Documents

2008 was nothing special, at least for the Cardinals. 

Nearly ten years ago, Upper Deck tried something that'd never been done before, and hasn't been attempted since. They put together a set that included two cards for each game played in the long MLB season, one for each participating team. Even if you don't try to do the math in your head, that compiles a much larger set than any reasonable person is used to dealing with. Perhaps they were still feverous with whatever caused the Yankee Stadium Legacy set from the same year, but Upper Deck decided to put this concept out in the wild as a separate product. And, of course, they cut some corners. They cut a lot of corners.

I didn't intentionally buy any 2008 Upper Deck Documentary at the time, but I've had bits and pieces of it trickle in via trades and repacks. Jon from Community Gum busted open a whole case of the stuff, and was kind enough to send a whole brick of Cardinals my way. For the first time, I can genuinely say that I've put a significant dent in the team set, although I'm sure I have a long way to go. (The Cardinals want list is still a work in progress at this point, but it's one of my top priorities in 2018.)

If you have been buying cards as long as this blog has been around, you're probably familiar with the Documentary cards, which generally come in two flavors: base, and the rarer gold (labeled with 2008 in gold print, a la the Rick Ankiel image you see at the very top.) Contrary to popular belief, not every card of every player in this set reuses the same image. Some of the more popular players appear on multiple images. Still, with the frequency of repetition and the fact that the player photo never had anything to do with the game being commemorated, Upper Deck Documentary was not a huge critical smash.

Something I was not personally used to seeing was insert cards. I'm not sure if these All-Star inserts were a hobby only thing, or just something so uncommon that you had to buy a whole case to uncover.

Despite all the criticism, it's fun to have a huge team set to chase. Still, I'd rather have a Topps Total or Upper Deck 40-Man any day: two sets that unfortunately existed in a time outside of my collecting window.

Upper Deck Documentary even had hits! While not an integral part of the set, rookie reliever Chris Perez signed a bunch of stickers in 2008. Perez was a talented pitcher whose career was seemingly undone by personal issues.

Thanks again to Jon for sending me these Cardinals Documentary cards en masse!