Always Be Collecting: 99 Stinking Cents

What, no love for the Fleer?

Always Be Collecting: 2006 Fleer

2006 Fleer

Base Set: 430 cards (one series; last 30 cards exclusive to factory sets)
Parallels:

• Glossy: 400 cards (1:12 Hobby, 1:24 retail)
  
• Glossy Gold: 400 cards (1:144)

Inserts:

• Awards Winners: 6 cards*
  
• Lumber Company: 25 cards*
• Smoke 'n Heat: 15 cards*
• Smooth Leather: 14 cards*
• Team Leaders: 30 cards*
• Top 40: 40 cards (two-per-pack, fat pack exclusive)
  
• Stars of Tomorrow: 10 cards (1:10)
• Team Fleer: 15 cards (1:360)

* Stated odds of finding an insert from one of these sets: one-per-pack.

Autogamers:

• Autographics: 9 cards (1:432)
• Fleer Fabrics: 42 cards (1:36 Hobby, 1:72 retail)

Packaging: 36 pack, 10-card Hobby waxboxes; 24 pack, 10-card retail waxboxes; 14 pack, 10-card Blasters; 20 pack, 52-card Fat Pack boxes; factory sets
Notable Cards: The dozens of factory-set exclusive parenth-RCs.
Other Notes:

• First Fleer Baseball set produced by Upper Deck.
• Five years after Fleer-Skybox screwed over set builder by issuing a factory set with additional base set cards, Upper Deck issues a factory set with additional base set cards. Although in UD's defense, 2006 was the first year the MLBPA limited the number of releases to 20, and a dedicated Update set would have counted against that figure.
• First year of the MLBPA's "ROOKIE CARD" icon program; however, most 2006 Fleer cards bearing that icon are not "true" RCs.

Full Set: $40 (NmMT)
Full Set (factory): $50 (NmMT)


2006 Fleer Tradition

Base Set: 200 cards (one series)
Parallels:

• Sepia: (1:3 Hobby, 1:18 retail)
  
• Black & White: (1:9 Hobby, 1:36 retail)
  
• Press Plates: (1:288, Hobby exclusive)

Inserts:

• 1934 Goudey Greats: 100 cards (1:36, Hobby Exclusive)
• Blue Chip Prospects: 25 cards (1:6 Hobby, 1:18 retail)
• Diamond Tribute: 25 cards (1:9 Hobby, 1:36 retail)
• Grass Roots: 25 cards (1:6 Hobby, 1:36 retail)
• Triple Crown Contenders: 15 cards (1:9 Hobby, 1:36 retail)

Autogamers:

• Ken Griffey, Jr. 1989 Fleer Autographed Buyback: 1 card (Hobby exclusive, numbered to 99)
• Traditional Threads: 41 cards (1:41 Hobby, 1:108 retail)
• Signature Tradition: 2 cards (1:1269, Hobby exclusive)

Packaging: 36 pack, 10-card Hobby waxboxes; 36 pack, 10-card retail waxboxes;

Notable Cards: Kenji Johjima and Jon Lester RCs, Ryan Zimmerman, Jonathan Papelbon parenth-RCs.
Other Notes:

• In lieu of releasing an Update set, Upper Deck released this one-off product. They probably would have done better if they went with the Update set.
  
• Much like the 2002, Upper Deck released both a "Fleer Baseball" and "Fleer Tradition Baseball" sets. Unlike 2002, '06 Fleer Baseball is considered to be part of the Fleer/Fleer Tradition "lineage," while '06 Fleer Tradition should not.
• A design that borrows from various Topps sets from the 60s, 70s, and 80s.
• First Fleer set with Press Plates.
  

Full Set: $30 (NmMT)

I'm entitled to change my opinion, and I will.

Too account for some late season releases, I'm making two changes to my 2006 Gummie award selections.




Autogamer of the Year: 2006 Sweet Spot Update Sweet Spot Signatures #CB: Chris Berman

Yes folks, its Chris Berman... WITH LEATHER!!!! Need I say more.

Most Meaningless Product: Topps 52

Hundreds of crap "Rookie Cards" on a design we've already seen before -- twice! If you need any more evidence that "retro" has jumped-the-shark, this is it.

Box Break: 2006 Upper Deck Update

One box of 2006 Upper Deck Update (paid $50)
24 packs per box, eight cards per pack (MSRP $2.49)

Details

Base Set: 250 cards (1001-1250)

Parallels:
Regular Card Parallel: (numbered to 99 copies)

Inserts:
Star Attractions: 50 cards
Star Attractions Parallel: 50 cards (numbered to 99)

Autogamers:
INKredible: 59 cards (one per box)

The Pulls

Base Set: 140 of 250 (56%)
25 Doubles
12 Triples
1 Quadruple

Parallels:
1 Regular Card Parallel: T. Walker

Inserts:
12 Star Attractions: B. Anderson, D. Pedroia, E. Aybar, H. Ramirez, J. Huber, C. James, J. Zumaya, K. Johjima, N. Markakis, J. Papelbon, S. Olsen, J. Sowers

Autogamers:
1 INKredible: B. Broussard

The Bottom Line

Upper Deck Update is retail only, and as with most retail only products, feels stripped down. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I kind of like the no-frills approach. A perfect way to end the 2006 card set of the year.

Product Rating: 3 1/2 Gumsticks (out of five)

2006: The Year in Cards

Unlike a certain baseball card magazine (which shall remain nameless), I prefer to wait until the end of the year, to present some sort of "Year-in-Review" piece. So, here's mine. Enjoy.

2006 was a year of transition for The Hobby, and for the most part, the changes worked out pretty well. So, without further adieu, here are my picks for The Hobby's best and worst for 2006. The 2006 Gummie Awards.

Best Insert Set: Bowman Prospects (a.k.a. Blues)

It's the insert, that not really an "insert." Hamstrung by the MLBPA's new "Rookie Card" guidelines, Bowman did an end-run around the new rules by labeling all those scores of minor leaguers as inserts. But that's not why I honor the Bowman Prospects as best insert set. I do so because Topps had the good sense to print and seed the "Blues" in roughly the same quantity as the base set cards. Thereby making the set collectible for those who still consider the Blues part of the base set. Well, sort of, as we shall see later.

Best Autogamer Set: Topps Allen & Ginter Framed Relics/Autographs

Beckett gave TA&G it's overall "Product of the Year," and it was Topps' best offering of the season. Although it came up bit short (see below) in that category, I nonetheless give the two-per-box Framed Relics and Autographs the nod for best autogamer set of 2006. The simple fact that Topps got that Japanese guy who eats all those hot dogs to sign for this product, makes this the winner.

Best Retro Product: Flair Showcase

I know what you're thinking. Is this guy nuts? Flair Showcase? Best Retro product of 2006? Over Allen & Ginter? Who in their right mind thinks Flair Showcase is a Retro product anyway? Give me a paragraph to explain.

"Retro" isn't just about recycling old designs, it's about recycling old concepts as well. By that standard, 2006 Flair Showcase is a throwback to the multi-leveled, multi-fractured base sets of the mid-90s. Ergo, it's a retro product.

You do remember fractured base sets? Like, for example, 1997-99 Flair Showcase. Not every collector liked their base sets fractured, and the gimmick faded with the emergence of serial-numbered rookies and autogamers. But UpperFleerDeck resurrected the gimmick from the dead in 2006, and The Hobby is better for it.

Although not a perfect clone of its late-90s namesake, '06 Flair Showcase is, nonetheless, a nod to a distant, but familiar era. And if you still consider set design as part of the "Retro" criteria, well, is does kind of look like a late-90s-era premium base set. Doesn't it?

Best Rookie Card: 2006 Bowman #219: Kenji Johjima

With the new MLBPA guidelines, this year's rookie card crop was noticeably diminished. About the only "true rookie" that made any impact this year was Kenji Johjima, and much of that action was from overseas. Johjima's '06 Bowman RC wins this award by default.

Hobby MVP: Ryan Howard

Move over Mr. Pujols, there's a new king in town. Ryan Howard is now officially "The Man" in The Hobby. Its funny what a steroid-free (we think) 58 HR season will do to a man's rookie cards.

Hobby ROY: Kenji Johjima

Again, the MLBPA "ROOKIE CARD" rules give Johjima this category in a walkover.

