Case Break: 2007 UD Masterpieces Baseball: Box 14

Here’s the box topper of 2007 Masterpieces spokesperson Cal Ripken. Not only is he on the box, but he’s got four cards in the set. You can’t complain about having that many Ripkens especially when it increases your chances of pulling a Ripken parallel.

This is now the 14th different box topper that has come out of the case which makes it a lot easier for me to put together the set if I choose to do so.

Green Linen/Windsor: Craig Biggio, Joe Mauer, Chris Chambliss, Curt Schilling and ‘69 Mets

The Biggio and Mauer have been claimed and the Schilling is staying with me. The Chambliss and Mets are available.

Hanley Ramirez Ruster /50 (sold) and Travis Hafner Serious Black /99

Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens and Roy Oswalt

I’ll be holding onto the Schilling and the Oswalt has been claimed. The Rocket is available.

Here’s a Jeremy Sowers auto. Sowers is another player that I have to Google in order to know anything about…

Sowers was the 6th pick in the 2004 draft by the Cleveland Indians. He had a good rookie season in 2006 where he went 7-4 with a 3.57 ERA which is probably why he’s in this set. Things went downhill from there and he now has a career ERA of 5.18. His last season was 2009 and he had shoulder surgery on February 11th.

 

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Case Break: 2007 Masterpieces Baseball: Box 13

Even Red Sox fans can’t hate on a card that looks like this. Again, the frame on these box toppers compliments the Yankees uniform perfectly.

This is going to be a very interesting year for the Yankees and Jeter. Little Steinbrenner is quickly showing that he’s nowhere the owner that his dad was. If he keeps running his mouth and screwing with the team’s icons then player aren’t going to want to go and play in pinstripes any more. It already seems to be the trend with many big name free agents shunning the Yanks. That’s ok because Boston will welcome them with open arms.

Green Linen/Windsor: Andy LaRoche, Sandy Koufax, Babe Ruth, Luis Aparicio and Brooks Robinson

David Ortiz Black Linen /99 and Reggie Jackson Rusted /50

Here’s the second David Ortiz. How unfair is it that I bash Panini for their endless parallels, but I’ll collect two David Ortiz cards that are similar except for the texture of the frame? Well, if Panini made any cards that looked this good then maybe I’d change my opinion. Until then, I guess that I’ll just have to live with my hypocrisy. This is the second Rusted Reggie that popped out of the case so this one is available for any Reggie fans out there.

Brad Lidge, Carl Yastrzemski and Mark Teixeira

That Brad Lidge jersey swatch is by far the most vivid of anything to come out of the case. What’s cooler is that it matches the picture on the card. I was excited to pull the Yaz which will now have a home in my collection. Last up is a Mark Teixeira Braves/Rangers card. Do fans of those teams even want anything to do with him anymore? Lidge and Tex are up for sale.

Here’s an autographed card of Detriot fireballer Joel Zumaya. They’ve got a couple of hurlers in Detroit that can just blow people away. I hope that they do well. That city needs stuff to feel good about. They’re slowly recovering, but who wants to do that when your sports teams are playing poorly?

 

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Case Break: 2007 Masterpieces Baseball: Box 12

You know what’s weird, I can’t even remember at the moment which team Victor Martinez decided to sign with. I should remember because as a Red Sox fan I have to root against them so that we get the best possible compensation pick. I loved watching V-Mart while he was here in Boston because he was a great hitter, but I’d much rather have Adrian Gonzalez than Martinez due to the age difference. Of course, re-signing Martinez would have kept Kelly, Rizzo and Fuentes in the system, but what are you gonna do.

Detriot’s team looks pretty good this season, but an extra first round pick plus a supplemental pick is always a good thing no matter the position and the Red Sox have a great track record with these picks.

Green Linen/Windsor: Billy Butler, David Ortiz, Frank Thomas, Troy Tulowitzki and Ryan Howard

Here’s that other Ortiz that I had mentioned in an earlier break. This will be staying with me. All of the others are available.

Ryan Howard Serious Black /99 and Johan Santana Pinot /75

Both of these cards have already been claimed so I’ll move on to the jersey cards.

J.D. Drew RedSox/Dodgers card, Ben Sheets and Tim Hudson.

All of the jersey cards are available.

