2009 Upper Deck Series 2 Value Box

The card section at my local Walmart is an absolute mess. To imagine this, think of everything you see in the card aisle, throw it all into a giant pile, and shove it back on the shelf. Or, maybe even more accurately, think of the Springfield tire fire ...

Actual picture of Walmart's card aisle

Anyway, I was trying to find a rack pack or a jumbo pack of anything interesting since I was in the mood to buy cards. But, alas, it was to no avail as the only things I could find were a few rack packs of basketball cards. I should've stopped there and called it a day. As I was about to give up my search, I looked down to the discount bin and amongst packs of Magic the Gathering and Pokemon strewn about, I saw a value box of 2009 Upper Deck baseball. "How in the heck did that wind up here?" I thought. I saw the price, $3.48 for 75 cards plus a "Starquest" pack, whatever that is. I felt that was justification enough for me to warrant getting it and I tossed it in the cart.

Once I got back home and tended to a few things before the in-laws visited, I had just enough time to tear into it. The 75-card brick was vacuum sealed I guess to prevent damage, not that damage would've hurt 99 percent of them. I thumbed through twice, found a few interesting cards, and put the rest in my sorting box to be paged up.

Here's a handful of the better of the base cards from the brick. The Montero card was the only horizontal card in the batch but I really, really dig it. 

Some cards from the award winners sub-set. I forgot about Cliff Lee's stint in Cleveland so I guess that's one thing that these old value packs can provide, cards of players with teams I'd forgotten they were with.

Three Reds were included in the 75-card brick. Bill Bray was a serviceable reliever for the Reds for a handful of years. I still think the Reds giving up Edison Volquez was a horrible idea.

These "sports" inserts of Derrick Lee and Nolan Ryan. were pretty much the only kind of inserts of any kind in there. 

My favorite base card of the entire box. It's not often that I come across a late career Ken Griffey Jr. card, and it's even less than that when it's a Mariners card. This, right now, becomes my favorite card of Griffey I have in my collection.

So, those are the highlights of the 75-card stack. There was also a three-card pack of Starquest cards. Let's see if I get anything good.

Yep ... just as I feared. Three minor stars. On the back, these are all labeled as "turquoise commons", not exactly best way to close out this box.

So, was this worth the $3.50? Probably not and 95% of the cards in the box I could've lived without but still, it was kind of fun to go back in time and gain some new cards for the collection.

You've Got Mail #52: Infield Fly Rule

I've never been to Colorado but sometimes I have the urge to visit. Denver I hear is a happening place with all manner of wacky restaurants, entertainment, and sports teams. If I ever went, I think the main thing I'd have to do is eat at the Denver Biscuit Company and see either and Avalanche game or a Rockies game. One person who I know had seen his share of Rockies games (but not sure about any Avs games nor am I sure he's ever been to Denver Biscuit) is Adam K. of the Infield Fly Rule blog. Recently, he sent over a box full of Indians cards which helped fill in some gaps in my ever growing collection of Tribe cards.

The contents of the package was a good variety of junk wax stuff up through mid 2000s. The cards show above are all cards I don't have a lot of currently in my collection. I was pretty happy to see some mid-90s Score and while 1992 Donruss isn't exactly my favorite, it was pretty neat to get an Eddie Taubensee Rated Rookie card in there. 

Some more junk wax that will fit in nicely. I really like the photo on the Mark Lewis card as it's him in the uniform of Hamilton High School which is about 20 minutes from where I live. Joe Carter cards of him as an Indian are always welcome too. I've always preferred the 1989 Topps design over 1990 which just seemed a little bland, but there are a few gems in there.

Here's some more recent stuff, including back when Upper Deck was still making baseball cards. I forgot how good the Indians pitching was back when they had C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, and Jake Westbrook. Team cards are always neat and in the future I might make that a mini-collection. Not sure yet. Also, there's a shiny card in the form of Bowman Platinum!

I'll end with some Manny Ramirez cards. I think I've got every Manny rookie card now from the 90s, not that I'll really complain. The middle card is a Sportflics card of some sort, I can't really tell as it didn't scan all that great. This package definitely helped bulk up my Tribe collection, including filling in some much needed stuff from the 2000s. I'm nearly to the point where my Tribe cards will be moved to their own binder sooner rather than later. 

Like I said in the beginning, Colorado seems to be a happening place, just like this trade package. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go make some biscuit sandwiches and watch an Avalanche game, just like they to in Denver.