2009 UD Spectrum - Talk about your purple cow!

Hello. My Name is David, also known as Tribecards. I have a problem. I'm addicted to wax. Not the candle kind, or the kind they used to use to make those goofy teeth or mini bottle of juice, but the kind that are not-quite-square pieces of cardboard.

I know the addiction is strong because I continue to buy re-pack boxes, knowing full well there will be very little worth buying it for. But, you see, there will be wax. Oh, yes, there will be.

And so it is that in a recent repack box, I came across a pack of 2009 UD Spectrum cards. I did a quick search on here and found no related posts. First of all, I found that very odd. Secondly, I can understand why.

These cards are purple. Shiny and purple. These cards are Jimi Hendrix and Prince wrapped up in the guise of baseball collecting. The scan caused the light to do weird things, so the purpleness of these things doesn't come across. But, trust me, only Barney has more purple on him... Well, maybe that Tinkle-winkle thing or whatever it was called - tubertellies or something? I dunno.

First up, we have Carlos Beltran (Mets) and Carlos Zambrano (Cubs):

The front of the cards are, well, purple. They look like they wanted to be UD "X" cards, but missed. They have a "Hollywood lights" style effect, but it gets lost in all the purple. There is a bit of white also. The UD logo is in the top corner, the player is 'cutout' in the center. At the bottom, the word "SPECTRUM" along with the player's position, team logo, and uni number. The player's name appears in a semi-italic font at the bottom.

BJ Upton (Rays) and Dan Haren (Diamondbacks, though wearing an A's uni) rounds out the four Spectrum cards in the pack:


But, wait! There's more! This pack also features a UD 20th Anniversary card. On it, Griffey Sr and Jr are shown together. The subtitle: Griffey Sr retires after 19 seasons:"


How cool would it be to be playing baseball right along side your Dad (or favorite male relative)? I think it would have been awesome.

I also scanned the backs of the 20th Ann card and the Beltran:


I don't ever remember seeing these cards on the rack at Wal-Mart or Target at all. Then again, I may have been subconsciously avoiding the purple packaging...

2008 Upper Deck Spectrum

These cards came 4 in a pack in a repack box. I forgot to check the wrapper to see if they really were four to a pack or if that is just what *I* got when I opened the repack. I did say at one point that I was swearing these off, right? Ah, but that is where true addiction comes into play, isn't it?


We've got J.J. Hardy (Brewers) and Don Mattingly (Yankees - Stadium Legacy). According to the back of his card, Hardy was being compared to Robin Yount. I don't follow the Brewers (or much of things in general) so I have no idea if that still rings true or not. Mattingly's card recounts his 100th home run in old Yankee Stadium on 5/15/90.


Ex-triber Brandon Phillips (Reds) and Hanley Ramirez (Marlins) are depicted here. Phillips was on a fast track of self-improvement at this time, giving the Reds a hand in hits, homers and batting average. Ramirez was doing something similar in Florida, focusing on hits, steals, doubles and batting average. In 2007, he was one of two players to get 200 hits for the team in a season. Not too shabby.

As for the cards themselves, I like the colors and design of the Spectrum, I guess. The player pics should have been bigger though. I mean, that *IS* why we buy these little bits of cardboard in the first place, right?

2008 Upper Deck Spectrum

Alright, here's the pack I would have sent to dayf if I had come out on the losing end of our bet. Now we all get to see what he missed out on.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
21 Paul Konerko

34 Magglio Ordonez

22 Jermaine Dye

9 Erik Bedard

Well, he didn't miss out on much, at least from my persepective. This might be, percentage-wise, the best ever pack for "Sox or No Sox." As I already pulled a couple of Brewers in this set from a blaster about a month ago, and I'm not trying to build this set, these cards will all be available for sale or trade here.

Not much else to say about the pack, which is good, since I've got to get going to the Brewers/Astros game. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 central time, but the opening of the parking lot is of much greater importance right now. There is a family of Leinenkugels calling out to me right now. Go Brew Crew, let's sweep the 'stros!

2008 Upper Deck Spectrum (for real)

Okay, tonight we have the actual post (or something not quite unlike it) of my 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum box break. I semi-randomly chose 7 cards to represent one card from each pack (since the cards had been shuffled). I dealt the rest of the cards to seven imaginary poker players, then dealt the ones from the scans. So, let's take a trip to the land of forged collations and see what we have:


Ah, yes, pseudo-pack #1 gives us the "greedy" in McReady, Mr. Maddux. Also joining in the fun are Robinson Cano, Prince Fielder, and David Ortiz.