Hobby Top Prospect (TIE): Cameron Maybin and Alex Gordon

On the other hand, these two guys (along with Daisuke Matsuzaka and Justin Upton) should make the rookie card class of 2007, the strongest since 2001.

Best Idea: MLBPA revoking Donruss' License.

See, that wasn't so bad now, was it? Donruss went away, and The Hobby somehow managed to survive -- even thrive -- without them.

Look, I understand that many were upset when the news came down that Donruss was out for '06. But give the MLBPA credit. They had the courage to step back, take a look the state of The Hobby, and took action when they didn't like what they saw. You don't go from being a $1.2 billion to a $260 million industry overnight -- actually it takes 13 years (1991-2004). The MLBPA took the long-run view and concluded that change needed to be made. And that meant Donruss had to go.

But why Donruss? You're not going to get rid of Topps, are you? Or Upper Deck? But that's not the only reason. Try this experiment. If you're like me, then you probably have friends you grew up with who collected baseball cards. But then, for whatever reason, they stopped. Now, try to explain to him the concept behind 2004 Diamond Kings Baseball -- with the 79 different versions of each base set card. Or try to explain base level products that have short-printed rookie cards (i.e. 2001 Donruss baseball).

Donruss was leading The Hobby in a direction that it didn't need to go: total oblivion and complete irrelevance. The MLBPA knew it, and to their credit, took action.

Worst Idea: The MLBPA's changing of the "ROOKIE CARD" definition in mid-season.

The second best idea was the MLBPA's cross-brand "ROOKIE CARD" icon. Unfortunately, it was muddled by a silly decision to change the criteria in mid-season.

Looking back in retrospect, I understand why the MLBPA did what it did. Topps, Upper Deck, and Hobby dealers wanted "Rookie Cards" of actual 2006 season rookies -- regardless of their true RC status. But it still doesn't mean I have to like it.

But what really bugged me, was the secretive manner in which the PA made the change. You didn't think that anyone in The Hobby wouldn't have noticed that strange foil stamped "ROOKIE CARD" logo on the front of Jonathan Papelbon's 2006 Topps card? I don't think I'm asking for much, but a little transparency on the PA's behalf would have gone a long way.

Most Short-Sighted, Boneheaded Decision: The inclusion of autographed base set cards in Bowman.

Words to live by: If it ain't broke don't fix it. Bowman wasn't broke, but Topps decided to fix it anyway with the inclusion of autographed base and autographed Prospect "insert" cards -- not to mention "bundling" Bowman with Bowman Chrome.

The inclusion of autographed cards in Bowman was a really stupid idea that, unfortunatley, looks like it's here to stay. So good-bye Bowman. You were that rarity, a product with a crapload of true rookie cards, that could actually be collected. Now, just like SP Authentic, SPx, and Finest before you, you're just another product with autographed rookie cards.

Worst Insert Sets (TIE): Topps Barry Bonds and Mickey Mantle Home Run Histories.

For those of you that don't know, I live in Southern New Jersey. As such, from time to time, I bump into the occasional Yankees fan at a card show. Now you would think that Yankees fans (who are amongst the most fanatical of card collectors) would be chomping at the bit to build the Mickey Mantle Home Run History insert set? Right?

You would be wrong. I have yet to meet a single hobbyist in my area who is even attempting to complete the Mantle Home Run History set. In fact, until I opened up page 17 of the February 2007 Beckett, I had no idea that anyone was actually even trying to collect either the Mantle or the Bonds sets. So congratulations to Greg Ashman of Sacramento, California. The only person in The Hobby gives a damn about Topps' Home Run History insert sets.

OBTW, as a post-script, 2007 Topps will add a similar Home Run History insert for Josh Gibson. Which makes perfect sense since that the exact number of homers Gibson hit is completely unknown.

Worst Base Set and Most Meaningless Product: Fleer Tradition

I'm still trying to think what the whole point of 2006 Fleer Tradition was. Wasn't this product made redundant with the re-introduction of Fleer baseball?

A bland, faux retro design, coupled with a skimpy 200-card checklist also makes it the worst base set of the year.

Worst Product: Topps Turkey Red

For everything that went well in The Hobby in 2006, there's still a lot of crap that needs to be weeded out. Crap like Turkey Red.

This set represented everything wrong with The Hobby before the MLBPA's purge of Donruss. The over reliance on "Retro" themed designs? Check. The random and arbitrary nature of short-prints? Check. And add to that rookie card back-logoing!

But Turkey Red took the BS one step further with the introduction of a new gimmick that, I think we all agree, should never, ever, be repeated again. That would be, of course, the concept of the "living" card set -- which make about as much sense as another paper-based "living" entity: the "living constitution."

and finally the awards you've been waiting for....

Card of the Year: Topps #297: Alex Gordon

The card that spawned 500 conspiracy theories -- which is about many copies of this card that made their way out of Duryea. Is it a really a true "Rookie Card?" Why did Topps pull it from the set? Why does this card seem to only be appearing in Wal-Mart blaster boxes? Why is the infamous, deplorable, Keith Olbermann seemingly cornering the market on this card? And why is he paying four times Beckett HI for this card on eBay? And hey, doesn't the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann do consulting work for Topps on the side?

Best Base Set and 2006 Product of the Year: Upper Deck

At over 1000 cards, split between two 500-card series, 2006 Upper Deck baseball was easily the most comprehensive base set of the year. And that was before UD tacked on an additional 250 card update set.

But comprehensiveness (if that's a word) wasn't just the only reason Upper Deck Baseball is being honored as the best base set. Just by opening up a few packs, and thumbing through the cards, it became obvious that Upper Deck put a lot of time, effort, and (dare I say) love, into their flagship brand. It was easily was the company's best baseball card set in over a decade, and over time, should take it's place alongside the landmark '89 set in Hobby history.

The competition for this award wasn't even close -- which is saying a lot since 2006 was a pretty good year for the set collector. But hands down, the best of them all was Upper Deck baseball.

Box Break and Review: 2006 Topps Updates and Highlights

I have about four boxes that I've yet to do box breaks on. So in lieu of the usual break format, I'm just going to post what I got, and that's it.


One box of 2006 Topps Updates and Highlights (paid $52)
36 packs per box, 12 cards per pack (MSRP: $1.49/pack)

The Details

Chiptoppers: One individualy wrapped Chrome "Rookie" card (45 cards, numbered to 599 copies)

Base Set: 330 cards (no short-prints)

Parallels:
Gold: 330 cards (1:4/packs, numbered to 2006)
First Edition: 330 cards (1:36)
Platinum: 330 cards (one-of-one)

Inserts:
Rookie Debut: 45 cards (1:4)
Mickey Mantle Home Run History: 100 cards (1:4)
Barry Bonds Home Run History: 25 cards (1:6)
Barry Bonds "715": one card (1:36)

Autogamers*:
All-Star Stitches

* Stated odds of finding an autogamer: "one-per-box"

The Pulls

Base Set: 330 of 330 (100%)
64 doubles

Parallels:
9 Golds: Jeff Weaver, G. Maddux, O. Perez, A. Loewen, Y. Petit, I-Rod All-Star, R. Halladay All-Star, Mi. Cabrera All-Star, Tigers Team Leaders
1 First-Edition: NL Wins Leaders
1 Chrome "Rookie:" D. Pauley

Inserts:
9 Rookie Debuts: C. Martinez, R. Lugo, B. Logan, T. Castro, S. Marshall, J. Rheinecker, R. Martin, O. Pauley, A. Sanchez
9 Mickey Mantle Home Run Histories: #s 102, 122, 134, 153, 169, 174, 178, 183 & 186
6 Barry Bonds Home Run Histories: #s 709, 710, 711, 722, 733 & 734
1 Barry Bonds "715"

Autogamers:
1 All-Star Stitches: R. Halladay

Bottom Line:

Topps should just bite the bullet and call Updates & Highlights what it is: a third series.

Product Rating: 3 Gumsticks (out of 5)

Box Break and Review: 2006 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects

One Box of 2006 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects (paid $79)
24 packs per box, seven cards per pack (MSRP $3.99/pack)

The Details

Chiptoppers: One over sized checklist.

