Better Than a Pack of Ginter

A jumbo sized pack break featuring a little known Rangers slugger on the wrapper.

While all the cool kids have been rushing out to get their grubby mitts all over the Allen's and Ginter's pack's, I decided to plunk down a cool $3.50 for some 10+ year old product. For about the price of a single brand new pack, I was able to purchase 7 packs of some moldy old Upper Deck. This is actually one of the better designs if you ask me, and I recently opened a pack over at APTBNL if you're looking for more.

Pack 1:
459 - Greg Norton
161 - Tim Crabtree
135 - Tony Batista

109 - John Rocker - This guy held a Reddit AMA (basically an open forum "ask me anything" online interview) the other day and it went about as well as you'd expect.

B-JG - Juan Gonzalez Game-Used Base - A b-b-b-base? According to the back of the card, this base was used during the 2001 All-Star Game at Safeco Field. It doesn't mention what connection Juan Gone had to the base, but he was a starter in the game so it's possible he touched it at some point.

484 - Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey Gallery - There's a bunch of these in the 2002 Upper Deck set.

50 - Jason Karnuth - I don't remember this guy at all, but apparently he made a few appearances in 2001.

Pack 2:
358 - Livan Hernandez
332 - Tom Goodwin

306 - Fred McGriff - It's a little sad to see the Crime Dog in a Cubs uni.
166 - Manny Ramirez
140 - David Segui
114 - Danys Baez
243 - Luis Sojo

GH4 - Mike Piazza 2001 Greatest Hits - These inserts fall at a 1:14 ratio according to the wrapper. I know I've traded with some Piazza fans before. Any takers?

Pack 3:
128 - Kazuhiro Sasaki
102 - Felix Martinez
76 - Olmedo Saenz

239 - Mariano Rivera - The All-Stars from the previous season had a silver logo on their cards which is, unfortunately, very difficult to see.
213 - Joe Mays
187 - Luis Ordaz
482 - Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey Gallery

Z4 - Sammy Sosa Big Fly Zone - These inserts are also a 1:14 pull. I imagine there's less interest in Sammy Sosa than Piazza at this point.

Pack 4:
313 - Corey Patterson

287 - Mark McGwire - Big Mac had already played his last game at this point, but if I recall there were several more years worth of tribute cards to come.
261 - Ken Caminiti
439 - Jason LaRue
413 - Turk Wendell

387 - Al Leiter - Just a nice and interesting looking shot.

476 - Kazuhiro Sasaki World Stage - These look like a bit of a precursor to the World Baseball Classic and all of the sets and inserts it has spawned. Sasaki was dominant as the Mariners closer during the days when the Mariners were a threat.
42 - Junior Guerrero

Pack 5:
391 - Matt Lawton
365 - Jason Schmidt
339 - Chan Ho Park
111 - Einar Diaz
85 - Homer Bush
59 - Larry Barnes

295 - Bobby Bonilla - Legend has it that a late spring training injury to Bobby Bo is what paved Albert Pujols' path to the major leagues. I've heard people try to debunk that tale, though.
34 - Jason Phillips

Pack 6:
206 - Cristian Guzman
180 - A.J. Hinch
154 - Rob Bell
317 - Tony Womack

291 - Dustin Hermanson - Hermanson was a back end of the rotation guy in St. Louis after pitching for the Padres and Expos previously.
265 - Jason Marquis

499 - Albert Pujols Season Highlights Checklist - It's always nice to get an early Pujols card.

473 - Pedro Martinez World Stage

Pack 7:
127 - Aaron Sele
101 - Joe Kennedy
75 - Jeremy Giambi
177 - Neifi Perez

ALJ-CR - Cal Ripken Jr. AL Centennial Anniversary Jersey - Wow! This is an amazing pull for a pack that cost me 50 cents. Ripken stuff is highly collectible to this day, though I'm sure that's no big secret.
16 - Luke Hudson
475 - Tony Batista World Stage

2002 Upper Deck Series 2, Part 3

Alright, let's get right into it. Here's the inevitable conclusion.

Pack 17:

656 - Delino DeShields (Another in the long line of former Cardinals and Cubs.)

630 - Lance Berkman (A hated current Astro. I'm not sad that he was not an All-Star this year.)

685 - Vic Darensbourg

659 - Jason Bere

729 - Albert Pujols Year of the Record 130 RBI (Not bad for a rookie.)

684 - Preston Wilson

715 - Adam Dunn

536 - Adrian Burnside Star Rookie

Pack 18:

587 - Jay Gibbons

561 - Brandon Lyon (It seems like everyone has played for the Blue Jays at some point early in their career.)

