Can Someone Please Explain 2008 Stadium Club Baseball to Me?

All right, so I'm slowly plugging away at my 2008 Stadium Club Baseball set but there seems to be way too many weird things going on. Can someone please correct me if I'm wrong and clarify the base set to me.

Here's what I know:

• Cards divisible by 3 (3, 6, 9, 12, 45, 90, etc.) are #'d/999. Does this hold true for the RC's as well?
• First Day Issue parallels of cards divisible by 3 (3, 6, 9, 12, 45, 90, etc.) are much easier to come by than the rest.
• RCs (#101 - 150) have variations. Are they vertical and horizontal?

Seriously, this is the worst set up of a set I've ever seen. There should be no confusion building a simple base set. And who's stupid idea was it to shrot print every third card? It truly messes up the look when you try to put the cards in a binder.

LIVE BREAK! Going for the Set: 1989 Panini - Three Packs Left, Three Stickers to Go

In the next couple of days I'll reflect on getting back to where it all started for me: 1989 Panini Baseball Stickers. But right now I'll set the stage: I found a lot of 80 packs for cheap. I needed nine stickers to complete the 20-year-old set. I've opened 77 packs and need three stickers including two foils (foils are one per pack).

Will I complete my two decade's quest? Will the album be complete? How many freaking Jose Canseco stickers are in the set? Why is it still snowing outside?

These questions will be answered at 4:30 PM Mountain Time.

Here we go. I'm looking for #37, 400 and 401 to finish the set. 37 and 401 are the foils.

Pack 1:

306. White Sox writing (Foil)
475. Frank Viola
199. Benito Santiago
61. Mitch Webster
124. Tracy Jones
173. Andy Van Slyke

Back in 1989 this pack would have ruled but for the purposes of finishing the set, no dice. The drama builds.


Pack 2

110. Expos logo (foil)
With one foil left and two needed for the set, the journey will indeed continue. Oh, well. Let's see if we get closer.

178. Joe Magrane
288. Brian Downing
87. Dave Smith
400. Dave Righetti
438. Rey Quinones

Weaker pack from a player selection, although the Expos logo will go nicely in my collection. But this is about the wantlist and #400 makes me two stickers shy with one pack to go. What do you think the odds are of finding two foils stuck together? I'm leaning toward slim to none myself.

Pack 3 - The Grand Finale

I'm looking at this one from the bottom and going to work my way to the foil as the regular stickers are now finished.

138. Lenny Dykstra
409. Dave Winfield
406. Mike Pagliarulo
246. Jose Canseco (All-Star, League Leader or something of the like)
180. Tony Pena
174. St. Louis Cardinals logo 

There you have it: the last three packs with three to go. I got one so the 20-year quest continues for #37. Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium and 401. Yankee Stadium. If you're a team/player collector and there's something you'd want from a 1989 sticker set drop me a comment or an email and I'll see what I've got after I've sorted through the nearly 500 stickers.

I've also got 160 packs of 1990 Panini Baseball Stickers that I'll be getting to eventually. Same deal applies if you're looking for anyone or anything. No promises I'll find it. I'll have more on my Panini journey soon, which seems pretty timely all of a sudden given the events of the past week.

2009 Topps Heritage Baseball Shortprints Announced

Straight from Topps is the list of shortprints for 2009 Topps Heritage Baseball (shortprints fall 1:3 packs):

