First Look: 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces FB

I had a feeling that this was coming, and to tell you the truth, Im pretty impressed. This set was immensely popular with Baseball collectors, and this should be no exception. The cards are all put on canvas like board and the pictures seem like paintings.

The only problem with this set is that UD has paralleled it to shit, AGAIN, and that leaves me with a bad taste in my mouth. What happened to regular and gold, again? Oh right, the 1990s happened.

Overall, pretty cool, really the only set I would ever think of collecting.

First Look: 2008 Gridiron Gear Football

One of my favorite sets from last year is back, and it looks fucking sweet. I like the stone design for this and you know that things are going to rock when you get the dual and triple patches going with the autos. Personally, this could be a front runner for sets of the year as the designs for the gridiron signatures and and the NFL teams signatures has also been updated. AWESOME.

Quick Review: 2008 Football Heroes

I dont really know much about this product, and really its not that interesting to me, but it is live, so Ill give you some quick impressions of it.

First off, the RCs are all in their college jerseys, AGAIN, but honestly, that is offset by the on card sigs. The only problem I have here is that this SHOULD be a veteran based set. There should not be RCs in this. Too bad they couldnt have replaced the RC sigs with a set based on the Montana auto from 1991 football.

If you remember, these were insert cards over the years from different UD products, and some of them were really cool. Does that mean they should get a whole set? No. I like the style of these for an insert auto set in a bigger product, but not as a stand alone, especially when all the RC products post Classics should have RCs in NFL jerseys.

Lastly, they have these painting cards as a subset that look pretty cool and they probably have some cuts too. Overall, ill wait for Premier because that is the first big set of the year, as it seems.

There is one thing I do want to say, and maybe Gregg can touch on this when I talk to him later, but it seems like UD products are really getting stale outside of Premier, SPA and Exquisite. Granted, you dont need much more than that, as those are your bread and butter, but UD could really use some cool stuff. Icons, Rookie Threads, and even Premier are not enough for us to make it through the drab beginnings of the football card year until SPA and Exquisite hit shelves. At least we have LCM, Grid Gear, and Limited to pass the time.

Matt LaPorta Is My Worst Nightmare

Im kinda sick right now, I think I just inherited all the Cheeseburgers that the Captain left behind in the American League when he was traded to the Brewers for Matt "Babies Are a Snack For Me" LaPorta. Personally, I cant understand why you do this trade if you are the Brewers unless you have the money somewhere to sign him. He is going to cost 100 mil plus, so you better start getting out the checkbooks. Basically, you have traded your future OF bomber for half a year of a guy that hasnt been ALL THAT GOOD for the first half of the season. The Captain has shown flashes of his Cy year, but he has also cemented his status as a BIG FAT BABY as well. Plus, he may pull a "Johan" and not adjust well to National League style of play.

EDIT: Johan is still the man, I made a stat lookup mistake on the Mets' website. My bad.



On the other side of the trade you have Matt LaPorta, who in all seriousness will be much better than Corey Hart, but will still take a few years of polish before he can start. Ryan Braun is your Left Fielder for the next hundred years, so you have to put him in right or in center. He isnt much of a center type of guy, so I would say they wouldnt have groomed him that way. LaPorta has a huge-mongous bat and has clobbered AA pitching at a .286/20HR/66RBI clip. For a second year guy, thats huge(mongous).

Sidenote: As Cleveland has a GLARING hole at LaPorta's position, I have a feeling this guy will be a Magglio in the Twins' side. Or at the very least, a Casey Blake. I can only fathom how many moonshots he will hit in the Dome or whatever the new park will be called.

Now, here is the situation that I may do this trade:

It is a day before the deadline and you are a first place team ahead by 5 or less games, and you know the team behind you has a lot of fire power to close that ground. You know that if you can get good pitching (the key to championships) you will be able to hold and extend your lead. You sacrifice your top prospect, but you make the playoffs instead. You will get 5 draft picks in the first 35 if Sabathia and Sheets walk at the end of the year, though most likely they will be Yankees or Red Sox picks in the lower half of the first round.

See, thats the thing, I dont see the Brewcrew making it to the playoffs ahead of the Cubs, Cardinals, Rockies, etc. etc. Can you imagine what will happen though if they indeed dont make it? Chaos, as they have traded away a God for some cheeseburgers.

