Mail Day (aka Oh, Peachy Keen eBay!!)

The week always starts better for me when envelopes appear in the mailbox. Today was a purchase from eBay that, while taking some time to get here, nevertheless arrived. Today's package also helped me finally decide what to do about the whole "to build or not to build" question.

Five more cards arrived today that puts me closer to completion of the O-Pee-Chee Baseball Preview Insert cards from Series 2 Upper Deck. So far, all of the cards I have seen from the preview set have been what I had hoped for the actual release. No posed/portrait photos and definitely no frighten-the-children-make-me-uncomfortable, look-very-creepy-kind-of-stalker-unibomberish close-up head shots.

The first two out of the envelope are two of the best catchers in the majors, Joe Mauer and Russel Martin.


The last three cards feature Jose Reyes, Daisuke and Jimmy Rollins. Why has no one adopted the "single-name" address of Daisuke like they have Ichiro? I think I might start a movement to do just that. If it takes then the next person to be treated to the "single-name" treatment should be someone with the plainest name in the majors. I just find it kind of ridiculous.


So, as I said earlier I finally made a decision about whether or not I will build this O-Pee-Cheap knock-off. I am going to finish the insert set of what should have been. From the actual release I will only collect certain players and all Blue Jays and Cubs players. I will post a list of traders in the near future and if anyone has doubles to offer up of Jays, Cubs or players bunting please let me know.

Sorry UD, I want you to know that I REALLY tried to make this work. I tried to find a way to accept you for who you are but in the end I think I just am incapable of this. I guess what I am trying to say is, it's not you it's me. Let's just leave it at that and I'll call you sometime. Okay?

Cheers,

OPC Baseball - Best of the Rest

I finally got around to opening and scanning the last three packs of 2009 Upper Deck/O-Pee-Chee Disappointment...err....Baseball I purchased on Tuesday. I am in agreement with some of the complaints I have read on other blogs about the few too many cards per pack here. Six cards does seem to be a bit weak when the set is 600 cards. I guess the thought process here is maximize the spending the customer needs to put out to build this thing.

Anyway, here is the last 3 packs of my purchase;

Pack#3

#290 - Carlos Delgado NYM
#145 - Alex Gordon KCR
#337 - Kevin Slowey MIN (P.O.S. Parallel)
#572 - Bobby Parnell NYM (SP Rookie)
#431 - Travis Metcalf TEX
#287 - Gregg Zaun BAL


So far, my favorite card of the set came in this pack;


Every pack has at least 1 SP card. I guess the final 100 are SP. This one was from the 'Rookie' subset.


Pack#4

#361 - Ted Lilly CHC
#396 - Marlon Byrd TEX
#381 - Scott Kazmir TBR (P.O.S. Parallel)
20th Anniversary Insert #1009 - Michael Jordan has the flu......whoopie.
#547 - Johan Santana NYM caught in a "moment" (SP)
#49 - Jeremy Guthrie BAL

My first O-Pee-Chee Cubbie;


I'm only posting this because it looks as though Upper Deck told Scott about their plan to cave to Topps without notifying the people paying for their product and how it somehow makes good business sense.

Scott laughs at this notion UD.


MJ had the sniffles and all he got to show for it was cardboard immortality.


And lastly, the SP of this pack. Take a "moment" and have a look.


Pack#5

#188 - Vernon Wells TOR
#283 - Ryan Shealy KCR
#197 - Juan Rivera ANA
#511 - Diamondbacks Team Checklist (P.O.S. Parallel/SP)
#542 - Strikeout Leaders (SP Leaders)
#151 - Brad Hawpe COL

My first O-Pee-Chee Blue Jay


Once again, just to be absolutely clear on this. I love the base set design, everything about it. Especially the colour scheme on the Jays cards. They will probably be the best looking team set released this year by any company. I just hope UD understands what they have done by dropping the promised parallel set. And, with that being said, I too will now drop the subject from now on.

I like these checklist cards immensely.


and last, but by no means least, the short print card of the pack featuring the Top 15 strikeout leaders from 2008 on the back and the Top 3 on the front.


Looking at the back of this card I had no idea how many MLB teams have had their names Trademarked or Registered. It is truly a sign of the different times we now live in.

If anyone is actually going to put together the parallel set drop me a line and I can keep whatever I get aside for you. I will be building the base set and probably parallel team sets of the Blue Jays and Cubs. As always my traders will be listed on the right-hand side of my blog.

