2008 UD Masterpieces

I bought a box of 2008 UD Masterpieces on Saturday at a mall card show for $71, and opened it immediately with Joshua. We couldn't wait to see what treasures awaited us inside this small box. Could there finally be that Derek Jeter autograph that we have been hoping to find? Maybe an A-Rod or Pujols parallel? Even a Pence or Longoria relic, hopefully. What we got, though not as memorable or thrilling, was very pleasing, nonetheless.

2008 UD Masterpieces

• 12 packs, 6 cards per pack
• Base cards: 59
• -doubles: 1
• Black frame parallels: 4 - Greg Maddux, Ernie Banks, Tim Lincecum, Russell Martin
• Red frame parallels: 1 - Whitey Ford
• Grey frame numbered parallels: 1 - Carlos Zambrano #18/25
• Jersey insert: 1 - Justin Verlander
• Patch auto insert: 1 - Brandon Phillips #08/25

The design is too similar to the '07 UD Masterpieces, but still very nice, although several of the photo-based drawings are not very flattering. The Greg Maddux cards (same for base and parallel) show an old, tired pitcher with a paunch, and the Robin Yount, as noted by Thorzul, is a strange portrait in which he is staring at something really scary or he has just been beaned by a Nolan Ryan fastball. The Jonathon Papelbon shows him in his Incredible Hulk pose after striking out a Yankee.

Also, as Thorzul pointed out, there is at least one factual error in the factoid on the back of the cards. Yount did not get the Rookie of the Year award, as stated on the back, and was not even in the top 5 in the voting. Tsk, tsk Upper Deck.

The prize of the box was the Auto Patch of Brandon Philips. It would have been even nicer to get a superstar auto-patch, but this is one beautiful card. It is so thick that only one other card was in the pack with it! It is an elegant simple design with Brandon's signature across the "Patch" watermark, and the patch itself is a three-color seamed portion of the Reds patch from his "game-used" uniform. Very, very nice.

The Whitey Ford is very interesting, also. Whitey has a bit of a clown-face going, and is holding up two balls with black stripes on them. However, upon reading the back of the card, it tells you why he is holding up the two balls: he threw back-to-back one-hitters. According to Baseball Reference, the only other pitcher that I can find since 1956 who did it was Sam McDowell for the Indians in 1966.

All in all, I would say this is as good a product as last year's version. It is beautiful, well-designed, interesting and easy to collect the base set. It is one of my favorites, and is highly recommended.

Final Grade: A- (for the factual errors)