5 on the 5: 2010 Upper Deck

My standard policy has been to treat unlicensed cards with extreme disinterest. I won't buy them, generally speaking, but I will allow them to share binder space with other more licensed Cardinals cards in my collection. I was dead set against buying any Upper Deck packs from the 2010 year, but this is a strange set under strange circumstances. This is practically a licensed set poorly trying to disguise itself as "NOT authorized by Major League Baseball or its Member Teams". Yeah, right. After virtually ignoring this set for more than a calendar year, I could not pass up five packs at a deeply discounted rate.

Pack 1:

194 - Marcus Thames

17 - Juan Francisco Star Rookie (Upper Deck even decided to make up their own rookie card logo. How quaint.)

426 - Nate Schierholtz

336 - Mike Pelfrey

64 - Omar Infante (2010 All-Star. Seriously.)

383 - Brad Lidge

473 - Kyle Lohse (Lohse has been surprisingly effective this season.)

216 - Anibal Sanchez (I can't believe he's been available in most fantasy leagues.)

521 - Marc Rzepczynski

SB-170 - Landon Powell Season Biography (These are apparently one-per pack inserts that are reminiscent of the nauseating 2008 Documentary set, except that there aren't 10 different Landon Powell cards with the same photo. Wait, who is Landon Powell, anyway?)

451 - Ichiro Suzuki (He's no Matt Murton.)

186 - Huston Street

519 - Roy Halladay

310 - Nick Punto (Punto was impressive defensively in his short time with the Cardinals before heading back to the DL. There have been lots of wounded birds this year.)

179 - Dexter Fowler

178 - Matt Murton (Better than Ichiro.)

562 - PNC Park (These are fun. It amuses me that they don't use the stadium's name in the title of the card, but they will tell you all about PNC Park on the back.)

Pack 2:

392 - Brandon Moss

4 - Michael Brantley Star Rookie

477 - Ben Zobrist

97 - Jed Lowrie

408 - Tony Gwynn (Come on... that's not Tony Gwynn!)

137 - John Danks (Dreadful season so far.)

165 - Shin-Soo Choo

469 - Dennys Reyes (I'm not sure if I've ever seen another Cardinals card of The Big Sweat.)

254 - Kyle Farnsworth

SB-189 - Jake Peavy Season Biography

422 - Joe Thatcher

155 - Francisco Cordero

370 - Craig Breslow

191 - Jason Hammel

499 - Taylor Teagarden

358 - Rajai Davis (Davis is one of those all-steal, no-anything else guys.)

594 - Tim Lincecum / Pablo Sandoval Team Checklists (Here we are. Face to face. A couple of silver spoons.)

144 - Laynce Nix

Pack 3:

306 - Joe Mauer

374 - Jayson Werth (Predictably, Werth has not exactly been a franchise player for the Nats so far. You have to wonder if the decision makers for these teams ever take a step back and think about what they're doing and how it might play out.)

265 - Mike Napoli

311 - Jason Kubel

85 - Jim Johnson

460 - Colby Rasmus (I'm doing well on Cardinals so far.)

201 - Joel Zumaya

505 - Scott Feldman

SE-79 - Ichiro Suzuki Portraits (Here's an interesting insert card. The backs are almost completely devoid of anything and the card stock is similar to the Goodwin Champions set from 2009.)

SB-191 - Sonia Sotomayor Season Biography (Speaking of interesting, here's a Supreme Court Justice on a baseball card. I don't even know what to say.)

537 - Ross Detwiler

139 - Gavin Floyd

268 - Joe Saunders

80 - Cesar Izturis

401 - Jesse Chavez

561 - Citizens Bank Park

593 - Chase Headley / Tony Gwynn Team Checklist (Wait, so not replacing Adrian Gonzalez in their lineup didn't work out well for the Padres?)

177 - Seth Smith

Pack 4:

12 - Tommy Manzella Star Rookie

475 - Ryan Franklin (The exiled ex-closer.)

92 - David Ortiz

265 - Mike Napoli

311 - Jason Kubel

85 - Jim Johnson

517 - Jose Bautista (Go-Go-Gadget Dingers!)

119 - Randy Wells

SB-41 - Brett Cecil Season Biography

SB-52 - Mark Reynolds Supreme (These remind me of StarQuest or ToppsTown.)

