This two-time ex-Cardinal was, unfortunately, the punchline to many of my jokes about the Mariners last year in ribbing my Mariner-loving friend.)
240 - Ryan Braun (Top candidate for worst card of '09.)
233 - Erik Bedard

253 - Edgar Renteria (See what I mean about the photography?)

LLG-1 - Ted Williams Legends of the Game Target (This has gold foil, so it's a Target exclusive... right?)
TTT21 - Chipper Jones ToppsTown
202 - Gaby Sanchez (RC) (First "Rookie Card" of '09.)
267 - Michael Bowden (RC) (Playing Six Degrees of Mantle loses a bit of its luster when you have no idea who Michael Bowden is.)
19 - Edgar Gonzalez (A nice story. Adrian Gonzalez's older brother finally reached the majors at age 30 and stuck around for the rest of the season. He spent all of 2007 as a Memphis Redbird, hitting over .300 and even spent a little time with the Portland Beavers last season before getting the call.)
216 - Joe Maddon (Topps is keeping the tradition of manager cards alive.)
247 - Yuniesky Betancourt

Pack 4:
133 - Brandon Jones

160 - Evan Longoria Ultra-Rare SP Gimmick Card!!!
...
...
...
... Actually, Topps probably would do something that lame. Forget I mentioned it.

305 - Ivan Rodriguez (This will probably have a lasting effect similar to cards of Ken Griffey Jr in a White Sox uniform.)
203 - Jair Jurrjens (Jurrjens is one reason I'm glad the Braves are not in the NL Central.)
268 - Chris Burke

LG16 - Roy Campanella Legends of the Game (This is not a Target exclusive, but it came from a Target retail pack.)
TTT22 - Tim Lincecum ToppsTown
191 - Shane Victorino Postseason Highlights (I liked these better in the Updates & Highlights sets.)
224 - Max Scherzer
283 - John Baker
320 - Miguel Cabrera
187 - Jon Garland

Pack 5:
76 - Marcus Thames (Hit 25 HRs in only 316 ABs last year. Unfortunately for him, his batting average is usually in Rob Deer territory.)
213 - Jeremy Sowers (I like the Cleveland throwback unis. More teams need to make use of throwbacks more often.)
210 - Geovany Soto
328 - Doug Mientkiewicz (He'll make everyone forget about Manny whatshisface.)
226 - Neal Cotts (Stop with the Cubs.)

132 - Juan Pierre (Dodgers "fan favorite".)

75 - Rich Harden Gold 1980 / 2009 (GAH!)
TTT19 - Carlos Quentin ToppsTown
231 - Xavier Nady

46 - Brad Ziegler (I've always been fascinated by sidearm/submarine-style pitchers. They seem like they'd be really difficult to face as a hitter, though.)
17 - Bobby Cox (His friends call him B-Money.)
109 - Tom Gorzelanny (Gorzo had a horrific 2008 season. No matter what you believe in, no one wants a 6.66 ERA.)