Embracing the X

I was asked recently why I buy stuff from sets that I dislike. I'm not sure if I have a great answer for that question. Part of it could be me just purchasing what is available to me at the time (versus purchasing nothing, which would be the smarter thing) and part of it might just be overall boredom. With this year's Goudey set, I can at least say that I like the idea of the set and probably at least 30% of the cards look really nice. It's just that when that set does something bad, it looks awful.

So how do I explain why I bought an Upper Deck X blaster? It was partly out of frustration from not being able to find Series 2 products on the shelf, still. And then there was the shiny 50% off price tag. And finally, I told myself that there is an "on average" memorabilia card in each box. Truth be told, I didn't know it at the time but one of the possible memorabilia cards is supposedly Chris Carpenter.

Bear with me while I go through a blaster of Upper Deck X. I decided to take a break from posting stuff from the card show and stuff I've received in the mail lately, but there will be plenty from those departments in the coming days.

Pack 1:

91 - Albert Pujols (This is what the base cards look like, in case you didn't know. This is the only one I'm going to scan.)

73 - Frank Thomas

80 - Adrian Gonzalez (He has a league-leading 22 HRs and he plays at the spacious Petco Park. HE MUST BE ON STEROIDS. QUICK, SOMEONE CALL BOB LEY!!)

YSL1938 - Yogi Berra Yankee Stadium Legacy (In some products I'd be annoyed that this replaced a base card or insert that I would have rather had, but I have no complaints here.)

X2-JA - Conor Jackson Xponential X2 (Despite the hilariously awful name, these insert cards are decent to look at, provided that you can handle shiny cards and cutting edge X-themed designs. They're almost as thin and flimsy as the base cards, however, so no one is going to mistake them for something high-end.)

34 - C.C. Sabathia Die Cut (These are exactly the same as the base cards, only with triangles cut out from the edges. Sometimes.)

Pack 2:

70 - Derek Jeter

77 - Chase Utley

52 - Vladimir Guerrero

38 - Troy Tulowitzki

X-NM - Nick Markakis Xponential (There are X, X2, X3 and X4 versions of these in increasingly short supply.)

48 - Alex Gordon Die Cut

Pack 3:

7 - Chipper Jones

42 - Magglio Ordonez

59 - Justin Morneau

69 - Chien-Ming Wang

X-JO - Chipper Jones Xponential (Insert "X-JO" joke here. It's a double Chipper pack.)

55 - Rafael Furcal Die Cut

Pack 4:

28 - Ken Griffey Jr.

98 - Alex Rios

27 - Jim Thome

48 - Alex Gordon

X3-MR - Manny Ramirez Xponential X3

90 - Rick Ankiel Die Cut (There's only two Cardinals in the base set. I have both, but I didn't have either Die Cut version. Both Albert Pujols and Rick Ankiel have Xponential inserts on various levels, of which I only own the X4 Pujols card. I guess I should add this stuff to my want list just for kicks.)

Pack 5:

14 - Jonathan Papelbon

49 - Zack Greinke

34 - C.C. Sabathia

41 - Gary Sheffield

X-DJ - Derek Jeter Xponential

6 - John Smoltz Die Cut

Pack 6:

56 - Ryan Braun

21 - Alfonso Soriano

55 - Rafael Furcal

1913 - Vic Raschi Yankee Stadium Legacy

X2-MR - Mariano Rivera Xponential X2 (This box is pretty Yankee-heavy.)

43 - Hanley Ramirez Die Cut

- UpperDeckKids.com code

Pack 7:

35 - Grady Sizemore (Currently occupying a DL-slot on one of my fantasy teams.)

15 - Josh Beckett

90 - Rick Ankiel (Ankiel needs to start hitting. Actually, the whole team does...)

6 - John Smoltz

X-BU - B.J. Upton Xponential

78 - Nate McLouth Die Cut

Pack 8:

36 - Garrett Atkins

22 - Kosuke Fukudome (RC) (I believe he's the only rookie in the set, which was probably not a great selling point.)

76 - Ryan Howard

21 - Alfonso Soriano Die Cut Gold (This basically looks like a First Edition version of the die cut cards. These are apparently pretty hard to get, but that doesn't stop them from looking uninspired.)

X4-DO - David Ortiz Xponential X4 (These ones are vertical rather than horizontal and look pretty nice, I guess.)

64 - Johan Santana Die Cut

Pack 9:

99 - Ryan Zimmerman

UDXM-PA - Jonathan Papelbon "Memorabilia" card (Just to remind me that I'm not spending my money wisely, my memorabilia card ends up being of the closer from one of my least favorite teams.)

(As you can see, Upper Deck plainly refuses to say what kind of memorabilia might be embedded in the cute little X window.)

50 - Howie Kendrick Die Cut

Pack 10:

29 - Adam Dunn

62 - David Wright

97 - Vernon Wells

YSL1888 - Allie Reynolds Yankee Stadium Legacy

X-VG - Vladimir Guerrero Xponential

1 - Randy Johnson Die Cut

As usual, pretty much all of these cards are up for grabs. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone if you want them.