490 - Grant Balfour

228 - Darin Erstad

533 - Livan Hernandez (There's always that guy at every occupation that just keeps showing up.)

121 - Carlos Marmol

436 - Merkin Valdez

562 - PNC Park

589 - Derek Jeter / Mariano Rivera Team Checklist (I don't really like these cards. I don't think it would be so hard to find the two players together in the same shot at the same time now, would it?)

445 - Ken Griffey Jr. (I think the saddest thing about this card is that it says DH in the corner for his position.)

Pack 5:

289 - Corey Hart

18 - Ernesto Frieri Star Rookie

472 - Kyle McClellan (The one-per-pack Cardinal thing is weird to me. This photo does not work at all. Did it really need to be a horizontal card?)

204 - Bobby Seay

516 - Aaron Hill (Well... he'll always have 2009.)

364 - Kurt Suzuki

90 - Rich Hill

493 - Matt Capps

SB-85 - Ryan Dempster Season Biography

BH-8 - Joe DiMaggio Baseball Heroes (It's nice to see the Baseball Heroes thing is still going strong... or was, at least.)

346 - Andy Pettitte

162 - Jeremy Sowers

405 - Ryan Doumit

229 - Lance Berkman (Berkman hasn't been especially kind to his former team this season, but that sits well with me.)

530 - Willie Harris

572 - Chipper Jones / Kenshin Kawakami Team Checklist

291 - Ryan Braun (This card is proof that Upper Deck still, sometimes... occasionally... knew what they were doing.)

545 - Wrigley Field

Despite my reluctance to do so, I will add my Cardinals wants for this set to my list in the coming days. In the meantime, I also picked up 5 discounted packs at Target recent from the same set. I have plenty to trade now if anyone is trying to complete their team sets or the set itself.

No More Baseball For Almost Five Months

Sure, the World Series is over, but tonight marks the triumphant return of baseball cards to Cards on Cards. Cardinals baseball cards, even! I recently found a small box of assorted Cardinals cards in my mailbox courtesy of BA Benny's Baseball Card Buffet. Whew. Just typing out his blog's name makes me think of cinnamon rolls and all-you-can-drink fountain soda.

BA Benny became the third person to randomly send a bunch of random 2010 Upper Deck cards, which is somewhat strange. Of course, I needed most of the Cardinals because I did not buy a single pack of this unlicensed stuff and I usually can find a good home for cards from at least half the teams in the league. Part of me would love it if San Diego (and others) balked at the bump in salary that Ryan Ludwick is about to receive so the Cardinals could reacquire him on the cheap, but I know it won't happen and he deserves to get paid.

Next up are a pair that are expected to duke it out for the closer role when Ryan Franklin retires or steps out of the 9th inning role. Jason Motte figured to be the heir apparent only after Chris Perez was traded to Cleveland.

But Mitchell (don't call him Mitch!) Boggs improved drastically when he was moved to short relief late in 2009 and was very solid this past season.

There were a couple of really nice serial numbered cards in the box. Actually, this one really takes the cake - a very red, low-numbered (at least for me!) Stan the Man card from 2005.

And then there's Scott Rolen dressed in shiny gold. An excellent third baseman. It's too bad about the way that Rolen for Glaus trade ended up, ultimately.

I've still got a box or two to post on the horizon. Stay tuned.

All-Star Upper Deck Cardinal Spectacular

Sometimes you just run out of things to say about a team. Fortunately, Capewood Collections provided us with some images tonight as part of a big Midsummer Clearance. Summer is dwindling away now like the Redbirds' playoff chances. In the meantime, here's two Cardinals All-Stars, Upper Deck style... and three very "un"-All-Stars.

I had completely forgotten about 2010 Upper Deck. Ditto for Brad Thompson, actually. He pitched for the Royals for a bit this season as well as in the Houston system, but is currently a free agent.

Joe Thurston has sub-major league talent, but still spent a significant time on the Cardinals last season. He's put up a solid season with AAA Gwinnett.

I've heard this man referred to as Blohse more than once this season, sadly. He has two more years left on his contract. Let's hope he at least figures out how to get back to average at some point.

Ah... okay, that's better. Carpenter has had to play stopper more than once recently. Hopefully Adam Wainwright will take down Atlanta and Carp won't have to do it again on Friday.