I was pretty excited to pull this out of the case. Ignore the white blob over Gwynn’s body as it was a reflection on the penny sleeve inside of the toploader. There’s a much better picture on the eBay auction. You can tell when you’ve got a hot card when the price reaches double digits within a day and a half of being posted.

There are some really cool short printed autographs in this product. I just saw Nolan Ryan come out of a case and I think there are cards of Cal Ripken and Ken Griffey Jr. I’m sure there are more, but I don’t have the checklist handy at the moment.

Upper Deck sure put all of their eggs in one basket with this box. You could consider this box to have contained two case hits in the short printed auto and now this 1/1 of 4 printing plate. This is the cyan printing plate of the very same Strokes of Genius autograph card that I pulled an expired redemption card for. The Perkins is also up on eBay. I never get these kind of boxes when I’m just buying stuff a box at a time. I think I’m getting hooked on busting cases.

 

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Case Break: 2007 UD Masterpieces Baseball: Box 11

Here’s another one of the cards that really makes Masterpieces such a great set. This image is from Lou Gehrig’s famous retirement speech where he stated that he felt like the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. This is by far the most famous retirement speech and is also one of the classiest, if not the most. Many people in Gehrig’s shoes would have been bitter for the hand that they were dealt, but Gehrig always remained a class act.

For those keeping track, we’ve now got eleven different box toppers, but none of them are autographed.

Windsor Green Linen: Don Larsen, Lou Gehrig, Hideki Matsui, Walter Johnson and Curt Schilling

I’m going to keep the Schilling here with me, but everything else will be available.

 

Don Larsen Black Linen /99 and Cal Ripken Blue Linen /75

Adam Dunn, Huston Street and Jonathan Papelbon

I’m going to hold on to the Papelbon, but if you are interested then stay in touch because it might become available after this season once Papelbon walks or is traded. I like him in the laundry, but I have a feeling that his antics might wear thin once he’s with another team.

This looks more like a tribal tattoo than an autograph. It does look cool on the card though and I guess that’s what matters. Henn was all over 2007 Upper Deck sets and he couldn’t have been a bigger bust. I think this is his third different autograph that I’ve pulled out of 2007 Upper Deck products. I don’t even think that Yankees fans want these.

 

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Case Break: 2007 UD Masterpieces Baseball: Box 10

I hate that guy!

I don’t really hate Ruth. It’s not his fault that he was sold to the Yankees by a terrible Red Sox owner. Oh, what could have been. I think the only person happy about this who isn’t a Yankees fan is Dan Shaughnessy. It’s too bad for him that the Curse of the Bambino is now over.

Windsor Green Linen: Roger Maris, Bruce Sutter, Roy Campinella, Roy Campinella again (one of each type and Carlton Fisk.

I’m going to keep the Fisk for my collection, but everything else is up for grabs.

Albert Pujols Pinot /75 and Reggie Jackson Rusted /50

Both of these cards have already been sold. I hated letting the Pujols go, but that wouldn’t have been prudent. I still have my Pujols numbered to 100 from 2008 Masterpieces.

Jose Reyes, Ken Griffey Jr and Marcus Giles

I Am Joe Collector pulled two of these out of a case that he just busted and they sold for $15 a piece on eBay which isn’t bad at all. I wouldn’t mind getting that at all once my auction ends. You can watch it or participate here.

 

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Case Break: 2007 UD Masterpieces Baseball: Box 9

Box number nine contained the ninth different box topper so far. This card here is one of the reasons why this set is missed so much. This is a beautiful card of one of the greatest hitters of all time. I can completely understand why Upper Deck stopped producing this set though. It was very costly to produce with the fancy card stock and on-card autographs It didn’t sell very well at the original suggested retail price. It sells very well now for half of that, but many of the people who love the set now didn’t buy it when it first came out (myself included).

Windsor Green Linen: Ichiro, Lou Gehrig, Cole Hamels, Chase Utley and Ty Cobb

The Ichiro is taken, but everything else is up for grabs. Any Phillies fans out there? Feel free to promote this break to anyone out there who doesn’t collect what you collect. (Thanks Guy!)

Ryan Howard Hades 1/50 and Kei Igawa Serious Black /99

The Howard is currently up on eBay due to the numbering. Weird things tend to happen when you’ve got the first, last or especially the jersey number. I’m hoping for some of that magic here. So far, so good on the Ripken 50/50. The Igawa is available for those of you out there collecting rookie flops.