426    Scott Rolen
427    Ben Francisco
428    Jermaine Dye
429    Dustin Pedroia/Ichiro
430    Kevin Slowey
431    Jason Bartlett  
432    Glen Perkins
433    Carlos Gomez
434    Jon Garland
435    Joe Crede
436    Billy Butler
437    Zach Duke
438    Chris Coste
439    Daisuke Matsuzaka
440    Elijah Dukes
441    Fausto Carmona
442    Joe Mauer
443    Marcus Thames
444    Mike Fontenot
445    John Smoltz
446    Pedro Martinez
447    Adrian Beltre
448    Kevin Millar
449    Nick Swisher
450    Justin Morneau
451    Shane Victorino
452    Placido Polanco
453    Ryan Dempster
454    Frank Thomas
455    Baltimore Orioles Coaches
456    Boston Red Sox Coaches
457    Chicago Cubs Coaches
458    Chicago White Sox Coaches
459    Cincinnati Reds Coaches
460    Cleveland Indians Coaches
461    Detroit Tigers Coaches
462    Tampa Bay Rays Coaches
463    Los Angeles Dodgers Coaches
464    Atlanta Braves Coaches
465    New York Yankees Coaches
466    Philadelphia Phillies Coaches
467    Pittsburgh Pirates Coaches
468    St. Louis Cardinals Coaches
469    New York Mets Coaches
470    Washington Nationals Coaches
471    Brad Ausmus
472    Melvin Mora
473    Austin Kearns
474    Josh Willingham
475    Derek Lowe
476    Nick Punto
477    A.J. Pierzynski
478    Troy Tulowitzki
479    CC Sabathia
480    Jorge Posada
481    Kevin Youkilis
482    Lance Berkman
483    Dustin Pedroia
484    Chase Utley
485    Alex Rodriguez
486    Chipper Jones
487    Derek Jeter
488    Hanley Ramirez
489    Josh Hamilton
490    Ryan Braun
491    Manny Ramirez
492    Kosuke Fukudome
493    Ichiro
494    Matt Holliday
495    Joe Mauer
496    Geovany Soto
497    Roy Halladay
498    Ben Sheets
499    Cliff Lee
500    Billy Wagner

Random Pack Breaks: 2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects

I've got a little to say about this set, but first two packs worth of cards:

Pack One:

 

  

  

 

Pack Two:

 

  

  

 

 How the mighty have fallen. There was a time not too long ago when Bowman Draft Picks was ripped by the case. It offered rookies galore in both basic and shiny chrome finishes as well as rookie autographs. It was a prospectors dream. But when the new rookie rules came along to simplify things, products like this have made it more confusing.

So while half the cards in my 2008 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects may not carry the ugly rookie card logo, they sure do look like rookies to me: MLB licensing, team logos, Major League  uniforms. They're just numbered a little different and they're missing the Players Association logo. I haven't cracked a Beckett in about five years so I have no idea if they list these as rookies, but when I go to eBay and see them listed as rookies, I don't necessarily disagree. And even if they're not, they certainly seem a step above the minor league issues from Tristar, Razor and Donruss.

Even without the confusion over what is and isn't a rookie card, this set is a bungled mess. Or rather all the sets within the set. When Bowman Draft Picks first launched you had your Bowman cards, Bowman Chrome and the appropriate parallels like Gold and Refractors. It was pretty easy to keep track of. Now you've got all those plus the Prospects, their Chrome counterparts and their parallels.

In my two packs I saw they following sets:

• Bowman
• Bowman Chrome
• Bowman Prospects
• Bowman Chrome Prospects

Yes, by "Beckett definition" the prospects cards are an insert set. But I'm sure most of us can agree that they're the selling point for the Bowman brand now. They're not "rookies" by technicality and corporate jargon. So two me, there's four different sets to build from a seven-card pack. And at least one of those cards appears to be set aside for a parallel. I'm fine with two sets in a single product. But this is a little much. I'm confused and don't know who 90 percent of these guys are and I doubt many of the 'prospects' - who seem to share rounds five through eight in common - will pan out to be much.

I'll be tucking these aside for a rainy day a few years from now to see if any of these guys turned into stars but otherwise my pack buying for Bowman Draft is done. Hopefully Topps will see that the demand is no longer there also (I'm guessing this from the stagnant wax prices on everything Bowman baseball related when compared to the stuff from five years ago prior to the new rookie card rules where prices for Bowman Draft wax has appreciated more than most products.

