Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before...

This is officially post #250! Somehow that number was reached in less than 5 months.

So a beardy walks into a card shop with a 50 dollar bill and only gets 3 packs of cards, but walks out broke.

Which 3 packs did he get?


If you guessed 1 pack of 2009 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection, 1 pack of 2009 Topps Chrome Football, and 1 pack of 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions, you would be correct.

You can't start out with the money shot, so I'll save Ballpark for the end. I will say that it was too expensive, and even though I pulled something sort of cool, there's no way a pack of that should be more than $25, which it most definitely was.

Let's start off with some football. This is honest to god the first pack of football cards I have ever purchased. Unfortunately for my wallet, I loved it and will probably be picking up more in the future. I picked up 1 pack of 2009 Topps Chrome and had dreams of pulling a card of any player who plays for the greatest team in all the land right now, my Baltimore Ravens.

#TC81 Joe Flacco

Well I'll be damned. The first card in the first pack of football cards i ever bought was Joe Flacco. This kid is the truth, and I'm so happy we finally have a franchise quarterback.

#TC25 Marques Colston

Another solid card, this time of one of Drew Brees' many reliable targets.

#C55 Dwayne Bowe National Chicle

This is a great card! Bowe is one of my favorite young recievers and is an absolute beast of a man. He was one of my rookie fantasy waiver pick-ups in fantasy football 2 years ago, and has been on my team ever since. If Bill Parcells has his "Bill Parcells guys", then Dwayne Bowe is a "Beardy guy".

#TC45 Brian Westbrook

I won't dare call him over-rated, but sometimes I think it. He seems to be injured quite often, but when he isn't, Brian Westbrook is capable of some big-time plays.

That was a pretty solid pack, as every player was at least of minor star status. The Flacco card being first was pretty special, and the Bowe insert was icing on the cake. Are you ready for some Goodwin?

This pack was purchased with the hope that at least 1 or 2 cards could be crossed off my want list. Mission accomplished.

#147 Crappy McPooperson

needed it


#61 Michael Beasley

needed it


#229 Chris Young mini (mini exclusive?)
needed it


#185 Josh Johnson
double

Still no bug, but at least I was able to get some cards I needed for the set out of this pack. That Young mini MIGHT be one of the "mini exclusives", which feature players who aren't in the base set. It might not be as well, I am too lazy to check the checklist.

Now for the big enchilada, the one pack of 2009 Ballpark Collection that I purchased. You're probably able to figure that this alone at up the majority of that $50 bill, which it most certainly did. I will say it was a fun rip, but putting that much money down on only one pack is not something I plan to do very often. Let's see how we did.

#30 Gary Sheffield base card
Seriously, why even bother with base cards in this set? Honestly? Who the hell is going to be building this set?


#127 Chone Figgins/Yunel Escobar "Emerging Stars" dual swatch

#224 Ohlendorf/Carmona/Johnson/Albaladejo "Emerging Stars" quad swatch
ummm... are any of these guys even decent? Johnson maybe?

now for the big "hit"...

#354 Sizemore/Mauer/Cabrera/Dye on the front....
Martinez/Cuddyer/Verlander/Swisher on the back!
This card was pulled from the pack already inside a penny sleeve, and the COA/legal jargon crap had to be on a second card, since this one is pretty crowded. While it's a nice card, do we really need 8 swatches on 1 card?


UD 20th Anniv. #2282 Tony Blair
This was the last card in my pack. When you're only getting 5 cards to begin with, in a pack this expensive, one of those cards SHOULD NOT be one of these lame inserts. LAME UPPER DECK, just LAME! This one isn't even of an athlete. I don't want cards of sissies with funny accents, but that's exactly what i got.

Overall, this trip to the card shop was quite fun, as it pretty much always is. This was the first time I'd ever ripped anything football, as well as my first Ballpark Collection experience. Both were pretty positive, although Ballpark Collection definitely isn't a perfect product. There are a lot of lousy swatches of lousy players, which shouldn't be the case when you're paying a premium product price.

If you see something you like, don't hesitate to ask. All cards except the Flacco are for trade.