I picked up $10 worth of hobby packs of 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights cards today. I’m not sure if I’m really going to collect these or not, but I’m probably going to have to wait for retail blasters to show up before I pick up any more – the area baseball card shop was nearly out of regular packs and I refuse to blow $10 on one of those HTA jumbos.
Pack #1
Alberto Callaspo
Cody Ross
Randy Johnson
Kosuke Fukudome
Paul Janish
Russ Martin
Joe Mauer
Justin Duchscherer
Paul Janish Gold (1720/2008)
Asdrubal Cabrera
Not a horrible start, but nothing all that special either…. Fukudome would have been interesting earlier in the season, though now not so much. Paul Janish is only 25, but he hasn’t really done much yet…
Moving on…
Pack #2
Odalis Perez
Chad Durbin
Luke Scott
Chipper Jones
Brad Lidge
Adrian Gonzalez
Nate McLouth
Joe Nathan
Ichiro
Johan Santana season highlight
Johan Santana would be the highlight of this pack, except he’s still a Minnesota Twin thanks to Topps’ odd decision to include 2007 season highlight cards in the 2008 Topps Updates & Highlights product.
Pack #3
Matt Garza
Scott Rolen
Yamid Head
Justin Morneau
Andy Phillips
Tony Armas Jr.
Damaso Marte
David Ortiz
Francisco Rodriguez World Baseball Classic Preview
Dwight Gooden Ring of Honor
Checklist 3 of 3
Now this is much better. The Dwight Gooden Ring of Honor card is the pack highlight. The Ring of Honor cards are much more appealing in person than they are in scans or on sell sheets. I sort of want to collect these, but I really don’t have much of a feel for how common they are.
Other pack highlights include what is likely to be Tony Armas Jr.’s only Mets card, a card of Met-for-a-minute Andy Phillips (even though he’s a Cincinnati Red on the card) and a World Baseball Classic Preview card of potential future Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez.
Pack #4
Jonathan Albaladejo
Kip Wells
Brian Wilson
John Smoltz
Geovany Soto
Robinson Tejada
Dallas Braden
Chad Guadin
Chipper Jones Gold 0064/2008
Yamid Head
Yuck. This has to be the worst pack of the lot. John Smoltz & Chipper Jones? It doesn’t get much worse for a Mets fan. Somebody please take that Chipper card off my hands. It should be in an Atlanta fan’s collection – not mine.
Pack #5
Jeff Ridgway
Chris Gomez
Mark Hendrickson
Albert Pujols
Brent Lillibridge
Evan Longoria
Grant Balfour
Billy Traber
Ben Zobrist
Mamie & Dwight Eisenhower
The All-Star Game cards are one of the things I like about the Updates & Highlights set. I skipped the home run hitting contest, but here’s a nice Evan Longoria card to remind me of what I missed. One thing I don’t like about baseball cards in 2008 are the politician cards, and I ended up with one in this pack. Serious stuff and fun stuff are best kept separate.
Pack #6
So Taguchi
Carlos Gonzalez
George Sherrill
Dan Uggla
Carlos Guillen & Josh Hamilton
Grady Sizemore
Ben Francisco
Chase Headley
Billy Wagner
D.J. Carrasco
Ok, ok… this pack might seem a little worse than the Chipper/Smoltz one, but Billy Wagner saves it a little.
Actually, it’s still a bit dull. Up until I opened this one, I expected every hobby pack to have a parallel or an insert, but I guess not.
I probably would have been better served to use that $10 to pick up singles from one of the Beckett dealers, but it was fun to open some packs for a change.
PaulHadsall.com 