2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update

   Hello all. We continue through the repack box with an offering from Upper Deck from 08. First Edition was their answer to Topps Opening Day in the lower priced simple set and took it one step further by adding an update set.



2008 Upper Deck First Edition Update

#359 Edgar Renteria (Tigers)

#386 James Loney (Dodgers)

#397 Eric Gagne (Brewers)

#341 Aaron Harang (Reds)

#368 Miguel Tejada (Astros)

#473 Troy Glaus (Cardinals)

#339 Alexei Ramirez RC (White Sox)

#418 Ramon Castro (Mets)

#472 Skip Shumaker (Cardinals)

#SQ-60 Starquest (Common) Vladimir Guerrero (Angels)

The backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 10

Teams Represented: 9
Rookie Cards: 1 (Ramirez)
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 0
Inserts: 1 (Starquest, as promised)
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 2 (Vlad, Castro)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 6.5 out of 10 Good pictures, all action shots, plain design, no foil,  no team logo.
Back Design: 8.5 out of 10 Nice design, team logo, good player info and factoid, full career stats, player picture.
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, all relevant players.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Sacrifice  Fly Out  to center field.  Only 20% keepers and a plain front puts an out in the book but the great backs and Vlad insert moves the runner from second to third.

Don't forget to leave your rating below and feel free to comment your thoughts on the pack.

Thanks For Reading!

1988 Donruss

    Hello all. Today I continue with the repack box and go back to 1988, the heart of the overproduction era.

 

1988 Donruss

 

#288 Jaun Samuel (Phillies)

#156 Julio Franco (Indians)

#629 Dave Hengel (Mariners)

#623 Ed Romero (Red Sox)

#496 Bill Madlock (Tigers)

#365 Luis Quinones (Cubs)

Diamond Kings #13 Shane Rawley (Phillies)

#582 Rene Gonzales (Orioles)

 

#449 John Smiley (Pirates)

#317 Mark Langston (Mariners)

#183 Jack Clark (Cardinals)

#51 Roger Clemens (Red Sox)

 

#157 Charlie Liebrandt (Royals)

#289 Cal Daniels (Reds)

#656 George Bell (Blue Jays)

 #'s 13, 14, 15 Stan Musial Puzzle (Cardinals)

 

Some backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 16

Teams Represented: 13
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 1 (Diamond Kings) 
Parallels: 0
Inserts: 1 (Stan Musial puzzle)
Hits: 0 n/a
Keepers for Me:  1 (Clemens)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 7 out of 10 Good but mostly posed pictures, nice border design, team logo.
Back Design: 7out of 10 Nice layout,  good player info, 3 colors used, only last 5 years + career stats, no pictures, no team logo
Player Selection: 6 out of 10 Decent, mostly known players from that era, only a few stars.

FINAL OVERALL RATING:  Foul pop  Out to the catcher. Only one keeper and an average group of players scores an out. The Clemens makes this pack hardly makes contact.


  Don't forget to leave your thoughts and rating at the bottom.

Thanks For Reading!

2007 Fleer Ultra

    Hello all. Today's pack here on The Cafe marks the half way point (5th pack) of the repack box I have been featuring. 07 Fleer Ultra is the flavor of the day.

2007 Fleer Ultra

#27 Carlos Zambrano (Cubs)

#87 Howie Kendrick (Angels)

#121 Mariano Rivera (Yankees)

#133 Rich Harden (A's)

 Ultra Iron Man #UIM-15 Cal Ripken Jr. (Orioles)

The backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 5

Teams Represented: 5
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 0
Inserts: 1 (Ripken Iron Man) 
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 2 (Mariano, Ripken)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 5.5 out of 10 Good pictures, plain boring design,  no team logo.
Back Design:  6 out of 10 OK design, team logo, full career player stats, good player fact, too much blank space
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, 1 HOFer and 1 sure to be HOFer.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Infield Single. 2 of 5  keepers and a great insert work a hit despite the lower ratings on appearance.


Don't forget to leave your rating at the bottom and feel free to comment.

Thanks For Reading!

2008 Upper Deck X

   Hello all. Today I have pack #4 from the repack box which is 2008 Upper Deck X. This is the only one out of the ten in the box that has been featured here on The Cafe (HERE) so let's see which one is better.

2008 Upper Deck X

#39 Justin Verlander (Tigers)

#60 Joe Mauer (Twins)

   Two big stars off the top!

Die Cut #30 Brandon Phillips (Reds)

Xponential # X-AR Aramis Ramirez (Cubs)

   I really like the Xponential inserts in all their levels.

#10 Nick Markakis (Orioles)

#17 Carlos Zambrano (Cubs)

   A decent finish.

Some backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 6

Teams Represented: 5
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 1 (Die Cut Phillips)
Inserts: 1  (Xponential level 1) 
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 0 (All available)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 7 out of 10 Good pictures, interesting design,  no team logo.
Back Design: 5 out of 10 OK design, team logo, good player factoid, a bit plain and boring
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, all relevant players, some stars.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Fly Out  to center field. No keepers and an average design make this an out. The player selection and the nice looking Xponential insert gets the bat on the ball.

Don't forget to leave your rating at the bottom.

Thanks for Reading!