Base Set: 55 cards (two-per-pack)

Inserts: (two-per-pack)
Futures Game: 45 cards
Draft Picks: 65 cards

Parallels*:
Golds: 165 cards (one-per-pack #)
Whites: 165 cards (1:43, numbered to 225)
Reds: (1:7934, one-of-one)
Chrome: 165 cards (two-per-pack)
Chrome Refractor: 165 cards (1:11)
X-Fractor: 165 cards (1:32)
Blue Refractor: 165 cards (1:50, numbered to 199 copies)
Gold Refractor: 165 cards (1:197, numbered to 50)
Orange Refractor: 165 cards (1:395, numbered to 25)
Red Refractor: 165 Cards (1:585, numbered to 10)
Superfractor: 165 cards (1:7934, one-of-one)
Printing Plates: (1:990)

* All parallel sets include the 55 card base set, as well as the 45 Futures Game and 65 Draft Pick "inserts," bundled together.
# Packs containing a Futures Relic, do not have a Gold card.

Autogamers #:
Autographed Chrome Draft Picks: 30 cards^ (1:50)
Autographed Chrome Draft Picks Refractor: 30 cards (1:156)
Autographed Chrome Draft Picks X-Fractor: 30 cards (1:351)
Autographed Chrome Draft Picks Blue Refractor: 30 cards (1:535)
Autographed Chrome Draft Picks Gold Refractor: 30 cards (1:1575)
Autographed Chrome Draft Picks Orange Refractor: 30 cards (1:3232)
Autographed Chrome Draft Picks Red Refractor: 30 cards (1:13,166)
Autographed Chrome Draft Picks Superfractor: 30 cards (1:53,812)
Head of the Class: 1 card (1:7640)
Head of the Class Refractor: 1 card (1:27,000)
Head of the Class Gold Refractor: 1 card (1:56,000)
Head of the Class Superfractor: 1 card (1:261,680)
Signs of the Future: 19 cards (production varies)
Chrome Autographed Press Plates (1:13,200)
Futures Game Relics: 45 cards (production varies)

# Stated odds of finding an Autograph or Relic: 1:12
^ The 30 Autographed Chrome Prospects are numbered as an extension of the Draft Picks insert set. (DP 66-95)

The Pulls

Each seven card pack contains:

• Two base set cards ("Greens")
• Two Futures Game or Draft Picks "inserts" ("Blues")
• Either a Gold Parallel, or a Futures Game Relic
• One Bowman Chrome Parallel
• Either a second BowChro card, a BowChro Refractor, or an Autographed BowChro Draft Pick

Base Set: 42 of 55 (76.36%)

Inserts:
Futures Game: 19 of 45 (42.22%)
Draft Picks: 27 of 65 (41.54%)

Parallels:
22 Golds
1 White: C. Villanueva
43 Chromes (one double)
3 Refractors: B. Bannister, L. Cruz, M. McBride
1 Blue Refractor: R. Morris

Autogamers:
1 Autographed Chrome Draft Pick: D. Evans
2 Futures Game Relics: R. Braun, A. Gordon

The Review

The 2006 Edition of Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects (BDP&P) is here, and if you're familiar with the previous couple of year's editions, then you know the drill. The more the MLBPA tries to change The Hobby, just more BDP&P stays the same. (Sort of.)

Just like with '06 Bowman, the MLBPA's new "Rookie Card" definition has made it necessary for Topps to make some changes to the composition to the product. The 55-card "base set" are all green bordered (there are no "Red" cards) and feature the now familiar cross-brand "ROOKIE CARD" logo -- most of which are "parenth-RCs." To be sure, there are some "true" RCs (Mike Napoli, Jon Lester, and Michael Pelfrey to name a few), but just not as many as your used to. If you include the base set with the 110 blue-bordered "inserts," the combined 165-card set equals the set size of previous BDP&P efforts.

The 110 "Blues" are divided into two separate insert sets: 45 Futures Games and 65 Draft Picks. The design of both sets are similar, and the only way to distinguish between the two is that the Futures Game cards are numbered on the back with an "FG" prefix, and the Draft Picks have a "DP." Other than that, you really can't tell the difference. Each pack comes with (on average) two "Greens" and two "Blues." Something to consider if, like me, you still consider the Blues as part of the base set.

Each pack comes with a Gold parallel, and with the return of game used cards, they have reverted to being printed on thicker gauge cardboard, and double as pack-searching decoys. Just like with Bowman, BDP&P is "bundled" with the Chrome version, and you get two of them in a pack. (For purposes of this set, I classify the Chromes for what they are: "parallels.") And as has become standard operating procedure for BDP&P, Topps tacked on an additional autographed cards that are only available in the Chrome version.

Speaking of the 65 Draft Picks and the 30 Chrome Autographed Draft Picks, collectors should take note not necessarily of who's in the set, but who's NOT in the set. Looking for the first Bowman card of Luke Hochevar -- the first pick in the 2006 draft? You'll have to wait a while, because he's not here. And neither is Gregory Reynolds, the second overall pick. Evan Longoria, the number three pick, is in the set (in fact, he's the product's "cover boy"), but good luck actually finding one of his cards (more on that later). Even Andrew Miller, the sixth pick overall and considered by many to be the best player available in the draft; a player who made his Major League debut on August 30th with the Tigers -- and as such is eligible to have his first true "rookie card" in this set -- is missing. In fact, of the 30 first round draft picks, only 13 appear in '06 BDP&P -- six of which are part of the Autographed Chrome set.

So with only 13 first rounders, who exactly are these other 82 draft picks? Well, there are a handful of 2nd and 3rd round picks, but (surprisingly) there are a large amount of 5th, 6th, and even 8th round picks. To be sure, a couple of these 5th-through-8th rounders will wind up as the proverbial "diamonds in the rough," but history shows that most of these guys will never amount to much. And, of course, some will probably never even play a single inning in the big leagues. But then again, if collect Bowman, you already knew that. Caveat Emptor.

Wrapping up BDP&P, are the Futures Game Relic cards, which are a pseudo-parallel of the Futures Game inserts. For some reason, the Futures Game Relics are green bordered, rather than blue. And then there's the autograph set everyone loves to hate: Signs of the Future.

The Bottom Line:

2006 has been a transition year for The Hobby as a whole, and for the Bowman family of products in particular. No longer "The Home of the Rookie Card," Topps has been forced to make adjustments to all their Bowman products. With '06 Bowman, the results were mixed. Bundling regular Bowman with Bowman Chrome, gave the "Chromies" a reason to rediscover the regular Bowman set, and it sold very well. But the inclusion of autographed cards in the base set alienated many long-time Bowman set builders -- myself included. However, with the MLBPA-mandated exception of segregating the non-MLB players from the base set, Topps has left Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects alone.

This particular box yielded three-quarters of the base set, but only about two-fifths of the "Blues." If you're like me and still consider the Blues to be part of the base set, you'll be disappointed to know that Topps short-printed them. To build a full 165-card set, you'll need at least two, maybe even three, boxes.

Each box promises two autogamers, and in this box I got three. So I guess I got over on Topps. Yay! I pulled an Autographed Draft Pick card of Braves second-rounder Dustin Evans. The two Futures Game Relics I pulled were of Ryan Braun -- the fifth overall pick in last year's draft -- and the current object of the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann's affection: Alex Gordon. For those of you scoring at home, Alex Gordon has now made an appearance in all three Bowman products this year (Bowman, BowChro, and BDP&P), but we're still waiting for his first legit "rookie card."

Although the regular "Blues" are short-printed in relation to the base-set "Greens," this does not appear to be the case among the parallels. Of the 22 Gold cards this box yielded, eight were from the base set, and the other 14 were Blues. The three refractors pulled came from each of the three different sets: A Green of Mets pitcher Brian Bannister, a Futures Game of Padres SS Luis Cruz, and a Draft Pick of Cleveland 2nd rounder Matt McBride. I also pulled a White parallel of Brewers pitcher Carlos Villanueva, and a Blue Refractor of Ryan Morris, the Indians' 4th-round draft pick.

Product Rating: 3 Gumsticks (out of five)

Do I recommend this product?

Hardcore Bowman fans will be disappointed with the lack of "true" rookie cards. And not including over half the first-round draft picks, in product billed as a "Draft Pick" set is kind of pathetic. But still, if you're a Bowman fan, you're going to like this product. You don't need me to tell you that.

... and another thing.

