2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee Baseball

Video Box Break and Review

One retail blaster of 2009 Upper Deck O-Pee-Chee baseball
15 packs per box, six cards per pack (Paid $19.97 plus tax)



The Pulls

Base set: 55/500 (11%)

Last 100: 15/100 (15%)

Parallels
15 Black-bordered (one per pack)

Inserts
1 2008 OPC All-Rookie Team (10 cards): M. Aviles
1 The Award Show (20 cards): A. Pujols MVP
1 Face of the Franchise (30 cards): D. Wright
1 Walk-Off Winners (10 cards): C. Ruiz
1 UD 20th Anniversary: K. Dae-jung

The Review
When this product was first announced I was pretty excited because it was everything I was hoping Topps or Upper Deck would try. A real, honest to goodness, old style new set with a low price point. I like the retro design on real grey thin cardboard that is not directly ripping off any previous design (yes I know they look like '76 Topps but at least it's not an exact duplication). I also like that it is a large one series base product. Unfortunately, Upper Deck could not resist the temptation to be greedy. UD countered the low price by putting a mere six cards in a pack which means per card, these cost about the same as base Topps or UD. This is especially frustrating given that for a large retro set building product, you would be wanting more, not less, cards per pack. As a further ass-slap, UD insists on putting a multitude of large insert sets in the product that no one will have the money or patience to complete. And since this is a retro set builders product, why not waste everybody's time with one per pack black parallels!? To further put salt in the wound, those worthless 20th Anniversary inserts which are plaguing UD product this year are taking up spots in many of the packs. Thanks, Upper Deck. So let me get this straight, not only are we getting only six cards a pack for a 600 card set, but once you take out the black bordered parallel, "short print" (more on that mess later), and maybe an insert, you are really only getting 3-4 base cards a pack. Great. I should finish this set no later than 2056. Then there's the whole "short print" debacle which I am from now on referring to simply as the "last 100" cards because that's all they are. They are certainly not short printed. You can tell just by looking at my blaster. I have 11% of the short set completed but already 15% of the "short prints." That's because at one "short print" per pack and only 3-4 base cards per pack, I will complete the "short prints" long before I ever track down the 500-card short set. This is what happens when you make six card packs for a 600 card set. You magnificent bastards, Upper Deck. After reading this, you probably think I hate this product but I don't. Quite the contrary, despite the ridiculous six card packs, I love almost everything else about this set, and yes, I will probably drive myself mad and broke trying to complete it. It's as close to a retro, thin grey cardboard large set with a new design and players as you will find in 2009. And that includes Heritage. In other words, 2009 OPC is as close to 1991 Topps as we are going to get, for now.

Mail Day: 6/21/09

So I just got back into town after a fun weekend getaway and it's time to catch up. First off, here's a bunch of maildays I've received over the past several days from Ben @ 1988 Fleer, Ryan @ I Heart Halos, Mike @ JD's Wild Cardz and Mike in New Hampshire.

Weekend Update

Just a quick note to mention I have four maildays piled up (from Steve, Ben, Mike and Mike) which I will have videos of when I get back into town after this weekend. Thanks to everyone who sent me cards and I hope to have a nice mail day post up by Sunday or Monday. Thanks!

2009 Topps Baseball Series 2

Mail Day: 6/12/09

Made my first trade with Greg @ Lake Effect Baseball Cards. If anyone reading this has any cards on my want list, feel free to leave a comment or email. I have a bunch of doubles and we might be able to help each other out.

Mail Day: 6/11/09

Some '09 Topps series 2 I needed from Greg @ Night Owl Cards.

2009 Upper Deck Goudey Baseball

Here's a blaster of Goudey I picked up last week.

Mail Day: 6/7/09

Been a busy week at work and I had a bunch of maildays pile up on me. Time to catch up!

2009 Topps Baseball Series 2

2009 Topps Baseball Series 2

Mail Day: 6/1/09

Made a trade with Greg @ Night Owl Cards.

2009 Topps Baseball Series 2

So I was in Target and noticed they have Topps series 2 blasters. The code by the UPC symbol had a "10" in the middle which I think, if memory serves me correctly, means these are the regular white borders and NOT grey retro throwbacks. But not willing to risk it and also realizing that 12 cards for $1.99 is a much better deal than 81 cards for $19.99, I opted for some more loose retail packs instead. Had I known about the whole blaster variation thingy in the first place I would have gladly collected the grey throwbacks this year but since Topps didn't tell anybody until after the cat was out of the bag and didn't properly mark their blasters as such, I am forgoing the whole black-bordered/grey-throwback phenomenon and simply completing my regular old white bordered set. If they actually tell everyone what they are doing next year and mark the product accordingly, I might go for the grey-throwbacks as my Topps set next year. Also, Mario @ Wax Heaven has the scoop on Upper Deck's latest attempt to duplicate Topps' success with Heritage: O-Pee-Chee as a stand alone 500 card grey cardboard retro set with a low price point. I really like the look of these and will be on the look out. This could be the set I've been waiting for.