2005-06 Upper Deck Basketball

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  Cannot believe it’s July already.  Decided to get one more pack up before June’s officially in the books; after a busy May, the posts dried up this month!

Here’s the pack I was going to post before the O-Pee-Chee diversion.  I was going to post it later during the NBA Finals, to mention how thrilling and entertaining it was.  Oh well, here’s some 2005-06 Upper Deck Basketball!

9 cards per pack, 230 cards in the set (including the dreaded short prints).  Here’s what I got:

#118 – Vince Carter

#44 – Earl Boykins

#68 – Stephen Jackson

I like the layout Upper Deck used for their basketball cards this year.  As usual, the photography is excellent.

#151 – Jim Jackson

No # - Dummy card (not pictured)

#74 – Bobby Simmons (back)

#50 – Rasheed Wallace

The backs are pretty good.  Bonus points for using a different shot of the player and listing the player’s uniform number.

#184 – Morris Peterson

#121 – Speedy Claxton

#RS 12 – Francisco Garcia (Rookie Scrapbook)

The big rookies that year were Chris Paul, Deron Williams, David Lee, and Andrew Bynum.  The Paul and Williams cards are short prints.  Alas, no short prints for me.

Bonus card!

#24 – Andres Nocioni

A while back, Josh from Royals and Randoms was offering his base basketball cards for trade, and I took him up for his Bulls cards (thanks again, Josh, and yes, I’m still working on getting cards for you, albeit slowly). 

Anyway, the above Andres was in the stack.  I thought nothing of it at first, but upon closer inspection, I became fascinated with the “Warriors” player at the bottom left:

1. He has no name or uniform number on the back of his jersey, but I am assuming he’s playing for Golden State.
2. How does a player with a nameless / numberless jersey get on the court?
3. How tall is this NBA player?  He comes up to Tyson Chandler’s waist!
4. Muggsy Bogues last played for Golden State in the 1999-2000 season.  I found no evidence that he returned to the NBA in the 2005-06 season.
5. “Well, perhaps he was falling backward.”  Still does not explain the blank uniform back.
6. Andres has a long way to go to perfect the Chuck Norris roundhouse kick.

That’s the pack.  Have a happy and safe Fourth…thanks for reading!

2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee

Greetings!

Hope everyone’s doing great.  Congrats to the Heat for winning the NBA Finals.  Their bench stepped up for them, not to mention LeBron keeping up his level of play from the Boston series.  If the Thunder didn’t all of sudden play like the newbies they were, it would have been a series.

Anyway, I was going to post another Upper Deck basketball pack, but when I saw the O-Pee-Chee pack Matt F posted, I had to call an audible.  I was surprised no one posted a pack from that set until now.  Anyway, it’s still an Upper Deck pack, so I have that going for me.  Here’s more 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee!

Got this from one of the Target repack boxes.  6 cards in a pack, so I would guess that it’s from a blaster box.  Here’s what we got:

#114 – Gerald Laird (black border parallel)

#327 – Joel Pineiro

#171 – Carlos Pena

The design is simple and clean.  Guess that’s the tactic these days for a 600 card set (I seem to remember the old Topps Total sets being pretty simple too).

#174 – Omar Vizquel

#428 – Daniel Murphy (back)

#596 – Dexter Fowler (RC)

The backs aren’t too bad; the front of the Murphy card is a close up of him walking / jogging towards you.  There’s always some text above the stats – the stats on the back of Omar’s card only go back to 1999 to leave some room for the Rangers logo and the text.

Anyway, that’s the pack.  I never bought any of these when they were out, but then again, I don’t think I’m missing much.  More later…thanks for reading!

2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee Jumbo Pack

I can't remember the last time I collected a 792 card set of baseball cards.  It must have been around 1993 or 1994 and by the time Topps was making Topps Total I was out of the hobby.  What I've forgotten about buying those huge sets would be exactly how many commons you would get in a pack.  I'm reminded of this each time I rip any 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee which has 600 cards in that set.  As I flip through I'm saying to myself "who?" time and time again.  So to save you the pain of 24 O-Pee-Chee cards here are the top three from my jumbo/value pack:

I haven't been surprised at a statistic as I was when I heard that Alex Rodriguez had tied Lou Gehrig's record for grand slams.  I had no idea he was that close to the record and I felt the same way I do when anyone brings up Tiger Woods breaking Jack Nicholas' major championship records, "please don't break it."