Allow me to vent a little bit. One thing that's pissed me off about BDP&P ever since it went to this format in '02, has been the inclusion of the Autographed Chrome cards. As many of you who regularly read this blog know, I don't collect Chrome. I don't "get" Chrome. I've never opened a pack of Topps or Bowman Chrome in my life, and I don't intend to. I don't collect ToppChro or BowChro, and I never intend to. And I still don't like the fact that BDP&P is bundled with BowChroDP&P, just as much as I didn't like the fact that '06 Bowman was bundled with '06 BowChro.

So why doesn't Topps make a non-Chrome (preferably un-autographed) version of the Autographed Chrome Draft Pick cards? You know, for the rest of us. Those of us who only collect regular Bowman? Are you listening Topps?

And what's up with putting Evan Longoria on the wrappers and box panels anyway? (Longoria is one of those 30 Autographed Draft Pick cards.) At the stated odds of 1:50/packs, and assuming perfect collation, a collector would have to open up 1500 packs of 2006 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects in order to get a single card of the player prominently featured on the wrapper. What is up with that Topps? Now, I don't want to say that Topps is doing something illegal or unethical by putting Longoria on all the wrappers. Oh wait, yes I am.

What I Got at the Card Show: 12/9/06

Site: Granite Run Mall: Media, PA

Oh sure, I got a term paper due on Wednesday. And I have a final on Friday, and two more next week. But dammit, Bowman Draft just came out, and got to bust a box! Besides, graduate school is so over-rated anyway.

One box of 2006 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects (Paid $79)

Box break forthcoming ..... whenever.

Total spent on cards: $79
Bridge Tolls: $3
Grand Total: $82

Box Break: 2006 Flair Showcase

One Box of 2006 Flair Showcase baseball (paid $72.95)
18 packs per box, five cards per pack ($4.99/pack)

The Details

Base Set: 200 cards

Broken Down by Short-Print Scheme:

• 100 Upper Deck


• 50 Field Box (1:4/packs*)


• 50 Suite Level (1:8*)

Parallels:

• Legacy Blue: 200 cards (1:18, numbered to 150 copies)


• Legacy Emerald: 200 cards (1:18, numbered to 150 copies)


• Press Plates

Inserts:

• Wave of the Future: 30 cards (1:3*)


• Hot Numbers: 30 cards (1:6*)


• World Baseball Classic Moments: 50 cards (1:8*)


• Hot Gloves: 30 cards (1:108*)

*Stated odds of finding either an insert or a short-printed base set card: one-per-pack

Autogamers:

• Showcase Stiches (1:9#)


• Lettermen (odds not stated#, production varies from three to nine copies, per player)


• AUTOGRPAHics (1:36$)


• Fresh Ink (1:36$)


• Showcase Signatures (Numbered to 35 copies$)

# Stated odds of finding a game used card: two-per-box
$ Stated odds of finding an autograph: one-per-box

The Pulls

Base Set: 72 of 200 (36%)

Broken Down by Short-Print Scheme:

• Upper Deck: 65 of 100


• Field Box: 4 of 50 (Rolen, B. Crosby, Tejeda, E. Renteria)


• Suite Level: 3 of 50 (P. Polanco, P. Fielder, B. Webb)

Parallels:
2 Legacy Blue: B. Myers, C. Floyd
Inserts:
6 Wave of the Future: G. Sizemore, J. Francoeur, W. Nieves, C. Ross, J. Verlander, R. Weeks
3 Hot Numbers: A-Rod, M. Teixeira, R. Clemens
2 WBC Moments: J. Grilli, K. Fukudome
Autogamers:
2 Showcase Stiches: E. Gagne, T. Hudson
1 AUTOGRAPHics: X. Nady

Box Break and Review: 2006 Fleer Tradition

One Box of 2006 Fleer Tradition baseball (paid $55)
36 packs per box, ten cards per pack ($1.49/pack)

The Details

Base Set: 200 cards (no short-prints)

Parallels*:

• Sepia: 200 cards


• Black & White: 200 cards


• Press Plates: 200 cards (four for each card)

Inserts*:

• Blue Chip Prospects: 25 cards


• Grass Roots: 25 cards


• Triple Crown Contenders: 15 cards


• Diamond Tribute: 25 cards


• Goudey Greats: 100 cards


• 1934 Goudey Buybacks

* Odds of finding an insert or parallel (according to fleer.com): one-per-pack.

Autogamers#

• Traditional Threads: 42 cards


• Signature Tradition: 16 cards


• 1989 Fleer Ken Griffey, Jr. Autographed Buyback: one card

# Odds of finding an autogamer(according to fleer.com): "better than one-per-box."

The Pulls.

Base Set: One complete 200-card base set
122 doubles

Parallels:

• 12 Sepias: T. Hudson, Halladay, Pujols, J. Aclardo, C.C. Sabathia, A. Beltre, D. Wright, J. Peavy, R. Howard, K. Millwood and C. Barmes


• 4 Black & Whites: A. Rios, J. Schmidt, E. Bedard and A-Rod

Inserts:

• 6 Blue Chip Prospects: Zimmerman, H. Ramirez, A. Wainwright, J. Johnson, K. Morales and C. Billingsley


• 5 Grassroots: V. Martinez, M. Cabrera, J. Kent, C. Beltran and C. Carpenter


• 3 Triple Crown Contenders: A-Rod, T. Helton and T. Hafner


• 6 Diamond Tributes: Griffey, Thome, T. Hafner, R. Oswalt, R. Harden & B. Abreu


• 1 Goudey Great: K. Johjima

Autogamers:

• 1 Traditional Threads: M. Young

The Review

Earlier this year, Upper Deck announced that they would release four baseball products under the Fleer name this season (Fleer, Ultra, Greats of the Game, and Flair Showcase). After breaking one box of Fleer Tradition, the fifth Fleer Set of 2006, UD probably should have stuck with four.

The 200-card base set feels a bit like an "Update" set. 26% of the base set (52 cards) are of MLBPA approved "ROOKIE CARDS" -- by far, the largest proportion of RCs in a product this year. (Of course, the vast majority of these are parenth-RCs.) Then again, with regular player cards of all the top stars (most of whom did not change teams) you can't really call it a true "Update" set?

So what are we to make of 2006 Fleer Tradition? Well, like the Fleer Trad sets of the past few years, the design gives the appearance of an old-fashioned Topps set, in this case 1981 -- although I don't remember Topps UV coating their cards back in '81. When The Hobby is starting to recycle the designs of cards issued a mere 25 years ago for a retro themed set -- especially a lousy one like '81 Topps -- this proves that the "retro" fad has officially jumped the shark.

Not that you would know it by looking on the back of the wrapper, but each pack contains either a parallel or an insert. As usual, UD conveniently forgot to include the insertion ratios and checklist cards. By now, you should know the routine: go to their website, download and print.

Standing out like the proverbial sore thumb from the rest of the inserts are the 100-card Goudey Greats. Done in the style and size of the 1934 Goudeys -- like we haven't seen that before (See: 1997 Fleer Goudey Greats inserts and 2002 Fleer Tradition base set) -- it appears that these undersized cards are inserted at the rate of one-per-box. Again, this is only a guess since the insertion ratios are unknown. Considering just how big a waxbox is (360 cards-per-box); how puny the size of the base set is (200 cards); and how relatively easy the other non-parallel inserts are to pull, the Goudeys seem out of place.

And yes, there are the standard one-per-box autogamers. According to Fleer's website, the 42-card "Traditional Threads" game used cards "(portray) what memorabilia cards would have looked like in the 1950s." They look nothing of the sort. Nice try though.

The Bottom Line:

For a set that really has no reason to exist, '06 Trad is about what you would expect. Now I don't know about you, but if I were in charge of UD, and management ordered me to produce a fifth Fleer product, I might consider issuing an "Update" set -- especially considering just how late in the season it is. Either an update of Fleer or Ultra, or even a multi-brand bundled update set would have made a lot more sense than this.

The box yielded a full 200 card base set and a stack of over 120 doubles. Each pack contained the promised insert, with a Goudey Great of Kenji Johjima and a gamer of Michael Young. Yawn.

Product Rating: 1.5 Gumsticks (out of five)

Do I recommend this product?

Only if you're a Fleer Tradition set completist. Otherwise, save your money and skip it. If you absolutely have to build a Fleer Tradition base set the old fashioned way, buy loose packs. Better yet, spilt up a box with a friend and play pack poker with it.

