I took a stroll through Target this afternoon on my way to somewhere else (I swear), but I just had to check the trading cards aisle to see if Topps Updates & Highlights had hit the retail shelves yet (it hasn't, as far as I know.) I actually had an opportunity to buy a hobby box of the stuff for $45 yesterday, but I decided to go for something I'm actually trying to collect the full set of. I'll have more on that later, but I did decide to get a pack while I was there. Upper Deck has been doing these Series 1 + 2 combo "fat packs" for awhile now, but this year there's apparently a twist. In addition to the usual two exclusive insert cards, there was something else that caught my eye: two "UD Update" cards. Last year a planned update set was cancelled, and as far as I know there hasn't been an Upper Deck update-type set since 2006.
I'll spare you the details of the usual array of series 1 and 2 base cards and just get to the fun stuff.
As you can see, the update cards use the same base design. Andrew McCutchen has one of the plain studio shot photos that have plagued the base set this year. Topps finally got wise and ditched the studio photos, while Upper Deck probably took this one of McCutchen and nearly every other player on each team's 40-man roster as they seemed to have plenty of "outtakes" to use in the O-Pee-Chee set.
The backs look the same, but the cards are numbered with a U prefix. Above the legalese it merely says "2009 UPPER DECK BASEBALL" which leads me to believe that these were just released as inserts and not as a proper set.
Fernando Martinez was the other update card in the pack. A quick search of eBay makes it apparent that there are only 50 cards in this "set". I couldn't really find anything else about it online, not at Beckett's site nor at Upper Deck's.
Here's one of the two Generation Now inserts. I wonder if they had to get permission to use this name from Topps. Perhaps Topps paid Upper Deck to use it so that they could expunge the horror that was their 2007 insert concept.
Decent use of team colors on these cards, I suppose. Hopefully there aren't any (or many) Cardinals to collect in these two insert sets. Part of me keeps hoping they'll stop making Cardinals cards just so there is a finite amount of cards for me to collect.
There was also a 20th Anniversary insert card. This one commemorates the first regular season NFL game outside the US, with the illustrious Josh McCown on the card. I added the words "regular season" because what Upper Deck states on the card is completely inaccurate if you include the preseason. Amazingly, McCown actually played in the game described on the card.
As you can see, the update cards use the same base design. Andrew McCutchen has one of the plain studio shot photos that have plagued the base set this year. Topps finally got wise and ditched the studio photos, while Upper Deck probably took this one of McCutchen and nearly every other player on each team's 40-man roster as they seemed to have plenty of "outtakes" to use in the O-Pee-Chee set.
The backs look the same, but the cards are numbered with a U prefix. Above the legalese it merely says "2009 UPPER DECK BASEBALL" which leads me to believe that these were just released as inserts and not as a proper set.
Fernando Martinez was the other update card in the pack. A quick search of eBay makes it apparent that there are only 50 cards in this "set". I couldn't really find anything else about it online, not at Beckett's site nor at Upper Deck's.
Here's one of the two Generation Now inserts. I wonder if they had to get permission to use this name from Topps. Perhaps Topps paid Upper Deck to use it so that they could expunge the horror that was their 2007 insert concept.
Decent use of team colors on these cards, I suppose. Hopefully there aren't any (or many) Cardinals to collect in these two insert sets. Part of me keeps hoping they'll stop making Cardinals cards just so there is a finite amount of cards for me to collect.
There was also a 20th Anniversary insert card. This one commemorates the first regular season NFL game outside the US, with the illustrious Josh McCown on the card. I added the words "regular season" because what Upper Deck states on the card is completely inaccurate if you include the preseason. Amazingly, McCown actually played in the game described on the card.
Weird. I've heard nothing about either insert set.
ReplyDeleteCould they have chosen a sillier picture of Carlos Quentin? :)