2007 Upper Deck Spectrum

Set Size: 162 cards (100 veterans, 42 autographed rookies, 20 rookie exchange cards)

Design Notes: The foilboard background looks like a shiny mirror-like corner of a room with an S-shaped flooring design; the player's name and team are printed sideways on either side of the card. Backs use the same basic background with player statistics.

Parallels and Similars: Die-cut parallels were issued in three colors.

Distribution: Five-card packs came 20 packs per box.

Thoughts: Spectrum ended up being another pointless issue made by Upper Deck solely to appease collectors' interests in relics and autographs. The design is minimal, though with a small bit of additional effort it could have been a good looking card. I like the mirror-like floor and wall surface. But this is a release that could have been created on a computer in about 10 minutes at most.

2008 SP Legendary Cuts

Set Size: 200 cards (100 in the short set, 100 SP rookies)

Design Notes: A horizontal card with a greyish background, the player's name is at the bottom along with his team. A black-and-white action photo is paired with a color head shot. The backs use the same basic design as the front, carrying over the position at the top of the card as well as the headshot. A short writeup and career statistics are included.

Parallels and Similars: Only one parallel set was issued, the 1-of-1 serial-numbered Memorable Moments.

Distribution: Each box had 12 packs of four cards, though four packs held memorabilia cards and six packs included a Yankee Stadium Legacy card, plus there was a chance for autograph cards. Building a short set would take at least three boxes.

Thoughts: I like the design of this set. It's got a lot going on but it's not too busy, and it's not as "clean" as most Upper Deck releases, fitting in with the historical vibe the set was hoping for.

2008 Sweet Spot

Set Size: 100 cards

Design Notes: A fairly pure card front makes this issue of Sweet Spot one of the most beautiful. The player's name, team, and position are printed at the bottom in gold foil, and the Sweet Spot logo appears in an upper corner. Cards are embossed similar to the seams on a baseball, and a team color airbrushing/tinting is used outside those seams.

Parallels and Similars: None (rookie signature cards have a parallel and the relics have multiple-swatch versions).

Distribution: Hobby boxes contained six packs of eight cards each, and retail tins held three packs of eight cards each.

Thoughts: While the memorabilia cards are boring and most people buy Sweet Spot for the baseball leather signatures, the base cards here are fantastic. It reminds me of Ovation, which people didn't care much for. But if Sweet Spot didn't have the baseball leather autographs, would people buy it for the base design? I liked Ovation to some extent, because I enjoy things like embossing and card design and don't care much for the lottery aspect of card collecting that seems to dominate some discussions. Anyway, with a vibrant photo and no borders, this card set is one of those that might be added to my want list eventually.

2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History

Set Size: 200 cards

Design Notes: A sort of marble with vines border takes over a large portion of the card, with a cropped photo of the player jumping out of the background and over the border. The bottom has a "nameplate" with the player's team and name and a whitewater wave design. Backs have the marble background, recent stats and a short write-up. Cards 1-150 feature players, while 151-200 are historical moments.

Parallels and Similars: There are four colored parallels - silver, red, gold, and blue - in the set. APOH returned the next year with a similar design.

Distribution: Hobby boxes hold 16 packs of eight cards each. There are several insert sets each with several parallels, so a large portion of the box is not base cards. Each box has four hits (three relics and an autograph) plus four Yankee Stadium Legacy cards and an additional 12 inserts or parallels.

Thoughts: The design tries too hard to be fancy, and fails miserably. It's funny how Upper Deck can put out a great set like Masterpieces and a set as uninspiring as this in the same year. I feel like I'm looking at an overcast day in San Francisco. On the other hand, I'm a fan of history so I have a complete set of the Historical Moments subset that most baseball fans don't care about.

2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces

Set Size: 120 cards (90 regular plus 30 short prints)

Design Notes: A simple foil frame surrounds a painted image of the player. The back uses a cropped version of the artwork, a highlights paragraph and a single year and career statistics. The card fronts have a texture feel.

Parallels and Similars: Ten parallels were issued with various-colored borders, but base cards have white borders. Masterpieces first began in 2007, and the designs are very similar.

Distribution: Cards were sold in packs of six, with only 12 packs per box.

Thoughts: Cards featuring artwork are always welcome in my collection. The set is very well-designed and the art looks great. Is there any doubt in your mind that this set is already part of my collection?

