2008 Topps Series 2 retail jumbo

I had a hankerin' to open something a little more recent than my '88 Fleer, so I browsed through the card aisle at Wal-Mart this morning hoping to find 2009 Topps Series 2, but the best I could come up with was '08 Series 2.


Sorry, I have a thing for Cristina Scabbia from Lacuna Coil

While it may not be the greatest design in the world, I do like 2008 Topps. Had it not been for a few packs of '08 Series 1, I never would have gotten back into baseball cards, so I owe it that much at least. Maybe twenty years from now I'll get nostalgic for '08 Topps and complete the set.

There were two jumbo packs left hanging on the shelf, reduced to $1.50, so I bought them both thinking maybe if I get rid of all the old stuff, they'll be quicker to give me some '09 Series 2. Not likely, but whatever.

So, let's have a look, shall we?

2008 Topps Series 2 Retail Jumbo
section 1
523 Noah Lowry - with a nice crease from the packaging maching
605 Andre Ethier
592 Matt Morris
555 Josh Beckett
599 Austin Kearns
502 Alex Cora
583 Nick Punto
554 Joe Borowski


442 Luis Gonzalez - This is actually a pretty good picture and all the colors work well together.


363 Brian Barton - Another pretty nice picture, I like the gathering storm clouds in the background
334 Oliver Perez


471 Brian Schneider Gold Parallel 861/2008 - The orange bubbles don't mix well with the gold border.


YR98 Erik Bedard Year in Review - I like these cards.

409 Jason Giambi
570 Homer Bailey
495 James Shields
397 Brian Wilson
579 Jesse Litsch
497 Cla Meredith - Cla? His full name is Olise Claiborne Meredith III. IF I were him, I'm pretty sure I'd be changing my name when I turned 18. Looks like he went to school at Virginia Commonwealth University, the alma mater of one of my favorite bands - Lamb of God.

section 2
581 Kazuo Matsui


524 Raul Ibanez - This card is the perfect example of what's wrong with this design. There's just about nothing better in baseball card photography than capturing the ball in flight. But here, the bump gets in the way. At least you can still see most of the ball, but this card really prooves to me that very little thought went into the design and photograph selection for this set. The design alone isn't really terrible, and neither is the photography. But putting the two together is where the wheels started to fall off.

It's cards like this that really make me appreciate 2009 Topps all the more.

660 Yadier Molina


463 John McLaren - This is what a manager card should look like.


356 Manny Corpas - Here's a picture where the design and color scheme actually work very well together.

358 - John Patterson
455 Derek Jeter
501 Elliot Johnson
345 Adam Everett
609 Ted Lilly
551 Erick Threets
348 Craig Monroe
Topps Town Card


473 Joe Maddon - And this is what a manager card shouldn't look like.

410 Alex Gordon
474 Yuniesky Betancourt
423 Mike Scioscia - see Joe Maddon.
626 Mike Redmond

Well what can I say? It's 2008 Topps. Love it or hate it, there it is.

As far as I can tell, there's nothing here that I'm really keen on keeping around, so if you need any of these cards, let me know and we'll work out a trade (here's my wantlists).