2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Is Live

Some of the first Philadelphia cards started to pop up on eBay last week, and today, many of the higher dollar cards started to surface as well. The on card signatures look really good, and the cards look like they would be a hit for many of the retro collectors out there. The Philadelphia Signatures are well done, as the full color game photos make these that much better. Usually with retro sets, many of the cards are painted or sketched, which this set also has (with autos), but uncropped action shots are completely underrated. I know most of you feel the same way, when your player cards look more like a Fathead on a background, more than a player on a field. I may have to pick up a few signatures solely for that.

On the other hand, I really dislike that we STILL havent had a UD product in NFL unis. I understand that the on card stuff has no ability for the players to be in rookie premiere garb, but the unsigned stuff has no excuse. I will trade on card sigs for rookies in college uniforms, but I will not accept regular cards at this point of Matt Stafford in a Bulldogs uniform.

I still have no interest in buying boxes of these cards, and still think they would have been better as an insert set, but I can also see the massive appeal this set will have. To see that UD managed to many of these cards hard signed puts this set above any other retro sets this year. We can compare apples to apples when we know that sticker autos are the rule, but when you see the actual exception in practice, it makes all the difference in the world.

Full review will be up tomorrow, more pics as they are posted.

Exclusive Masterpieces Football Preview

Here are copies of the paintings used to create the beautiful base cards that are coming in Upper Deck's Masterpieces Football. Gregg was kind enough to send over some of the cross generational pictures they are featuring, and I must say, they are beautiful works of art. Bravo on these.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE)

My favorites are the Tarkenton/Peterson one, the Sanders/Swann one, and the Manning Unitas one. Also, its funny to see Montana with hair like a 70s porn star. DYN-O-MITE.