16 packs per box, 20 cards per pack (paid $69)
The Video:
The Pulls:
Base Set
247 of 506 (48.81%)
47 Mis-cuts
Parallels
2 Gold (numbered to 99) J. Guthrie, T. Cahill
Inserts
1 20th Anniversary 1989 Buyback: J. Montgomery
8 20th Anniversary: T. Woods, M. Jordan, Interleague Play, B. Favre, The President of S. Korea, T. Perez, and a couple of hockey players
4 USA Baseball National Team (22 cards): A. Oliver, J. Fellhauer, K. Davis, R. Jackson
4 O-Pee-Chee Previews (50 cards): R. Martin, J-Roll, C. Beltran, J. Beckett
Autogamers
1 2005 Dual Signature Reflections (numbered to 99#) D. McPherson/S. Rolen
1 USA National Team Jersey (20 cards*): K. Volz
1 USA National Team Autograph (17 cards*) : C. Hernandez
1 UD Game Materials (58 cards*): K. Griffey, Jr.
* Two Jersey cards, and one autograph per box
# Packaged as a chiptopper
The Review
I'm sorry, but Upper Deck's quality control has gone to complete shit. Just about every pack I ripped had three mis-cut base cards -- that's about two-and-a-half packs worth of cards. Between this, and the half-empty Blaster of Goudey I ripped last week, UD needs to fix this, STAT.
As mentioned on this blog, and others, many of the same players who appeared in the first series also make appearances here -- and these aren't special subset cards; they're base cards. If you're going to have the same 100-150 players in both series, and NOT include some of the fringe players, then what's the point of even having a second series?
Inserts include another batch of 22 USA National Team cards -- basically, it's Stephen "Give me $50 million, or else" Strasberg, and 21 other dudes you've never heard of before, and will never hear from again. Series Two was supposed to have a 50-card set loosely based on the 1977 O-Pee-Chee baseball set, which in turn was based on the 1977 Topps set. But this was changed at the last minute to a 50-card preview of the upcoming 2009 O-Pee-Chee set. It should be noted that the backs of these cards are identical to the '77 OPC/Topps backs.
You're promised three "hits" in each box, and a fourth packed as a chiptopper. The chiptopper was a buy-back of a dual autograph numbered to 99. Unfortunately, it's of Dallas McPherson and Scott Rolen. (Although considering some of the buy-backs that others have pulled, I guess I should be happy that I got an actual Major Leaguer.)
Product Rating: 2 1/2 Gumsticks (out of 5)
Box Rating: 1 Gumsticks (out of 5)
Posts
7 comments:
I have to agree about the quality control. When I opened a box of series 1 baseball, 4 of the packs only had 10 cards in them. Because of that, I missed out on the auto and one of the jersey cards that I should have gotten. All that I got was a Bill Hall and it was one of those ugly one window cards to add insult to injury. I contacted Upper Deck and supposedly they are going to make up for the cards, but they never said if that would include the "hits" or if they were just going to send me 40 base cards.
As it is, I almost never open up a pack of Upper Deck and find sharp corners on any of their thinner cards. I don't know what it is about either their cutting or packing process that crumples the corners of the cards. They only seem to give a high level of attention to their high end products.
I'd call the Rolen a pretty sweet card, for a "buyback."
That's interesting because I bought 8 packs of UD Seres 2 yesterday from my hobby shop and each pack had either a relic or an auto card inside. I need to go back and buy the rest of them!
It is true, there's loaded boxes of this stuff out there.
Send the miscut cards back to UD. They should replace them at no cost.
sruchris, there are "hot boxes" of series two out there. Supposedly they are packed two per case and each pack has a "hit" if you consider Rocco Baldelli jersey cards and Andy Sonnanstine autographs hits.
What an amazing box of suck. Definitely send those 47 cards back.
Very little in this box appeals to me. Only the OPC previews spark some interest. Team USA cards? What a waste of cardboard.
Glad I don't rush out to buy ANY new product, this will be under $50 by the time I go to the ECN.
Miscut-JO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I didn't even bother with a Series 2 box this year after I kept running into pathetic quality out of UD. They're quickly going from being one of my most trusted favorites to a total disappointment. Wish it weren't that way.
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