2008 SP Authentic

Set Size: 100 cards

Design Notes: This design uses a lot of white card-space behind the player's photo; foil printing on the left side of the card has the player's name, team, and position in addition to the SP Authentic logo. An abstract combination of foggy/blurry haze in black and team colors plus geometric white lines cuts across the upper-middle portion of the card in the background. Backs carry over the geometric/foggy design at the top, where the player's name, vitals, and a headshot are located. A short highlight biography follows, and statistics are in the bottom half of the card.

Parallels and Similars: A gold parallel was randomly inserted into packs.

Distribution: 24 packs per box, with five cards per pack. One of those five cards is usually some form of insert.

Thoughts: Travis Hafner used to be one of my favorite players. I had him on my team back in 2003 and he did pretty well for me, and he was a pretty good ballplayer for a few years after that, but injuries have been plaguing him for the last five years.

The card design is mildly attractive, though in traditional Upper Deck fashion it's forgettable. The SP line is about autographs and hits, so I get the feeling that very little time was spent on creating the base cards. But then, perhaps some card designer from Upper Deck will read this blog post and see that comment and get upset because he spent a week making sure all the angles were pleasing and the blurriness/fogginess was just right to be indistinguishable but still noticed as being objects.

2007 SP Authentic Authentic Speed

Set size: 50 cards

Front Design: A color photo of the player is shown over a double ellipse design. The inner ellipse contains the background for the photo, while the outer ellipse has a closeup of the photo printed in a team color. The outer ellipse has a circle which holds the team logo; beneath that is the player's speed statistic (stolen bases). The set name and player name is in the lower left.

Back Design: The ellipse design repeats on the back with a short career highlights paragraph and a repeat of the player's speed statistic.

Parallels and Similars: The set has the same design as Authentic Power, issued in the same series (see yesterday's post). There are no actual parallels, relics, or autographs.

Distribution: Cards were inserted in 1:2 packs of 2007 SP Authentic. As such, each pack contained either an Authentic Speed or Authentic Power insert.

Thoughts: I might enjoy the Power version of the insert a little bit more because of the checklist - there are no players in this set that I collect.

Additional Images: card back:

2007 SP Authentic Authentic Power

 Set size: 50 cards

Front Design: The color player photo is placed over a double-ellipse design, with the inner ellipse containing the background and the outer ellipse containing a closeup of the photo printed in a team color. The team's logo is in a circle on the right and his power statistic is beneath it. The player's name and set name are in a box in the lower left.

Back Design: The backs repeat the ellipse design, which holds the set name, player name and team, power statistic, and a short highlight paragraph.

Parallels and Similars: There are no parallels, but a similar set called Authentic Speed was released in the same set.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into 1:2 packs of 2007 SP Authentic.

Thoughts: The set is fairly attractive, and was created without parallels, relics, or autographs in mind. It's not quite my collecting style, but the cards would be nice for my player collections (Pujols, Griffey Jr, Thomas, and Chipper are all in the set).

Additional Images: card back: