New pages and a stack of mail!

The news:

First, I want to let all you tons of people out there desperate for my 2009 Upper Deck page that it's posted. Okay, so that may only be a couple of you, but look at the list for some trade bait. And I still need help finishing my 2011 Topps Series 1 set.

Also, I posted a page listing players I need single cards of for my awards/leaders collection. Looking to find something you can offer me in a trade? Easy! Just find a card for a player off that list! I'm not picky about what set the card is from (10 1987 Topps Barry Bonds?!) as long as the player is by himself (no Diamond Duos or anything). I'm not too interested in relics or autographs for that collection though. I do have a page of autographs I'm looking for.

Funny thing is, I'm making this post now, but I'll be reworking some of the pages, since I can only have a total of 10 unique pages. I think I'll work individual set lists into posts? Or maybe just one page. I'm not sure.

Soon-to-be-fun news: I've got a couple boxes on the way, and I'm looking at doing a fairly cheap group break. I'll have retail boxes of 2010 Topps, 2010 Topps Update, and 2010 National Chicle, so there's a slim possibility for hits, and plenty of strange inserts. I think we're looking at a maximum of $10 for the first team and $8 each additional, which I think is pretty good for three boxes from last year. There should be a good show next weekend and if I can find something decent with a couple hits I might grab that and add it to the stack (which might add a few more bucks to the total, or not). Maybe a 2010 Upper Deck hobby box?

Last piece of news: I have a 2011 Opening Day blaster that I'll be opening tomorow. Many of the cards will be for trade! And I have some repackaged packs for later in the week, especially if I can't find any Heritage.

Anyway, on to the eBay mail!

I've had family in town all week, and when they come it can be exhausting. I slept in until noon today, and for the first time since moving to California, the mail was here before I was awake. I found two boxes on the porch to add to the small stack from the past few days.

First, my 1998 Upper Deck set is finished with the arrival of a complete series 1 set. I also picked up (from a different seller) the 2003 Update set. Sure, these things aren't valuable, but I found a good deal.

Some other minor inserts were bundled with the Update set - a Pee Wee Reese Wingfield Collection card from 2004 Upper Deck, a Ballparks card from 1996 Summit (Paul Wilson is a gigantic man sitting on top of a tiny right-center field wall and he's almost stepping on the third baseman!), a 1993 Studio Heritage insert of Juan Gonzalez, Jim Thome on a Christie Brinkley Collection card (I love this insert set), and the jewel of the group, a Jules Asner Fans of the Game card from 2004 Leather and Lumber. I loved watching E!'s Wild On when she was host. She has pretty much fallen from the face of the earth since the release of this card. I still wouldn't mind having an autographed version though.

Next was a stack of 60 Years of Topps cards. The seller threw in an '08 Heritage Bryan Lahair, '09 Heritage Joe Nathan, '09 UD 1st Edition Yunel Escobar, '08 UD Buddy Carlyle, and an airbrushed 2001 Armour Stars card of Roger Clemens for free! I don't have much use for the Heritage and UD cards, but the Armour card will fit into my big collection!

Next, one of the elusive UD Authentics Baseball Heroes cards of A-Rod. These things are usually overpriced for a set of which there are nearly 2000 issued of each card. I need several Griffeys and A-Rods and all the Ichiros. Slowwwww going. I also found two of the last three inserts from the 1993 UD All-Time Heroes set, and picked up my first 1948 Bowman card. Okay, the border is chewed away on the lower left side and the set itself isn't spectacular, but it's the first Bowman set, the first post-war set from a major manufacturer, and it's relatively easy to complete at only 48 cards. I'm not concerned with condition and I'm going to try to put this set together as cheaply as possible - this card cost me about a buck.Yogi and Stan will be tough to afford but the rest are possible over time. (Please don't give me an argument on how there were other sets made before '48 but after the war, and how the '49 Bowman and Leaf sets are the first real, major post-war sets - I picked this one for value reasons, and hey, it's the first post-war set listed in Beckett, so it works for me.) Oh, and Bill Rigney was born nearby in Alameda! On my birthday (59 years before I was)!

