Thursday, December 10, 2009

Card-Ola: 2009 Topps 206

One Hobby box of 2009 Topps 206 (supplied by Topps)
20 packs per box, nine cards per pack

Part One



Part Two



The Pulls

Base Set: 135 of 300 (45.00%)

5 Short-Print Variations (50 cards, 1:4): K. Uehara, Hernandez, T. Cobb, E. Longoria, G. Sizemore

Parallels

18 Bronze (one-per-pack)
15 Piedmont Minis
2 Polar Bear Minis (1:10): G. Soto, J. Sowers
1 Old Mill Mini (1:20): M. LaPorta
1 Cycle Mini (1:22, numbered to 99): J. Garland
1 Piedmont Variation (1:20) R. Porcello

Inserts

5 Mickey Mantle Checklists

Autogamers

1 Framed Autograph (30 cards, 1:18) R. Braun
1 Piedmont Framed Relic (25 cards, 1:71) HanRam

The Review

It's the most anticipated card set since..., since..., well since Topps announced it back in April. But was 2009 Topps 206 live up to the hype?

Yes. Yes it does. It's not as good as the 2002 edition (then again, how could they top that?), but the 2009 edition is a triumph, and the best card set released so far in 2009.

Product Review: 4 1/2 Gumsticks (out of 5)

7 comments:

deal said...

FYI - The Original T206 did have a few Horizontal cards but not many - less then a dozen.

One thing I didn't get, beyond this being a Retro Set what did you like about this set to warrant 4 1/2 sticks?

beardy said...

I've got to question the 4 1/2 stars as well. I think it's a solid release, but nothing spectacular. Something seems uninspired about it to me.

Laurens said...

Probably the 4 1/2 stars comes from the fact there are no sneaky gimmicks in this product [unlike Topps Heritage High Numbers] and probably because the box was supplied by Topps.

PS - the Ryan Braun auto was a nice pull too.

sruchris said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sruchris said...

I agree with Beardy, solid, but not great. If it helps anyone, I've compiled a list of the 50 NNO SPs.

Casey Van Maanen said...

i LOVE this topps set! just bought a box and the first pack i opened had a mini piedmont framed black printing plate of Gordon Beckham. nice. the "framed" thing is awesome in my opinion, just looks and feels cool. only opened half the box so far and already added a justin masterson mini framed auto - and in his old BoSox uniform too. happy customer.

Casey Van Maanen said...

...just to sum up: finished opening the box of topps 206 and added a jonathan papelbon auto to my already very satisfying pile of sweet cards. baseball cards are cool.