Although Topps may have an advantage with their ability to make "prospect cards" because of their grandfather clause, but they'd be doing the hobby a favor by sticking to the idea that nobody gets a card - prospect or otherwise - until they play a Major League game. There's only one competitor left and the livelihood of Topps is no longer dependant on Bowman. The hobby would benefit from collectors agreeing on what rookies are and we'd probably end up spending more because we'd be chasing rookie while they were establishing themselves rather than going back and tracking down the cards three to five years after they were issued. It works in hockey so why can't it work here?

Now This is a "Near Set"

I was just checking out to see how 2008 Upper Deck Documentary was faring on eBay and came across this self-proclaimed "near set. The price seems pretty fair given the number of boxes one would've had to have busted to amass 3,000 singles. But can you consider it a near set when you're still 1,900 cards short?

I still love the idea of Documentary - a card for every game of a team's season. If the Expos were still around I might've been in for a box. I hope the concept sticks around but maybe distributed in factory set to help ease the pain and frustration of team collectors, the assumed target for this set.

Finished the Yankee Stadium Legacy Set? Didn't Think So. But If You Do...

From the files of "Why Didn't They Announce This Back in April?", Upper Deck has announced that the first five people to complete the 6,661 Yankee Stadium Legacy set that spanned several brands will win a meet-and-greet with Derek Jeter at the new Yankee Stadium next season.

Upon completing the mammoth set, collectors will have to have it verified by Upper Deck in order to qualify for the grand prize.

In the announcement, UD also revealed plans for an update set for the Yankee Stadium Legacy set that covers the 2008 season. The set will be presented to the five winners. Additionally it will be inserted into packs of 2009 Upper Deck Series 1 Baseball next February.

Here's how you can validate your Yankee Stadium Legacy set:

1. Contact Chris Carlin, Upper Deck’s hobby marketing manager at (702)633-0775 or chris_carlin@upperdeck.com to officially submit your claim. All claims must include a photograph or video of the collection.
2. Once the claim has been officially submitted and ranked in the order it was received, the collector will have 7 days to ship the set and provide corresponding tracking information.
3. After receiving the set, Upper Deck will validate the collection within 5 business days, and immediately notify its sender.
4. Upper Deck will hold the complete sets until all five winners have been validated and notified.

But seriously, if this announcement was made back in April when the mega-set was first being released, don't you think it would have created some additional buzz? I'll bet there's a few or ten who were sitting on the fence about chasing this set and maybe this is what would have pushed them over the edge as far as collecting it goes.

Also, how the heck are the potential winners going to ship these things? Have fun because I'm about 6,656 cards short of the set.

2008 Topps Heritage Short Prints and Variations Announced

Topps has released its list of short prints and variations for 2008 Topps Heritage Baseball. Short prints fall 1:3 packs. Variations have a different colour number box on the back. Regular cards have a green box while variants have a black box.

Happy set building!

Short Prints (cut and pasted from the Topps press release, so don't ask me what the funky colour bars mean):

11		Luke Scott	Baltimore Orioles
231		Kevin Gregg	Florida Marlins
315		Jacque Jones	Detroit Tigers
381		Casey Blake	Cleveland Indians
409		Jon Lester	Boston Red Sox
426		Kyle Lohse	Philadelphia Phillies
427		Doug Davis	Arizona Diamondbacks
428		Ian Snell/Matt Capps/Tom Gorzelanny/Paul Maholm	Pittsburgh Pirates
429		Miguel Batista	Seattle Mariners
430		Chien-Ming Wang	New York Yankees
431		Jeff Salazar	Arionza Diamondbacks
432		Yadier Molina	St. Louis Cardinals
433		Adam Wainwright	St. Louis Cardinals
434		Scott Kazmir	Tampa Bay Rays
435		Adam Dunn	Cincinnati Reds
436		Ryan Freel	Cincinnati Reds
437		Jhonny Peralta	Cleveland Indians
438		Kazuo Matsui	Houston Astros
441		Emil Brown	Kansas City Royals
442		Gary Sheffield	Detroit Tigers
443		Jake Peavy	San Diego Padres
444		Scott Rolen	Toronto Blue Jays
445		Kason Gabbard	Texas Rangers
446		Aaron Hill	Toronto Blue Jays
447		Felipe Lopez	Washington Nationals
448		Dan Uggla	Florida Marlins
449		Willy Taveras	Colorado Rockies
450		Chipper Jones	Atlanta Braves
451		Josh Anderson	Atlanta Braves
452		Chris Young/Justin Upton/Eric Byrnes	Arizona Diamondbacks
453		Braden Looper	St. Louis Cardinals
454		Brandon Inge	Detroit Tigers
455		Brian Giles	San Diego Padres
456		Corey Patterson	Baltimore Orioles
457		Los Angeles Dodgers	Los Angeles Dodgers
458		Sean Casey	Detroit Tigers
459		Pedro Feliz	San Francisco Giants
461		Chone Figgins	Angels
462		Kyle Kendrick	Philadelphia Phillies
463		Tony Pena	Kansas City Royals
464		Marcus Giles	San Diego Padres
465		Augie Ojeda	Arizona Diamondbacks
466		Micah Owings	Arizona Diamondbacks
467		Ryan Theriot	Chicago Cubs
468		Shawn Green	New York Mets
469		Frank Thomas	Toronto Blue Jays
470		Lenny DiNardo	Oakland Athletics
471		Jose Bautista	Pittsburgh Pirates
472		Manny Corpas	Colorado Rockies
473		Kevin Millwood	Texas Rangers
474		Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox
475		Jose Contreras	Chicago White Sox
477		Julio Lugo	Boston Red Sox
479		Tony LaRussa	St. Louis Cardinals
480		Jim Leyland	Detroit Tigers
481		Derrek Lee	Chicaco Cubs
482		Justin Morneau	Minnesota Twins
483		Orlando Hudson	Arizona Diamondbacks
484		Brian Roberts	Baltimore Orioles
485		Miguel Cabrera	Florida Marlins
486		Mike Lowell	Boston Red Sox
487		J.J. Hardy	Milwaukee Brewers
488		Carlos Guillen	Detroit Tigers
489		Ken Griffey Jr.	Cincinnati Reds
490		Vladimir Guerrero	Angels
491		Alfonso Soriano	Chicago Cubs
492		Ichiro	Seattle Mariners
493		Matt Holliday	Colorado Rockies
494		Magglio Ordonez	Detroit Tigers
495		Brian McCann	Atlanta Braves
496		Victor Martinez	Cleveland Indians
497		Brad Penny	Los Angeles Dodgers
498		Josh Beckett	Boston Red Sox
499		Cole Hamels	Philadelphia Phillies
500		Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers

Black Back Variations:

2		Placido Polanco	Detroit Tigers
3		Eric Byrnes	Arizona Diamondbacks
5		Javier Vazquez	Chicago White Sox
7		Joey Gathright	Kansas City Royals
9		Andre Ethier	Los Angeles Dodgers
12		Curt Schilling	Boston Red Sox
14		Gary Matthews	Angels
18		Dontrelle Willis	Detroit Tigers
21		Troy Tulowitzki	Colorado Rockies
23		Robinson Cano	New York Yankees
24		Felix Hernandez	Seattle Mariners
40		Tim Hudson	Atlanta Braves
42		Jason Jennings	Houston Astros
45		Chris Ray	Baltimore Orioles
52		Omar Vizquel	San Francisco Giants
54		Justin Upton	Arizona Diamondbacks
58		Paul Lo Duca	New York Mets
60		Andy Pettitte	New York Yankees
67		Rich Hill	Chicago Cubs
78		Josh Hamilton	Cincinnati Reds
79		Mark Loretta	Houston Astros
84		Brad Penny	Los Angeles Dodgers
90		Hideki Matsui	New York Yankees
98		Jon Garland	Angels
102		Moises Alou	New York Mets
117		Daric Barton	Oakland Athletics
122		Ross Detwiler	Washington Nationals
129		Luke Hochevar	Kansas City Royals
135		Mitch Stetter	Milwaukee Brewers
150		Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals
180		Jorge Posada	New York Yankees
186		Rickie Weeks	Milwaukee Brewers
187		Carlos Silva	Minnesota Twins
210		J.J. Putz	Seattle Mariners
262		Chad Billingsley/Derek Lowe/Brad Penny	Los Angeles Dodgers
263		Melky Cabrera	New York Yankees
264		Shannon Stewart	Oakland Athletics
265		Aaron Rowand	Philadelphia Phillies
266		Matt Morris	Pittsburgh Pirates
267		Xavier Nady	Pittsburgh Pirates
301		Ronnie Belliard	Washington Nationals
321		Randy Winn	San Francisco Giants
322		Richie Sexson	Seattle Mariners
323		Juan Encarnacion	St. Louis Cardinals
324		Rick Ankiel	St. Louis Cardinals
325		Dan Wheeler	Tampa Bay Rays
333		Kevin Kouzmanoff	San Diego Padres
336		Ian Kinsler	Texas Rangers
337		Lyle Overbay	Toronto Blue Jays
338		Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers
347		Chuck James	Atlanta Braves
350		Jimmy Rollins	Philadelphia Phillies
370		Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers
371		Pedro Martinez	New York Mets
372		Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies
8		Philadelphia Phillies	Philadelphia Phillies
13		Billy Wagner	New York Mets
16		Ichiro	Seattle Mariners
22		Brian Fuentes	Colorado Rockies
28		Ivan Rodriguez	Detroit Tigers
34		Magglio Ordonez/Curtis Granderson	Detroit Tigers
35		Adam LaRoche	Pittsburgh Pirates
41		Kelvim Escobar	Angels
49		Bill Hall	Milwaukee Brewers
57		Brad Lidge	Philadelphia Phillies
61		Brendan Harris	Minnesota Twins
62		Chris Young	San Diego Padres
65		Jason Giambi	New York Yankees
69		San Francisco Giants	San Francisco Giants
71		Trevor Hoffman	San Diego Padres
81		Torii Hunter	Angels
82		Carlos Beltran	New York Mets
83		Jason Isringhausen	St. Louis Cardinals
91		Matt Garza	Tampa Bay Rays
92		Phil Hughes	New York Yankees
94		Chicago White Sox	Chicago White Sox
116		Wladimir Balentien	Seattle Mariners
126		Dan Giese	San Francisco Giants
127		Alberto Gonzalez	New York Yankees
130		Chin-Lung Hu	Los Angeles Dodgers
155		Johnny Damon	New York Yankees
173		Ronny Paulino	Pittsburgh Pirates
174		Mike Cameron	San Diego Padres
175		Jeff Weaver	Seattle Mariners
176		Preston Wilson	St. Louis Cardinals
177		Robinson Tejeda	Texas Rangers
178		Adam Lind	Toronto Blue Jays
179		Austin Kearns	Washington Nationals
185		Brad Hawpe	Colorado Rockies
195		Carlos Quentin	Chicago White Sox
196		Jose Valverde	Arizona Diamondbacks
197		Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs
198		Jerry Owens	Chicago White Sox
211		Mike Sweeney	Kansas City Royals
224		David Wright	New York Mets
225		Pedro Martinez	New York Mets
226		Rich Harden	Oakland Athletics
227		Shane Victorino	Philadelphia Phillies
228		Andrew Miller	Florida Marlins
283		Miguel Cabrera	Detroit Tigers
284		Luis Gonzalez	Los Angeles Dodgers
285		Chad Billingsley	Los Angeles Dodgers
286		Tony Gwynn	Milwaukee Brewers
291		Matt Chico/Jason Bergmann	Washington Nationals
330		Ty Wigginton	Houston Astros
332		Howie Kendrick	Angels
334		Matt Holliday	Colorado Rockies
335		Brandon Phillips	Cincinnati Reds
360		Magglio Ordonez	Detroit Tigers
415		Freddy Sanchez	Pittsburgh Pirates