Card wise, I see a huge jump for LaPorta's stuff as the JCs will no doubt fight it out over his shit now that he has garnered national attention. I mean, his sick MOJO CARDZ must be awesome if the tribe was willing to give up the captain for him...

CC has never sold well, mainly because he is a BFB, but also because he has only had one amazing year. Look at Johan Santana, his cards sell for bunk because he is(was) a small market guy with a team that never did anything (other than win 3 straight division titles and 2 Cy youngs). Plus, as I always say, chicks (and Joe Collectors) dig the long ball, and pitchers dont hit home runs.

I Was Misinformed, But This Is Twice As Stupid

So the LA times posted the wrong rosters yesterday. But, I would much rather have those rosters than the new pieces of crap.

The reason I am so shocked is because Jason Varitek has been named as a reserve. Jason Varitek, the guy who is putting up .219AVG, 7HR, 27RBI, .289SLG, .661OPS. You have got to be fucking kidding me. He should be disqualified. Maybe he will get injured and someone who actually deserves it will be named instead of the stupid ones usually voted in by the idiot fans.

From Real Sports Blog:

Jason Varitek is the most recent All-Star to make our list. The Red Sox catcher entered Monday night's game hitting just .219, in the midst of a terrible 12-for-92 (.130) slump and had more strikeouts (70) than hits (53). Varitek was selected to the team by other players, something that slightly embarrassed him, even though he says, “Cut out the last three weeks and I’d be OK.” Not quite. 'Tek is just 15-for-113 with 38 strikeouts since May 21, and as of Sunday night, over the same length of schedule and assuming a minimum of 100 plate appearances, San Francisco Giants shortstop Omar Vizquel was the only major leaguer who had hit for a lower average (.108) than Varitek (.133).

Happy Fucking 4th Of July From SCU

I cant tell you how awesome it is to have a day like this off. Its fucking gorgeous. Got the brats and beer goin' and flowin' so you know its going to rock.

I wanted to give a special hat tip to reader Dan who is stationed all the way over in Iraq and still seems to collect cards despite being in a war zone. Days like this wouldnt be possible without guys like Dan, so thanks for the email, and keep on doin' what your doin'. Our thoughts are with you!

First Look: 2008 Topps Sterling

Well, here we go ladies and gents, the best baseball product of the year is up.

350 dollars a box this year for the same stuff as last year. The checklist is huge, and features most of the guys from the new legends deal that Topps has. Kinda sucks that the price has gone up to compensate, but it looks like the current guys have been removed and replaced with the likes of Lou Gherig and an ominous TBD where Babe Ruth will go.

I love this product, only because it is really the only true high end baseball product out there that seems cool to open. Without the current players it seems like it will be EVEN MORE fun as now you can pull some huge fucking hits, including the 1/1 jumbo letters, swatches, etc from last year. This is going to rock.

Here is the checklist (pictures when I have the sell sheet in hand):

Ernie Banks
Johnny Bench
Yogi Berra
George Brett
Roy Campanella
Roberto Clemente
Ty Cobb
Joe DiMaggio
Whitey Ford
Jimmie Foxx
Lou Gehrig
Bob Gibson
Tony Gwynn
Rogers Hornsby
Reggie Jackson
Harmon Killebrew
Mickey Mantle
Roger Maris
Don Mattingly
Paul Molitor
Thurman Munson
Eddie Murray
Stan Musial
Mel Ott
Jim Palmer
Cal Ripken
Frank Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Nolan Ryan
Ryne Sandberg
Mike Schmidt
Tom Seaver
Duke Snider
Honus Wagner
Ted Williams
Carl Yastrzemski
Robin Yount
TBD

2008 Donruss Classics Redemption Info

Just so everyone knows, if you pull a redemption from classics this year, it will not expire yesterday as stated on the card. Instead, it will expire, as expected in January 2010. So, if you want that Steve Slaton or Sedrick Ellis Auto, go ahead.

Just an FYI

Chris Cooley Collects Cards, Has A Bangin Wife

I read Chris Cooley's blog because of his exploits with Clinton Portis and because he is the Pat Neshek of the football world.

Today I found out that he gets the itch as well...

...Not that kind.

He wrote about it on his now infamous blog, and not suprisingly, he had no problem spending a lot of money busting some boxes. Granted, he has the money so it doesnt really fucking matter. Either way, I would read the post because its kind of funny, but more importantly, he pulled an All Day out of Chirography that isnt a bad card. Thats the way to get back into the hobby, huh?

I wish I had his luck...

...and his wife.