Box Break and Review: 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter

One Box of 2006 Topps Allen & Ginter baseball (paid $95)
24 packs per box, seven cards per pack (MSRP $3.99/pack)

The Details

Chiptoppers:

• One checklist/essay written by the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann.
• One individually wrapped oversized card (Hobby Only)

Base Set: 350 cards

Broken Down by Short-Print Scheme:

• Short Set: 300 cards
• Short-Prints: 50 cards (odds not stated)

Parallels*:

• Short Set Minis: 300 cards
• Short-Print Minis: 50 cards (1:13/packs)
• A&G Back Short Set Minis: 300 cards (1:5)
• A&G Back Short-Print Minis: 50 cards (1:65)
• Black Bordered Short Set Minis: 300 cards (1:10)
• Black Bordered Short-Print Minis: 50 cards (1:130)
• Non-Numbered Minis: 350 cards: (1:60, limited to 50)
• Bazooka Back Minis: 350 cards (1:125, numbered to 25)
• Wood Minis: 350 cards (1:3100, one-of-one)
• Rip Card Minis: 25 embedded cards
• Press Plates: 350 cards: (1:865, four for each mini card)
  

* One mini parallel per pack

Inserts:

• Dick Perez Sketches: 30 cards (odds not stated)
• Dick Perez Original Sketches: 30 embedded cards (one-of-one)
• A&G Postcards: 15 oversized cards (1:2 chiptoppers)
• N-43: 15 oversized cards (1:2 chiptoppers)
• Rip Cards: 50 cards (1:265, production varies from 10 to 99 copies)
• Framed Originals (1:3227)

Autogamers#:

• Framed Autographs: 54 cards
• Red Ink Autographs: 54 embedded cards (numbered to 10)
• Framed Relics: 52 cards
• N-43 Autographs: 2 oversized cards (1:970 chiptoppers, numbered to 10)
• N-43 Relics: 2 oversized cards (1:379 chiptoppers, numbered to 50)
• Personalized Postcards: 15 oversized autographed cards (1:3000 chiptoppers, one-of-one)

# Stated odds of finding an autogamer: two-per-box.

The Pulls.

Base Set: 144 of 350 (41.14%)
No doubles

Broken Down by Short-Print Scheme:

• Short Set: 132 of 300 (44.00%)
• Short-Prints: 12 of 50 (24.00%)

Parallels:

• 14 Short Set Minis
• 1 Short-Print Mini: Queen Victoria
• 4 A&G Back Short Set Minis: J. Kendall, K. Wood, J. Santana & H. Killebrew
• 1 A&G Back Short-Print Mini: C. Lee
• 3 Black Short Set Minis: R. Harden, S. Rolen & Wilbur Wright
• 1 Black Short-Print Mini: J. Lieber
  

Inserts:

• 13 Dick Perez Sketches
• 1 A&G Postcard: M. Tejada

Autogamers:

• 1 Framed Autograph: D. Lee
• 1 Framed Relic: M. Buehrle
  

The Review.

In what has become the latest in a string of products that have the appearance of pre-War (or in this case pre-20th Century) card sets; but in structure resemble more modern ones instead, comes Topps' latest "nostalgia product:" Topps Allen & Ginter. "TA&G" has been out for a couple of months, so forgive me for being a little late to the game, but the word on The Hobby street is that TA&G is one of the best (if not the best) products of 2006. Judging by the number of singles available, it's certainly the most broken-up product of 2006. With such praise, I finally had get in on the action, and while I wouldn't go as far as giving it the "set of the year" -- my money's still on Upper Deck's flagship -- TA&G is a pretty solid product, nonetheless.

For all intents and purposes, TA&G is same product as Topps 206, Topps 205, Cracker Jack, et al. Just like in the aforementioned products, you get an original-sized parallel in every pack, and every box contains two framed autogamers and an essay written by the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann. (No, that picture you're looking at is not Photoshopped, nor is it taken out of context. That really is the infamous, deplorable Keith Olbermann behind the O'Reilly mask giving it the ol' "Seig Heil!" to a recent gathering of TV critics. Infamous, deplorable? More like despicable. But I digress.)

The base set contains 350 cards -- 300 more than the original -- and as the case with the other "Topps nostalgias," there are some short-prints. Of course, none of the 50 cards are marked as being short-printed, and (as usual) Topps did not make public a list of SPs until well after the product's release. I will not reprint the full list here, but if you pulled a card with a "5" in it's number, chances are, it's probably short-printed.

The main draw to TA&G has been the inclusion of over fifty non-baseball related athletes and celebrities -- which is a bit ironic for a "Major League Baseball" card set. You all know about Danica Patrick, Hulk Hogan, and that Japanese guy who can eat all those hot dogs. But I found card #347, Billy the Kid, to be the most interesting. The back reads:

"William McCarthy grew up a teenage outlaw in the mid-19th Century Old West. He endures as a legendary figure who has been characterized as everything from cold-blooded killer to romanticized swashbuckler.

"Reputed to have shot dead anywhere from four to 21 men, Billy the Kid most famously headed a vigilante group called The Regulators. Once convicted of murder, he escaped, but was killed at age 20."

I can only imagine what the back of card #347 in the 2123 UpperFleerPlayoffDeck "Topps 2006" set will read...

"Usama bin Laden spent his formative years as a mujahadeen in the mid-1980s Afghanistan. He endures as a legendary figure who has been characterized as everything from a cold-blooded terrorist to a romanticized freedom fighter.

"Reputed to have been the mastermind behind the '9/11' terrorist attacks, bin Laden headed a jihadist group called al-Qaida. Once captured, he was convicted of mass-murder and crimes against humanity. He was publicly executed on September 11, 2011, by being thrown off the New York City's Freedom Tower by President Rudolph Guliani."

As for the inserts, each pack comes with an original-sized parallel, and they all come in a wide variety of flavors and scarcities (just like 20X, Cracker Jack, etc.). In addition in the regular "plain-vanilla" minis, there are: black bordered minis; minis without card numbers (neither sequential nor serial); solid wood, true one-of-one, minis; and my favorite, minis with a picture of the Quaker Oat Man on the back. (Actually, it's not the real Quaker Oat Man, but the original 19th Century Allen & Ginter logo.)

If there is one thing truly sucks about TA&G, it's the "Rip Cards." These allegedly innovative inserts are standard-sized cards with a mini-card embedded inside them. The deal is, in order to get the mini-card, you have to physically destroy -- or "rip" open, as it were -- the larger card. As previously mentioned, Topps ripped the idea off (pun intended) from equally infamous, deplorable, 1998 Zenith set, a.k.a. "Dear-to-Tear." As I said then, and continue to say now: "Dare-to-Tear was a lousy idea that no one in The Hobby took seriously, and should have died the same death as the company (Pinnacle Brands) that came up with it." But at least it's not soup cans!

Another thing about TA&G that sucks are the Dick Perez Sketch inserts. OK, "sucks" is a bit harsh. Disappointing is more like it. While, the set structure does duplicate the old Diamond Kings -- 30 players, one from each team -- unfortunately, Topps had Perez draw his sketches to scale, making it very hard to distinguish each player. (The 30 original sketches have been embedded into the Rip Cards.) Beckett says that if you cover of the player's name and hat logo, you can't tell who's who. I tried it, and I couldn't either.

Rounding out TA&G are the two-per-box autogamers. The demand for these cards, especially the "player-touched" autographs, is the driving force behind the wholesale pack-busting of this prodcut. Again, just like in the 20X products, all the autogamers are mini-sized, and come encapsulated in a 2 1/2" X 3 1/2" frame.

The Bottom Line:

Just about every pack contains something of value, which is why dealers and collectors are busting the bejesus out of TA&G. In my box I pulled 12 base set short-prints, ten "non-vanilla" parallels, 13 Dick Perez Sketch inserts, a framed autograph of Derrek Lee, and a framed Relic of Mark Buehrle. Throw in a Miguel Tejada chiptopper (see below), and that's 38 "hits" in a 24 pack box. A pretty good rip, if you ask me. With so much of the wax being broken, singles are becoming easier, and cheaper, to acquire. At $100 per box, TA&G isn't the most affordable product out there, so two waxboxes should be all you need.