2008 Upper Deck

Set Size: 799 cards

Design Notes: There isn't much design to the front. The player's name and team are printed in silver foil, and his poition is in a silver foil home plate with two fading lines spreading horizontally from the center. The focus here is on full-bleed high quality photography, as Upper Deck usually provides. The backs feature another photo, career statistics, and a short writeup.

Parallels and Similars: Only one actual parallel exists: a gold version serial-numbered to 99. Upper Deck First Edition also uses the same design without the foil printing, so be careful when set-building or card hunting as they are easy to confuse.

Distribution: Cards were sold in hobby packs of 20 cards (16 packs per box), in addition to retail packs, blasters, and rack "Fat" packs.

Thoughts: While I enjoy a good card design, Upper Deck's flagship brand was a consistent photo-first product that I could count on to provide great images without much clutter on the front (at least, in the past decade or so). This might be my favorite Upper Deck design as far as their minimal-clutter sets go. Once Upper Deck could no longer produce MLB cards, I've been left with a void that Topps hasn't capitalized on. Where is Stadium Club? Topps' photography has gotten better but there are no more full-bleed high-quality card sets being produced in this style.

2008 Upper Deck Documentary

Set Size: 4890 (original release) plus 64 Post-Season "update" cards.

Design Notes: After a black border at the top identifying the set, a photo of a player from the team fills most of the card. The bottom border of the card has a team logo, game number, score, and a headline. Backs give the line score, a short game summary, and league standings on that day.

Parallels and Similars: Gold parallels were issued with the original release, but not for the post-season cards.

Distribution: Cards were sold in packs of 15, with boxes holding 24 packs. Post-season cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2009 Upper Deck Series One at a rate of 1:4.

Thoughts: The set was a good attempt at truly documenting the 2008 season on cardboard. To put together the nearly-5000 card set in its entirety would be insanity - has anybody tried? I know some people are collecting "team" sets, and the cards are nicely numbered for the team in addition to the entire set. The big problem most people have with the set is that the photos don't always come from the game shown on the card - and sometimes the photo is of a player who wasn't even in the game. I would have liked to see a full box score on the back instead of just a line score, but at that point I'm just being picky. There are two cards for every game - one for each team. I applaud Upper Deck's efforts but I wish they had put a little more effort into the execution.

2008 Upper Deck First Edition

Set Size: 500 cards

Design Notes: There wasn't much to Upper Deck's flagship and First Edition designs in the mid 2000s, and I like that. The UD logo is in an upper corner, and the player's name, position, and team are at the bottom with minimal obstruction over the photo. The position is in a home plate over a small horizontal chromatic band. The back contains another color player photo, statistics, and a biography.

Parallels and Similars: First Edition cards have no parallels per se, but the set uses the same design as Upper Deck's flagship release. First Edition cards have a slightly lower card quality; flagship cards use foil for the player's name and team. In addition, Upper Deck notated which set the card came from above the copyright information on the back.

Distribution: Cards were sold in 99-cent packs, with nine cards plus one Starquest insert card per pack. The set was issued in two series, and also sold as a complete box set.

Thoughts: Using the same photos and glossy card stock like flagship Upper Deck, this set doesn't distinguish itself much as a unique product. The checklist is smaller and packs are less expensive, which made this set good for younger collectors to chase, just like Topps Opening Day has been doing. If I didn't collect the flagship Upper Deck set, I might be interested in this one, since it would be less expensive to build a complete set from packs or boxes.

2008 Upper Deck Goudey

Set Size: 330 cards (200 card base set, 130 SPs)

Design Notes: The base cards use artwork-style images over a line drawing background; Jeter or Griffey appear at the bottom of each card. The fronts basically use a Goudey card design. Nothing on the back actually quotes Griffey or Jeter, though. The backs are grey card stock with one color printing including a biography and statistics.

Parallels and Similars: Minis with backs printed in one of five colors were randomly inserted into packs.

Distribution: Hobby boxes contain 18 packs of eight cards each, while retail blasters hold eight, eight-card packs.

Thoughts:  I really want to like this set, but the art just isn't authentic-looking enough. I know a lot of others like the set, but it's just not 100% right. This is another set that's nearly impossible to complete, with only seven SPs per box and over one-third of the set being SPs. The multi-sport autograph subjects were very popular in the product, though.

2008 Upper Deck Spectrum

Set Size: 100 cards

Design Notes: These foil-board cards have Upper Deck's typical modern design with lots of angles, which form a sort of downward-facing arrow pointing to the player's name and position at the bottom. Backs carry the design elements from the front and have a headshot and team logo at the top, along with recent and career total statistics and a short highlight paragraph.