Defending the X

Updates here from Cards on Cards central have been sparse. I'm in the midst of a two week vacation and thus have been avoiding my computer as much as possible. I'm still checking e-mails fairly regularly, so if we have potential trades going (or if you want to trade) feel free to keep in touch. I also mailed out four more packages yesterday with another four or five still left to send, so if you're expecting something from me (or maybe even if you aren't) then keep an eye on your mailbox.

Upper Deck X is basically the bane of every card collector's existence, but there's a reason I bought more packs of this after Erin gave me my first one for my birthday. The reason is this (retail) pack.

65 - Pedro Martinez
79 - Jason Bay

48 - Alex Gordon Die Cut (I have a tendency to remove the "hanging chads." Whether or not that devalues the cards, I have no idea. It just bugs me. What happened to Alex Gordon, anyway? Is he the next George Brett or Kevin Seitzer? Don't you hate it when players are proclaimed the Next Anything?)

X4-AP - Albert Pujols Xponential 4 (This card is just stunningly awesome. I don't really know what else to say about it.)

5068 - Dave Winfield Yankee Stadium Legacy (I don't hate these cards. Maybe I'd be annoyed if they were inserted into Topps products and replaced cards I'm trying to collect like Heritage and A&G.)

76 - Ryan Howard (The MLB Network is on the air! Unfortunately, a lot of what they are showing this weekend seems to be the 2008 World Series, which isn't exactly a distant memory. I wish I had been able to watch more of Don Larsen's perfect game, but I didn't really want to put my girlfriend through a heavy dose of '50s Yankees footage.)

Anyway, yes, I know the set sucks. However, it's $1.99 and it's amusing. Sometimes amusing is more important to me than eye-pleasing.

Birthday Cards

Because I have the best girlfriend in the world, I now own the book The Card, which is about... well... The Card. I was also lucky enough to receive from her my first ever Ozzie Smith relic card, which automatically moves it near the front of my Ozzie collection that I started way back in high school. The jersey swatch is road gray, but has some stitching visible which is pretty cool.

Along with other lovely birthday gifts, there were a few packs for me to open.

2008 Topps Heritage:

238 - Todd Helton
307 - Kelly Johnson
340 - Hank Blalock
217 - Jered Weaver
213 - Ricky Nolasco
267 - Xavier Nady

467 - Ryan Theriot (SP)
- David Wright thinks you should stay in school
322 - Richie Sexson Black Back

Well, if you've read this blog more than a couple of times, you're probably already sick to death of seeing me talk about this set. It's a relative large set by today's standards, and apparently there's a "high series" coming out at some point, so my work is hardly done. This is, hands down, my favorite set since I got turned on to the junk again, so I'm not done talking about it. This pack had a few cards I didn't recognize in it (good) and a Ryan Theriot SP, the only reason I would actually show a Cub here. Unfortunately, I received another Theriot card in a random pack I bought the very next day, so if anyone needs one, let me know.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces:

23 - Jim Thome

19 - Ryne Sandberg
34 - Gary Sheffield
13 - Curt Schilling

This is the first pack I've ever opened of this set, because at its current price it violates my Bang Divided by Buck Rule. I do really like last year's set (at the low, low price of 40 cents per card in pack form) though I think this year's stuff is darker than it needs to be. I haven't had time to fact check these cards, so I'll have to leave that to the experts. Ryne Sandberg makes two Cubs images in one post, as he is the only retired player in the pack of players I'm either not overly fond of or ambivalent about.

2008 Upper Deck X:

77 - Chase Utley

91 - Albert Pujols

22 - Kosuke Fukudome Die-Cut

X-CP - Carlos Pena X-Ponential
62 - David Wright
97 - Vernon Wells

This set is hilarious, from wrapper to design, but something compelled me to buy another pack the next day after I opened this. Maybe I can just chalk that up to a boredom with the bulk of the offseason looming. Apparently I pulled one of two Cardinals base cards in this small set, the other being Rick Ankiel. I only showed the Fukudome card, the third (!) Cubs image in this post, so Erin could see what the die cut cards look like since I don't think I do a very good job of describing things verbally. The X-Ponential whatever cards are indeed all they are cracked up to be, designwise anyway.

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes

98 - Ben Sheets
120 - Ian Kennedy (RC)
88 - Brad Penny
155 - Erik Bedard

115 - Alex Rodriguez Charcoal or whatever shade of black that you prefer

These are packs that I don't mind dropping a couple of bucks on. I guess they just remind me of the inserts in the early Upper Deck packs. I do have a feeling when I buy packs like this that I'm not really going to get any lousy players, though this pack doesn't really do that idea justice. I have a feeling I'll end up sending the A-Rod card to Eric the Yankees fan eventually. I wish I had more birthdays.