567 - Jason Tyner

573 - Brady Anderson (Master of the anomalous monster HR season.)

635 - Morgan Ensberg

653 - Jason Isringhausen

712 - Armando Rios

539 - Colin Young Star Rookie (I suppose it's a little late to mention this at this point, but I've only heard of about 25% of these "Star Rookies" that I am getting at the end of each pack.)

Pack 19:

586 - Geronimo Gil

560 - Josh Phelps

641 - Albie Lopez

615 - Eddie Guardado (There needs to be more retro uni cards.)

562 - Luke Prokopec

676 - Brad Wilkerson

736 - Luis Gonzalez Season Highlights Checklist (I should make a caption contest out of this card.)

502 - Rodrigo Rosario Star Rookie (Okay, I'll bite. He started two games for the Astros in 2003 and then apparently fell of the face of the earth.)

Pack 20:

673 - Lee Stevens

647 - Glendon Rusch

706 - Vicente Padilla (Padilla's kind of settled in as a mainstay in the Rangers rotation.)

658 - Chris Stynes

720 - Larry Walker

558 - Mike Sirotka (Seriously, how many Jays cards are in this set?)

611 - Mike Rivera

511 - Brandon Backe Star Rookie (Backe is too easy of a target.)

Pack 21:

693 - Shawn Estes

667 - Eric Karros

641 - Albie Lopez (Argh, doubles!)

615 - Eddie Guardado

589 - Ivan Rodriguez (Hall of Famer who fell in with the wrong crowd this season.)

JC - Jeff Cirillo Game Jersey 263/350 (Oh man... if only this was, er, someone else. Cool pinstripe on the jersey piece, though.)

Ahh, it's from a Rockies uniform. Makes more sense now.

510 - Francis Beltran Star Rookie

Pack 22:

707 - Kip Wells

681 - J.T. Snow

722 - Todd Zeile

696 - Ray Lankford (I love Ray Lankford in any uniform.)

692 - Edgardo Alfonzo

734 - Rickey Henderson Year of the Record 2248 Runs Scored (I like seeing Rickey in a Padres uniform, because it reminds me of the fact that he spent the first few weeks of the season as a Portland Beaver, although he never played in Portland because the stadium was still being worked on.)

625 - Rondell White

512 - Doug Devore Star Rookie

Pack 23:

724 - Jason Jennings

589 - Ivan Rodriguez (Again.)

563 - Felipe Lopez (Seriously, has everyone played for the Jays at one point?! Lopez is now a Brewer, which bothers me because I think he'll help them a lot, and I'm sure he won't mind hitting the ball around against the Cards after they didn't make any attempt to sign him in the offseason.)

554 - Scott Hatteberg

616 - Matt LeCroy

689 - Scott Strickland

SS7 - Sammy Sosa Superstar Summit (I don't even know what to make of this card. I'm just glad that there are no Cardinals in the little bubbles on the side so I don't have to make the uncomfortable decision of deciding if this card is worthy of placing in my Cardinals collection.)

523 - Deivis Santos Star Rookie

Pack 24:

621 - Paul Konerko

595 - Jason Varitek (This is from before the Red Sox popularity explosion.)

680 - Kirk Rueter

654 - Moises Alou (Huge hitter.)

588 - Carl Everett (Huge headcase. Doesn't believe in a lot of, um, things.)

657 - Todd Hundley

737 - Derek Jeter Season Highlights Checklist

520 - Ron Calloway Star Rookie

And there we have it. I'm not sure what the odds are supposed to be on the Cirillo jersey, since the box and pack wrappers just mention their existence but not the odds. If anyone is interested in any of these cards, please let me know. I have a few wantlists on the sidebar, but I'm certainly not difficult to please.

2002 Upper Deck Series 2, Part 2

2009 Allen & Ginter has hit the retail stores. I picked up a blaster and a pack tonight and I'm so excited that I'm tempted to post about that stuff instead of the 2002 box that I started. However, I know that if I do that, I'll probably never get back to this stuff. Self-awareness is a good thing, you know.

Pack 9:

683 - Reggie Sanders (I miss seeing Sanders patrolling left field in his Cardinals days, especially with the persistent struggles of Chris Duncan and Rick Ankiel. I don't miss the horrible collision he had with Jim Edmonds once upon a time, though. Yikes.)

738 - Ichiro Suzuki Season Highlights Checklist (If I'm not watching, Ichiro cards in my collection actually multiply.)

558 - Mike Sirotka

611 - Mike Rivera

657 - Todd Hundley (Hundley had some pretty huge years, but he looks bad in a Cubs uni.)