Parallels and Similars: Parallels come in blue, gold, green, orange, and red, plus printing plates. All the parallels are serial-numbered to different quantities.

Distribution: Hobby packs contain five cards each, with 20 packs per box. Retail packs and blasters also exist.

Thoughts: Upper Deck released a whole bunch of forgettable products in 2008. While Spectrum is an attractive set, it doesn't stand out. A really nice multicolor holofoil background would have been much better on this set. Oh well - I suppose having the rainbow of parallels would work instead. Griffey doesn't look exactly flattering in this shot, either. Better cropping would have been nice. Spectrum was good enough to come back in 2009, at least.

2008 Upper Deck Timeline

Set Size: 385 cards

Design Notes: The 100-card original set has a unique design seen above, with the player's name in silver foil at the bottom and a two-color border (top grey, bottom team color) around the photo. Backs contain career total statistics along with a short highlight paragraph and another large photo. The 285 card short-print set uses multiple old Upper Deck designs - 1992 Upper Deck Minor League, 1994 All-Time Heroes, 1995 SP Top Prospects, 2004 Timeless Teams, and 1993, 1994, and 1995 SP.

Parallels and Similars: There are partial parallels in this set. The first 100 cards have a gold parallel, the 1994 All-Time Heroes set has a 20th Anniversary parallel, and the 2004 Timeless Teams set has both silver and gold parallels. While this set borrows designs from previous releases, all cards are easily distinguished by text on the back identifying this as "2008 UD TIMELINE BASEBALL."

Distribution: Cards were sold in hobby and retail packs; hobby boxes had 18 packs of 8 cards each, and six of the eight cards were from the 285 card short printed set. Only the 2004 Timeless Teams and 1993, 1994, and 1995 SP designs were actually short-printed. Retail packs had six cards, with about 2 short prints on average.

Thoughts: The base design is solid, and the concept behind Timeline is nice, but the execution really hurts. Hobby boxes really are the way to go, with a better assortment of cards using the retro designs that make up the "SPs" in the set. Putting a set together would be challenging but with a couple $40-or-less hobby boxes one could really tackle a majority of the set in a hurry. Upper Deck chose some of the right products to honor in the SPs but the only base set I've put together with throwback designs (excluding pre-WW2 designs) is Topps All-Time Fan Favorites.

2008 Upper Deck X

Set Size: 100 cards

Design Notes: An X-shaped design in the background takes over most of the front of the card, with a large player photo over the top. A bit of the photo background shows through part of the X. The player's name, team, and position are in a box at the bottom next to a large Upper Deck X logo.

Parallels and Similars: Die-Cuts (one per pack) and Gold Die-Cuts (one in eight retail packs) were issued.

Distribution: Boxes contain 20 packs, with eight cards per pack for $1.99 each (hobby? really?). One of the eight cards is a parallel, and another is an insert, so only six cards per pack were base cards. This means each box yielded 1.2 complete sets if collation was perfect.

Thoughts: What happens when you take the SP out of SPX? You get X. I find the design gaudy and unattractive, but packs are cheap and each box contains at least two autographs (Jeter and Griffey are the only two big names here), plus a chance at a lengthy memorabilia checklist. I'm not sure what the intention was with this set, but the Xponential inserts are the true stars of this product. The pack looks awesome - black and holofoil - and the inserts are great - more holofoil, but these base cards are boring. And I'm not the only one to open a pack and find a die-cut card only mostly die-cut.

Additional Link and Image: Xponential insert, from A Pack A Day.

1997 SP Inside Info

Set Size: 25 cards

Design Notes: Most of the space on the front and back are taken up by player photos with etched foil backgrounds. A pull-out inside panel has a writeup, statistics, and biographical information. The cards are condition-sensitive and if you look closely at my card you'll notice chipped edges.

Parallels and Similars: None.

Distribution: Cards were inserted one per 30 packs.

Thoughts: This is a pretty novel concept and goes well with all the gimmick cards I've been showing lately. While I'm not a fan of foil backgrounds I can make an exception for a set with a pull-out stats section. Then again, if the set didn't have foil it would have looked that much better.

Additional Links: Capewood's Collections has images of a different card from this set, along with images of the inside card.

2007 UD Black Game Day-Box Score Autographs

Set size: 42 cards

Front Design: The horizontal cards have a box score from a significant game in the player's career - for example, the Travis Buck card's box score above highlights his first career home run and reaching base 5 of 6 plate appearances. The left side of the card has (from top to bottom) the UD Black logo, a small photo with a serial number, the game date, and a team logo. The right side of the card has a dark box with a silver-pen autograph.

