Tigers Checklist: 2009 UD A Piece of History

Hmm...seems like Upper Deck has gotten themselves in a bit of hot water with MLB with their latest shenanigans which, contrary to my rudimentary analysis, are explicitly not authorized by MLB according to a statement printed on the box. Wow. I hope you're sued out of existence you brazen asses. It's funny that I can say that even while I love the cards in these releases, but rules are rules and you're a bunch of dicks.

Anyway, turning to happier times, here's a set that Upper Deck produced in 2009 that was perfectly within the letter of the law: A Piece of History. I've found this title kind of funny for the last two years, simply because it's not particularly relic-heavy like Ballpark Collection, and the cards don't seem to have much of anything to do with "history" at all. But whatever. There's some good and bad in the set from a Tigers perspective.

Base Set This teeny tiny base set includes the big guns that you would expect, for the most part plus a rookie that both card companies were infatuated with for some reason when the year started. The number of times I've seen a rookie with no future included in a set just so that they can add another rookie to the set is shocking to me, but that's a topic for another post. The cards are nice enough, with colored parallel version that either pop and look great or are overwhelming and cause spontaneous eye bleeds. I'll show you the regular versions:

#33 Miguel Cabrera	#34 Magglio Ordonez	#35 Justin Verlander
#121 Chris Lambert RC	#132 Dusty Ryan RC

Inserts The inserts are cool. I'm not going to lie. They take the underlying design premise of the base cards, remove the bland and end up looking pretty snazzy. Additional upside is serial numbering on the front, which I'm a sucker for. Downside is meaningless parallel versions (even moreso than the base set) that don't align with base set parallel versions, making display of these cards feel disjointed. Common versions of the inserts are shown where possible, with a Turquoise (#/99) Magglio substituting for the more common, and ironically harder to find a picture of, version.

#BSM-GS Gary Sheffield (#/999)	#CSC-PC Pujols/Cabrera (#/999)	#FM-OCGG Ordonez/Cabrera/ Guillen/Granderson (#/999)

#FH-MO Magglio Ordonez Turquoise (#/99)	#SS-CG Curtis Granderson (#/999)

Autographs & Relics Splat. This is where the set falls flat for me. Autographs and Relics are the same design as un-autographed or un-autographed versions. Lame. So, here's the same cards you've already seen, but with the addition of a signature or a little piece of a jersey.

#121 Chris Lambert RC Auto	#BSM-GS Gary Sheffield GU	#FH-MO Magglio Ordonez GU Red (#/180)

#SS-CG Curtis Granderson Auto/Relic (#/25)	#SS-CG Curtis Granderson GU Red (#/180)

Like so many sets, I don't have a whole lot more to say about this. It is what it is. It's got goods and bads, ups and downs. It's not the stuff that I actively pursue, but when one falls into my hands, I find I like it more than I'd expect. That's just the way things are for me with these small sets that rely on artificial scarcity and "hits" to sell. They don't really appeal to me, and now--as a former player collector--I'm relieved that I don't feel compelled to track down cards from them.

Great Moments In eBay Listings

It's always pleasant to return home from a trip only to see a mailbox stuffed with non-junk mail, don't you agree? It took me until tonight to sift through the take, but there were some nice things in there. You see, I was the beneficiary of some tremendous pre-Black Friday sales. They came in the form of eBay steals, and not because I was particularly vigilant, but more because the listings were unnecessarily non-descriptive.

Number One
Ok, maybe "steal" is too generous a term here, so let's call it a bargain:

2009 UD A Piece Of History #SS-CG Curtis Granderson Red Jersey (#071/180)

This is a game used jersey card in parallel form numbered sub-200. It also happens to be a pretty decent jersey card, with a picture of everyone's favorite standing professional downtown Detroit stadium in the background. So how does that come for $.99 when the card typically sells for closer to $3? It was the listing's fault. 'fraid so. The card is buried in the picture among some other, nicer cards and no where in the title does it mention that it is serial numbered. Not a terrible mistake for this seller, but it might have cost him a buck or two.

Number Two
It gets worse. Steal.

2009 SP Authentic #67 Curtis Granderson Titanium (#13/19)

SP Authentic is a popular brand, but they kind of mucked up the parallels in this release by making them hard to distinguish. "Titanium" parallel? What does that mean? How is it any different from these other ones? What does the listing say?

2009 MLB SP Authentic Titanium Parallel #67-Granderson

If you weren't just hit with a sense of pity for the seller than you have no soul. Here they are, trying to give some good information and throw in unnecessary items like "MLB" and "#67" and "Parallel." Nobody knows what a Titanium Parallel is, but if they see Titanium, they'll probably guess parallel. Of course, the key mistake is leaving out the fact that this card is only numbered to 19. So, I was able to grab it for $.99 as the only bidder and walk away a happy man.