Roy Halladay, Felix Hernandez and Dontrelle Willis

The Felix Hernandez is spoken for, but the Roy Halladay and Dontrelle Willis are available.

Upton doesn’t hit for average and doesn’t have a high on base percentage. He gets a high number of steals, but his success rate isn’t all that great. The modern belief by those really into sabermetrics is that stolen bases aren’t worth the gamble for the most part. I think you have to be successful close to 90% of the time in order for it to make a substantial difference. Ok, who wants to buy this? Me am good salesman.

 

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Halfway Point Case Update

Just wanted to write up a quick update of things after opening half of the case. So far we’ve got 8 different box toppers and no autograph.

The Cal Ripken Blue Steel numbered 50/50 has been posted on eBay and shot up to $7.78 within 24 hours of posting which seems crazy to me. It currently has 11 views and 2 watchers.

The Troy Tulowitzki seems like it might be the surprise card of the case. I couldn’t find any other listing, current or completed, on eBay and he’s a pretty popular player. It’s has 35 views and 14 watchers just 24 hours after posting. Hopefully it will get another bump on Monday from the people who goof off on eBay at work.

I could talk about other auctions, but I haven’t posted those box breaks yet so that would be spoiling.

If you have expressed interest in any of the cards from the break and I haven’t gotten an email out to you, please let me know. I’m about to do that now and am scheduling this post for 3 hours from now. If I haven’t gotten around to you by then please feel free to smack me around.

Case Break: 2007 UD Masterpieces Baseball: Box 8

I mentioned it in each of the box break videos, but I’ve yet to mention it here in the blog posts. This case break was sponsored by Atlanta Sports Cards and their video box break sponsorship program. Josh was a pleasure to deal with and gave me a great deal on the case. Makes sure that you check them out when you’re looking for wax boxes online.

We’re now halfway through the case break and have yet to see a duplicate box topper, but we also have yet to see the case hit box topper auto.

Here’s a great looking card of Travis Hafner. This is one example where the picture is perfectly framed by the… well, the frame. This is something that would look amazing up on a wall. All of the framed cards look a little better than the base cards that just fade to white around the edges. The frames really make the cards and I can definitely why people have chased the framed parallel sets.

Windsor Green Linen: Kirk Gibson, David Ortiz, Bill Mazeroski, Travis Hafner and Joe Mauer

It probably goes without saying, but the Ortiz will be staying with me. I pulled both the Windsor Green and Green Linen of this card out of this case.

Victor Martinez Black Linen /99 and Cal Ripken Blue Steel 49/50

Cal Ripken is already all over this product so I didn’t really need to pull two of the same parallel. Then again, the Ripken numbered 50/50 is already up to $7.78 after just 24 hours which is ridiculous in this day and age of eBay where everyone waits until the last minute to bid.

C.C. Sabathia, Matt Holliday and Brian Giles

Once again, I’ll point out that there are just some goofy moments in these videos that you’re missing out on if you aren’t watching. Hopefully someone other than me finds them amusing. I know it’s a lot of video to watch especially since I’m posting around 6 box breaks a day, but hopefully they provide some entertainment. It’s tough to make three plain white jersey swatches entertaining.

Anyone know if Huston Street signs through the mail. I’m not so much a fan of him as I am of his autograph. This is an extremely cool autograph. This is something that you treasure in your collection. I wish that some of the people that I collected had signatures that were this nice.

Everything with the exception of the Ortiz and the topper are available.

 

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Case Break: 2007 UD Masterpieces Baseball: Box 7

Box number seven brings me my seventh different box topper. What’s in the box? What’s in the box! Don’t worry, no severed heads here. (Is that still considered a spoiler? Has anyone not seen that movie yet?) This box contained a Jered Weaver. Weaver really had a rough season with the Angels last year. His ERA was just barely over 3, but his W/L record was 13-12. His Ks went way up and his walks decreased. If Los Californaheim can put a decent team out on the field this season Weaver should have a great year. Possible underrated fantasy starter alert!

Is it weird that the only thing that I can think of when I get a Jered Weaver card is the following clip from UHF (one of the greatest movies of all time, by the way):

Stupid!!!

Windsor Green Linen: Stephen Drew, Ken Griffey Jr, Craig Biggio, Babe Ruth, Bobby Doerr and Ty Cobb

Cal Ripken Blue Steel 50/50

This box only contained one numbered parallel so I kept hoping that something else was going to come out of the box, but that wasn’t the case. At least this was an eBay 1/1!