Back Design: The back has the same basic layout as the front, with design elements changed. The middle has a highlight writeup from the game and an authenticity statement, the left contains the card number, team logo, game date, and licensing logos, and the "autograph" area contains the location of the game celebrated on the card.

Parallels and Similars: Two parallels, numbered to 10 and 1/1, were also issued. There are other Game Day sets (ticket autos and lineup card autos) in the release.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of UD Black - a two-pack-per-box product where every card in the set is autographed, and each pack contains only one card. The Game Day Box Score set is serial-numbered to 50.

Thoughts: Any UD Black card is a good card - all cards are autographed and numbered to 99 or less. Players like Travis Buck can come cheap, though this is a landmark release and commands a premium because of its initial pack price. I like the idea of a set that highlights a specific event, as this set does. It's more than just an autograph!

2002 USA Baseball National Team

Set size: 30 cards

Front Design: The USA Baseball logo in gold foil is beneath a color photo in gold foil, with 2002 National Team beneath. The player's name is to the left, in a fading blue box placed over the photo; his position is in a separate blue box which fades into an American flag.

Back Design: The backs have a cropped headshot from the front photo and a short highlight biography over a background of the USA Baseball logo. The logo is repeated in full color beneath the biography.

Parallels and Similars: There are no parallels, though other USA sets have similar designs.

Distribution: Cards were sold complete in factory set form with an autograph and relic card for $19.99. Upper Deck claims to have released no more than 10,000 factory sets.

Thoughts: A full set, autograph, and relic for $20? These days, full USA Baseball sets retail for nearly $100, though those come with five autographs, two autographed relics, and three triple relics. I'll just pick up the $10 retail version with just the base cards. I enjoy USA Baseball sets, though I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the oddball nature of the sets - amateur players on "professional" baseball cards. Perhaps it's an interest in patriotic cards, though I don't collect non-sport patriotic cards. Maybe I just enjoy collecting Team USA because I saw them play in the 1996 Olympics. This is a nice set anyway, with a patriotic feel and gold foil highlights that add a touch of class without being over the top.

204 UD Diamond All-Star Promo

Set size: 60 cards

Front Design: A player action shot is placed inside a quadruple-matte frame of red and white, with his name at the bottom of the photo and "pick the starting lineup and win!" near the bottom. His position is in a blue flag at the left, and a code for entering the contest is beneath the photo in an oval box.

Back Design: The back has all the details for entering the contest, which involved picking the All-Star team starting lineup. The winner would win tickets to a 2004 World Series game.

Parallels and Similars: There is an e-card version which I believe would have allowed the lucky holder to instantly win a prize.

Distribution: While called "promo" cards, these didn't promote Upper Deck's Diamond Collection All-Star set, as they were inserted into packs of that product. There was also a Diamond Collection "Pro Sigs" issue released in 2004.

Thoughts: For a flimsy game card tossed into packs of Diamond All-Star, the design isn't too bad. Featuring different players on the front make these somewhat collectible in their own right. If only these cards had that red border around the photo done as a die-cut paper frame (similar to Gypsy Queen). Then they would be really cool!

2003 Upper Deck Post: the last of its kind

Set size: 30 cards

Front Design: The player photo is cropped inside a rounded-corner rectangle over a single color low-res fading background. Horizontal rows of foil dots are above and below the rectangle, and the player's last name is in foil along the right side of the card. His team's logo is in a home plate in the lower-left of the card, and his position is in a red box in the lower-left. The player's full name runs up the left side of the card.

Back Design: The back puts the player's name at the top and his jersey number in large print in the upper right, beneath the player's name. To the right is a square close-up photo. The majority of the card holds a box with 2002 and career statistics and biographical information. The Post logo is in the lower right, above the other legal information, Upper Deck logos, and licensing logos.

Parallels and Similars: None known.

Distribution: The set was available via a mail-in offer that required collectors to assemble a full set of six CD-ROMs inserted into cereal boxes in 2003.

Thoughts: This set looks like most Upper Deck issues of the early 2000s, with geometric shapes, foil enhancements, and strange fonts - a very digital feel. In fact, you wouldn't know this was a Post issue if the little logo wasn't included on the back. There is one player per team, appealing to all team collectors, and the mail-in offer requirements mean this set is in shorter supply than most other Post issues.  I believe this is the last Post card set to be issued, and this being card #31 makes it the last Post baseball card issued to date.