Product Rating: 4 Gumsticks (out of five)

...and another thing

The oversized chiptopper cards are, well, interesting to say the least. My box yielded an A&G postcard of Miguel Tejada. The front a nice team picture of the 1897 Batlimore All-Americans. The back has a Miguel Tejada postage stamp affixed to the upper-right corner and reads, "I love the players, I love the team, I love everybody here. -- Miggy." Yes, it's signed "Miggy." This has got to be the cheesiest concept for an insert I think I've ever seen. But, again, at least it's not soup cans!

Box Break: 2006 Upper Deck series 2

Two Additional Boxes of 2006 Upper Deck series 2 baseball (paid $65 each)
24 packs per box, eight cards per pack (MSRP $2.99/pack)

For a proper review of this product, see my earlier post.

Box Three

Base Set: 171 of 500 (34.2%)
One double

Parallels:
3 Golds: J. Grimsley, C. Ross, R. Spilborghs
1 Silver Spectrum: C. Demaria
2 Rookie Bonus Silver Parallels: J. Broxton and M. Napoli
1 Rookie Bonus Gold Parallel: J. Capellan

Inserts:
4 Player Highlights: R. Howard, Piazza, Pujols, and Griffey, Jr.
1 First-Class Legends: Ruth
2 Speed to Burn: Ichiro and D. Wright
3 Run Producers: T. Cobb, Griffey, Jr., and J. Foxx
3 Inaugural Images: A Couple of Cuban Guys and A. Beltre

Autogamers:
1 UD Game Materials: R. Palmeiro (solid gray, with no needle marks)
1 Exquisite Collection Redemption Card

Box Four

Base Set: 172 of 500 (34.4%)
One double

Parallels:
2 Golds: R. Martinez and R. Doumit
2 Silver Spectrums: Rockies Checklist (Helton) and C. Villanueva
2 Rookie Bonus Silver Parallels: C. Demaria and T. Ishikawa
1 Rookie Bonus Gold Parallel: S. Olsen

Inserts:
4 Player Highlights: J. Varitek, B. Colon, Ichiro and B. Roberts
1 First-Class Legends: Ruth
2 Speed to Burn: L. Brock and A-Rod
2 Run Producers: D. Ortiz and A-Rod
4 Inaugural Images: D. Cabrera, a Korean Guy, another Cuban guy, and a Japanese Guy

Autogamers:
1 UD Game Materials: Jeter (solid white)

Review

After the first two boxes, I built a little more than half the base set. Combined with these two boxes, I now have a little less than two-thirds (323 of the 500, or 64.6%) of the base ser, and about as many extras. The "Law of Diminishing Returns" in action. Four boxes is enough for me.

I guess you can say that box #3 was a "juiced box," as it yielded a Jason Grimsley Gold parallel, a Rafael Palmeiro jersey card, and a big money redemption card.

Speaking of which... The "Exquisite Collection" redemptions are a "stealth insert" good for a low-numbered autogamer. According to the dealer I bought these boxes from, they're dropping at the rate of one-per-case (12 boxes), and are the reason why these boxes are going for about $5-$10 more than they were a couple of weeks ago. I'd like to tell you what Exquisite Collection card I will be receiving, but "2006 Exquisite MLB - Card info will be revealed on 9/1/06." Whatever. I'm willing to play along, but this better not suck, Upper Deck!

Box Break and Review: 2006 Upper Deck series 2

Two Boxes of 2006 Upper Deck series 2 baseball (paid $59 each)
24 packs per box, eight cards per pack (MSRP $2.99/pack)

The Details

Chiptoppers: One advertisement for 2006 Upper Deck Ovation.
One three-card "Rookie Card Bonus Pack."

Base Set: 500 cards, nothing short-printed. (yay!)

Parallels:
Golds: 500 cards (numbered to 299)
Silver Spectrums: 500 cards (numbered to 99)
Rookie Bonus Parallels: 100 cards (three in each chipptopper bonus pack; each numbered to 399)


Inserts*:
Player Highlights
First-Class Legends
Speed to Burn
Run Producers
Inaugural Images

* As of this posting -- nearly a week after the product's release -- Upper Deck had yet to post a checklist of Upper Deck series 2. For that matter, I could not find any reference to this product on upperdeck.com. (Nice going, Upper Deck.) Therefore, I am unable to list the set size or insertion ratios for any of the inserts. It does state on the side of the display box that the inserts are seeded at the rate of one-per-pack.

Autogamers#:
UD Game Materials
UD Game Patch

# Stated odds of finding an autogamer (as stated on the display box) are one-per-box.

The Pulls.

Box One

Base Set: 173 of 500 (34.60%)
No doubles

Parallels:
3 Golds: O. Hernandez, J. Cirillo, and A. Montero
1 Silver Spectrum: R. Langerhans
3 Rookie Bonus Parallels: T. Ishikawa, B. Hendrickson, and M. Prado

Inserts:
5 Player Highlights: ManRam, T. Hafner, M. Tejada, A-Rod, and J. Reyes
2 First-Class Legends: Ruth and Cobb
2 Speed to Burn: A. Soriano and J. Reyes
2 Run Producers: Jeter and V. Guerrero
3 Inaugural Images: Some Japanese Guy, Derek Jeter, and Some Cuban Guy

Autogamers:
1 UD Game Patch: R. Weeks (solid navy blue, with no noticeable stitching)

Box Two

Base Set: 165 of 500 (33.00%)
3 doubles

Parallels:
3 Golds: M. Timlin, M. Thames, and A. Nunez
1 Silver Spectrum: J. Santana (the Phillies reliever, not Minnesota's ace)
3 Rookie Parallels: J. Verlander, J. Van Benschoten, and R. Hill

Inserts:
4 Player Highlights: A. Jones, C. Carpenter, D. Lee, and V. Guerrero
1 First-Class Legend: C. Mathewson
2 Speed to Burn: C. Figgins and J. Reyes
2 Run Producers: G. Sheffield and M. Schmidt
4 Inaugural Images: B. Williams, K. Griffey, Jr., Some Korean Guy, and Another Japanese Guy

Autogamers:
1 UD Game Materials: G. Atkins (white with purple vertical pinstripe)

The Review.

Here it is folks, the much anticipated second series of the best product so far this year. Is 2006 Upper Deck series two, as great as the first? You betcha! There are a few minor tweaks that make it a little different from the first series, but all-in-all, UD makes a strong case for "Set of the Year." In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that 2006 Upper Deck will go down as one of the greatest products of our time. There, I said it.

The base set is, just like the first series, 500 cards. Unlike UD1, UD2, does have a couple of subsets. The first 370 cards (501-870) are the regular player cards, all arranged alphabetical by team, with a handful of rookie cards scattered, smothered, and covered in with the veterans. This is followed by thirty team checklist cards (871-900), and a 100-card (901-1000) rookie subset, all MLBPA approved.

Speaking of subsets... It appears that the last hundred cards are about as close as we're going to get to a "Star Rookie" subset this year -- a subset that has been the only consistent feature of this ever evolving brand since 1989. For all the changes in The Hobby since '89, you could always count on the Upper Deck baseball set's "Star Rookies." I guess the MLBPA's "ROOKIE CARD" program prohibits UD from referring to them as such anymore. Oh well. Like most cards bearing the "RC" logo, most fall into the parenth-RC category. And yes, there's some back-logoing chicanery going on as well. More on this later.

The team checklist cards are a nice addition, especially if you're a team set collector. Unfortunately, the obverse sides are virtually indistinguishable from the regular player cards, and the reverses only list those players appearing in the second series. Isn't the point of having "Team Checklist" cards, to include all the players in the entire set? (They did this last year, and with only a 180 card second series, it was kind of laughable. Some of the "Team Checklists" had as few as three cards listed!) And why do the team cards look the same as the regular player cards anyway? Couldn't Upper Deck had done something, anything, to make the team cards at least a little different than the regular player cards? Memo to Upper Deck: I'm pretty sure that someone, somewhere, still has Vernon Wells' dad's phone number in their rolodex. Give Vern's Old Man a call, and have him draw up some cards for the 2007 team checklists.

