63 cases of 08-09 Exquisite Basketball (Yes CASES not Boxes)

Some bloggers have already posted about these guys but they bought 23 more cases of 08-09 Exquisite Basketball. Cases are going for about $1800 a pop now online. Here is the first of many videos they have of them opening up 23 more cases 08-09 Exquisite Basketball. They open a ton of high-end stuff, and they go through the boxes as if they were opening up junk wax. I wonder if they buy this stuff direct from Upper Deck, and whether they get a heavy discount on it, they probably buy much more of this stuff then some small distributors.

Jordan-Lebron Auto Patch

This Jordon-Lebron Patch auto from 2008-2009 Upper Deck Black is a good looking card but come on $23k? You can buy about 70 boxes for the asking price of the auction. The auction has 55 offers so far and close to 10,000 page views.

How much would you pay for the Invisible Man's Auto?

Some Ginter Set collectors are just nuts in my book. This auction just ended for a "genuine" copy of the Invisible Man's autograph, in "Red Ink" too nonetheless. Apparently, the auto can be seen under a black light. The ebay auction ended a couple of bucks over $1100 with 63 bids and well over 600 page views. I'm not a fan of gimmicks like this in sports card products at all. A cut signature or relic of a historical figure is one thing but paying this much for whats no more than a story Topps crafted for a card is just crazy. Kudos to the brand manager at Topps that came up with the card idea though, a very wise business decision as I'm sure a card like this costs much less to make then actually paying for a celebrity's signature.

Upper Deck Redemptions

Just got my SP Authentic Football Redemptions back from Upper Deck. Pretty sweet patches, although I hate it when people put tape on the top of top loaders instead of using a team set bag, it ruins the top loaders. Anyone have any suggestions for getting all the tape residue off the top loaders?

Jordy Nelson 2-color:


Chris Johnson 3-color (same cop-out auto though):

3 Boxes 2008-2009 UD Ultimate Collection Basketball

I couldn't really help myself and opened my first boxes of Basketball so far this year. Here are the highlights of the three boxes I picked up at my local card shop. There have been a lot of subpar breaks online, but I got a pretty good price for the three so I can't complain, especially with what I pulled.

Base Cards:
#54: Andre Miller 24/499
#22: Kevin Durant 494/499
#76: Gerald Wallace 265/499
#38: Andre Iguodala 28/499
#48: David Lee 497/499
#41: Lebron James 259/499


#106: Julius Erving 150/499



#88: DeAndre Jordan RC 333/491
#89: JaVale McGee RC 497/499

Onto the Hits:

Tony Parker/ Pau Gasol/ Richard Jefferson/ Jamaal Tinsley Ultimate Veteran Foursomes Jersey Card #1/50


Pretty nice card, although I'm getting kind of sick of just plain old jerseys and second tier players. This card could have been so much better if it were Kobe/Duncan/Rose/"Insert Any Pacer Here". But hey UD's got to keep collectors chasing some

Kevin Love Ultimate Rookies Jersey Auto #'d 37/60


Not a bad card at all. At least I got the blue jersey auto, and the card is somewhat of a shortprint at 60. I'm pretty impressed with Love as a player and still see a lot of upside left in his career.

Derrick Rose Epic Signatures Auto


This card made my impulse purchase of the 2008-2009 Ultimate Collection Basketball worthwhile. If I decide to sell/trade it, I've probably at least broke even on the three boxes.

2008-2009 Ultimate Collection Basketball Break Grade: B-

Summary: Like the Celtics of last year, 2008-2009 UD Ultimate Collection Basketball had so much potential/hype of being a great, but in the end failed to live up to past expectations. The Rose auto is very nice, a clean on-card auto design, but I'm not sure that really justifies the price of boxes. The rookie on-card jersey autos look good, but leave a lot to be desired (why can't they just make all of these patches). The multiple player card jerseys/patches is a nice touch, but I'm not sure if there was much rhyme and reason to the pairings. If you're gonna put multiple players on a card, at least make it so they are either superstar players or have some thought behind why they're on the card together (same team, same position, etc.) I'm contemplating getting a case of Exquisite later this year, but if the last of the basketball inventories at UD is anything like what was in Ultimate Collection then UD went out of the basketball card business with a whimper and not much of a bang at all.

