Pack Break: 2008 UD Masterpieces Baseball (Retail) II

Pack no. 2 of my eventual set completion of 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces. I'm a junkie for this stuff.

Here we go:

78 - Barry Zito

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With a Cy Young Award and three MLB All-Star Game selections on his side entering 2007, Zito was an obvious choice to become the third pitcher in Giants history to make his first start with the squad on Opening Day.

I was pretty scared to see Zito join the NL 'Worst' in 2007, but his first year with the team was less than stellar. It's unfortunate to see an individual with such great talent fall off like Zito did. The curveball he had in 2006 was absolutely disgusting.



9 - Brooks Robinson

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The honors piled up for Robinson during the 1966 campaign as he was named the MLB All-Star Game MVP, earned a Gold Glove Award and was also the recipient of the prestigious Lou Gehrig Memorial Award.

I grew up an Orioles fan and to pull Baltimore greats like Brooks Robinson and Jim Palmer in back-to-back packs is fine by me. Keep 'em comin'!

38 - Lance Berkman

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It's extremely common for Astros fans to witness Berkman jogging around the bases on his way to home plate. After all, the first baseman had 259 HRs through 2007 - the third highest total in Astros history.

30 - Matt Holliday

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There wasn't much the opposition could do against Holliday from 9/9-9/20/2007 as with his 11 roundtrippers in that 12-game span he joined Alex Rodriguez as the only other player to have that many HRs in 12 games.

I wrote a little bit about this card on Thursday when paying homage to 'Big Daddy.'

8 down, 112 to go! Love this stuff.

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

Pack Break: 2008 UD Masterpieces Baseball (Retail)

One retail pack of '08 Upper Deck Masterpieces. Four cards per pack at $2.99, straight from Target to the blog:

36 - Miguel Cabrera

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After spending five star studded seasons with the Marlins, Cabrera made his much-anticipated debut with the Tigers on Opening Day 2008 (3/31), and he immediately responded with a big fly in Detroit.





8 - Jim Palmer

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Making his first Fall Classic start at the age of just 20 in 1966, Palmer didn't display signs of nerves in Game 2 as he had a complete-game 6-0 shutout against the Dodgers. Baltimore went on to a World Series title sweep that year.



51 - Justin Morneau

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With Joe Mauer taking home the AL batting title in 2006, Morneau was just as impressive on the year with the first baseman posting a .559 slugging percentage with 37 doubles and winning the Most Valuable Player Award.





37 - Hanley Ramirez

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Ramirez continued to excel throughout 2007 as he clubbed a career-high 29 roundtrippers with 81 RBI, and the native of the Dominican Republic provided an assist to the Marlins by suiting up for 151 games at shortstop.




Yankee Stadium Legacy, Game 2938 - Yogi Berra

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Berra not only appeared in a record 14 different Fall Classics but also played in the most World Series games (75) and has the most World Series hits (71). Twelve of those hits were Hrs, which also helped him accumulate 41 runs and 39 RBI.





It's always nice getting the bonus of a Yankee Stadium Legacy card. Four cards down, 116 to go!

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

Time to Celebrate the Hollidays

It officially sunk in today:



It's just so strange to see him in green and white. In loving memory of 'Big Daddy,' I've decided to post a few of my favorite cards of Matt Holliday.

This first card is from the 2008 Topps Chrome Trading Card History subset (TCHC44). This particular card is modeled after the 1971 Topps set and shows the slugger stoically modeling the Rockies' home-alternate uniform.

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In the closest vote in years, Matt was nosed out in the 2007 National League MVP vote. Holliday didn't miss much else, though, and his fourth consecutive season of steady improvement resulted in some monster stats. Among his numerous career highs were NL-best marks in batting average (.340), hits (216), RBI (137) and total bases (386). Holliday kept swining into the postseason, earning NLCS MVP honors.

This next card is #746 from 2008 Upper Deck Series 2 and displays Matt holding his 2007 NLCS MVP trophy tight following the dramatic win over Arizona in game four of the championship series. With the grin of a fifth grader on his face and the fresh Rockies on-field hat emblazoned with 2007 World Series logo on his dome, you can tell how happy this guy is. I happened to be at the game on this evening, sitting down the third base line in the outfield with my brother. Not only was this one of the best games I had ever been to, it was quite amusing to listen to the fans in the left field seats heckle Eric Byrnes over his comments following game two of the series:

"I think we're a good team, I also don't think the Rockies have outplayed us, because they haven't."

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With the Rockies on the brink of their first ever appearance in the Fall Classic, Holliday made sure Colorado would achieve its goal in 2007 with an eye-popping performance in the National League Championship Series. He was tabbed the MVP of the event after he crushed a pair of homers and hit .333 in the Rockies four-game sweep of the Diamondbacks.

The next card up is just a beautiful shot which exemplifies the effort put into the '08 series by Upper Deck. This is card #483 from Upper Deck Series Two which features Matt Holliday representing the Rockies and the National League in the 2008 Home Run Derby.


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Holliday was a monster at the dish in 2007 and has now cemented his spot as one of the most feared hitters in the National League. Last season, he led the NL in batting average, hits, RBI, extra-base hits, total bases and doubles. Whenever the Rockies were in need of a timely run, Holliday delivered as he posted a season-high four RBI in a game on four separate occasions.