Carl Crawford, Francisco Liriano and Rocco Baldelli

I think that I’m going to hold onto the Crawford at least until I can get a Red Sox relic in a year or two. I’m amazed that the Liriano actually has a stripe because it seems like Upper Deck actually tried to make these the most boring jersey swatches of all time. The cards look beautiful, but it would have been nice if there was a little more variety in the swatches.

There was a time not too long ago that I would have been thrilled to pull a Jason Bay autograph. I did pull one out of 2007 UD Elements while Bay was with the Sox and I still have that card in my collection. This Bay will most likely find its way to eBay unless someone else is interested in it first.

 

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Case Break: 2007 UD Masterpieces Baseball: Box 6

I think I’m going to name Phil Hughes as my nemesis. He was offered to me in the ridiculous fantasy baseball trade that I think I mention in this video and he’s a great example of why wins are overrated in baseball. If Mr. Hughes were pitching for the Royals then he’d most likely have a losing record.

I dare say that the Yankees in this box topper set are some of the better looking cards due to the frame really complimenting the colors on the pinstriped jerseys. This is the sixth different topper in six boxes so I’ve got that going for me.

Green Linen/Windsor: Justin Morneau, Hanley Ramirez, Delmon Young (aka the scourge of 2007 sets), Ozzie Smith and Yaz. Can you guess which one is staying with me?

The most ridiculous thing that Upper Deck did with the two most common parallel colors was to make two almost identical versions of them. The Green Linens have a flat frame around them while the Green Windsor have a textured frame. The same goes for the Black Linen and Serious Black respectively. I grouped all of the greens together because I busted these boxes at night, my eyes were hurting and I wasn’t straining to make out the difference. The Green Linens are something like 1:6 packs while the Green Windsor are 1:9.

Craig Biggio Pinot /75 and Frank Thomas Serious Black /99

Derrek Lee, Bobby Abreu and Akinori Iwamura

Is it just me, or does it seem like Derrek Lee has sold his entire wardrobe to Topps? I pull more of his jersey cards and I really don’t want any of them. The Abreu is another annoying hybrid card, this time of the Yankees and Phillies. If you haven’t been watching the videos, this might be a good one to watch just for my inability to correctly pronounce Iwamura at some ungodly hour of the night/morning. There just might be some other little Easter Eggs in the videos for your entertainment.

Whoops, didn’t notice that this Andy LaRoche autographed card was askew with I scanned it. Oh well, it’s staying that way now. I don’t really have anything to say about LaRoche. Anyone out there have anything to share?

 

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Case Break: 2007 UD Masterpieces Baseball: Box 5

Next up is a Billy Butler box topper. Butler has strung together two good seasons in a row, it’s just a shame that he plays for the Royals or his run and RBI totals would probably be higher. Kansas City does have some more young players working their way up to the Majors so there’s a chance that the team will improve if they succeed in the bigs.

This is the fifth different box topper, out of twenty, that I’ve pulled so far out of the case. So, things are looking good for building the set. If I do well on selling the bigger hits on eBay then I’ll hold on to these cards. If not, I’ll contact everyone who has shown interest.

Green Linen/Windsor: Frank Thomas, Michael Jordan, Ryan Zimmerman, Roger Maris and Bruce Sutter

This case has been pretty good to me so far when it comes to my player collections. Here’s a David Ortiz Rusted /50 and a Kei Igawa Rusted /50. The Ortiz is staying with me and the Igawa has been sold already.

Eric Chavez, Carlton Fisk and Eric Gagne. All of these are available. Even though Gagne is listed as a Red Sox on the card, it seems more like a Dodgers card to me.

I have to admit that I have no clue who Justin Hampson is. Let me do a quick Google search. You’ll wait won’t you?

Hampson came up with the Rockies in 2006 and was plucked off of waivers by the Padres at the end of the 2006 season. He pitched for the Padres in 2007 and 2008. Was released by the Padres in 2009 while pitching in the minors and signed with the A’s. He became a free agent in November of 2009 and looks to have signed with the Mets on February 16th. He’s got a career record of 5-4 with an ERA of 3.38. He finished 20 games for the Padres in 74 appearances so it looks like he mostly pitched in low pressure situations. There’s got to be more to the story because those don’t look like stats of someone who should be searching for work.

 

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