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Is it me, or does Babe Ruth often have the look of, "Good, God, just take my blankety-blank picture already" on his face? Though not a Tribe card, there is at least reference to them on the card face... Also in this pseudo-pack are Derek Jeter Retro-rectum, er, Retrospectrum DJ83, Hunter Pence, and Nick Swisher.

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Oh, look! Another wrecked-em, er Retrospectrum card. This one is DJ59, for those that care. And, if I look through my magic mirror, I also see Josh Beckett, Dan Haren, and Jonathon Papelbon. Really, three pitchers? Huh....

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Hey, a Triber! I should have played "Tribe-or-no-Tribe" with this pseudo-pack. Also in here, we have Alex Gordon, Hank Blalock, and Eric Byrnes who looks like a cross between Pete Rose and Huey Lewis....

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Ah, the "Memorabilia card in every box" turns out to be a White Sox jersey with pinstripe showing! Not a bad pull of a Freddy Garcia card if you have to pull a Garcia card. Hanley Ramirez, Barry Zito (with completely round imprint from my Son's glass evidently), and Johan Santana round out the "pack."

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Carl Crawford leads off this "pack" which seems fitting considering he seems to be playing well this season.. :-) Add in a little A-Rod, some Berkman, and a dash of Dunn to finish out the group.

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The last "pack" in the box starts with Dice-K in a ridiculously manufactured pose. Next is Brandon Phillips, Sammy Sosa (huh, didn't realize he still played - LOL jk), and Dan Uggla.

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Considering that the same blaster boxes are being bought on eBay for half what you buy them for in Wal-Mart, I suggest you buy them online rather than "in line...." :-)

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2008 UD Spectrum Live Blaster Rip

Ok, live box break is coming up in less than a half an hour. You've got about 15 minutes to guess which pack the relic is in. Ten minutes before the break I'll post the first Trivia Question so you have time to Google around for the answer before the break. The next two questions will be during the rip itself. One prize per person so don't be a Mr. Know It All and try to answer everything.

Ok, time for the trivia to start. First up is the baseball question, first person to answer correctly in the comments wins a prize. One prize per person!

BASEBALL QUESTION:

Derek Jeter has an insert set in 2008 Spectrum. He has won the Rookie of the Year award but not the MVP award.

Name the player who came in second to Jeter for the Rookie of the Year in 1996, and the player who beat out Jeter for the MVP in 2006.

Box break in less than ten minutes....

THE PLASTIC IS OFF THE BOX

HERE'S THE FIRST PACK

ARE YOU READY?

Lets rip!

Pack 1:
6 Jeff Francouer
97 Alex Rios
82 Tim Lincecum
DJ74 Derek Jeter jumps inna stands

Pack 2

HIT ALERT
32 Troy Tulowitzki
SDS-VR Justin Verlander & Ivan Rodriguez Duel Swatches 67/99
52 Prince Fielder
78 Greg Maddux


Question time

BAD MUSIC QUESTION:

2008 Spectrum has a lot of entertainment autographs from 80's hair metal band members, but they didn't get the signatures of these two guys.

Find and post the YouTube link to the video of the guy who sings "Chocolate Rain" doing a karaoke version of "Never Gonna Give You Up".

Yes, I'm serious. If you are unhappy with this question post a YouTube link to something even more terrible, because I'll be checking every link posted tonight.




Pack 3
58 Joe Mauer
45 David De Jesus
65 Robinson Cano
YSL 315 Tony Lazzeri

Pack 4
19 Derrek Lee
71 Jimmy Rollins
26 Adam Dunn
13 Daisuke Matsusaka


Question time



POTPOURRI QUESTION:

The Electromagnetic Spectrum is the range of all possible electromagnetic radiation, from long wave radio waves to gamma waves and includes visible light.

The base cards in 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum have a blue background. What is the length in nanometers of the wavelength of the color blue?



PAck 5
36 Gary Sheffield
62 Jose Reyes
91 Carl Crawford
DJ50 Derek Jeter does something

Pack 6
49 Brad Penny
88 Scott Rolen
39 Dan Uggla
12 David Ortiz

Pack 7
18 Carlos Zambrano
23 Jim Thome Orange Parallel 191-399
1 Chris Young
YSL290 Lou Gehrig

Ok that's the box! Let me fix some of these typos (David Prtiz??) and I'll go check to see who won!

