2009 Upper Deck Icons Blaster Break

Well after my trade with Mike, I thought I might like to check out the 2009 Upper Deck Icons as a building set.  At my local Wally World, there was one lone blaster of that set in the discount card bin.  $11.98 for 10 packs and 1 guaranteed jersey card.  I wonder if it is kismet.  Let's find out.

Worst possible jerseys in this set (IMHO) - Bill Hall, Chris Duncan, Jeff Francoeur, Jhonny Peralta, Scott Kazmir...since there are 0 Rockies out of 65 possible retail jerseys (what's up with that)...I'll just hope I avoid those 5.




Pack 1
81 Nate McClouth - Pirates
54 Jimmy Rollins - Phillies
76 Mark Teixeira - Yankees
49 James Shields - Rays
50 Jason Giambi - Athletics

Pack 2 (meant for you BABenny)
63 Jose Reyes - Mets
1 A.J. Burnett - Yankees
81 Nate McClouth - Pirates Silver Board parallel?  Retail Red parallel
UD 20th Retro 1912 Eli Manning - NY Giants
32 David Wright - Mets

Pack 3 - HIT (well soft single)
64 Josh Beckett - Red Sox

IC-CU Michael Cuddyer - Twins jersey (claimed by hard to spell Twins fan)

95 Stephen Drew - Diamondbacks

Pack 4
37 Ervin Santana - Angels
12 Brian McCann - Braves
73 Magglio Ordonez - Tigers
34 Derrek Lee - Cubs
5 Albert Pujols - Cardinals

Pack 5
46 Ichiro - Mariners
71 Kosuke Fukudome - Cubs
68 Ken Griffey Jr. - Mariners
41 Garrett Atkins - Rockies (well I knew I would pull at least one from that trade)
14 Carlos Beltran - Mets

Pack 6
59 Johan Santana - Mets
4 Akinori Iwamura - Rays
77 Matt Holliday - Athletics
43 Hanley Ramirez - Marlins
16 Carlos Quentin - White Sox

Pack 7
19 Chad Billingsley - Dodgers
82 Nick Markakis - Orioles
UD 20th Retro 1917 - New England Patriots
79 Michael Young - Rangers
52 Jay Bruce - Reds

Pack 8
55 Joakim Soria - Royals
28 Daisuke Matsuzaka - Red Sox
25 Cliff Lee - Indians
88 Russell Martin - Dodgers
61 Jon Lester - Red Sox

Pack 9 Hit #2 (unexpected hit for Night Owl if he needs it)
91 Ryan Howard - Phillies
2 Adam Dunn - Nationals

IC-AE - Andre Ethier Icons "shiny goodness" 782/999 (claimed by the Dark Hooter)

97 Tim Lincecum - Giants
7 Alfonso Soriano - Cubs

Pack #10
57 Joe Mauer - Twins
30 Dan Uggla - Marlins
93 Ryan Zimmerman - Nationals
92 Ryan Ludwick - Cardinals
65 Josh Hamilton - Rangers

Dodger collectors...does Russell Martin have any bad photos on his cards?  His is by far the best of the cards I received.  I think he is the Benito Santiago of this generation with photos.

My thoughts on the set
I am definitely going to be building the base set.  Some may say it is too plain or repetitive, but to me the colors really pop (except the gray of the Pirates and White Sox).  The backs are kind of blah, but I am okay with it.  I am somewhat surprised that with the small checklist and 43 base cards in the blaster, I got 0 dupes (not counting the Atkins).  The two hits should be easy trades for Rockies.  The parallel is a Pirate so I might be stuck with it, but if you want it offer me any Rockie I don't have from any set.
All in all, that's a pretty dang successful discount blaster from 2 years ago.  If you are interested in trading for any the hits, parallel or the UD Retro stuff, email me or comment below as usual.