That's it for this week!

2009 Upper Deck Series 1 box break. The finale!

Finally! This has been the longest box break I've ever done. Okay, so it's the only one I've done on the blog, and all the posting takes longer, but since I got my three hits in the first six packs, it's been slow going ever since. I'm hoping for something extra in these last four packs, but I doubt it.

Meanwhile, here's a quick recap of the first 12 packs:

Total cards (20x4) = 240 + 2 jerseys

Cards for base set = 77

Cards for insert set = 6

Cards for awards/leaders = 25

Extra cards = 117

Extra inserts = 14

Extra jerseys and autos = 3

So here we go, the last four packs.

Pack 13 (the lucky one).

Base: 341 Jose Lopez, 314 Trevor Hoffman, 326 Aaron Rowand, 309 Jack Wilson, 217 Bill Hall, 251 John Maine, 268 Jorge Pasada, 433 Mets Team Leaders, 401 David Price, 491 Nick Markakis, 470 J.D. Drew, 186 Ervin Santana, 123 Jeff Francis, 144 Andrew Miller, 60 Jeff Samardzija, 81 Paul Konerko, 18 Mike Hampton, 53 Jason Varitek

Inserts: 20th Anniversary 274 Don Mattingly, Historic Predictors NL Wins the All-Star Game

Notes: Finally, a predictor I need! And a whole bunch of base for my set and awards. This was a lucky pack. Except for the lack of, say, an autographed '89 Griffey Jr. rookie card.

Pack 14.

Base: 307 Ryan Doumit, 354 Cesar Izturis, 324 Matt Cain, 358 B.J. Upton, 261 Derek Jeter, 227 Joe Mauer, 244 Carlos Delgado, 285 Emil Brown, 486 Matt Holliday, 440 Indians Team Leaders, 427 James Parr, 163 Mike Aviles, 142 Jeremy Hermida, 193 Chad Billingsley, 130 Gary Sheffield, 67 Geovany Soto, 4 Dan Haren, 32 Ramon Hernandez

Inserts: Stars of the Game Hanley Ramirez, O-Pee-Chee Hanley Ramirez, UD Game Jersey Corey Hart

Notes: How about that? Another jersey. I'll take it, even if it just an '80s heartthrob. Oh, he's a player? Oh, okay. But I don't need this card. Another Brewers jersey for another Brewers fan. And what's up with two Hanley Ramirez inserts in the same pack?

Pack 15.

Base: 346 Adam Kennedy, 363 Carlos Pena, 312 Jake Peavy, 397 Wily Mo Pena, 283 Daric Barton, 249 Pedro Martinez, 232 Delmon Young, 452 Braves Team Leaders, 420 Casey McGehee, 408 Travis Snider, 472 Chase Utley, 200 Andruw Jones, 102 Joey Votto, 137 Justin Verlander, 172 Billy Butler, 46 Josh Beckett, 88 Bobby Jenks, 25 Brian McCann

Inserts: 20th Anniversary 269 Jim Thome, O-Pee-Chee Alfonso Soriano

Notes: I actually have an extra 20th Anniversary. Never thought that would happen.

Pack 16. The end.

Base: 394 Chad Cordero, 377 Hank Blalock, 329 Bengie Molina, 210 Clayton Kershaw, 234 Craig Monroe, 300 Jamie Moyer, 266 Melky Cabrera, 484 Manny Ramirez TC, 466 Derek Jeter, 432 Phillies Team Leaders, 179 Torii Hunter, 116 Todd Helton, 158 Ty Wigginton, 165 Zack Greinke, 95 Brandon Phillips, 74 Jon Lieber, 39 Jay Payton, 11 Max Scherzer

Inserts: 2008 Documentary 4948 Rays/Phillies, Rivals Daisuke Matsuzaka/Nick Markakis

Total cards (20x4) =80+1 jersey/320 + 3 jerseys

Cards for base set = 43/120

Cards for insert set = 2/8

Cards for awards/leaders = 9/34

Extra cards = 21/138

Extra inserts = 6/19

Extra jerseys and autos = 1/4

Summary: I pulled an extra jersey, but there was nothing special in the box as far as hits. That's a shame - that's what I really needed. It didn't have to really be a big hit, just anything but what I pulled. Out of the 323 total cards pulled, I needed 162, and have available for trade 162. Wait, that can't be right. Well, I think I counted the auto in the inserts too, so I adjusted the total above. So I ended up on top, 162-161. But the hits weren't needed. If you want any of the red-texted cards in this series of posts I'll trade for any of my needs. The new 2009 Upper Deck want list page is available if you have singles from this set.

We interrupt this box break for a pack break!

The rest of the 2009 Upper Deck Series 1 box break is coming up later today, but while at Target earlier this week looking for some Heritage I poked through the "value pack" box (you know, 99-cent and and $1.59 packs). I grabbed four packs - three 2009 Upper Deck Series 2 packs and one 2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom pack. Because I want to include the UD cards in the page of wants/needs I'm posting/opening this stuff now. Enjoy!

2009 UD 2 Pack 1:
803 Ryan Madson, 629 Ian Stewart, 747 Matt Guerrier, 858 Bryan LaHair, 591 Mark Buehrle, 698 Scot Shields, 990 Vernon Wells, 950 James McDonald, 1006 Ryan Perry SP, 983 Felipe Lopez, 877 Brendan Ryan, 697 Reggie Willits, 822 Sean Burnett, 581 Alexei Ramirez, 800 Chad Durbin, 701 Danny Ardoin
Inserts: Starquest Emerald Super Rare #40 Francisco Liriano, 20th Anniversary #1114 Nomar Garciaparra

2009 UD 2 Pack 2:
787 Rajai Davis, 829 Heath Bell, 898 Evan Longoria, 666 Carlos Lee, 742 Brian Buscher, 626 Todd Helton, 505 Augie Ojeda, 810 Greg Dobbs, 804 Chan Ho Park, 974 Scott Olsen, 890 Matt Joyce, 994 Mike Jacobs, 772 Edwar Ramirez, 892 Willy Aybar, 542 Melvin Mora, 590 Octavio Dotel, 696 Mike Napoli
Insert: Starquest Silver Common #35 Cole Hamels

2009 UD 2 Pack 3: 865 Felix Hernandez, 588 Jim Thome, 691 Kendry Morales, 902 Josh Hamilton, 878 Albert Pujols, 708 Jason Schmidt, 826 Ross Ohlendorf, 516 Mike Gonzalez, 970 Geovany Soto, 700 Manny Ramirez, 944 Elvis Andrus, 770 Nick Swisher, 763 David Wright, 532 Jim Johnson, 748 Joe Nathan, 644 Zach Miner, 929 Shawn Hill
Insert: Starquest Silver Common #45 Jonathan Papelbon. Also, UpperDeckU.com spam and one of those anti-theft tags.

Well, it was nice pulling the 20th Anniversary card, and the Super Rare Starquest. The only kind of Starquest I actually need is the Common Purple. So if anyone wants to trade one of their common purples for one of my common silvers, make that offer. I'll add the extras from these packs to the Upper Deck page I'm posting later today.

Now for the Ticket to Stardom pack. I never opened any of this in 2009. I guess based on the odds I'm looking for the Ticket Stubs Plus 2 Gold Parallel. Let's hope for the best.

• 85 Mark Teixeira
• 65 Jorge Cantu
• 62 Cameron Maybin
• 187 A.J. Burnett perforated
• 196 B.J. Upton
• 47 Jay Bruce
• 111 Carlos Beltran
• 155 Jered Weaver

All my non-italicized base are belong to trade. I needed the perforated card for my big collection and the others for the awards collection.

Stay tuned for more excitement!