Just like a lot of the collecting world, I’m a big fan of the 2009 Topps design. Blowout Cards had a special on boxes and so I picked one up. There’s a decent rookie crop this year and refractors aplenty. I got caught up in all of the positives about this set without considering any of the negatives.
The main negative, and it’s something that plagues a lot of releases these days, is the low number of cards that you get in a box. These days, set collectors seem to be outnumbered by player collectors, prospectors and Joe Collectors. It’s usually cheaper to just buy a complete set on eBay from someone who has busted cases, but there’s no fun in that for me. It’s getting to the point where putting sets together is losing its fun as well. I guess it is the old fogey in me talking. I liked it when most of the set came out of a box and the insert sets were what you chased. Getting less than half of a set out of a box isn’t all that great in my book.
So, I’ve got what I need for the set up on Google Docs (link above) and would love to trade any of the non-Red Sox pulls from this box for some cards from the set. I’m also open to other trades as well so drop me a line if you see anything that you like.
Here are the refractors that I got in the box. It seems a little vanilla to me. I thought I would have pulled more than just one numbered refractor. Heck, I pulled a red Troy Tulowitzki out of packs. I think all of my numbered refractors ended up being inserts.
World Baseball Classic refractors are numbered even in the plain variety (out of 500). I pulled two of those as well as a blue Dice-K (numbered to 199 like the blues from the main set). I could have done without this many WBC cards since I have no interest in them at all. 2007 - 2009 were the years that collectors had inserts forced upon them that they had no interest in. A-Rod and Mantle’s home runs, Yankee Legacy, UD 20th Anniversary, etc. Thank goodness for the 2% of collectors putting these sets together.
Here’s my first autograph out of the box. Ricky Romero had a decent rookie season posting a record of 13-9 with a 4.30 ERA, 141 K and 79 BB. Romero was the early favorite for AL Rookie of the Year until he hit the wall in the second half of the season. He started the year 7-3 with an ERA of 3 before going 6-6 and an ERA of 5.54 in the second half. If he can put together a full season like his first half of 2009, he’ll be one of the top pitchers in the AL and the Blue Jays won’t miss Halladay as much once his inevitable departure occurs.
My second autograph was of Cardinals third baseman David Freese. Freese missed most of the 2009 season due to ankle surgery and rehab, but he hit very well in the final six games of the season. He was only hitting .158 before the surgery, but finished the season at .323 in 31 total at bats. If all goes as planned, Freese should be the every day third baseman for the Cards this season and may end up bringing home 2010 NL Rookie of the Year honors.
Here are some refractors that I have lying around from packs. I’m posting these mostly for potential trade kindling. For less likely trades, I’ll also post my extra WBC cards.
Even though I may never finish it, I do like this set. I got the box for a great price so I really can’t complain. If companies are going to include low cost autographs, I’d much rather get autographs of rookies who have a chance to be something big than minor stars who most likely won’t ever be anything. I love the fact that there aren’t any bland relic cards to pull. If those disappeared overnight I wouldn’t shed a tear.
The set itself is loaded. You’ve got the top stars in the game and a very good rookie class. If I ever get caught up on the boxes that I want to purchase, I could see myself buying another box of this. I give the set an A- and this box a B.
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