The other day I walked into a new hobby shop that recently opened near my residence. After talking to the shop owner (and finding out he didn't have any of the cards I was looking for in stock), I decided to "be nice" and purchase a couple of packs of some other brand of cards. I inquired to find out what set might be of interest to me (I enjoy the retro card sets like Topps Heritage, Upper Deck Goudey and Topps Allen and Ginter especially). Since none of my favorite sets were in stock, he recommended I purchase a pack or two of 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes.
I was skeptical at first, especially since buying a mere two packs set me back almost $13.00 (8 cards per pack). However, I bit the proverbial bullet and purchased them figuring what the heck, it's a chance to review a set that I otherwise probably wouldn't have!
Back at home, I opened up the packs and found that the base card design was somewhat pleasing to my eye. The set harkens "back to the day" (meaning early '90s) when Upper Deck had Baseball Hero subsets. I remember one of the first full boxes that I ever got to open was a set of 1992 Upper Deck which happened to have a Baseball Hero subset...so the new set quickly gained some sentimental points from me.
Relatively pleased with my first pack, I cracked my second (and last) pack. It turned out that my second pack was much better.
The Bottom Line:
Overall, (based on a two pack sample size), I give the 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes a 75/100.
Pros: The set appears to be solid with a relatively small base set. To the best of my knowledge, the base set contains no short prints, though it seems like the multi-player cards are seeded about 1 per pack. The different parallels are a bit annoying, but that seems to be the way Upper Deck is doing things this year (the Goudey different colored backs are a more blatant example). I like the fact that the inserts are numbered though, that gives you a rough idea of how "special" or "rare" a card actually is without having to resort to a price guide.
Cons: Why did Upper Deck stop listing odds on their pack wrappers? The first thing I like to do when I pull an interesting card is to see how rare of a pull it was. Upper Deck has completely abandoned printed odds (and I am unable to find them on their website as well). As for the set itself, it is a bit bland for the most part. The Baseball Heroes logo is too large, taking up valuable space on the front of the card. In addition, there are no statistics on the backs of the card - something that I always like (might be the mathematician in me).
The entire contents of my two packs:
I was skeptical at first, especially since buying a mere two packs set me back almost $13.00 (8 cards per pack). However, I bit the proverbial bullet and purchased them figuring what the heck, it's a chance to review a set that I otherwise probably wouldn't have!
Back at home, I opened up the packs and found that the base card design was somewhat pleasing to my eye. The set harkens "back to the day" (meaning early '90s) when Upper Deck had Baseball Hero subsets. I remember one of the first full boxes that I ever got to open was a set of 1992 Upper Deck which happened to have a Baseball Hero subset...so the new set quickly gained some sentimental points from me.
My first pack featured Josh Hamilton (ex-Red), along with a few other decent players (Josh Beckett and Andrew Jones). I also got a nifty multi-player card of Jake Peavy and Bob Gibson.
My first pack also featured an insert card. It was a red back, serially-numbered (out of 249) multi-star card featuring Nolan Ryan, Greg Maddux, and Randy Johnson, three of the best pitchers of all-time.
Relatively pleased with my first pack, I cracked my second (and last) pack. It turned out that my second pack was much better.
I got a Roberto Clemente regular issue card (always nice to get a Clemente card) and multi-player card of Prince Fielder (boo) and Eddie Murray. Not the most exciting pair of players to me personally, but still a nice looking card. Upper Deck added a nice touch with their "retro" players. On the back of each card there is the team logo for the player, but judging from the cards I received, the older players have their teams' corresponding "old" logos on their cards. It's attention to small details like that that convince me whether or not a product is worth the purchase price.
Finally, my pack featured a Game-Used Manny Ramirez Jersey, numbered 190/200 with a light blue background. The Rameriz card is quite nice, especially for a jersey card because the swatch is clearly visible but the card isn't overpowered by the chunk of fabric.
The Bottom Line:
Overall, (based on a two pack sample size), I give the 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes a 75/100.
Pros: The set appears to be solid with a relatively small base set. To the best of my knowledge, the base set contains no short prints, though it seems like the multi-player cards are seeded about 1 per pack. The different parallels are a bit annoying, but that seems to be the way Upper Deck is doing things this year (the Goudey different colored backs are a more blatant example). I like the fact that the inserts are numbered though, that gives you a rough idea of how "special" or "rare" a card actually is without having to resort to a price guide.
Cons: Why did Upper Deck stop listing odds on their pack wrappers? The first thing I like to do when I pull an interesting card is to see how rare of a pull it was. Upper Deck has completely abandoned printed odds (and I am unable to find them on their website as well). As for the set itself, it is a bit bland for the most part. The Baseball Heroes logo is too large, taking up valuable space on the front of the card. In addition, there are no statistics on the backs of the card - something that I always like (might be the mathematician in me).
The entire contents of my two packs:
no Orioles?
ReplyDeleteWell, I can see that ;)
those are some nice cards though
I am glad you posted this. I have been back and forth with myself about buying a box of those cards but I didn't want to and not know what I was getting. You have helped me in that decision making process.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you got quite a few decent cards there.
3rdStone: Yeah, I liked most of 'em!
ReplyDeletetcp: I recommend the set - but if you are hoping to resell I think you are better off with the hobby version. The retail packs seem to come with 1 charcoal version parallel (that is not serially numbered). It's a nice, decent set that appears to be quite easy to put together the base. Good luck getting all the different variations though!
Nice looking cards.
ReplyDelete