TEH WEENERS:

Pack with the hit - pack 2
Tulo's card number - 32

mmosely wins!

darkship picked Ivan Rodriguez who was on the card so he also wins!

TRIVIA

Question 1 - thorzul drops the Jeter knowledge!

Question 2 - andrew posted the youtube video! (sorry brian, had to be the link to the video)

Question 3 -burnsee2 was first in with 450 nanometers!

BONUS PRIZE:

Kevin has to get something for this wonderful video he posted!



maybe a punch in the nose, but he's gotta get something! THANKS FOR PLAYING!

Live Box Break #3 2008 UD Spectrum Monday at 10:00pm

Box break is tonight! 10:00pm! Be there or be somewhere else doing something productive with your life square!

It has been decided: Monday, 10:00pm will be Fastest Box Break Ever #3 - a Blaster of 2008 UD Spectrum.

On that night I will get online at 10:00pm Eastern time, 7:00pm Pacific and live blog the opening of a UD Spectrum Blaster that I will purchase that afternoon. I will rip each pack, post the cards in the pack and scan the best card. There will be two contests:

Contest 1
Each box of Spectrum has seven packs with one pack guaranteed to have relic card in it.
Guess which pack has the relic!
To enter: post here your guess which pack has the relic, a number between 1-100 and your guess on which player is on the card.
Pick the right pack and you have a chance to win. The tie breaker if more than one person picks the same pack is the number from 1-100. Closest to the number of the first card in the pack wins.
Winner gets their choice of:
Bad Autograph card
Relic card
Numbered insert card
If you guess the player on the card you win all three whether you guessed the pack right or not! First person to pick the player wins, so don't you all pick the same guy.
The checklist is here, don't pick someone who is not in the set!

Contest 2
Three trivia questions will be asked during the box break. To keep it topical, one question will be about baseball, one will be about bad music (to honor all the hair metal band autographs in the set) and one will be something unexpected...
First person to answer it right wins a bubble mailer packed full of cards. I'll cram as much stuff as I can get in there safely. Expect an eclectic mix.
Only one prize per person! I'm sending out four bags of stuff!

This thread is the official pack guessing thread, so make your guesses and see you on Monday!

Update - bumped to top again.

2008 UD Spectrum

This stuff is $7.50 to $8.00 a pack at the local card shops, yet I can walk into a Wal-Mart and pick up a pack for three bucks. Way to undercut your own business, Upper Deck. The cards are shiny though and curiosity got the better of me so I got a pack. The wrapper says to "Look for Spectrum of Stars Celebrity Signatures!" but Upper Deck continues to jealously guard their insertion ratios so who knows how long we'll have to look. It's openin' time.


68 Dan Haren
94 Hank Blalock
DJ55 Derek Jeter Retrospectrum
YSL4629 Lou Piniella Yankee Stadium Legacy
blank card with a big clunky anti-theft device stuck to it


I don't know if I like these cards or not. The holographic foil is nice, but the blue everywhere dulls it. The hockey stick borders are kind of interesting, but all the random rays and angles and stuff in the background just looks cluttered. I can't tell what they were trying to do with this design. Is the player supposed to be on a stage with lots of lights on him? Is he a spaceman in the middle of a laser battle? Is it just artsy crap that sounded better in the design meetings? It sure is shiny though and kids like teh shiny.

I also can't tell if this is a good pack or not. Dan Haren is a stud, but he didn't get any respect in Oakland and he sure ain't going to get any in Arizona. Hank Blalock needs to hit 25 homers n a season again before he'll be more than a common. Derek Jeter is a nice pull but the set looks huuuuuge. There's at least 55 Jeters in there which is nice, but might get tedious after a while unless you're a hard core Jeter fan. The design on the card is cool, but it's even darker than the regular cards. It looks like the card should feature Batman, not Derek Jeter. I also got a Yankee mirror card in the pack. I know we are supposed to hate these out of principle, but I like pulling older players out of new packs. I also don't know how I feel about Lou Piniella. I don't like him because he's a blowhard, he manages the stinkin' Cubs, and he's one of Bobby Cox's managerial rivals. On the other hand I like reading about him in Jim Bouton's Ball Four, he's an old school kind of guy and you have to respect someone who clung to baseball so tenaciously he had about 8 Topps "Rookie Stars" cards in the 60's. This card here is acceptable I suppose, although it sure don't like like that picture was taken in 1983. Let's check the box score to see if Lou was even involved with that game in '83. Lou played right field, went two for two and was replaced by Ken Griffey in the sixth. UD got one right!