Tigers Checklist: 2009 Goodwin Champions

Upper Deck's Goodwin Champions release may have the most beautiful cards of 2009. People who tried to collect the set complained about things like cheap feeling card stock, too few cards per pack, too many stupid Upper Deck 20th Anniversary inserts per pack and a strange distribution of short prints, super-short prints and other odd things.

However, for someone like me who only cares about cards from one team, I can say with confidence that these are the most beautiful cards of 2009. Not all of them are gems, but the Kaline and Granderson cards are outstanding and the Verlander card may prove to be the best card ever produced of him. Take a look and you'll see what I mean.

Your 2009 Goodwin Champions Detroit Tigers:

Base Set

#30 Al Kaline	#102 Curtis Granderson	#131 Miguel Cabrera
#140 Gordie Howe	#172 Justin Verlander (SP)

In addition to this base set, there are two card that don't fit the regular schema of a card set. Gordie Howe has a short-printed parallel version with a different background. Similarly, Carlos Guillen has a card that only exists in mini form--this is the opposite of the Verlander short print, which is full-sized only and doesn't have any of the mini parallels that the rest of the base set enjoys. Still, these are different from regular parallels, so I feel compelled to include them:

Night Sky & Mini Exclusives

#140 Gordie Howe (Moonlight Variation)	#241 Carlos Guillen

Of course, there are relics and autographs as well--the "hits" of the set. The Kaline is the clear winner here.

Relics

#GCM-CG Curtis Granderson	#GCM-JV Justin Verlander	#GCM-MC Miguel Cabrera

Autographs

#GCA-AK Al Kaline