2008 Upper Deck Timeline

    Hello all. Today I continue with the repack box with a 2008 Upper deck Timeline pack. They say "look for 2 inserts cards in each pack, on average" but they should really call them subsets as all the cards are all numbered in one continuous series. Still nice to know you will get 2 specialty cards in a pack.

2008 Upper Deck Timeline

#38 Travis Hafner (Indians)

#8 Chipper Jones (Braves)

#44 Frank Thomas (A's)

Gold Parallel #38 Travis Hafner (Indians)

92 UD Minors #115 Felix Pie (Cubs) RC

UD Timeless Teams #265 Ryan Braun (Brewers)

Some Backs

     It's good when parallel colors are reflected on the backs of the card as well.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 6

Teams Represented: 5
Rookie Cards: 1 (Felix Pie) 
Sub Sets: 2 (92 UD Minors, UD Timeless Teams)
Parallels: 1 (Gold)
Inserts: 0
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 1 (Frank Thomas) The rest are available

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 6 out of 10 Good action pictures, nice design, good use of team colors, a little bland,  no team logo.
Back Design: 7out of 10 Nice design, team logo, good player info, different picture than front, good player factoids , only career total stats.
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good, stars and good players only.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: 2 out  Single up the middle. A Frank Thomas, a gold parallel, and two inserts (really sub sets) and good overall players scores a single for me.

Don't forget to leave your rating below.

Thanks for Reading!

2008 Topps Opening Day

    Hello all, today I have the second pack from the repack box to present here on the Cafe. I have a pack of 2008 Topps Opening Day. I believe this is the last year they made the cards look different from the flagship set by changing the border color along with adding the Opening Day logo. I wish they would still do that but since they don't I will no longer build the sets. 

2008 Topps Opening Day

#32 Curtis Granderson (Tigers)

#63 Chris Duncan (Cardinals)

no # Mascot Stomper (A's)

#151 Chris Carpenter (Cardinals)

#218 Joey Votto (Reds) RC

# 1 of 1 Checklist

Some backs, the filler card and some 4 year old gum.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 6

Teams Represented: 4
Rookie Cards: 1
Sub Sets: 1 (Checklist)
Parallels: 0
Inserts: 1 (Mascot Tattoo)
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 0 (All are up for grabs)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 6.5 out of 10 Good pictures, nice simple design, no team logo, Same as flagship set with different color border.
Back Design: 7 out of 10 Nice design, good player info, full career stats,  no team logo
Player Selection: 7 out of 10 Good quality players.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Fly Out to center field. Zero  keepers and a checklist that's counted as a card makes an out for this pack. A good player selection and decent design puts the bat on the ball.

Don't forget to leave your rating below.

Thanks For Reading!

2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces (plus a preview)

     Hello all. Today I begin a run of ten packs I got from a repack box I picked up on sale for $7.49 at FYE while picking up some CD's. At 75 cents per pack it should surely be a bargain score.

    With the Turkey Red on front and Masterpieces on back I figured it was already a hit.

    Not a bad selection over all with a nice variety. The only pack already featured in The Cafe is the 08 Upper Deck X so the rest will be new.   First pack up...................

2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces

#69 Chien Ming Wang (Yankees)

#56 Hanley Ramirez (Marlins)

#67 Ryan Zimmerman (Nationals)

#54 Yogi Berra / Jackie Robinson (Yankees / Dodgers)

A couple of backs.

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 4

Teams Represented: 4
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 0
Inserts: 0
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 2 (Wang, Berra/Robinson)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 9 out of 10 Great pictures, excellent design, textured like artwork, nice foil accents,  no team logo.
Back Design: 8 out of 10 Great design, team logo, good player factoid, only last years stats. 
Player Selection: 8 out of 10 Great, 2 HOFer's plus.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: Single over second base. 50%  keepers, from a great looking set works every time.

   Don't forget to leave your rating at the bottom.

Thanks For Reading!

1992 Skybox USA Basketball

   Hello all. Today I rip a pack from 1992 Team USA Basketball. I do not really collect basketball (except for a few Knicks relics and sn'd) so this pack I found in the bargain box at the LCS is for The Cafe readers.

1992 Skybox USA Basketball

#85 John Stockton (Team USA / Jazz)

#6 Charles Barkley (Team USA / Sixers)

#12 Larry Bird (Team USA / Celtics)

#47 Karl Malone (Team USA / Jazz)

#80 David Robinson (Team USA / Spurs)

#23 Patrick Ewing (Team USA / Knicks)

#39 Michael Jordan (Team USA / Bulls)

#39 Chris Mullin (Team USA / Warriors)

Some Backs

BY THE NUMBERS:
Total Cards: 8

Teams Represented: 7 (All on team USA)
Rookie Cards: 0
Sub Sets: 0
Parallels: 0
Inserts: 0
Hits: 0
Keepers for Me: 0 (All available)

MY RATINGS:
Front Design: 7.5 out of 10 Good pictures, all action shots nice design, team USA logo.
Back Design: 6.75 out of 10 Nice layout, interesting facts/stats, wide variety. 
Player Selection: 10 out of 10 Awesome, can't go wrong with this group.

FINAL OVERALL RATING: 3 pointer at the halftime buzzer. (Lead off Double. ) All keepers if I collected basketball, a full boatload of talent, stars, and legends. A can't miss pack.


Don't forget to give your rating at the bottom.

Thanks For Reading!