Target Bargain Bin Score

So today was one of those rare days in which my own incredibly inconsistent schedule of sub-teaching actually aligned with my overly-ambitious/absurdly busy girlfriend's schedule. I planned on a boring day of watching the Weather Channel, but she wasn't into it.

"Let's go to New Hartford."

New Hartford = Target. Target = baseball cards.

So I agreed.

And watched her shop, for close to two hours, and not buy anything. I waited until the end to exit out the Target entrance of the mall, and in less than two minutes in the card section, grabbed a $1.59 pack of 2007 Fleer Ultra and two "Casers" (18 packs) of 2010 Upper Deck. I'm guessing 18 cards is retail this year.

Out on the way to the car, I ripped the Ultra. There it was, a nice, thick card sitting happily in the middle of the pack, after being damned to silvery foil insides for what now amounts to 3 to 4 years of captivity. Knowing that Ultra never throws decoys in the packs, I slipped the thick one to the back went through the base cards. Rich Hill, Jason Bay, Bob Abreu, Scott Olsen. All doubles. Then, this guy:
Ha. and you thought it would have been the hit. Also, this was not a double. Nope, this was a new, cherry-flavored rookie for the binder.

Now for the hit:

Quick! What does this card have in common with anabolic steroids? They were both used by Miguel Tejada! I kid, I kid. I'm down with Miggy, and look forward to his Baltimore renaissance.
I've been waiting to pull a Hitting Machines relic, because, well, they're badass. The colors aren't as awesome as the Freddy Sanchez I saw on eBay, but still. I like this card. The black swatch helps, too.

On to the Upper Deck, if anyone cares.
Francisco is my boy. Can't wait until he's out of those damn pinstripes, though.

I wanna hang out and throw down some saki with Kurt Suzuki. Lots of great players coming out of Hawaii these days.
Umm. Awesome. This is the best Ballparks card I've seen come out of the 2010 UD set, aside from SafeCo, but still. Very excellent. I'm surprised they didn't exploit the Cien Tower across the street and try and get them both in the shot.

On to Upper Deck 2010 and what I think of them. They're alright. I'm looking at 20% of the base cards so far, and it's only February, so I say, bring on the set. They're kind of bland, but I honestly have not liked Topps flagship since 2008 and 2007, two of the most hated Topps sets in years. Plus, I'm the rebel of the cardblogospheroid. And no, you probably cannot convince me to like 2010 Topps. I'll wait a few months until the Halladay, Thomas and Molitor Cap Logos come down in price, and those, unless other cards are acquired by trade, will be the extent of my 2010 Topps collection.

Also: I am going to try to collect the Biography insert from this years 2010 UD. I like the design, and some of the cards I actually remember the day that whatever happened (such as SB-27 making my fantasy week, look it up), and to me, that's pretty rad. So, if you want, send me your unwanted Biographies.

2010 Upper Deck First Looks

Awesome, really. From the limited number of inserts (almost no base cards) listed on eBay, this is a pretty solid release. Here's some highlights:
Decent. Ramon Vazquez is one of the only base cards I could find...the rest had "Star Rookie" logos on them. I think due to the lawsuit, UD also cannot use the RC logo on their cards, so they designed their, own, and it's kind of obnoxious, but whatever. This Vazquez is actually a gold parallel /99.
Holy Fleer Ultra circa late '09's. These are siiiick. Die cuts are back with a vengeance...and Joe Mauer dons this one. Absolutely awesome insert, saw some others with Pujols and other stars, looks like a legit checklist for a sweet die-cut set. Very cool, will be collecting all of these.
So after seeing the Mauer and promptly jumping up and down (both for the return of die cuts and, let's face it, FLAMES!) this set stunned me equally. Perhaps it didnt need to be die-cut, but it's still really badass and features one of my favorite parts of the game, it's World-Wide reach (I'm a WBC homer, too, want to fight about it?!) This insert is a great cool-coloured answer to the too-hot-to-handle Pure Heat inserts.
And lastly, the relics. I am yet to see a patch or a multi-colour patch, but they're okay. The big portrait on the right is great, but instead of the small action photo on the left, I think they should have transferred the patch to inside the diamond and rid the card of a busy, second photograph. I'm so tired of circular patches, it's a waste of a swatch seeing as ~20% of the swatch ends up between cardboard.

I dig 'em. What do you guys think?