SCF Official Review: 2009 Upper Deck Goudey

[Enigma]

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



18 packs per box
8 cards per pack

MSRP: $74.99-$84.99

CONTENT HIGHLIGHTS:
- Look for Original Goudey Baseball Buyback cards, one per case on average!
- One memorabilia card per box and one autographed card per box, on average!
- One Sports Royalty Autograph per case, on average!
- Look for Base set Short Prints that include the Sport Royalty subset!
- 20th Anniversary cards randomly inserted!
- Look for one 20th Anniversary Memorabilia Card per case, on average!

PRODUCT BREAKDOWN:
Regular Cards (All Standard Card Size)
- 200 Regular Cards
- 20 Regular Cards SP
- 40 1938 Goudey Heads Up
- 40 Sports Royalty SP

Inserts and Parallel Cards
- Goudey 1935 4-In-1 and color variation parallels
- Goudey Base card mini Green
- Goudey Base card mini Blue
- Goudey Base card mini Black numbered to 21
- Eight (8) 20th Anniversary cards per box, on average!

Autograph and Memorabilia Cards (1 autograph and one memorabilia per box, on average)
- Goudey Memorabilia
- Goudey Graphs

Autograph and Memorabilia Cards (1 per case of each of the following inserts, on average)
- Sports Royalty Autographs
- 20th Anniversary Memorabilia
- Goudey Buybacks

WHAT WE PULLED



Base - 106/200 (53%)
Dupes - 0
SPs - 1/20 (5%)
Dupes - 0
Sport Royalty - 4/40 (10%)
Dupes - 0
Heads Up - 4/40 (10%)
Dupes - 0




Mini (3) - J.D. Drew, Gavin Floyd, Rick Ankiel
Mini Blue Parallel (2) - Kosuke Fukudome, James Shields
Mini Heads Up (1) - Brandon Webb




1935 4-in-1 (9) - Ford/Jeter/Berra/Rodriguez, Ripken/Smith/Jeter/Ramirez, Santo/Sandberg/Ramirez/Lee, Pujols/Ankiel/Ludwick/Glaus, Reyes/Beltran/Santana/Wright, Jones/Francouer/Johnson/McCann, Zambrano/Harden/Soto/Fukudome, Morneau/Mauer/Span/Young, Pedroia/Ortiz/Beckett/Fisk
1935 4-in-1 Blue (2) - Ripken/Smith/Reyes/Jeter, Rodriguez/Wright/Longoria/Ramirez
1935 4-in-1 Green (1) - Guerrero/Lackey/Kershaw/Either
1935 4-in-1 Black (1) - Braun/Fielder/Hall/Hardy




Goudey Memorabilia (1) - Brandon Phillips Jersey
Goudey Graphs (1) - Jeremy Guthrie Auto




Final Ratings (Out of 5):
Base set: 3.5/5
Fun: 3.5/5
Overall design: 4.5/5
Value: 3.5/5
Re-buy: 4/5

Overall: 19/25 (76%)

Goudey returns with its throwback to a yesteryear design. Retro designs are great as it pulls back older collectors who remember their childhood days of opening packs fondly as well as brings in newer collectors. Younger collectors alot of times have no idea what cards looked like in the earlier days of collecting and the retro sets help to show how far things have come.

A huge killer though for set collectors are the number of SPs (100) in this set. Yes, it makes for a interesting chase, but it also turns off many. Collectors are forced to make a choice in regards what constitues a complete set to them, with or without SPs.

The mini cards do not appear in every pack, which makes it a worthwhile yet arduous set to attempt. On top of that, there are parallels for the minis. To determine which version your have, you must flip the card over. The color of the ink used on the back of the card determines which version you have. Depending on your light source, you cannot tell the difference between green and blue immediately.

The 4-in-1 cards are great to look at. The painted portraits make these cards spectacular. The confusing part come with trying to determine why certain players are grouped together. Obvious ones are the team and position combinations. But there are some that leave you scratching your head, such as the team combos that have a mix of current players and former stars.

All in all, Goudey is not for everyone. Those looking to make it big with the hits are better suited to stay away. With only two hits on average per box, the big hits are few and far between. However, those looking for a challenge with putting sets together will find this to be entertaining. Should the price point drop on Goudey, it will be more of a worthwhile product for everyone.

Once again, I'd like to thank our wonderful sponsor, Upper Deck, for giving us the opportunity to showcase and review this product. If interested in more information on this release or others, you can check them out at upperdeck.com.

[spuds1961]

SO-SO break Tony,NICE review though,Take care Steve

[JKC]

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

Darin

[gladdyontherise]

the 4 in 1 cards are my favorite part of the product! the design is great as always!

[mikesilvia]

Thanks to Upper Deck for this box!

I'm a fan of Goudey because I love the classic look to baseball cards. I love that the autos are on card and I do like the simple memorabilia card.

[andrewcstein]

Nice review, thanks UD!

I need that Vlad too :)

[PPPanthersGM]

Nice review!! not sure I like the design but a big thumbs up for the on card autos!!! Thanks UD!!!

[TysonX504]

Not too bad, don't know much about baseball but like the old school/simple look the design has. Thanks to Upper Deck for supplying this box to us.

[rchurchward]

Woohoo Brandon Phillips mojo! Thanks to UD for the great break!

[Captngeetch]

I've always love these release..I like the old design myself...Thanx UD !