2000 Black Diamond Reciprocal Cut

Set size: 120 cards

Front Design: The color image on the front of the card is on the back of the regular release version, while the image on the back of this card was on the front of the regular set. The Reciprocal Cut parallel also has a die-cut edge and copper rainbow foil background. The player's name and team are in white and black rounded rectangles near the bottom.

Back Design: A pair of overlapping rounded rectangles hold the player's picture and a short highlight biography, along with player vitals and his team logo. The background behind the boxes has a grey version front photo.

Parallels and Similars: This set is a parallel of the base 2000 Upper Deck Black Diamond issue; there is also a gold foil parallel numbered  to 100.

Distribution: Cards 1-90 (regular cards) were inserted 1:7 packs; cards 91-120 (Diamond Debut) were inserted 1:12 packs.

Thoughts: I like this parallel for the die cut and the switching of the photos. Fans of late-90s foil will enjoy the heavy use on the card front. The low-res foil matrix rectangle on the front adds a bit of Diamond Vision video board feel.

2000 Upper Deck Hitter's Club

Set size: 90 cards

Front Design: Half the set is composed of subsets, so it's difficult to identify a card simply. There is no notation that this subset is part of "Hitter's Club" either. Regular cards contain a busy design of horizontal lines, with the text "Hitter's Club" in foil towards the bottom of the card. The player's name and team also appear at the bottom, with the position in an upper corner in silver foil, and his batting average in foil in the middle-left of the card. This Hitting The Show subset card uses green foil, with the subset name at the bottom. Jagged corners make it look like the photo is "breaking." The player's name is in the upper-left corner in green foil, and the Upper Deck logo is in the upper-right corner with the same green foil.

Back Design: Regular Hitter's Club backs copy the bottom design to the bottom back of the card, with statistics, vitals, and a short biography over a background photo. This subset contains a photo in the upper left, used again as a background image behind a short biography, vitals, and statistics. Note that Hitting the Show is a rookie-oriented subset, and the other major subset, Why 3K?,  features players in the 3000-hit club.

Parallels and Similars: There are no parallels in this issue, and I don't believe Upper Deck issued this set again.

Distribution: This was a retail-only issue, with 5 cards in a $2.99 pack. There were six insert sets, an autograph set with an impressive checklist, and A Piece Of History series relic cards randomly inserted.

Thoughts: This is one of many forgettable sets Upper Deck issued around the turn of the century. The design is just plain ugly, though I get the idea - feature some of the best hitters in the game in their own 90-card set. The green foil is somewhat amusing, though, since you don't see it used on cards too often.

1993 Upper Deck Supers: Off the grid and bigger than life!

Set size: 7

Front Design: The cards are reprints of 1991 Upper Deck, 1993 Upper Deck, and 1993 SP cards. The checklist is provided below. However, the cards are 8.5" x 11" instead of a normal card size.

Back Design: Again, the backs are reprints of other designs in a jumbo size, with one addition: cards are serial-numbered in a special logo placed somewhere on the back.

Parallels and Similars: These cards are jumbo-sized parallels of other issues.

Distribution: It is unknown how these cards were distributed. I wouldn't know where to begin looking for information, short of asking Upper Deck themselves - and even if they responded to an email I doubt they would know or bother finding an answer. Possible methods of distribution could include dealer premiums or previews, card show/convention premiums, or special local test issues released only in California. It's possible they were sold or given away at Heroes of Baseball events (again, possibly as test issues), as they have the same feel as the sheets released for that series. All this is speculation.

Thoughts: First and foremost, if you have any information on this set, please let me know! I'm a big fan of oddballs, especially odd-sized issues such as this. It's quite rare for a release by a major manufacturer to not be cataloged by Beckett. They're listed in the SCD guide (page 1545 of the 2009 edition). Perhaps someone who gets their hands on an updated SCD could check to see if there are any updates. I came across a handful cards from this release several months ago and picked up two examples - the Bonds above and the Finley below. I should have bought them all.

Why is Barry Bonds on the same base as another Giant? Somebody is OUT.

Checklist: cards are numbered below according to their original card number. Print runs were 1000 for most cards, with differences in parentheses. Issues copied other than 1993 are also noted below. If you have any additions to this list, please let me know!

• 6 Kirby Puckett/Triple Crown Contenders insert
• 10 Barry Bonds/SP
• 24 Eric Karros/1991 (2500)
• 75 Tom Glavine
• 77 Chuck Finley (2500)
• 155 Nolan Ryan (5000)
• 199 Roger Clemens/SP

Additional Images: