2010 Topps 206 Retail Live- and odd

Hey guys, Drew back here. I would've posted this yesterday after watching the first break over at Stale Gum, and also Chris Olds posted a video and stole what I was going to say. 2010 Topps 206 is out, but not as well done as 2009 in my opinion. First, the good things is that the base cards are clean and nice. But then, we deal with these flaws:

- Crazy Mini Back cards (Polar Bear, American Caramels, Piedmont, Old Mill)

Do we really need all these? Allen & Ginter is different, but also, they could easily lose the A&G back and I'd be happier. If the card looks the same on the front, it's a pain in the butt on video to tell what cards have backs without having to pause and look at every mini.

- Retail Sticker Autos!!

Topps had it right last year with ALL on card autos. Maybe hobby will be on card, but this just looks plain ugly!!! In a vintage product, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO INCLUDE SEAN RODRIGUEZ AS AN AUTO, get him to sign the cards! This just looks ridiculous and may hold me back from buying any retail.

- WHERE ARE THE HATS?!?!

Now this is ridiculous! Maybe Upper Deck would have an excuse to have done something like this, but no, NOT TOPPS! They have an exclusive right to show players in their full uniforms, now what the heck is this? This is a remembrance of the original cards, sure, some guys didn't have hats on those but most did! Do we really want that card above? No, I didn't think so.

Unless I see an improvement in the hobby version, I'll delightfully pass on a box of this. Yuck! Will you buy this? If so, I'd love to know why. See Ya!

*Sorry Dayf for stealing your pictures, only ones I found so far!

Couple packs from Target

Hey guys, finishing yesterday's stuff with a couple packs I got from Target before the movie. So, I got a pack of Updates & Highlights, SP Authentic, Ticket to Stardom & O-Pee-Chee, here's the results:

2009 O-Pee-Chee:
- Randy Winn
- Jhonny Peralta
- Jacoby Ellsbury
- Josh Willingham Black Border
- 2008 NL Home Run Leaders (Howard/Dunn/Delgado)
- Miguel Cabrera
- Josh Bard

Thoughts: Now I have the black border and regular stinkin Josh Bard mugshot card. Want it? All for trade, no intentions of building the set.

2009 Topps Updates & Highlights:
- Guillermo Quiroz
- Ivan Rodriguez
- Lance Broadway
- Ichiro All Star
- Ted Lilly All Star
- Matt Cain All Star
- Michael Young All Star
- Daisuke Matsuzaka Turkey Red
- Zach Greinke Topps Town
- Ken Griffey Jr. Season Highlights
- Ryan Hanigan
- Javier Vazquez

Thoughts: Not bad, I hate Dice-K after drafting him as my ace in fantasy last year, and he sucked, man, if I didn't have Cliff Lee & Justin Verlander. The Greinke is decent but the insert is not, the Ivan Rodriguez is nice, the Ichiro & Griffeys are cool too.

2009 Topps Ticket to Stardom:
- Hunter Pence
- Carlos Delgado
- Alex Gordon
- Andy Sonnanstine Perforated
- Alex Rodriguez Seasoned Veterans
- Jorge Posada
- Hanley Ramirez
- Felix Hernandez

Thoughts: Awesome pack, likin Ticket to Stardom so far. The funny thing is before I left to go to the movies, I was working on my wantlist, and I just put on the Posada & A-Rod seasoned veterans when I left. The A-Rod is nice, cool insert, but the only flaw in this is the stupid perforated cards. If this is a ticket brand then every card should have a ticket feel, not just one card per pack. I like the perforated's a little more because of that, but every card should be like that. Nice pack though

2009 SP Authentic:
- Matt Holliday
- Ryan Zimmerman
- Kevin Slowey SP Authentic Signatures Autograph!!! :)
- Tim Lincecum
- Alex Rodriguez

Thoughts: This was some steroid usin/free agent/pot smokin/horrible team good player pack! And an autograph! The A-Rod is cool to have, and the Slowey is an awesome pull, although it probably only sells from 5-10 bucks. It doesn't say the odds on autographs on the Upper Deck packs, so that stinks, but it isn't too easy to pull an autograph in retail!

Overall a pretty good purchase, happy with the results, I opened them in the movie theater. For $10 or so it was a steal. I beat the packsearcher!

Drew: 1
Packsearcher: 0

Lastly, you know the Topps complete sets they sell at Target with the Mickey Mantle memorabilia card staring at you in front of very thin plastic? Well, some idiots stole them all at my Target! I don't buy full sets but you must be kinda desperate if you're stealing baseball cards. Arg! See Ya!

*click to enlarge, sorry for bad pic*

All For trade except Yanks

Which do you like the most?

Yeah, I Know that we all hate sticker autographs. But which one do you think is the best or is the worst?

Topps: (if you haven't seen them before, on the top it says Topps Certified and on the bottom it says Autograph Issue. It's kinda hard to see it)

Upper Deck: (the sticker with nothing on it, but in the light it says Authentic Autographs with a logo with an a all over it, you can't see the logos in the picture)

Donruss: (You can't see anything here again, but in the light it says Authentic Autographs (i think) all over it in the background.)

In my opinion, I sort of don't mind the Topps on that specific Beam Team (from Stadium Club) Autograph. But they look real bad in other places like Topps Sterling, which I think should go to on-card autos. They aren't that bad on Triple Threads, but I could also name some products where the sticker design sucks in. With the Upper Deck, I hate those stickers. The card is a Fleer one, but hopefully you know that Upper Deck owns Fleer and Fleer is closing down. It is an auto of Kevin Kouzmanoff from Fleer Ultra SE 2007, and is numbered out of 199. Everything about the card is nice except the stupid looking sticker in the middle of it. At least make it look nice or something, but just a plain old sticker that should have no use in the fun of opening packs. In Upper Deck Baseball Heroes 2008, I can't describe it, just look at the picture below:

Do you notice the extension off the corners of the sticker? That is just ugly, and in this case when I can live with that sticker somewhat, that extension just ruins it. Finally Donruss, my favorite football company, has sub-par autograph stickers. The example I have is a Leaf Certified 2008 autograph, which as you hopefully know Donruss owns Leaf, and it of Jermichael Finley. The stickers I can live with, but I don't like them all that much.

So give me your opinion on what you think. This is my order: 1) Topps, 2) Donruss, and 3) Upper Deck. My love for Upper Deck is starting to fade away somehow. Have you seen the 5 products written about by Wax Heaven? Spectrum, SPX, X, Icons, and Piece of History (which I like a little), he says look terrible. I agree with the first 4. They look like something you could pull in a Yugioh pack. As the companys get more advanced with technology, like Toppstown, Upper Deck U, Upper Deck Kids.com, and Topps Attax, what ever happen to those great products. I think I'll stick to 07 and 08 products thank you very much. Thanks for viewing, and see ya!