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.)

2002 Upper Deck Series 2, Part 1

American League, Schmerican League. You know what I think about the All-Star Game right now? I think that the National League won 2 of the last 3 World Series(es). Anyway, to wipe that sour taste that I got last night out of my mouth, here's the start of something that I threatened to post about awhile back. At the last monthly card show (next one isn't until September, apparently) I made a last ditch purchase of a 2002 Upper Deck Series 2 hobby box at a bargain price of something like $20. I would tell you exactly what I paid, but so much time has passed since then that I could not swear on the amount and take it to my grave. These boxes advertise "hobby exclusive jersey cards", "authentic Mark McGwire memorabilia cards" and include a "hobby exclusive 'UD-Plus' bonus pack." Also included with the box: Jason Giambi grants you an exlusive interview where he comes clean about his past and presents his future plans to grow a mustache that looks incredibly ridiculous in 2008, only to find out that nearly everyone is copping his style in 2009 long after he's ditched the thing.

First off is the bonus pack. Some kids call these things "box toppers" but I will stick with "bonus pack." Inside shall be two "UD-Plus" cards.

UD12 - Edgar Martinez UD Plus (1045/1125) (Edgar is the greatest DH of all-time in my opinion. I absolutely despise the DH rule, but considering that it's been a part of Major League Baseball since the '70s, like it or not, the best player who ever played a position should absolutely be in the Hall of Fame.)

UD57 - Fred McGriff UD Plus (0766/1125) (It's hard to look at McGriff as a Cub. These cards, incidentally, were part of some sort of contest where the objective was to collect all 100. Winners got scarcely printed serial numbered Joe DiMaggio or Mickey Mantle jersey cards. Sounds awesome to me. These cards themselves aren't that bad looking, either.)

- 2002 UD Plus Information Card (Besides the actual cards, there were two filler cards explaining what I attempted to explain above.)

Onto the real stuff now...

Pack 1:

604 - Carlos Febles (Way to start it off with someone I've never heard of before...)

578 - Mike Cameron (I think I like the design of these cards. There's no gaudy gold foil and the player name/team/position design at the bottom of the card is fairly simple. Apparently all of the previous season's All-Stars get an additional All-Star foil logo.)

633 - Jose Vizcaino

557 - Carlos Pena (Here's the first 2009 All-Star of the box.)

614 - Eric Milton

582 - Marty Cordova

741 - Shawn Green Season Highlights Checklist

535 - Eric Junge Star Rookie (I think Upper Deck did an even worse job than Donruss with their Rated Rookies at predicting future stars from their rookie crop.)

Pack 2:

655 - Alex Gonzalez (This box is lousy with Cubs already. And by lousy, I mean Cub lousy.)

629 - Bernie Williams (I always enjoy getting Bernie cards.)

670 - Brian Jordan (First year as a Dodger.)

644 - Alex Ochoa

624 - John Vander Wal (I never understood his last name.)

679 - Jeff Kent

687 - Pablo Ozuna (Teal alert!)

530 - Saturo Komiyama Star Rookie (I have no idea who this is, but according to the back of his card he is known as the "Japanese Greg Maddux.")

Pack 3:

698 - Kevin Jarvis

672 - Fernando Tatis (I was really surprised that Tatis made it back to the majors, since it seemed like he couldn't really keep it together after he had the one huge season with the Cards in the late '90s.)

568 - Bobby Smith

665 - Rick Helling (Seemed to be the very definition of League Average Starting Pitcher throughout his career.)

733 - Chipper Jones 2001 Year of the Record (Pretty nifty looking subset card.)

559 - Jose Cruz Jr. (Coming off of a 38 HR season with Toronto, I can honestly say I never really heard about him during his career. I pretty much ignored the mid-'90s, though.)

605 - Jose Rosado

533 - Anderson Machado Star Rookie

Pack 4:

569 - Wilson Alvarez

716 - Juan Encarnacion (I had forgotten that Juan actually played for the Reds at one point.)

628 - David Wells (Possibly half-drunk and/or hungover for his in-studio photo shoot. This began his second trial as a Yankee.)

602 - Chuck Knoblauch (Knoblauch stole an astonishing amount of bases in his career. I keep thinking of his problems with making throws to 1st, which is a shame.)

735 - Ichiro Suzuki 2001 Year of the Record

651 - Woody Williams (Nice! First Cardinal card of the box.)

703 - Marlon Byrd

532 - Ben Howard Star Rookie

Pack 5:

552 - David Justice (Another cheesy studio shot. Justice was a new Oakland Athletic.)

701 - Ramon Vazquez

607 - Bobby Higginson (Another player I apparently missed out on.)

581 - Jeff Cirillo (2002 was Cirillo's first season with Seattle, and I got to see him play in my first ever attended Major League game that season. Seattle beat the Cards 10-0.)

744 - Larry Walker Season Highlights Checklist

636 - Andruw Jones

677 - Bruce Chen

509 - Scotty Layfield Star Rookie

Pack 6:

603 - Michael Tucker

618 - Magglio Ordonez (An All-Star moment right here. Magglio has struggled this season, however, so he was not a participant in last night's game.)

564 - Jason Standridge

743 - Roberto Alomar Season Highlights Checklist (Saliva-free as far as I know.)

553 - Billy Koch

650 - J.D. Drew (...)

CH13 - Greg Maddux Chasing History (This is the first real insert card of the box as far as I can tell.)

504 - Reed Johnson Star Rookie

Pack 7:

646 - Eric Young

620 - Rocky Biddle

723 - Jose Ortiz (Also the name of a former great Oregon State basketball player.)

697 - Mark Kotsay

599 - John Burkett

745 - Mark McGwire Season Highlights Checklist (I don't care what you think about Mac - this is a cute card.)

546 - Aaron Sele

507 - Luis Martinez Star Rookie

Pack 8:

576 - Bret Boone

550 - Kevin Appier

713 - Mike Williams

579 - Jamie Moyer (In case you were dying to know, here's what the card backs look like.)

585 - Luis Matos

631 - Richard Hidalgo (Former Astros slugger that just fell off the face of the planet...)

CH5 - Rafael Palmeiro Chasing History (Well... he's not chasing it anymore, I guess?)

506 - John Ennis Star Rookie

Alright, so that's it for the first 8 packs (plus bonus.) Packs 9 through 16 are up next. Pretty much everything besides the Cardinals cards are up for grabs, so just let me know if you're dying for one of my Ramon Vazquez cards.

This Time It Counts, Yet Again

There was a fun moment during last night's All-Star festivities where Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina and Ozzie Smith were all together that would have made for a great baseball card in the style of '80s Fleer SuperStar Special cards. Even though most "subset" cards tend to be looked down upon as inferior to a player's regular card, I always loved these Fleer offerings. Some of them are downright silly.

This shot of Wade Boggs and "Hero" is clearly from an All-Star appearance, though probably not during the game itself. Truth be told, I never liked either player on this card, but I still held it in high regard. I should make these cards a regular feature on this blog. It's funny, but I don't think the Boggs mustache would look all that out of place in today's game.

The big game is tonight. I plan on having fun watching Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina. I will be astonished when Ryan Franklin takes the mound. And I'll root like crazy for the National League, because the streak is ending tonight. It has to!

Michael Young had better not ruin it again.