Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Late Night Box Break

I was going to hold off on posting this, but I came home from work tonight and realized that I had nothing planned for tonight's post. So this is it, folks. I picked up a box of 2002 Upper Deck MVP, which has a seriously dark theme to it, at the card show this past weekend for $20. I was fairly disappointed in the card show overall, but I also was pressed for time because I wanted to make sure I left in time to catch the Ducks game. This all added up to a couple more impulse buys than I usually pull off. I'll post the first half of the box tonight and the rest within the next several days.

I figured this box, card design unseen, was going to be a least somewhat interesting because there was an implied (not guaranteed) "hit" in the box for a low cost. Odds suggested I would likely get a relic card of some kind. Inserts are few and far between, and all of the cards (including subsets) basically look exactly the same, so I plan on keeping scans limited to about one per pack.

Pack 1:
112 - Corey Koskie
86 - Jose Offerman (There's a certain kind of crazy here that I can't even explain. If you don't already know about Offerman, I suggest you do a Google search.)
121 - Paul Konerko
95 - Neifi Perez
69 - Alex Rodriguez

295 - Ken Griffey Jr. Checklist (Even the checklists have the same card design as the regular base cards, only with "CHECKLIST" replacing the player's full name in the lower right.)
32 - Toby Hall
6 - Brendan Donnelly (Designated rookies such as Donnelly have "Rookie" splashed across the card in outlined gold foil where the player's last name is.)

Pack 2:
222 - Marvin Bernard
196 - Craig Counsell (Quick, someone explain to me the difference between Craig Counsell and David Eckstein...)
209 - Michael Barrett

183 - Fred McGriff (The Crime Dog is exempt from my normal Cubs ban because he's The Crime Dog.)
157 - Javy Lopez
236 - Mike Piazza
210 - Jose Vidro
184 - Corey Patterson

Pack 3:

172 - J.D. Drew (First Cardinal of the box. I find it strangely amusing to see Drew in an "MVP" set, considering that he was supposed to have three or four of those awards by now.)
147 - Shane Reynolds

148 - Chipper Jones
122 - Todd Ritchie
96 - Carlos Febles
98 - Michael Tucker
72 - Jeff Zimmerman
46 - Omar Vizquel (11 Gold Gloves and still at it at age 43. He's gotta be in the Hall, right?)

Pack 4:
245 - Tyler Yates
219 - Calvin Murray
279 - Ken Griffey Jr.

253 - Ray Lankford (The backs are kind of boring by Upper Deck standards.)
227 - Cliff Floyd
265 - Brian Giles
239 - Roger Cedeno
213 - Eric Good (Eric Good wasn't actually very good at all. His career was over by the time this card was released, topping out at Class A ball.)

Pack 5:

170 - Fernando Vina
144 - Lance Berkman (I have this terrible feeling I'm going to end up having to root for this guy in the playoffs.)
118 - Ray Durham
131 - Mike Mussina
105 - Matt Anderson
158 - Richie Sexson (Local guy who flamed out quickly.)
132 - Alfonso Soriano (One of my girlfriend's least favorite players in a Yankees uni.)
106 - Damion Easley

Pack 6:
60 - Jeff Conine (The Original Marlin as an Oriole.)
34 - Ben Grieve
249 - Bubba Trammell
43 - Russell Branyan
17 - Eric Chavez
281 - Todd Walker
255 - Scott Rolen (For some odd reason, the Pirates broadcasters dedicated about an inning of tonight's game against the Cardinals complaining about how Scott Rolen did not get ejected from a game that happened nearly two weeks ago. Keep in mind that Rolen last played for St. Louis in 2007.)

229 - Derrek Lee

Pack 7:

120 - Jon Garland (Nice old timey uniform.)
94 - Mark Quinn
68 - Chris Richard
70 - Chan Ho Park
44 - C.C. Sabathia
20 - David Justice
292 - Jose Ortiz
266 - Kris Benson

Pack 8:
193 - Doug Devore

167 - Darryl Kile (Nice new DK card for the collection!)
141 - Julio Lugo
201 - Andy Ashby

175 - Placido Polanco (I'm confident that Polanco had a smaller cap size in those days. This is pre-Rolen trade.)
187 - Francis Beltran
240 - Jeromy Burnitz
135 - Jason Giambi (Do Yankees fans like Giambi? Do A's fans? Maybe just Rockies fans?)

Pack 9:
133 - Robin Ventura
66 - Steve Bechler
40 - Brady Anderson (50 HRs in 1996. That's going to jump out at you no matter what.)
79 - Pedro Martinez

53 - Ichiro Suzuki (As usual.)
27 - Reed Johnson
80 - Nomar Garciaparra (Nomar had a career .332 batting average heading into the 2002 season. That's a huge number.)
54 - Kazuhiro Sasaki

Pack 10:
223 - Jason Schmidt
197 - Shawn Green

171 - Matt Morris
294 - Ben Petrick (Another local guy who left the game very early in his career after being diagnosed with Parkinson's, although it seems he may actually have Lyme disease if the internet is to be believed.)
268 - Kevin Young
134 - John Vander Wal
203 - Adrian Beltre
177 - Sammy Sosa ('Roids or no 'roids, I think my dislike for Sammy Sosa surpasses Bonds and Clemens put together.)

Pack 11:
163 - Jose Hernandez
137 - Rondell White
111 - Torii Hunter (Hunter is wearing a nice Washington throwback. In hindsight, I wish I had scanned it.)

C-EA - Edgardo Alfonzo MVP Souvenirs (Well, here's the "hit". I could have done a lot better, of course, but at least I know that a few people collect the Mets. Also, the bat and jersey combo is a bit harder to pull than one or the other apparently. I'm not sure I understand how or why the bat piece had his jersey number etched into it.)
16 - Mark Mulder
275 - Sean Casey
249 - Bubba Trammell (First double as far as I know.)

Pack 12:
115 - David Ortiz (Early Ortiz card when he was still with the Twins, but after his name change.)
89 - Carlos Beltran
63 - Melvin Mora
200 - Brian Jordan
123 - Frank Thomas

97 - Miguel Asencio (By the way, here's what the rookies look like. Can you tell the difference?)
280 - Barry Larkin
254 - Ryan Klesko

As usual, all of these cards are up for grabs/trades aside from the Cardinals I need. The second half of the box should be posted either Thursday night or early next week as my schedule allows it.

8 comments :

  1. Those are dark.

    And don't you dare root for the Yankees!

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  2. Boo Yankees.

    Yay McGriff!

    And I like the relic! Crappy-ish player, true, but duals are cool, and I like the MVP style for some reason. That's why I'm collecting 1999 MVP, the NFL version. Something about the weird faux technology writing is cool haha.

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  3. I've always loved the look of these cards. It's one of my favorite early 2000s Upper Deck sets.

    Difference between Counsell and Eckstein? Counsell hasn't played for La Russa, which I can't believe.

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  4. This Yankee fan has a soft spot for Giambi. I think most do. I'd certainly have him right now than Berkman (despite his double last night). Any league in which Berkman was considered a star can't really be called a major league. Sorry, NL.

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  5. HAHAHA, Bo!!! That's really pretty funny.

    I know the "hit" wasn't exactly what you were looking for, but it's still a pretty cool relic card.

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  6. I love the pull! I'd be up for a trade since Alfonzo is my favorite Met. What would you want in return?

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  7. I'll take any Yanks off your hands. And yes, root for the Yankees.

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  8. The difference between Counsell and Eckstein? 5 inches and 5 pounds.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are highly encouraged, but then again, so is eating your fruits and vegetables.