Random Pack Breaks: 2009 Bowman Jumbo

I'm a sucker for the jumbo pack. It's probably because I'm more into building sets than anything else so they offer me a lot of bang at a somewhat reasonable price. When I was in the city last weekend I had very little interest in 2009 Bowman Baseball, but without any Topps Series Two available in my neck of the woods and an opportunity to buy some new packs as opposed to Walmart repack leftovers, I jumped. Here's a jumbo pack with my random thoughts.

174. Collin Balester, Nationals
114. Aaron Rowand, Giants
46. Brian Roberts, Orioles
17. Ted Lilly, Cubs
130. Josh Johnson, Marlins

Five cards in and I'm not overly enthused. Generic pictures, pretty tame players. Let's continue.

213. David Price (sort-of) RC, Rays

I got a Price out of my only purchase of Bowman last year, except that one was had Chrome, Refractor and autograph goodness going for it. Still, I'll take it.

57. Johan Santana, Mets
102. Chris Iannetta, Rockies

Orange 29. Russell Martin, Dodgers (065/250)

It's always nice to get a card of someone you collect. Inserts make it a little sweeter.

The second half of the top-half veterans were nice. Now onto the guys I've never heard of, 90% of whom I'll never hear of beyond this pack. I've put their draft year and round in brackets, not that that's really any indication of the prospect status, although it helps.

BP79. Will Atwood, Nationals (12th round, 2008)
BP47. Jon Mark Owings, Braves (17th round, 2004)
BP45. Wilson Ramos, Twins (Free Agent, 2004)
BP75. Brett Oberholtzer, Braves (8th round, 2008)
BP63. David Genao, Rays (18th round, 2008)
BP40. Cristian Beltre, Diamondbacks (Free Agent, 2006)
BP88. Jose Barajas, Orioles (26th round, 2008)

The guys who were actually drafted average out around the 16th round. I'm not holding my breath that any Mike Piazza-types will emerge from the Prospects portion of the pack.

And now for a little juicing of the World Baseball Classic:

BW7. Gift Ngoepe, South Africa (Pirates) (Free Agent, 2008)
The WBC subsets are starting to grow on me, but only when I get a Canadian.

Gold BP58. Wilin Rosario, Rockies (Free Agent, 2006)
I saw the purpose of the gold parallels when they were decoy cards. Please retire them or switch back to International Foil.

The time has come for some Chrome.

BCP76. Pat McAnaney, Diamondbacks (8th round, 2008)
BCP42. Marc Rzepczynski, Blue Jays (5th round, 2007)
BCP25. Jeremy Hamilton, Phillies (5th round, 2008)
BCW9. Nicholas Weglarz, Canada (Indians) (3rd round, 2005) - another Canadian!
BCP80. Tommy Johnson, Mariners (27th round, 2008)
BCP3. Greg Veloz, Mets (Free Agent, 2006)

Other than the illustrious 27th rounder, the average round of the Chrome Prospects is definitely a little better. Time to finish with a few more vets.

151. Howie Kendrick, Diamondbacks
4. Chase Utley, Phillies
163. Aramis Ramirez, Cubs
88. Zack Greinke, Royals
179. Nick Markakis, Orioles
111. Nelson Cruz, Rangers
124. Nick Swisher and his ball balancing on the end of the bat trick, Yankees
131. Carlos Zambrano, Cubs

Overall, I think the design of 2009 Bowman Baseball is solid but not spectacular. It reminds me of a mix between 2008 and 1997. The black borders are clean and I definitely like that the design of the veterans and prospects are the same rather than the black and white designs from last year. Let's face it, although the numbering may differ, a true set of 2009 Bowman Baseball includes both the base set veterans and the prospects.

Getting two Canadians in the pack was a definite bonus. Interestingly, in getting Greinke, Lilly and Price, half of my starting rotation for my baseball pool were there to represent.

