First and foremost, I'd like to thank our sponsors at Upper Deck for providing us with this box.

http://www.blowoutcards.com/images/football/2009udheroesFB.jpg

24 packs per box
8 cards per pack
SRP: 89.99 - 99.99

CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS:
- Two (2) ON-CARD AUTOGRAPHS in every box!
- Two (2) foil numbered memorabilia cards in every box!
- Five (5) parallel cards numbered to 150 or less in each box!
- At least two (2) Rookies in every pack!
- Collect ALL NEW Hometown Heroes paintings featuring 2 superstars who represented one city in different sports!
- Look for at least three (3) 1 of 1 cards in every case!
- Collect the entire 490-card set!


PRODUCT BREAKDOWN:
Autograph Cards (2 per box, on average): *All Autographs limited numbered to 299 or less!
- Rookie Heroes Auto Parallels
- Football Heroes Auto Parallels
- Football Heroes Painting Auto
- Legendary Heroes Auto Parallels
- Legendary Heroes Painting Auto
- Sports Heroes Auto Parallels
- Sports Heroes Painting Auto
- Rock Heroes Auto Parallels
- Dual Heroes Painting Auto
- Hometown Heroes Painting Auto

Memorabilia Cards (2 per box, on average): *All memorabilia cards limited numbered to 150 or less!
- Football Heroes Jersey Parallels (# up to 150)
- Football Heroes Patch Parallel (# up to 15)
- Football Heroes Painting Jersey Parallel (# up to 15)
- Legendary Heroes Jersey Parallels (# up to 15)
- Legendary Heroes Patch Parallel (# to 3)
- Legendary Heroes Painting Jersey Parallel (# to 5)
- Dual Heroes Painting Jersey Parallel (# up to 25)
- Hometown Heroes Painting Jersey Parallel (# up to 150)

Inserts and Parallels: *All parallels limited numbered to 150 or less!
- Football Heroes Parallels
- Rookie Heroes Parallels
- Legendary Heroes Parallels
- Sports Heroes Parallels

Regular Set:
- Football Heroes - 100
- Rookie Heroes - 100
- Legendary Heroes - 100
- Sports Heroes - 40
- Rock Heroes - 40 NEW!
- Historical Heroes - 20 NEW!
- Heroes Paintings - 20
- Legends Paintings - 20
- Sports Heroes Paintings - 10
- Historical Heroes Paintings - 20 NEW!
- Dual Heroes Paintings - 10 NEW!
- Hometown Heroes Paintings - 10 NEW!
- Rock Heroes Parallels - 10 NEW!
- Historical Heroes Parallels - NEW!

WHAT WE PULLED

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fk7qc0QY1BE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OiJL9OFa_I

Base: 179/500 (35.8%)
Dupes: 6

http://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/1000/medium/1_CCF07152009_00000.jpghttp://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/1000/medium/1_CCF07152009_00001.jpg
http://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/1000/medium/1_CCF07152009_00002.jpghttp://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/1000/medium/1_CCF07152009_00003.jpg
http://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/1000/medium/1_CCF07152009_00004.jpg

Blue Parallel /99 (3): Derrick Williams, Paul Hornung, Phil Dauhausser
Orange Parallel /35 (2): Tom Brady, Michael Oher

http://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/1000/medium/1_CCF07152009_00005.jpg

Steven Jackson Green Jersey (130/150)

Hometown Heroes Ray Bourque/Tom Brady Dual Jersey (067/150)

http://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/1000/medium/1_CCF07152009_00006.jpg

Fili Moala Gold Auto (03/25)

Sports Heroes Gold Peggy Fleming Auto /5 Redemption

http://www.sportscardforum.com/photoplog/images/1000/medium/1_CCF07152009_00007.jpg

Final Ratings (out of 5):

Base Set – 3
Fun – 2.5
Overall Design – 2
Value – 4.5
Rebuy – 3

Total – 15/25 (60%)

Though Upper Deck has been known to produce some wonderful products, Heroes is no longer one of them. What started out as a nice baseball insert set in the 90s to honor some of the greats of the game has become a stale product over the last couple of years. For starters, the main design of the card including the background remains virtually the same. The base set is not eye pleasing and with the amount of cards in the set, it would appear to take three boxes to get lucky to complete the set. Reality is it would take more than that as the high number cards are seeded less per box than the other cards.

Another issue is the rookie cards. While all of them denote they player as a rookie, the rookies have multiple cards. So which one is considered a RC? All of them. Since when does a player have two rookie cards in the same set? Really makes the idea of a rookie card lose it's appeal.

Then, there's the aspect of who this set should be focused. The idea of "Heroes" would be the legends of the sport, primarily the retired greats. This set is loaded with veterans and rookies, with some retired players mixed in to spice it up. In addition, there are athletes from other sports as well as historical items. Don't get me wrong, a Peggy Fleming autograph is a great card to have, but she is not football relevant. If a product is released in a sport and called Heroes, one would think it would be about only that sport.

All in all, Heroes is really a niche set. Some will enjoy it will others will despise it. It's definitely not for everyone. If you are into a set with a myriad of athletes or into putting together a decent sized set, this is for you. Otherwise, you are much better off saving your money and putting it toward other releases from Upper Deck.

Once again, I'd like to thank our wonderful sponsor at Upper Deck for providing us with this product to open and review. If interested in more information on this release or any others from Upper Deck, be sure to check them out at www.upperdeck.com (http://www.upperdeck.com).

This is not what I remember as Heroes. Why did they change something that was so good? I love the baseball Heroes sets, is this going to come to baseball too? If so, I'm going to be disappointed to say the least. I didn't want another set with more people who aren't affiliated with the sport. The design also looks...almost too much at times. It would probably be better to see in person.

Thanks Upper Deck for the box to review!

I like the overall look of UD Heroes, but as a Football ONLY collector I wouldn't buy any of this just for the fact that there are non football cards in the set.

I'm not familiar with the baseball Heroes sets, so all I have to go on is last year and this year's football...and I don't care for it. The design this year is quite a bit better than last year's in my opinion, but I don't care for multiple cards of each player, for the non-sports figures...there's just not much here that interests me. I'll get what I need of my players out of the set, but I won't be buying packs or boxes of this.

Even so, thanks to UD for the test run...always appreciated!

Thanx to Upper Deck...When I saw the Steve Vai card I did the double take..and he Sitting Bull card at first glance I thought was the Fmous Litter Commercial Crying Indian (you older folks will know who I'm talking about)...I do like the look of the AU RC's

Nice review. Love the Heroes product.

I have not bought any Heroes this year because I don't need a bunch of non-football players regardless of who they are.

That is One of the reasons I do not care too much for this product is due to the non football related cards..Ed

The design doesn't do much for me... and I can see how the non-football cards can annoy collectors.

Nice review Tony & thanks to UD for the box

Nice break and review! Thanks Upper Deck for providing this!

Darin

This would be great if it weren't considered a football product - advertising it as a multi-sport and entertainment product would make more sense, IMO. Hopefully the Fleming auto redeems properly.

good break, love the brady/borque card!

you send out free base cards?

Nice break and review - I'm not sure I like the idea of pulling a non-football auto out of a football product though...regardless, it was a good break still. Thanks Upper Deck!