Sunday's Afternoon Blaster - 2009 Upper Deck Goudey

Welcome to today's edition of The Sunday Afternoon Blaster.  I am going once again with an older Upper Deck discount blaster.  This time with the unpronounceable set.  Is is GOO-di or GOW-di?  Anyway this is the 2009 version of this set.  I hated the 2007 version because it was all minis and very hard to store.  The 2008 version was better, but still had the 2 different back colors on minis and had Derek Jeter's mug on half of the set.  The 2009 version I had never opened, but it got a lot of hate on blogs.  I am fairly certain that I will not be collecting this set, so the goal here is as many Rox as possible AND the ugliest card in the set Dave Concepcion.

Card coloration is it's availability

white = I'm keeping it

green = available for trade

red = already claimed/traded

Today's blaster is 2009 Upper Deck Goudey.  8 eight card packs, nothing guaranteed.


On with the show.

pack one

82 Lance Berkman - Astros

22 Jason Bay - Red Sox

35-35 4 in 1 Upton/Longoria/Pena/Crawford green border - Rays

35-55 4 in 1 Jones/Wright/Atkins/Ramirez red border - various 3B

135 Alex Rodriguez - Yankees

147 Mark Teahan - Royals

148 Jack Cust - Athletics

184 Evan Longoria - Rays

pack two

94 Clayton Kershaw - Dodgers

32 Daisuke Matsuzaka - Red Sox

20 Cal Ripken Jr. - Orioles

208 Nolan Ryan - Rangers SP - Brian

UD 20th Retro - 907 Vladimir Guerrero - Expos

195 Vernon Wells - Blue Jays

136 Chien-Ming Wang - Yankees

124 Jonathon Niese - Mets

pack three

70 Carlos Guillen - Tigers

10 James Parr - Braves

66 Garrett Atkins - Rockies

54 Jay Bruce - Reds

78 Josh Johnson - Marlins

159 Brad Lidge - Phillies

111 Ben Sheets - Brewers

196 Alex Rios - Blue Jays

pack four

34 Curt Schilling - Red Sox

90 Mark Teixeira - Yankees

42 Carlos Zambrano - Cubs

35-44 Kendrick/Guerrero/Hunter/Figgins red border - Angels

183 David Price - Rays

171 Matt Cain - Giants

160 Edwin Encarnacion - Reds

112 CC Sabathia - Yankees

pack five

77 Dan Uggla - Marlins

46 Ken Griffey Jr. - Mariners

284 Ryan Braun Heads Up - Brewers SP - Spiegel

39 Aramis Ramirez mini green back - Cubs

170 Wade LeBlanc - Padres

123 John Maine - Mets

128 Johan Santana - Mets

172 Tim Lincecum - Giants

pack six

41 Kerry Wood - Indians

65 Dexter Fowler - Rockies

18 Nick Markakis - Orioles

6 Dan Haren - Diamondbacks

114 J.J. Hardy mini green back - Brewers

134 Phil Hughes - Yankees

176 Erik Bedard - Mariners

131 Francisco Cervelli - Yankees

pack seven

5 Brandon Webb - Diamondbacks

89 Vladimir Guerrero - Angels

79 Carlos Lee - Astros

91 Garret Anderson - Braves

3 Stephen Drew mini black back - Diamondbacks #'d 08/21

35-68 Kennedy/Chamberlain/Buchholz/Masterson red border - overhyped Yankee/Sox prospects

110 Yovani Gallardo - Brewers

194 Travis Snider - Blue Jays

pack eight

17 Brian Roberts - Orioles

19 Jed Lowrie - Red Sox

55 DAVE CONCEPCION - REDS!!!

232 Stan Musial Sports Royalty - Cardinals SP - Fan of Reds

182 B.J. Upton - Rays

122 Delmon Young - Twins

164 Matt Antonelli - Padres

152 Lou Marson - Phillies

IMPRESSIONS
Design: D+
This is a painted set, which works for some, but I personally don't like that much.  What makes it worse is that some of the artists here make Dick Perez look like Da Vinci.  Why are there so many painted cards with the wrong uniform?  It's not like they had to wait for a picture or anything.  Overall kind of bleh for me, but I can see how some people might gravitate toward these types of sets.

Inserts / Hits: B-
I got all excited after the first four packs thinking that they skipped minis in 2009.  Then came 3 in the last four packs.  The 4 in 1's are sort of odd.  Do each of them have several parallel colored borders or does each have a specific color?  The one thing I have always loved about Goudey in general is the Heads Up subset, they are just so fun.  Some may say that they are designed for kids, but technically so is our entire hobby.

Value: A-
Not horrible, but I still prefer a guaranteed hit in a blaster.  After looking through deciding which mini to scan I noticed the numbering on the mini and getting a card #'d to 21 in a discount blaster is fantastic, even if it is some failed prospect or bench player or worse a Diamondback.  I did get three short prints including two of the greatest players of all time in Nolan Ryan and Stan the Man.  I will happy to trade each of the 3 SPs for 2011 Heritage SPs that I need.

Rox in the Box: 3
Finally, a decent showing for the Rox in an Upper Deck blaster.  I had 0 Rox from this set and there are a total of 5 base cards (including 2 in A's uniforms).  I knocked out the Garrett Atkins and another Fowler rookie card.  Plus I got the 4 in 1 with Atkins and 3 other third basemen that I didn't even know about.  One question though, why do they list the team name as the Colorado Rockies when all other teams are just the nickname?  Card companies need to realize that the Rox have been part of the league for 18 years now, people now know where they play.

Will I Collect This Set: F
Nothing in this blaster made me change my mind, so everything is up for trade. I do hope someone is collecting this set, because every set needs a little love from someone.

Overall: C
For me, this set hits a couple of my pet peeves.  Short prints, retired players in the base set (although I don't mind the Sports Royalty subset), and minis.  It does have only baseball players and there doesn't appear to be any ridiculous gimmickry so I'll bump it up to a C.  To me a C is not collectible as a set, but it was still fun to see for myself.