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Topps Lineage Group Break: 2010 UD - Packs 19 and 20: PACK WARS!

Oh man, I've been really busy with my new puppy.  If I had known that I would be getting a puppy I definitely would not have decided to do a group break...  Both take up a lot of time, but since I did do a group break I'll try to sneak in as many posts as I can...as quickly as I can.  Please, be a bit patient though...after all, I did spend Thursday night sleeping on the floor next to the puppies crate so that she wouldn't whine or cry (and, more importantly, so that my wife could sleep soundly since she works all summer and I don't)!

Anyhow, you don't care about my life - you care about the cards.  So it's cards you shall see.  Let's have another Pack War shall we?  Only, this time, let's judge each pair of cards on a legal scale.  That is, I will pick the "winner" of each pair of cards by determining which card shows MORE team logos.  After all, Upper Deck isn't supposed to show logos since they are unlicensed, let's see how it goes:

Alright, here we go:

(Pack 19 is first, Pack 20 is second - but you knew that already):

Packs 19 & 20:

 Delmon Young (Twins) vs. Justin Upton (Diamandbacks)
A solid start for Upper Deck, nothing illegal showing on the Young card but half the D-backs logo is on Upton's jersey in the photo.  (0 - 0.5)

Note:  Hell yes I'm using decimals.  I'm a math teacher.  Deal with it.  Back to the cards.

Baltimore Checklist (Orioles) vs. Philadelphia Checklist (Phillies)

I see 2/3rds of an Oriole on Jones' helmet plus half a bird on Uehara's hat, so that's 1.1 points for pack 1.  I see about two-thirds of the Phillies "P" on Ultely's hat but nothing really on Howard's helmet, 0.5 points for pack 2.  (1.2 - 1)

AT&T Park (Giants) vs. U.S. Cellular Field (White Sox)
I got to visit U.S. Cellular Field this summer, a decent ballpark but I can't say I walked away overly impressed.  The Brewers' park was much, much nicer!  No logos here by the way, so the score remains 1.2 - 1.

Clay Buchholz (Red Sox) vs. Brandon Phillips (Reds)
I see the full B on Buchholz's hat plus "BOS" on his shirt.  I guess Boston is allowed so that's 1 point for the hat only.  For Phillips, I see the full Reds logo on his arm patch plus half the C on his hat, that's 1.5 total.  (2.2 - 2.5)

Taylor Teagarden (Rangers) vs. Luis Perdomo (Padres)
I see the full Texas T on Teagarden's helmet.  For pack 2, I don't see any logos at all (kudos Upper Deck).  (3.2 - 2.5)

Jason Hammel (Rockies) vs. David Aardsma (Mariners)
I see Hammel's hat sporting a full CR logo while I see half the Seattle "S" on Aardsma's hat.  (4.2 - 3.0)

Reggie Willits (Angels) vs. Paul Janish (Reds)
I don't see enough to count on the Willits card but I see the Reds baseball man logo on Janish's shirt sleeve.  I think that is trademarked as well.  (4.2 - 4.0)

Robert Ray (Blue Jays) vs. Mariano Rivera (Yankees)
I see 3/4s of the Jays logo on Ray's hat while I see half the Yankees logo on Rivera's hat.  I also see half the Yankees logo on Rivera's jersey (the other half is covered by his glove).  (4.7 - 5.0)

Pure Heat:  Justin Verlander (Tigers) vs. Season Biography:  Tim Hudson (Braves)

I can make out the full Detroit logo on the hat and about 1/3 of the Detroit logo on Verlander's shirt.  The Hudson card you can sort of see the Atlanta A but I won't count any points.  For the record, I like pulling die-cut cards too, though in this game that's not worth any points.  (5.0 - 5.0)

Season Biography:  Dan Haren (Diamondbacks) vs. Matt Tuiasosopo (Mariners)
For this first time in the Pack War, I don't have to award any points.  This is how Upper Deck was supposed to operate.  Still tied at 5!

Chris Ray (Orioles) vs. Mark Buehrle (White Sox)
I can make out about a third of the White Sox logo but nothing much for the Orioles.  (5.0 - 5.3)

Jeff Francoeur (Mets) vs. Charlie Morton (Pirates)
The Dominoes Pizza looking patch is evident, but that's not trademarked (or at least it's not a team thing so no points for the French card).  Morton has PIR clearly labeled for half a point.  (5.0 - 5.8)

Tony Pena (White Sox) vs. Pat Burrell (Rays)
I see the full Sox logo on his hat plus half the Sox logo on his shirt while Burrell is sporting a full logo on his helmet.  (6.5 - 6.3)

Shawn Marcum (Blue Jays) vs. Jake Westbrook (Indians)

Half a Jays logo moves Pack 19 up to a total of 7.  TWO full Indians logos though put Pack 20 way ahead with a score of 8.3.  (7.0 - 8.3)

Ricky Nolasco (Marlins) vs. Juan Uribe (Giants)
Nolastcos has a third of the word Marlin on his jersey plus the full Marlin logo on his hat.  Uribe has a Giants patch clear as day plus a full Giants logo on his helmet.  These scores are getting ugly...remember, they should be very, very low if Upper Deck did their job.  (7.3 - 10.3)

Carlos Lee (Astros) vs. Jayson Werth (Phillies)
Half the Phillies name plus the full logo on the helmet gives Pack 20 another 1.5 points.  The Lee card didn't have any logos worth counting at least.  (7.3 - 11.8)

Kevin Richardson (Rangers) vs. Joe Mauer (Twins)
It made sense for Upper Deck to show catchers in full gear to avoid logos - both these players are catchers, and both are shown in full gear.  No points.  (7.3 - 11.8)

Chad Billingsley (Dodgers) vs. Henry Rodriguez (Athletics)
About two-thirds of the word Dodgers is visible on Billingsley's chest plus the LA logo on his hat.  Rodriguez has the full A's logo on his hat plus a third of the word Athletics on his jersey.  (8.9 - 13.1)

Finall tally:
Pack 19:  8.9 logos
Pack 20:  11.8 logos

So, in a total of 36 cards (18 per pack), we ended up with over 20 logos on display.   Put another way, 20 out of 36 is roughly 55%...  When you've got over half the cards (on average) sporting logos that you aren't allowed to show, it's not overly surprising that you find yourself in hot water.  

Comments

  1. Scan the puppy!

    ...or at least take a picture

    ReplyDelete
  2. I could've told you how much work/time a puppy is, but you didn't give me a chance! You just went and bought it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh yeah, the whining, wow, forgot about that!! If you can find one, an old fashioned wind up clock, tick-tock tick-tock, will help keep them company, or a radio on real low next to the crate, set on talk radio even works. An old-fashioned rubber "hot" water bottle, filled with warm water and wrapped in a towel, in the crate will help them think they still have a litter mate with them...
    and most important, keep with the crate, don't give in, they'll get used to it.

    ReplyDelete

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