PJ-DW - David Wells The People's Choice Game Jersey (These fall at 1:24 packs, so I got my "on average" jersey card. Okay, here's where you all can help me out. What jersey, exactly, was Wells wearing for this card? At first I thought it might be a Boston jersey, but Wells didn't pitch for the Red Sox until 2005. His three previous teams were the White Sox, the Blue Jays and the Yankees again. I know that Toronto features red as a secondary color, but I don't have a clear picture in my mind of an all-red Jays jersey. That just seems wrong anyway.)

Give up?

Oh, okay. An "official 2000 All-Star Event." I hope it wasn't that silly celebrity softball game that they show on ESPN every year.

525 - Matt Thornton Star Rookie

Pack 10:

577 - Ben Davis

551 - Tim Salmon (Always an underappreciated player in my book.)

592 - Hank Blalock (You can barely see his bat here, so the photo looks really strange.)

688 - Mike Redmond

549 - Brad Fullmer

705 - Marlon Anderson (Somehow Anderson quickly went from a near-.300 hitting everyday second basemen to a part-time outfielder/pinch hitter in a few short years.)

590 - Chan Ho Park

527 - Tyler Yates Star Rookie (Flags were big in 2002.)

Pack 11:

594 - Pedro Martinez (So, Pedro's a Phillie now. It seems like a bit of a desperate move to me. The Phils are hot right now and not really a team I'd expect to make a move like this.)

639 - Vinny Castilla

671 - Cesar Izturis

645 - Richie Sexson

661 - Craig Counsell (Classic "doing the turn" baseball photo.)

718 - Wilton Guerrero

601 - Mark Quinn

531 - Steve Bechler Star Rookie (Tragic card.)

Pack 12:

690 - Mo Vaughn

664 - Jay Bell

719 - Chris Reitsma

727 - Barry Bonds Year of the Record 73 Home Runs (Bleh to this guy. It would be nice to see someone break his stupid record, but I don't think it will happen in my lifetime.)

632 - Gregg Zaun

726 - Ichiro Suzuki Year of the Record 192 Singles (Yep, it's him again. This is similar to the one I got in an earlier pack, but it's for all the singles he hit. The other card was for the insane number of Mariners victories in 2001.)

606 - Dmitri Young

521 - Val Pascucci Star Rookie

Pack 13:

708 - Jason Kendall

682 - David Bell

566 - John Flaherty

711 - Kris Benson

608 - Craig Paquette (Paquette was coming off of a 3 year stint with the Cardinals and is in a Detroit uniform.)

742 - Jason Giambi Season Highlights Checklist

662 - Mark Grace (Grace had some choice words to say about Colby Rasmus's sad attempt at growing a mustache during the Cards/D-Backs broadcast today.)

501 - Brandon Puffer Star Rookie

Pack 14:

613 - Luis Rivas

619 - Frank Thomas ("What is this... baseball... thing? I don't get it! I'm just a designated hitter!")

593 - Todd Van Poppel (Master of analogies to disappointing draft prospects.)

732 - Alex Rodriguez Year of the Record 52 Home Runs (More bleh.)

660 - Curt Schilling

598 - Dustin Hermanson (Hermanson pitched a full season for the Cardinals in 2001, was fairly average, and I constantly confused him with Chad Hutchinson.)

RA3 - Pedro Martinez Return of the Ace (These are pretty cool looking. I guess as much as the last post was the Cardinals post - 4 Cardinals in 8 packs - this is the Pedro post.)

505 - Chris Baker Star Rookie

Pack 15:

638 - Gary Sheffield (On his Braves tour.)

612 - Jacque Jones

693 - Shawn Estes

667 - Eric Karros (Another FOX announcer. These guys are everywhere!)

668 - Hideo Nomo (I wonder if Night Owl has this one.)

717 - Scott Williamson

528 - Mark Corey Star Rookie

Pack 16:

699 - Bobby Jones

548 - Darin Erstad

640 - Javy Lopez

728 - Randy Johnson Year of the Record 20 Strikeouts (Ol' Randy is still around and kickin'.)

683 - Reggie Sanders (Ahh, doubles!)

738 - Ichiro Suzuki Season Highlights (Ahh! Ahh!)

RA8 - Kevin Brown Return of the Ace

537 - Mike Gonzalez Star Rookie (Annnnnd we'll wrap it up with the Braves semi-closer.)

Part 3 will be coming up hopefully in the next couple of days. I've gotten a couple of e-mails about these cards and I'm by no means attached to them. I'm certainly up for entertaining trade offers, so let me know.

(Side question here: does anyone have a reliable 2009 Allen & Ginter SP checklist? I feel like it's not cards above #300, since I've gotten one of those in almost every pack I've opened so far.)