#500 Alex Rodriguez

Derek is continuing to have a great season after starting off great.  He is leading the league with 87 hits and is batting .315.  He has already matched his home run total from 2011 with six home runs.

#200 Derek Jeter

Matt Cain is the hot card at the moment following his perfect game last week.  Now I haven't seen every O-Pee-Chee card in the set but I've seen my fair share and to me this is the best looking card in the set.

#40 Matt Cain

2006 Topps Chrome Baseball Hobby

Today I have for you a pack of 2006 Topps Chrome Hobby.

This came from a 50 cent bin at a card shop.



Here we go...



First is Brett Myers. Famous for shifting between a closer and starter role...and a number of unsavory personal incidents.



Brad Lidge is next. These guys kinda switched roles, huh?



Mike Matheny was a 4 time gold glover behind the dish.



And finally, a cool Frank Thomas refractor.

Not bad.

Check out my blog, , for a 2004 Greats of the Game Box Break later!

2004-05 Upper Deck Basketball

Greetings!

Hope everyone is doing well.  Game 2 of the NBA Finals is happening right now (I say OKC in 6), and since it’s been a while since a basketball pack has been posted here, now’s a good time as ever to dig into the (then $1.49) Target discount bin.  Here’s a pack of 2004-05 Upper Deck Basketball!

It’s a retail pack to be specific, but since no one’s posted a hobby pack, the title stays.  There’s 9 cards per pack with a Rookie Scrapbook insert in every pack.  The big rookies that year were Dwight Howard and Andre Iguodala (they’re short prints in the set).  Here’s what I got:

#32 – Kirk Nowitzki

#95 – Shaquille O’Neal

#60 – Yao Ming

Not a bad start to the pack.  Upper Deck is almost always associated with excellent photography, and the trend continues here.

#4 – Tony Delk (back)

#179 – Ray Allen

#123 – Jamaal Magloire

The head shot on the back of the card is taken from the card front, hence showing the back of the Tony Delk card (he’s just standing there all serious-like on the front).

#156 – Damon Stoudamire

#196 – Larry Hughes

#RS15 – Tony Allen (Rookie Scrapbook)

To me, the Rookie Scrapbooks look like the old Press Your Luck board.  No Tony!  No Toni! No Toné!  Stopped at a Tony…then a cheesy animated Tony Allen comes breakdancing across the screen and steals the basketball.

Anyway, that's the pack.  Not a bad one overall.  I should have another Upper Deck pack next time.  Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there...Thanks for reading!

2012 Topps Series 2 Blaster Commemorative Patch

Quick post today.

Today I busted a blaster of 2012 Topps and included is one commemorative patch card.



Last time I busted one of these (Series 1) the result was a nice Frank Thomas number patch. Lets see what I got...



Nice! I really like these patches. The pinstripes and colors look great.

2007 Topps Updates and Highlights Blaster Box Hot Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone's doing well.  Most of my evening was spent checking in on the online streaming of the Transit of Venus.  Not supposed to happen again until 2117.  The wonders of technology.

Anyway, got a quick pack for you all.  Picked up a blaster box of 2007 Topps Updates and Highlights a while back and it came with a "Hot Pack" of 3 cards.  Here's the front of the blaster box so you can see the ad:

The "Hot Pack" itself came in a clear package so there's nothing to show there.  Here's what I got:

#WM45 - Jake Peavy
#WM54 - Alfonso Soriano
#WM37 - Grady Sizemore

Not a bad collection of players for 2007.  Soriano was the big free agent, and Peavy and Sizemore were making a name for themselves.  Here are the backs for those who are interested:

Not sure what the motivation was for this set.  Heritage was already out for years before this, right?  And if they were honoring 120 years of baseball cards, why have the 1960 and 1972 Topps (Verlander on the box shot) designs in the set, knowing full well they'd be going back to those designs eventually?  Oh well.  Anyone have more info on this or other cards in the set?

Anyway, that's all for now.  Thanks for reading!

2012 Topps Stickers

Today I have a pack of 2012 Topps Stickers!



Each pack has 8 Stickers. 1 in 3 packs features team logo stickers.



Starting it off we have Jason Heyward and the Braves' Ugly Mascot.



Next is newly-minted Twin Josh Willingham and LAA star Torii Hunter.



Legend Stan Musial and future-legend Derek Jeter.



And finally, some team stickers and an RC (RS?) of Jesus Montero.