If You Ruled The Hobby

Friends, Readers, and Fellow Collectors:

You have been selected "God of the Baseball Card Hobby." With these powers, you have been given the power to dictate to Topps and Upper Deck what 17 products they will be allowed to release in 2008.

Post your suggestions in the comments area. I'm not asking for specific product details (at least not yet). Just what specific products should return, what products should go away, and what products would you like to see return.

Choose wisely, the long-term fate of The Hobby is in your hands.

If I were given such a title, here are the 34 products that I would allow:

(Sorry for the long gap)

Category	Topps	Upper Deck
Flagship Series 1	Topps 1	Upper Deck 1
Flagship Series 2	Topps 2	Upper Deck 2
Flagship Update	Topps Updates and Highlights	Upper Deck Update
$0.99/pack Contractual Obligation Set	Opening Day	First Pitch
"Second" Flagship	Bowman	Fleer
"Second" Update	Bowman DP&P	Fleer Update
Premium #1	Stadium Club 1	Ultra
Premium #2	Stadium Club 2	Upper Deck Ovation
Super Premium #1	Finest	SP
Super Premium #2	Bowman's Best	Fleer Flair
Retro #1	Topps Heritage	Greats of the Game
Retro #2	Pre-War Tribute Set (i.e. TA&G)	Goudey
$20 Product	Topps Co-Signers	SPx
$50 Product	Bowman Sterling	Upper Deck Epic
$100 Product	Topps Triple Threads	Ultimate Collection
Rookie-Themed	Bowman Chrome	Upper Deck Future Stars
Wild Card	Third Retro Product not named Bowman Heritage	Upper Deck Premier

Double Box Break and Review: 2007 Upper Deck Series Two

Two Boxes of 2007 Upper Deck Baseball Series Two (paid $65 each)
16 packs per box, 15 cards per pack.

The Details

Base Set: 500 cards (#521-1020)
No Shortprints

Parallels:
Press Plates

Inserts:
1989 Rookies: 50 cards
ROY Predictors: 50 cards

Autogamers:
UD Game Materials: 41 cards
Star Signings: 33 cards
Daisuke Matsuzaka Game Used: one card
Autographed 1989 Rookies: 24 cards (numbered to 5)

The Pulls:

Base Set: 309 of 500
153 Doubles

Inserts:
8 1989 Rookies: A. Sanchez, C. Stewart, L. Speigner, J. Soria, H. Okajima, J. Garcia, K. Kouzmanoff, and J. Salas
2 ROY Predictors: A. Gordon and J. Burke

Autogamers:
4 UD Game Materials: A. Rios, L. Gonzalez, K. Griffey, Jr., and T. Nixon
2 Star Signings: A. Callaspo and J. Baker

The Review.

The first thing I noticed about UD2 is the lack of true "Rookie" cards. I guess that's what happens when you sneak a redemption card in the first series. There is a "Rookie" of Tim Lincecum; but because of the series one redemption card, most of the other top RCs aren't here. (Although Alex Gordon and Daisuke Matsuzaka are represented on Team Checklists.)

What else is noticeable -- compared to not only the first series, but last's year UD set -- is the lack of inserts. With the exception of the press plates, there are no parallels. And the only insert sets are 50 rookies done in the style of the 1989 set, and the Rookie of the Year Predictors.

The Team Checklists are back, but are scattered amongst the commons, rather than segregated at the back end of the base set.

The Bottom Line:

Individually, each box produced 231 base set cards (with no doubles), four '89 Rookies, 1 Predictor, 2 Game Materials, an a Star Signing.

Remember when pulling a Ken Griffey, Jr. game jersey card actually meant something?

One other thing. If you're buying loose packs in search for that Dice-K jersey card, be warned. In both of these boxes, the first pack on the upper-left and lower-left "stacks" contained the two jersey cards. Caveat Emptor.

Product Rating: 4 Gumsticks (Out of five)