Final Gint-A-Cuffs Post

Pack 22

Base Cards
158: Sigmund Freud
249: John Higby
65: Dexter Fowler
89: Elvis Andrus
5: Luke Hochevar
283: Mike Aviles


Inserts/Mini/Hits
NH7: Juan Santamaria National Heroes Mini +5


NP49: Max Scherzer National Pride Insert


Pack 22 points: +5 points
Cumulative Points (Through Pack 22): +251 points

Pack 23

Base Cards
251: Carl Crawford
155: Yadier Molina
109: Samuel Morse
232: Everth Cabrara
317: John Baker Short Print +5



18: Clyde Parris Negro League Player +2



Inserts/Mini/Hits
NP51: Albert Pujols National Pride Insert
LMT5: Invisible Man Creatures of Legend Myth Terror Mini Insert +7



Pack 23 points: +14 points
Cumulative Points (Through Pack 23): +265

Pack 24

Base Cards
131: Rickie Weeks
290: Cat Osterman
203: Scott Kazmir
184: Chris Young
144: Joakim Soria
100: Ichiro


Inserts/Mini/Hits
NP15: Jorge Posada National Pride Inserts Yankees (Boo!) -1
48: Brigham Young Black Border Mini +3





Pack 24 points: +2 points
Cumulative Points (Through Pack 24): +267 points

Total Box Points: +267 points


Wow, that was anti-climatic, the box started pretty strong, but even with a Red Ink Auto I couldn't break 300 points. Multipliers are the name of this game, just having one of my hits be a multiplier would have helped out a lot. Well it was fun at least and now I no longer have to stock up on breakfast sandwich bribes and can get back to some regular blogging and trading. I have a couple of trades in the works and should be able to off load some of the Ginter cards to slim down the number of cards I have laying around. Email me any want lists from this year's Ginter I broke 5 boxes altogether and have a lot of cards. I'm trying to put the base auto set together and am contemplating putting the red ink auto set (but that may just be sheer madness with the money needed to get that done). Contact me if you have any Ginter autos you want to trade/sell.

Allen Ginter Box 2, Packs 19-21

Pack 19

Base Cards
245: Todd Helton
231: David Murphy
143: Robbie Maddison
136: Mickey Mantle
306: Cliff Lee Short Print +5



Inserts/Mini/Hits
NP52: Dice K National Pride Insert +2



98: Josh Whitesell A&G Back Mini +2


AGH21: David Price Sketch Highlights +3



Pack 19 points: +12 points
Cumulative Points (Through Pack 19): +230 points

Pack 20

Base Cards
349: Aubrey Huff Short Print +5



264: Carlos Pena
214: Adam Dunn
226: Ricky Romero
172: Jarrod Saltalamacchia

Inserts/Mini/Hits
84: Justin Upton Black Border Mini +3



AGHS20: CC Sabathia Sketch Highlights (Brewers) +3



Pack 20 points: +11 points
Cumulative Points (Through Pack 20): +241 points

Pack 21

Base Cards
27: Chien-Ming Wang Yankees -1
133: Roy Halladay
258: Felix Hernandez
222: Aki Iwamura
233: John Lackey
333: Nick Swisher Short Print +5, Yankees -1



Inserts/Mini/Hits
NP50: Jay Jurrjens National Pride Insert
167: Jim Thome A&G Back +2




Pack 21 points: +5 points
Cumulative Points (Through Pack 21): +246 points

Going to be hard to catch up, a little more than 100 points to go with only 3 packs left. On the bright side, I can get to back to normal blogging...Ginta-A-Cuffs has been a lot more work than expected.