Product Review: 2008 SP Legendary Cuts

Hello all. Charlie here, in my first post as SCU's baseball guy/indentured servant. So, lets take a look at Upper Deck's Legendary Cuts offering for 2008.

The facts:

- 12 packs per box
- 4 cards per pack
- $9.99 a pack SRP - Although you should be able to get a box for $95.00 on eBay.
- 4 memorabilia cards per box on average
- 3 cuts signature cards per case, including 1 mystery cut redemption
- 2 on-card autographs per case, including duals
- 2 supposed 1/1's per case, but I'll get to that later

The Good:

- You only have a 30% chance of pulling an autograph from a box. Yes, I said that's a good thing. In fact, I think it's one of the best things about this product. Instead of getting 3 sticker autos of Joe Koshansky, Nyjer Morgan, and Daric Barton, you actually have a chance to get a cut or hard signed autograph of a deceased, HOF, superstar, or at the very least a semi-star player.



And, incredibly, it may actually hold some value since they are somewhat scarce.

- Set collectors will enjoy the fact that there are only 100 cards in the base set. However, at 48 cards per box, you may have to buy a few boxes to complete a set.

- The checklist is absolutely incredible, including the game-used and autos. Upper Deck has access to a wide range of superstars, HOFer's, and retired and deceased players including: Roger Maris, Nolan Ryan, Mike Schmidt, Gaylord Perry, Robin Yount, Ryne Sandberg, and my guy, Andre Dawson.



- The cut autos, which are obviously the whole point of this product. UD has done a good job of acquiring some really nice, clean signatures. I did see a picture of Ted Williams cut up, but overall they did pretty well. And you really do have a legitimate chance of getting 1 without spending $1,000.



The Bad:

- The SP's. There are an additional 100 short-printed cards #'d to 550 that include historical figures, and retired players. If you consider them to be part of the base set, then this might piss you off. Personally, I don't give a rat's ass if I don't pull a Thomas Edison or Brigham Young in my box of baseball cards. However, there's obviously a market for this stupid shit, so UD and Topps continue to include them in their baseball products. Oh well.

- The memorabilia cards. Since this is all you may end up with in your box, I think they could have done a much better job with them. The dual player material cards aren't too bad as there are some decent pairings, but the single player cards are pretty terrible. Almost every card I've seen for sale on The Marketplace has a plain white or gray piece of jersey. From what I can tell, there are very few pinstripes or distinguishing features. Doesn't UD realize we get enough of this shit in the yearly base sets? I'm not asking for a patch, but if all I'm going to get out of my box is jersey cards, give em a little personality! And god forbid they should have any secondary market value.

The Ugly:

- Parallels, parallels, parallels. Holy shit! I know UD and Topps like to parallel the fuck out of everything, but c'mon. Blue, green, violet, gray, dark blue, dark gray, and all with varied numbering. The best part is that you can pull a grey parallel #'d to 10, and it still has a plain white piece of jersey. Wtf?? I guess the good part for me and other player collectors is that you can pick up one of each parallel of your guy for about the cost of a hobby box. But how many plain fucking jersey cards do you really need?

- The supposed 1/1's. I alluded to these before. They are supposed to be seeded 2 per case. The problem is, all they are is a fucking base card with a little cut out window that has a memorable moment for that particular player printed out on a regular piece of white paper. So it's a 1/1 you say. Who gives a shit I say. Printing Plates weren't bad enough. Then UD Premier brought us 1/1 base cards. Now we have these turds floating around the pool. Whoopee!! This time next year, you'll have 1/1's in your commons box!



Overall I wouldn't put this in the lotto box category since the price point isn't too bad. However, for $95 you could end with some base, a few SP's, and 4 really shitty but colorful jersey cards. If you pull an auto or 1 of the cuts, then you may get your money's worth. Personally, I don't need a box, as I plan on just picking up singles on the Bay.

Overall Grade: B-