Group Break Bonus! 2010 Upper Deck Blaster

I told you I wasn't done yet w/ this month's Affordable Group Break!  I just couldn't sleep well at night until all the teams had a good amount of cards in their stack...so I tracked down a blaster of 2010 Upper Deck at my local Target.  I know it's not chrome cards, but I didn't think anyone would turn down free cards!

In addition to this blaster I've also pulled several cards from my trade box for the majority of the teams to help bolster the card count.  I won't be typing those cards up or adding the number to your team(s)'s count so you'll have a little mystery as to what is inside the package.

Let's get to the blaster now and see what's inside for everyone!

Pack 1:
#004 Michael Brantley (Indians)
#468 Brad Thompson (Cardinals)
#060 Matt Diaz (Braves)
#430 Edgar Renteria (Giants)
#404 Evan Meek (Pirates)
#222 Hanley Ramirez (Marlins)
#523 Dustin McCowan (Blue Jays)
#561 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Ballparks

Pack 2:
#477 Ben Zobrist (Rays)
#379 Shane Victorino (Phillies)
#165 Shin-Soo Choo (Indians)

#SE-8 Shin-Soo Choo - Portraits (Indians)
#SB-96 Tim Lencecum - Season Biography (Giants)
#317 Nick Blackburn (Twins)
#268 Joe Saunders (Angels)
#593 San Diego Padres Checklist

Pack 3:
#013 Wade Davis (Rays)
#105 Daniel Bard (Red Sox)
#469 Dennys Reyes (Cardinals)
#254 Kyle Farnsworth (Royals)
#365 Brad Ziegler (A's)
#080 Cesar Izturis (Orioles)
#177 Seth Smith (Rockies)
#552 Houston, Texas Ballparks

Pack 4:
#416 Edward Mujica (Padres)
#158 Homey Bailey (Reds)

#SB-143 Wandy Rodriguez - Season Biography (Astros)

#PH-7 Josh Beckett - Pure Heat (Red Sox)
#135 Scott Linebrink (White Sox)
#401 Jesse Chavez (Rays)
#584 Los Angeles Angels Checklist

Pack 5:
#093 J.D. Drew (Red Sox)
#149 Scott Rolen (Reds)
#465 Julio Lugo (Cardinals)

#288 Clayton Kershaw - Gold parallel #52/99 (Dodgers)
#447 Jose Lopez (Mariners)
#217 Josh Johnson (Marlins)
#314 Kevin Slowey (Twins)
#077 Felix Pie (Orioles)

Pack 6:
#407 Chase Headley (Padres)
#464 Joe Thurston (Cardinals)
#205 Nate Robertson (Tigers)

#SB-8 Evan Longoria - Season Biography (Rays)
#528 Adam Dunn (Nationals)
#355 Jonathan Albaladejo (Yankees)
#570 Washington DC Ballparks
#428 Eugenio Velez (Giants)

Pack 7:
#005 Brian Matusz (Orioles)
#285 George Sherrill (Dodgers)
#513 Travis Snider (Blue Jays)

#SE-80 Franklin Gutierrez - Portraits (Mariners)
#263 Brandon Wood (Angels)
#132 Alex Rios (White Sox)
#440 Tim Lincecum (Giants)
#579 Colorado Rockies Checklist

Pack 8:
#492 Matt Garza (Rays)
#196 Fernando Rodney (Tigers)
#250 Juan Cruz (Royals)

#SB-183 Brian Matusz - Season Biography (Orioles)
#309 Matt Tolbert (Twins)
#124 Jake Fox (Cubs)
#248 Miguel Olivo (Royals)
#274 Matt Kemp (Dodgers)

Pack 9:
#032 Kyle Phillips (Blue Jays)
#055 Stephen Drew (Diamondbacks)
#504 Brandon McCarthy (Rangers)
#065 Chipper Jones (Braves)