You Knew It Was Coming: 2009 Topps World Baseball Classic

With all the World Baseball Classic patch redemptions that won't ship until the fall and the insert set in 2008 Topps Update, it was pretty obvious that Topps wasn't going to sit back and not make a set on the much-hyped but largely meaningless international tournament.

Releasing on March 11, 2009 Topps World Baseball Classic will be a 55-card box set with a mix of players from all 16 nations participating in the tournament. From a Canadian perspective, the highlight of the checklist is the first MLB-licensed card of Mariners prospect Phillippe Aumont. Russel Martin, Justin Morneau,  and Joey Votto are the only three other Canucks represented.

The USA leads the way with seven members of their roster in the set, follwed by Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Japan with five players each.

Here's the complete line-up for the set broken down by country:
Australia: Luke Hughes, Grant Balfour
Canada: Phillippe Aumont, Russel Martin, Justin Morneau, Joey Votto
China: Chenhao Li, Tao Bu
Chinese Taipei: Che-Hsuan Lin,Fu-Te Ni
Cuba: Michel Enríquez, Yulieski Gurriel, Alexeis Bell, Yoandris Urgelles, Alexander Mayeta
Dominican Republic: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Hanley Ramirez, David Ortiz, Jose Reyes
Italy: Frank Catalanotto, Lenny DiNardo, Mike Napoli
Japan: Yu Darvish, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kosuke Fukudome, Ichiro Suzuki, Akinori Iwamura
Korea: Byung Hyun Kim, Jae Seo
Mexico: Matt Garza, Joakim Soria, Adrian Gonzalez, Jorge Cantu
Netherlands: Jair Jurriens, Shairon Maris, Gregory Halman
Panama: Arquimedes Nieto, Randall Delgado, Carlos Lee,
Puerto Rico: Geovany Soto, Jonathan Sanchez, Carlos Beltran, Alex Rios
South Africa: Justin Erasmus, Gift Ngoepe
USA: Derek Jeter, Jake Peavy, Chipper Jones, Jimmy Rollins, David Wright, Evan Longoria, Derrek Lee
Venezuela: Miguel Cabrera, Carlos Zambrano

The 2009 Topps World Baseball Classic carries a suggested retail price of $9.99 per set.

Complete Checklist

Redemptions Suck: 2008 Bowman Sterling Edition

Redemption cards rank near the top of things I hate in the hobby. I'm generally an upbeat, optimistic, could-always-be-worse kind of guy, but I still loathe these ugly, text-heavy pieces of cardboard. My disdain runs so deep I think "Redemptions Suck" could pop-up as a recurring antagonist in this wacky old blog-com known as Trader Crack's.

In case you didn't know already, the soon-to-be released 2008 Bowman Sterling Baseball is going to include redemptions for Patch Cards from the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Yes, the same international baseball tournament that happens in March. Yes, March is still a season away - the off-season, that is.

While I'm sure these patch cards could look pretty cool, why put them out now when there's absolutely no excitement for the tournament. It hasn't happened yet, so I have no connection to any of the events that such a card will celebrate. Heck, Team Canada has one player and a manager on their roster thus far.

The World Baseball Classic presents one of the few opportunities for unique jersey in a hobby where game-used cards featuring single-colour and pinstriped swatches are everywhere. I like oddball jerseys such as these and All-Star jersey as you can somewhat connect them to a specific event. By skipping the plain jerseys and going straight for the patches, Topps' timing to drum up interest in their WBC exclusive rights couldn't be worse. There can't be much that's going to be better but they're coming at a time when recognition is low.

So now those who get these redemptions will have to sit on them for more than three months, waiting in limbo to see who they received. By the time the postman delivers them, it's bound to be a matter of, "Oh, yeah. I forgot all about this," or "About friggin' time Topps."

Why not go for basic jersey redemptions or add to the insert set from 2008 Topps Updates and Highlights? I can't see how these redemption cards are going to lead to more sales of product. Not right now, at least. So why waste a unique opportunity three months early?