Just like in all the other UpperFleerDeck products this year, there's a bevy of insert cards. Also, just like in all the other UpperFleerDeck products this year, you have no idea just how many of them there are to chase after, and you have no idea what the exact pack insertion ratios for each of the specific sets are either, because there's no checklist, and the odds aren't listed on the wrapper. Unlike in the first series however, there are no parallels of the non-parallel inserts. If there's one thing I hate more than a meaningless parallel of a base set card, it's an even more meaningless parallel of an insert card.

Also, I found it curious (to say the least) that I pulled a couple of cards from the series one "First-Class Legends" insert set, in my series two packs. I don't ever recall a card company seeding the exact same set of inserts in both series of a product. The cards look exactly the same as the first series FCLs, however, I did notice a slight variation. On the reverse side, where all the legal mubmo-jumbo is printed, UD added their mailing address. Other than that, they're the exact same cards you pulled in the first series.

One other note about the inserts. All of them are sequentially numbered. None of that let's-get-cute-and-use-the-player's-initials-as-the-card-number-as-if-it-were-a-game-used-card BS.

Wrapping up UD2 are the gamers, and it wouldn't be an Upper Deck set without some sort of game used element, wouldn't it? Hell, it's Upper Deck baseball, the product that introduced the things to The Hobby back in '97.

The Bottom Line:

Individually, each box produced about a third of the base set. Combined together, my two boxes yield a little more than half the set (257 of 500), with a healthy stack of doubles for trade bait.

Just like the first series, you'll have to purchase at least four waxboxes to even come close to building a full set. (I only had enough money for two, but I'll soon be buying a couple more.) At $60 a pop, that's not exactly cheap. Add that to the four boxes of series one you'll need (or in my case, already bought) and you're talking about an investment of almost $500 on wax alone just to build your 2006 Upper Deck base set. And yes, it's worth it!

The inclusion of the "Rookie Card Bonus Pack" chiptopper appears to be the only noticeable difference between the Hobby and Retail versions of this product. Nearly every pack contained at least one card -- and in some packs two -- from the "Rookie Card" subset, so at the very least you're guaranteed to get something of value in each pack. Speaking of one-per-pack, on the side of the display box, in very, very, small type, it clearly states that each pack has an insert card. However, in both of my boxes, not every pack came with the promised insert. Box one had 14 inserts, four parallels, and a load-bearing thick Patch card of Milwaukee shortstop Rickie Weeks. The second box had 13 inserts, four parallels, and a gamer of Rockies third-baseman Garret Atkins. That's 37 inserts in 48 packs.

Product Rating: 5 Gumsticks (out of five)

Do I recommend this product?

2006 Upper Deck baseball is probably the best edition of their flagship brand since the legendary 1989 set, and the best baseball card product Upper Deck has released since 1994 SP. So yeah, I do recommend this.

...and another thing

Here we go again with more "ROOKIE CARD" back-logoing.

"Back-logoing" is the term I've given to cards bearing the MLBPA's "ROOKIE CARD" logo of players who have had cards issued without the logo earlier that year. I documented such back-logoing in my review of '06 Topps series 2, and in my subsequent open letter to the MLBPA -- a letter which has yet to be answered. In the case of 2006 Topps series two, the cards of Jose Capellan and Jonathan Papelbon were all "back-logoed."

Now comes this: In Upper Deck series two, Prince Fielder's card (#976) has the MLBPA "ROOKIE CARD" logo. But wait a second. Didn't Prince Fielder appear in the first series of Upper Deck already? And didn't that card come without the logo? Yep and Yep. Card #264 in the first series of 2006 Upper Deck is a card of Prince Fielder without the logo.

So let me get this straight. Are we to understand that Prince Fielder's first series card is not a "ROOKIE CARD," but, somehow, his second series card is? Geez, and I thought that the whole point of the cross-brand logo was to standardize the definition of a rookie card! WILL SOMEONE, ANYONE, PLEASE EXPLAIN THE LOGIC OF THIS!

UPDATE: 8/21

Upper Deck's finally posted a checklist on their site. It appears that there's a World Baseball Classic themed game used/game patch set, as well as autograph inserts (odds not stated), and printing plates. There's still no mention of the First-Class Legends inserts in this series.

UD still promises an insert in every pack; although, like I mentioned, not every pack in my two boxes came with one. It also says that you get five serial numbered cards in each box, as opposed to the four in each of mine.

Finally, the site says that all cards in the "Rookie Bonus Pack" are numbered to either 725, 425, or 75 copies. However, all six cards I received in my two Bonus Packs were numbered to 399.

The sizes for each of the insert sets are as follows:

• 20 Run Producers


• 15 Speed to Burn


• 35 Player Highlights


• 40 Inaugural Images


• 40 UD Game Jersey/UD Game Patch


• 60 World Baseball Classic Jersey Collection/Patch Collection


• 42 INKredibile

Box Break and Review: 2006 Topps series 2 HTA

With the US out of the World Cup, the rest of you can now go back to ignoring soccer for the next three years and eleven months. Until then, here's a break of the new Topps.

One HTA box of 2006 Topps series 2 baseball (paid $59)
12 packs per box, 35 cards per pack (MSRP $4.99/pack)

The Details

Chiptoppers: One "Box Sticker."

Base Set: 330 cards

Parallels:
Gold: 330 cards (1:4/packs, numbered to 2005 copies)
Black: 330 cards (1:14, numbered to 55, HTA exclusive)
Platinum: 330 cards (1:14,000, one-of-one)
Printing Plates: 330 cards (1:193, four of each card)

Inserts:
Hit Parade: 30 cards (1:6)
Topps Stars: 15 cards (1:4)
Opening Day: 15 cards (1:3)
Trading Places: 20 cards (1:4)
U.S. constitution Signers: 39 cards (1:2)
Mickey Mantle Home Run History: 100 cards (one-per-pack)
Home Run Derby Contest: (1:14,000)

Autogamers*:
Trading Places Autograph: seven cards
Topps Autographs: 23 cards
Team Topps Legends: ???
Mantle Home Run History Relic: 100 cards (1:16,000)
Opening Day Relic: 15 cards
Trading Places Relic: 27 cards
Trading Places Autographed Relic: seven cards (1:8000)
U.S. constitution Cut Signature: (1:80,000)

*Stated odds of finding an autogamer: 1:33/packs

The Pulls.

Base Set: 315 of 330 (95.45%)
67 doubles
1 triple

Parallels:
3 Golds: Hawpe, Ru. Hernandez, B. Thompson
1 Black: Dotel

Inserts:
2 Hit Parade: R. Sierra, A. Rodriguez
3 Topps Stars: V. Guerrero, Jeter, Pujols
4 Opening Day: KAN-DET, SEA-ANA, HOU-FLA, SDG-SFO
3 Trading Places: Furcal, Ra. Hernandez, Glaus
6 U.S. constitution Signers: B. Franklin, R. Sherman, R. Dobbs Spaight, G. Washington, H. Williamson, J. Wilson
12 Mickey Mantle Home Run History: #s 7, 10, 17, 52, 54, 61, 64, 70, 74, 79, 81, & 93

Autogamers:
1 Trading Places Relic: M. Bradley

The Review.

For all the crap Topps has pulled off this year, they have done one thing right. They haven't screwed up their flagship brand. No short-prints. No autographed base cards. No gimmicks. No BS. With Topps you know exactly what you're going to get, and this second series HTA box delivered -- kind of.

The 330 card second series is a little smaller than last year. In fact, at only 660 cards the full 2006 Topps set is the smallest in six years. There's everything you'd come to expect with Topps: 255 regular player cards, 14 AL managers, 16 NL team cards, 30 rookies (complete with the MLBPA's "ROOKIE CARD" icon), and 15 multi-player cards.

It is these multi-player cards that really "make" the set, I think. They remind me a lot of those "Superstar Specials" Fleer did back in the day. Unfortunately, the star selection is, well, not so "super." For example, card #650 -- titled "Philly Phanatics" -- has Pat Burrell and Mike Lieberthal. Now if I were in charge of selecting the two best Philadelphia Phillies to put on a multi-player card, don't you think that I would have chosen the previous year's Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby champion? (Ryan Howard and Bob "A-Booey" Abreu, respectively) Or how about card #654: "Power Rays?" Travis Lee and Rocco Baldelli? instead of Carl Crawford and Jorge Cantu? Come on now Topps!

Yes, there is a rookie card of a certain catcher for the Mariners, as well as a couple of dozen other players; however, as we've seen in other 2006 products, most of them are Parenth-RCs -- i.e. Ryan Zimmerman and the rest of the gang.

