10.23.2009

My thoughts on '07 Ultimate

Before I leave for a week of fun in the sun, a few thoughts on 2007 Ultimate Collection baseball.
  1. I'm on the fence about value. Out of four boxes, there were probably two hits worth writing home about, the Gwynn and the Fingers. The Thome is nice, as is the Rollins, but the base Ultimate Star Materials cards are bland, and there are way too many average players and not enough stars for a product of this price point. I'd give this product a 6/10 for value.
  2. I like the designs for the America's Pastime autos and relics. It would be nice to know what the print runs were for this. Overall, the designs are beautiful, with good texture, color, print quality, stock, and design. I'd give this a 8/10 for design.
  3. Quality. Hmm, I think that most of the cards are high-quality, but I must say that if you look closely at the right-hand patch on the Gwynn, it is mis-registered and you can see past the swatch to the inside of the card. Not great. It's still a magnificent card, though, and anybody would be lucky to have it. More care could have been taken, too, to align the stickers on some of the auto cards. Quality gets a 7/10.
Overall, I think this deserves a 7/10. What do you think?

2 comments:

shoeboxlegends said...

I pretty much agree with your evaluation Dan. Without looking at the scans I seem to recall the first break having some bigger "hits" including a Ripken auto, etc.

Fun break either way though. Thanks again for putting that together Dan! That was quite a bit to organize right before leaving for a trip, and it's greatly appreciated.

Collective Troll said...

I have to say that you and the J-Man did a great job orchestrating this whole case break. I had never seen this product before and I didn't realize how few cards there were in each box. That is somewhat disappointing I have to say. As far as quality, they are good looking cards, the swatches were very nice and the layouts of the cards are well done. The Gwynn patch is one of the nicest cards I have seen in a while. There were some big hits in it, I hope that everything works out on that redemption card, that was unfortunate. I really hate redemptions. Anyway, I think that you guys did a really good job on the whole thing and I thank you for that. Thinking on the fly and re-randomizing the list was a nice touch as well. For the price for the case versus the number of cards in it, in hindsight doesn't seem like a great value, but they are classy looking cards and there were some good hits. Any break were everyone comes away with a relic and an autograph is pretty nice. I just wanted to formally you and the J-Man for a job well done. Although breaking a case sounds like fun, you two guys have a huge amount of work ahead of you and I don't envy you on that. I didn't know what to expect as this is my first break, but I am pleased and would most definitely do another break with you guys. The Rollie Fingers card is pretty amazing, it looks like a sticker auto and that is unfortunate, but it is a well laid out card, low number and good pic of a Hall of Famer. A few guys made out like bandits, a few guys are probably disapointed, but that is the luck of the draw. I thought you guys handled it all very fairly and I personally and a happy customer. Enjoy your vacation! troll