Collect call: 2009 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection

Posted Sep 30, 2009 by Bob D'Angelo

Updated Oct 4, 2009 at 09:42 PM

You have to like the odds in every pack of Upper Deck’s Ballpark Collection.

There is the promise of three memorabilia or one autograph and two memorabilia cards in every pack (on average, of course). Since there are five cards to a pack, this should be a product you want to rip open quickly.

The design follows the 2008 pattern, particularly with the game-used cards. However, the background color seems a little more faded this year. What I liked about last year’s set was the deep brown background. The rich color made the swatches and autographs stand out better.

Each base set card is numbered to 699, but they are not the lure for this set. The game-used jerseys are the biggest draws, the “Piece of History 500 Home Run Club” bat cards (that first appeared in 1999 Upper Deck Baseball) is also a nice collectible.

A hobby box contains four packs housed in mini-boxes. The box I sampled featured plenty of goodies. Start off with an autograph card of Jordan Zimmermann (numbered to 400) and a swatch auto of the Yankees’ Jonathan Albaladejo.

This particular hobby box contained one eight-swatch card (four on each side) and a six-swatch card (three on each side). The eight-piece card was a Stat Kings card, numbered to 300, of Tim Lincecum, Josh Beckett, Roy Halladay, Jered Weaver, Chad Billingsley, Fausto Carmona, Justin Verlander and Bronson Arroyo.

The six-piece card will thrill any Red Sox fan. This Teammate Timelines card, numbered to 300, includes Manny Ramirez, Jon Lester, Jason Varitek, Mike Lowell, David Ortiz and Josh Beckett.

There are two other Teammate Timelines cards with “only” four swatches, featuring Dodger players Billingsley, Martin, Matt Kemp and Andruw Jones; and Ramirez, Travis Hafner, Victor Martinez and Jonathan Papelbon
An Emerging Stars four-swatch card numbered to 500 featured four catchers — Joe Mauer, Victor Martinez, Kenji Johima and Russell Martin.

Dual-swatch cards included Stat Kings of Aramis Ramirez and Magglio Ordonez, numbered to 350; Jake Peavy and Brandon Webb, numbered to 400; Francisco Liriano and Barry Zito, also numbered to 400; and Kelly Johnson and Jeff Francoeur, numbered to 500.

The final four-swatch card was an AL/NL Stars card (numbered to 400) of Howie Kendrick, Ian Kinsler, Freddy Sanchez and Yunel Escobar.

An additional treat was an insert highlighting the 2009 All-Star game, a card featuring Albert Pujols and President Barack Obama.

Lucky collectors (five of them, actually) will find a dual-signed Michael Jordan/Tiger Woods UD Spokesmen memorabilia card, numbered to five.

This is a high-end product with potentially some fairly good sizzle. Not many autographs, but the odds of pulling a nice card are very high.