Number Three
Last but not least. Let's start with the listing first:

EDWIN JACKSON 2009 TOPPS UPDATES ALL STAR JERSEY NICE!!

Hey, that does sound nice! Given that the description is just a repeat of the title, I'll just have to take his word for it. How does it look?


Boy, that's odd, I thought all of the All Star Cards were red. Gee, I wish there were some more information in the description that could help me figure it out. Or maybe a picture of the back which would have showed...


Oh, oh I see. Yeah, that would have been stupid to include in the listing somewhere. No, I didn't get it for $.99, as it escalated to $7 at the last minute. If that seems like a lot just remember, the regular all star jersey cards of Edwin Jackson sell for about $3 and all of the Tigers have sold for crazy escalated prices. To that I say, $7 for a 1/1 jersey card is a Win.

And that is it. Three cards, three darn good deals, one happy collector. What about the rest of you--picked up anything special at a low low price thanks to the seller leaving out some key tidbids?

It All Comes Down To This

I can feel one of three ways tonight: pleased as punch, satisfied or mortified.

I'm hoping that Porcello and Verlander can do their darndest to keep it from being the last one. So off we go, into what is probably the most meaningful double header of my lifetime, or at least in my memory.

Here's for a happy day at Comerica Park.

2009 UD A Piece Of History #SS-CG Curtis Granderson "Stadium Scenes" (#186/999)

The season is in your hands, dudes. Tigers fans worldwide wanted me to repeat that. The season is in your hands.

Panic In Detroit

Yes, I'm listening to David Bowie, but that's not what's making me all panicky, the Tigers are doing a good enough job of that on their own. The Tigers only have to play one more game in the Metrodome EVER. Thank the good lord. However, does any Tigers fan feel anything but impending doom? I'm holding the faith, but it is ever so tenuous. Suffice to say, we need these guys to take matters into their own hands, end of story.

2008 Sweet Spot #QS-OCVG Ordonez/Cabrera/Verlander/Granderson

Actually, Verlander has been doing everything that he can (his line yesterday is not indicative of his otherwise solid performance). So he's off the hook (although if he wants to throw like, three no hitters in his next three starts, that would be cool). Guillen, you can take his spot.

2009 A Piece Of History #FM-OCGG Ordonez/Cabrera/Guillen/Granderson

Do it. Do it now.

These are some new multi-player cards that are pretty snazzy (especially the "Franchise Members" card) but I couldn't be more disgusted with the Tigers' offense over the past week, so I'm throwing these up here as a motivational tool. Hey, it's worked in the past.

Mail Weeks!

The result of getting waaaaaaay backlogged on cards is that little packages add up and turn into nice lots. Such is the case with three separate envelopes from Marie at A Cardboard Problem. First, my first Goudey's of the year came to my mailbox, along with two Piece of History cards of the greatest pitcher in the history of May 2009.



Shortly thereafter, this arrived:

Give me an S! Give me a P! Give me a Heritage! SP! I love these Heritage cards and even Placido Polanco's ridiculous head can't screw it up. By the way, I'm pretty sure that Polanco is the most SP'd Tiger in history--a claim that I hope to substantiate when I can find the time.

Lastly, a third package arrived, containing the first Topps Series 2 that I've gotten my hands on, including...

Yay!

And the defensive whiz that has helped shored up the left side of the infield, shown here swinging a bat and putting the ball in play with a .230 probability or so.


This whole exchange of envelopes started when I would send Marie cards of interest a few months ago. Then she went on a tear that has put me to shame and has made it so that now I'm searching high and low for things to send back in return. Marie, there is more on the way, I promise! I just need to pull them out of packs first!

Ultimate Checklist: 2008 UD A Piece of History

I'll kick off the 2008 Upper Deck sets with "A Piece of History," which, as far as I can tell from the Granderson cards in the set, is a very odd title of a release, as the cards don't relay anything particularly historic, and lack the "pieces" from those non-existent historic moments. Perhaps 2008 Upper Deck "Cards" would have been more appropriate. Full Disclosure: I don't have any of these cards so my judgement of them is highly impaired. Still, one was revealed on A Pack A Day back in July. Here it is for your convenience. That particular card is the famed, historic #GO Curtis Granderson/Magglio Ordonez "Cut from the Same Cloth" insert card, #/799. It is the card upon which a number of parallels are based. Those parallels include:

Silver #/149
Red #/99
Pewter #/75
Blue #/25

Oh, and an actual piece of history, perhaps? There is a dual jersey version, #/99 in which the jersey pieces fill up the otherwise empty D's that are front and center of the card.

Again, I don't have any of these cards, but as far as 2008 cards go, this one seems like a pretty "meh" offering.