Another favorite of mine is this card from 2008 Upper Deck Goudey. This is a card from the 1936 Goudey subset which is in a black and white color scheme. I like this one a lot because of the 'old-school' feel of the black and white photo and because of the determination seen in #5's eyes.

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Matt Holliday - With Holliday wrapping up the 2007 season with a National League best .340 batting average and 137 RBI, it's no surprise that the Rockies were able to finish with their first National League pennant in club history.



A new addition to the collection is this 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces base card featuring 'Big Daddy' rounding the bases and trotting home after what must have been a 650-foot homerun. I'm a big fan of the Masterpieces product by Upper Deck as they do such a great job creating a vintage feel while portraying the players in a great light. I'd like to at least complete the Rockies portion of this set if not the whole darn thing.

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There wasn't much the opposition could do against Holliday from 9/9-9/20/2007 as with his 11 roundtrippers in that 12-game span he joined Alex Rodriguez as the only other player to have that many HRs in 12 games.

After typing that, I had to re-read the back of the card a couple of times to make sure I didn't miss any punctuation. Not the most stellar summary, but at least the card is nice.

Saving the best for last, this card is also from 2008 Upper Deck Series 1. I absolutely LOVE this card. The photo gracing the front of the card is from arguably the greatest moment in Colorado Rockies' history which pictures Matt Holliday making the infamous head-first slide into home plate in the 163rd regular season game of the 2007 season (he touched it). As regular readers of Tulo Trader know, I was at that game with my brother and some friends, including Spud from Wax Breaker, and we were fortunate enough to have a suite for the event. I've written enough about that game as it is, so I'll save you the redundancy, but this was the greatest sporting event and one of the greatest moments of my life that I have ever experienced.


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The National League leader in hits, doubles, batting average and RBI in 2007, holliday put the Rockies on his back down the stretch to force a one-game playoff with the Padres for the NL Wild Card. After cranking 12 HRs and driving in an unbelievable 30 runs in September, Holliday plated two more and scored the winning tally in the bottom of the 13th inning on 10/1 as Colorado defeated San Diego 9-8 to reach the postseason for the first time since 1995.

We'll miss ya, 'Big Daddy.'

The Rockies will face the A's in the 2009 regular season as they visit Oakland in a three-game interleague series from June 26-28.


That's all I got...

- J.C.F.

MLB Winter Meetings

Day three of the MLB Winter Meetings has come to a close and the big news of the week so far is C.C. Sabathia's move from the Brew Crew to the Bronx. As I'm sure many of you are already aware, Sabathia is set to sign a deal with the New York Yankees worth roughly $166 million and seven years. As Tim Brown and Gordon Edes with Yahoo! Sports have reported, the contract includes an opt-out clause after Sabathia's third year of service with the Yanks.

So, have the Yankees secured a playoff spot and/or AL East division crown with this acquisition? Though this is a huge move, and statement, only time will tell.

The Colorado Rockies haven't made a splash at the meetings quite as significant as New York's (who has?), but they have been somewhat active. Rumors have been swirling around about the club since the Holliday trade to Oakland, but few have come to fruition.

Today, however, the Rox agreed to a one year deal in principle worth $2.5 million with thirty eight-year old reliever Alan Embree. Embree will join former A's teammates Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith and Huston Street in Colorado in 2009 barring any other transactions involving the players mentioned. This move clearly makes the statement that the Rockies' focus this offseason is on revamping the pitching staff rather than increasing offensive production.

A report that is raising eyebrows this evening involves the rumored trade of Rox center fielder Willy Tavares to Washington for a starting pitcher in Tim Redding. When the trade was all but finalized, word leaked out that one of the players involved in the transaction failed their physical.

Surprise, surprise... it wasn't Redding.

With the addition of Carlos Gonzalez to the team, I'm not quite sure what to make of Willy T's future with the Rockies, especially with the stress fracture that plagued him in the 2008 season. The trade for Redding isn't completely dead as some have mentioned, however. Word that first baseman Joe Koshansky was discussed in an alternative straight-up trade has surfaced, though I would absolutely hate to see the Virginia native go. I've always been a big fan of his and I see him playing a large role with the team once Todd Helton rides off into the sunset. Though losing Koshansky and possibly another player could be worth the benefit of acquiring Redding, I'm too stubborn to lose yet another player that I like.

As of right now, the Rockies 2009 starting lineup appears to be the following:

Chris Iannetta, C
Todd Helton, 1B
Clint Barmes/Jeff Baker, 2B
Troy Tulowitzki, SS
Garrett Atkins, 3B
Ryan Spilborghs/Carlos Gonzales, LF
Carlos Gonzales/Ryan Spilborghs/Willy Tavares, CF
Brad Hawpe, RF

Rotation: Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis, Ubaldo Jimenez, Greg Smith, Jorge De La Rosa
Bullpen: Manny Corpas (SU), Huston Street (CL)

A big bat and a slightly above average starter would make me feel a lot better about '09, but we'll have to wait and see on that.

That's it for today, but I'll have some cards up tomorrow.

That's all I got...

- J.C.F.