the Autograph Corner
UPPER DECK NEW PROSPECTS SET
BEAUTIFUL BUT FLAWED
Yesterday I got my long awaited
2 boxes of the Upper Deck SP Prospect cards that I ordered.
I was really looking forward to seeing the set. It was
advertised as an autograph collector's "must buy" with five
autographed cards and two jersey cards per box. At
about $90 for a box (24 packs per box, five cards per pack
for the most part) it was pricey. You'll find dealers
selling the packs for about $5 each.
Yes, the cards are beautiful.
Be advised though. Two boxes does not guarantee one a full
set. As a set advertised as "Prospects," I was disappointed
to find 90 of the 290 card set made up of superstars such as
Clemens, Maddox, Griffey, Pujols and the Big Unit. What's
the point? I can find these players in any other box of
baseball cards I choose to pick packs from. If you buy
cards to get autographed at minor league ballgames or
through the mail though, as I do, immediately a third of
your cards are pretty much useless to you. The one hundred
prospect cards are mostly AA and AAA players and players who
have debuted in the majors already. Again, I have
autographs of most of these already. So, that leaves the 90
2004 draft pick cards as the most meaningful cards in the
set for me.
You won't find many of the big
name 2004 draft picks in this set. No doubt they've
contracted out to other companies or are earmarked for
different sets. Conspicuously missing in the base set are
Homer Bailey, Mark Rogers, Matt Bush, Thomas Diamond, Justin
Orndorff, Chris Lambert, Kyle Waldrop and Robbie Robnett,
along with may others whom I feel should have been included
in a Prospect/Draft pick set. If you are just looking for
say, Midwest League players this upcoming season, you'd be
better off just buying the particular players that you need
off EBay. I certainly wouldn't go the two box route again.
The autographs are prolific and
as well done as last year's Prospect Premieres inserts, from
a set that I hoped that this would be a repeat of. You can
pull tripple autograph cards, with a star and two prospects
from each team. I pulled Jose Vidro and two Montreal
prospects on a card. A lucky buyer could conceivably pull
Tejada and 2 Oriole prospects on a card or Griffey and a
couple top Reds prospects signed on one card. Even tougher
pulls, including Hall of Famers and top prospects on cards
are there to pull as well. There are also dual autographed
cards of organizational prospects. I pulled a signed
Plouffe/Robinson Twins card and a Hughes/Potterson Yankees
card. Individual autographs include alot of names that the
average fan won't recognize yet. My big pull there was a
signed Matt Tuaisosopo card. I also pulled signatures of
Chad Boyd (Oakland) Josh Johnson (Royals, whom I should be
seeing in Burlington anyway) Corey Middleton (Detroit Hunter
Pence (Houston) Donnie Smith (St Louis) Kyle Bloom
(Pittsburgh) William Bunn(Montreal) and Gregory Burns
(Florida). The Bailey, Rogers, Matt Bush and Tom Diamond
cards that were so conspicuously missing in the base set are
there to pull as autographs if one is fortunate as are
prospects such as Huston Street and M att Fox, Kyle Waldrop
and so many others. The National Honors jersey cards are
gorgeous. I pulled Drew Stubbs, Joey Devine, J Brent Cox
and Ian Kennedy. This will be a fun set for those who go to
a card show and feel like playing an autograph lottery. The
chance of pulling a signature are good. The set itself,
although beautiful, is disappointing in its make up. I
wouldn't advise buying a box. For prospects Topps did a
much better job with their recent Bowman draft pick release. Upper Deck had a great formula
last year with their Propect premieres. I hope they haven't
abandoned it.
Within the next month I'll be
getting some baseball fixes. January 14th and 15th the Iowa
Cubs will be holding their annual fanfest in Des Moines.
Five Hall of Famers will be present; Paul Molitor, Dave
Winfield, Kirby Puckett, Lou Brock and Bob Feller. The
autographs are pricey, $30 apiece except for Feller who will
be signing in exchange for donations to his museum. I'll
get my Molitor, Winfield and Puckett Hall of Fame plaques
signed. Feller's wonderful little museum is only 12 miles
away from Des Moines. It's well worth a side trip, loaded
with memorabilia from his career and memorabilia of other
Hall of Famers as well. Thus far there's been no
announcement of the free autograph guests except for Pat
Listach and Mike Quade.
The Cardinal Caravan has
announced a stop at Davenport's John O'Donnell stadium. So
far Adam Wainwright and Al Hrabosky are the only 2 announced
guest, but they've said that 4 more will be added. The Cub
Caravan will be coming to Peoria as well. I'm ready.
For those of you looking for
prospect cards, don't overlook the Midnight Sun League. The
Alaska Goldpanners have put out sets for a few years now.
This year's set is worth purchasing, as is their all decade
set. This year the Anchorage Bucs, the Mat-Su minors and
another club have all produced card sets. Get cards of
Jered Weaver, Phillip Townsend, Jeff Francis and other top
players in small print run sets. If nothing else, check out
the websites, esspecially the Goldpanners, Great stories
and exceptional pictures to download to get autographed as
well.
My Spring Training responses
finally came up to 55%. Still down 10% from last year.
Football returns by mail have been really abysmal. I'm
thinking of ceasing writing to players from that sport
entirely. Football hsa not been my sport this year. Last
year I finished first in our community's "Confidence pick em"
pool. This year I'm 19th with just this weeks games left.
Not too well. Still, its out of 74 people. My fantasy
teams performed abysmally; my Anarchist Bombers finished 7th
and my Hellfire club 3rd in their respective leagues,
despite the latter team leading the league in scoring.
Anyway, I've rambled on long
enough. Take care and have fun with the hobby. I sure try
to.
~Rich Hanson