#UDGJ-EM Evan Meeks - UD Game Jersey (Pirates)
#439 Noah Lowry (Giants)
#295 J.J. Hardy (Twins)
#543 Baltimore, Maryland Ballparks

Pack 10:
#256 Torii Hunter (Angels)
#238 Alberto Arias (Astros)
#384 J.A. Happ (Phillies)

#SB-48 Ivan Rodriguez - Season Biography (Astros)

#AW-14 Russell Martin - All-World (Dodgers)
#354 Jose Molina (Yankees)
#339 Pedro Feliciano (Mets)
#597 Tampa Bay Rays Checklist

So there you have it...more cards for everyone along with a hit for a team that hardly EVER gets a hit!  And with this blaster this completes this month's Affordable Group Break.  As I stated earlier I'm taking next month off from hosting since my wife will be 38 weeks and full term with our 2nd daughter later this week.  Don't worry though as my good buddy hiflew over @ Cards From the Quarry will step into the void and pick up the slack with a great break...I'm sure of it!

Thanks for everyone's participation.  I hope to have the cards packed up and mailed by the end of the week at the latest.  Colbey out...

Blaster Break - 2010 Upper Deck

We all know that most Wal-Mart stores have been carrying discounted blasters for sometime now while Target gets some of them from time to time.  I'm not sure when I found this, but Target had a blaster of 2010 Upper Deck for $9.99.  I remember standing there in the store thinking "do I really want to buy this"?  I've already got a big chunk of the set so I thought why not.  I guess in process of hosting monthly group breaks and such this blaster got pushed to the wayside until I recently found it while picking up a little.  I really wasn't expecting much out of the box, but I can say it was a fun break.  Here are a few of the cards the box served up.

#60 Matt Diaz

I'm really going to miss him this year.  The Pittsburgh Pirates have been horrible for last 15 or so years so I hope that translates into some playing time and opportunity for him to shine.

#UDGJ-MC Michael Cuddyer

My guaranteed hit of the box.  I know I've seen this design before.  What year did UD recycle this from?  Card is up for trade if any Twins want it.

#AW-11 Justin Morneau All World

Another Twins player?  First off I love die-cut cards.  The glowing planet in the back ground looks good on this design.  I'm toying with the idea of putting this set together since I think I can get most of the cards on the cheap side.

#SE-73 Heath Bell Portraits

I don't like these cards.  These look like a poor man's Obak.  Plus look at how the card is centered...or not centered.

#SB-103 Tommy Hanson Biography

I got several of these Biography cards, but this is the only one I deemed worthy enough of sharing.

#CP-3 & CP-4 Celebrity Predictors

I've seen these before online, but this is my first hands on exposure to these Celebrity Predictors.  Now I'm one to watch TMZ religiously or read the tabloids, but I don't hate these cards.  Granted I'm not in love with them nor do I care to track down the others in the set.  I know the guy is Justin Timberlake and my guess is the blonde is Cameron Diaz.  I can see however why baseball purist got upset when they first discovered these cards in their packs last year.  Next.

#BHA-4 Hanley Ramirez Baseball Heroes 20th Anniversary

Now these I like.  I believe Hank Aaron was the subject to UD's Baseball Heroes in 1991 - the first year I was exposed to the UD brand.  I really like the Masterpiece like quality of the painting used on the card.  I may have to look more into this set too.

#SE-1 Justin Upton Portraits

Another one of these cards.  This one is off centered too.  I'm starting to guess this is a problem with these.

#488 Jeff Niemann #d 40/99

Since there are no odds for inserts on the box or the wrapper I don't know what this parallel set is called or how hard they are to pull from packs.  Any Rays collector's out there interested?

This box exceeded all of my expectations, especially since I've paid far more than $10 on a blaster to not get anything of note.  I could see myself picking up another blaster or two of this assuming I can find one again.  For a set that lacked the MLB license I thought UD did a good job.  Most of the photos on the base cards are of typical UD fashion - beautiful.  Is anyone still working on this set?  Any traders out there?