Cheers,

OPC Baseball Goes Live (aka Upper Deck "Blacks" Down From Topps)

Here we are, June 16th and I was as excited as a excited could be. Upper Deck were going live with their OPC Baseball Product which from the previews looked great and the chase of another parallel set was on the horizon for me. I counted down the hours until I could leave my one campus of employment and stop by a conveniently placed card shop in between my other campus of employment and crack some of the highly anticipated packs.

Pack #1 goes like this......


#345 - RHP from the CWS Bobby Jenks

I like the design, I like the posed photo, I like the OPC logo and the position inside the baseball. I like it all. I like the grey backs, I like the upright stats. All-in-all a pleasing design and a cool looking card.

Let's have a look at card #2.........shall we????

WTF??!!??

Okay, wait a second. What the H...E...double-hockey sticks is this??
Card #445 from the Mariners Felix Hernandez with a black border.

Okay, Upper Deck, c'mere a second. I got something to talk to you about.

Way back when you first touted this set you got me and a whole bunch of retro-addicted collectors all excited with the release of this promo ;


I understand that when you first showed this to the world a certain company got their collective panties in a bunch and decided to legally "ask" you to not do this. However, you did seem to have the rights to do so based on my minimalist understanding of the situation. For myself the only reason I considered tackling this set was for the fun of piecing together the insert parallel set that looked so cool. I am 3/4's of the way through what you did with the hockey set and am looking forward to when it is complete. This turn of event however has dampened what were once lofty hopes.

I understand in the grand scheme of things the place that this takes but I am not comparing this to anything other than itself. I feel you should have had the stones to pursue the matter against Topps, regardless if it pushed back the release of the set. Would the publicity of the whole asinine situation not have been worth it? Ask Vince McMahon about cheap exploitation disguised as hype.

Anyway, suffice it to say I am terribly disappointed in this. However, there is a silver lining. I will be purchasing much less of this product, thus enabling me to purchase even more of the Topps T206 100th Anniversary release later on this year.

Okay, end of rant....back to the pack.

I have pulled only 3 of these 20th Anniversary Upper Deck monstrosities but all three have been welcome additions, this is one of the best, imho;


Card# 1004 - Tiger in his Sunday Reds...think I will try to TTM this.

Next up is another great design.


#554 - Joe Mauer having a "moment" from June 22, 2008.

Next up is another of the base player cards and another classic baseball card pose.


#167 - Kansas City's David DeJesus.

Have I said recently how much I like the card backs on these? Oh, I have? Okay, just checking. If you get a chance check 'em out, they're good.

And finally the last card in the pack. However, I am a bit concerned because I either just happened to get a pack of similar style cards or Upper Deck had some time to spend getting photos for this set. Here's ANOTHER posed card;


#174 - Omar Vizquel.

Omar's stats on the back are listed from '99 to '08. I wonder if all "veterans" have a maximum of 10 years listed.

So, as you can see Upper Deck has delivered on their promise of an excellent base set with an attractive design more than exciting enough for me to tackle the 600-card set.
However, the cheap way they folded their tent and relented on, what I believed to be, the highly anticipated parallel set is too bad. I was looking forward to it but now I can only see myself collecting players, team sets and, if any, my personal sub-set.

With some questions left unanswered I will have to crack the rest of the packs I bought and see just what Upper Deck has done. I'll post another over at A Pack To Be Named Later if it hasn't already been done.

Cheers,

Mail Day (aka Western Canada Delivers)

Pulling into the driveway after a long, busy, grueling day listening to people whine and complain over the most mundane of issues I was looking forward to a glass of Johnny Walker's finest, putting my feet up and watching the battle of Pennsylvania.

Being greeted at the door by two of the most affection-starved animals on the planet, to hear them tell it, has a way of wiping away the day. So do bubble-mailers!!

Straight from Calgary, Alberta from the hands of the curator of Waxaholic came the very first blog inspired trade for me. 14 more cards designated for the monstrous 800 card OPC Hockey set undertaken this season.


Judging by the sheer fun and challenge that building both the base and parallel set of this issue has been I cannot wait until the Baseball release and starting all over again.

I have to admit that of all the recent expansion teams jerseys the Minnesota Wild appeal to me the most.


Thanks for the help Captain and I'll be getting your package out in the coming days. I'm searching for something specific for you and remembering where it is has become more of a challenge than I anticipated.

One of the things I truly appreciate is when people go the extra mile and do certain things "just because". It doesn't have to be a grand gesture just one that is unexpected. Coupled in with his shipment were two packs that I will be putting aside for a rainy day or when I need to "scratch the itch", so to speak.


While on the subject of unopened packs I recently rediscovered my shoebox of unopened wax. I will be going through it and posting some and maybe opening others. There is one pack in particular that I will be looking for serious input on as to its future.