The inserts aren't really anything to write home about. Again, it's what you'd expect from Topps, with themes recycled from recent Topps offerings: All-Stars, Hit Parade, etc. The Mantle Home Run History set is based on the same concept as Barry Bonds' set -- one card for each of his career home runs. Only this time, they didn't print just overprint the shit out of just one card. There's 100 different Mantle cards (for career homers 2 through 101), and with the multi-year deal between Topps and the Mantle estate, you can expect the remaining 435 to be spread out over the next couple of years' worth of Topps sets. Enjoy Mantle-istas!

The U.S. Constitution Signer's mimic the Declaration of Independence cards from series one, in both concept and design. Each card looks virtually identical to each other, with the photo of the individual represented relegated to a teeny-tiny corner of the card. Is it just me, but has the "historical figure insert set" an idea that has just run its course? I mean, how many more of these could Topps possibly come up with anyway? Signers of the Articles of Confederation? Great American Vice Presidents? Heroes of the Confederacy?

The Bottom Line:

Unlike the series one HTA box I ripped in March, the series two HTA box came up short of a complete base set by fifteen cards. The main reason why I spent the extra ten bucks on an HTA, was to get a complete set. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed to be 15 cards short with a stack a 68 extras. All the inserts came as advertised, with three Golds and an HTA exclusive Black parallel. In the first series box I got a Roger Clemens numbered to 55; but with this box I pulled Octavio Dotel. Oh well.

The most interesting card I did pull was a Ruben Sierra "Hit Parade" card. I say interesting because, just how in the hell is Ruben Sierra still playing in the Majors anyway? I also got Constitution Signer cards of Ben Franklin and George Washington. Pretty cool, but I would have given my left nut to pull Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton was "The Man," and you know it. Oh, and I got a bat card of Milton Bradley. Big whoop.

All and all, I decent box, but I busted better HTA boxes. I still can't get over that fact that Topps actually put Travis Lee and Mike Lieberthal on multi-player superstar cards.

Product Rating: 3 Gumsticks (out of five)

...and another thing

For some reason, card #496 of Brewers pitcher Jose Capellan has an MLBPA "Rookie Card" logo foil-stamped on it. This despite the fact that: a) Capellan's card is not grouped in with the other "MLBPA Rookies," and b) Capellan pitched three games in 2004 for Atlanta.

I wonder if this is another one of those wacky Topps "error cards" that (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, knowhatImean, knowhatImean) mysteriously made its way into the packs? More importantly, I wonder if I could get Keith Olbermann to buy this "super-scarce variation card" from me. $5000 Keith, and it's yours! Call me!

Box Break and Review: 2006 Ultra

Two Boxes of 2006 Ultra baseball (paid $59 each).
24 packs per box, eight cards per pack (MSRP $2.99/pack)

The Details

Chiptoppers: One advertisment for 2006 Flair Showcase. (Looks pretty good).

Base Set: 251 cards

Broken Down by Short-Print Scheme:
Short Set: 200 cards
Retro Lucky 13: 50 cards (1:4)
Kenji Johjima Redemption Card: one card

Parallels:
Gold Medallion: 200 cards (one-per-pack*)
Retro Lucky 13 Gold Medallion: 50 cards (1:18/packs*)
* Pack odds retrieved from fleer.com

Inserts#:
RBI Kings: 20 cards
Home Run Kings: 15 cards
Strikeout Kings: 10 cards
Ultra Rising Stars: 10 cards
Diamond Producers: 25 cards
Midsummer Classic Kings: 10 cards
# Stated odds of finding an insert (from any of the sets) are one-per-pack.

Autogamers$:
AUTOGRAPHics: 35 cards
Ultra Fine Fabrics: 60 cards
Feel the Game: 30 cards
$ Stated odds of finding an autogamer (from any of the sets) are two-per-box, or 1:12/packs.

The Pulls.

Box One

Base Set: 115 of 251 (45.82%)
No doubles

Broken Down by Short-Print Scheme:
Short Set: 109 of 200 (54.50%)
Retro Lucky 13: 6 of 50 (12%) NOE-MAH! Helton, Cuddyer, F. Lopez, Baldelli, and P. Fielder.

Parallels:
24 Gold Medallions
1 Retro Lucky 13 Gold Medallion: A. Gonzalez

Inserts:
11 RBI Kings: Griffey, Ortiz, Teixeira, Sheffield, Sexson, Pujols, Helton, Delgado, C. Lee, V. Guerrero, and L. Gonzalez.
8 Home Run Kings: Pujols, A. Rodriguez, D. Lee, Teixeira, Dunn, Konerko, Sheffield, and Piazza.
5 Strikeout Kings: Santana, Peavy, Carpenter, Prior, and Zambrano.
5 Ultra Rising Stars: Street, F. Hernandez, Utley, Kazmir, and Taveras.
14 Diamond Producers: Edmonds, Griffey, Ortiz, M. Ramirez, Kent, Helton, Cabrera, Matsui, Tejada, Cantu, Burrell, Abreu, Dunn, and Chavez.
5 Midsummer Classic Kings: Jeter, Clemens, Soriano, G. Anderson, and I. Rodriguez.

Autogamers:
1 Ultra Fine Fabrics: Teixeira.
1 Feel the Game: V. Guerrero.

Box Two

Base Set: 115 of 251 (45.82%)
No doubles

Broken Down by Short-Print Scheme:
Short Set: 109 of 200 (54.50%)
Retro Lucky 13: 6 of 50 (12%) Jeter, P. Wilson, Jenkins, Verlander, Burroughs, Weeks.

Parallels:
24 Gold Medallions
1 Retro Lucky 13 Gold Medallion: Z. Greinke

Inserts:
11 RBI Kings: Griffey, Ortiz, M. Ramirez, Teixeira, Sheffield, Sexson, Kent, Pujols, Delgado, C. Lee, and V. Guerrero.
8 Home Run Kings: Pujols, Griffey, A. Rodriguez, D. Lee, Teixeira, Konerko, Sheffield, and Piazza.
5 Strikeout Kings: Santana, Peavy, Schilling, Carpenter, and Prior.
6 Ultra Rising Stars: Howard, Street, Utley, Duke, Kazmir, and Taveras.
13 Diamond Producers: Jeter, C. Jones, Ortiz, M. Ramirez, Kent, Helton, Matsui, V. Guerrero, Tejada, Burrell, Abreu, Bay, and Dunn.
5 Midsummer Classic Kings: Piazza, Jeter, Clemens, G. Anderson, and P. Martinez.

Autogamers:
1 Ultra Fine Fabrics: E. Chavez.
1 Feel the Game: F. Thomas.

The Review.

UpperFleerDeck does it again! Hot on the heels of Fleer baseball and the first series of Upper Deck, 2006 Fleer Ultra makes it 3-for-3 for the boys from Carlsbad. (or is it North Las Vegas now?)

The 251-card base set is pure Ultra. Just like how 2006 Fleer was a dead ringer for '94 Fleer, 2006 Ultra is Ultra just how you remember it was before it jumped the shark in 2001. The first 180 cards are arranged by team, followed by a twenty card "rookie" subset that is (are you ready for this) NOT short-printed. All 20 of these cards have the standardized MLBPA "ROOKIE CARD" icon, and yes, some of them are parenth-RCs. Cards 201-250 make up the "Retro Lucky 13" subset, and are SPed (1:4). After all, it wouldn't be an Ultra set without some short-prints? It shouldn't be all that difficult to complete the set, being that you get six of them in each box. And besides, unlike other recent card sets that shall remain nameless, it's not like they come autographed or anything.

The theme of the Retro Lucky 13s is that all were among in the first thirteen players selected in the first round of the amateur first-year player draft. Get it? Yes, there are all the usual suspects, but there are a few guys you don't normally find in a short-printed subset. Seriously, when was the last time Paul Wilson, Tony Clark, and Dustin Hermanson had SPed cards? And all the player's are current Big Leaguers -- no Brien Taylors or Josh Hamiltons in this bunch, but no Alex Gordons or Justin Uptons either. What makes the Retro Lucky 13s cool however, is that they really are Retro. The pictures used correspond directly to the year (or at least the general time frame) in which the player was drafted. For example, Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Lu