2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Light Blue Jersey Card

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Set: Baseball Heroes

Card Number: 99

Card Type: Parallel Relic

Parallel Set: Light Blue Jersey

Relic Type: Uniform

Card Attributes: Relic, Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 127/200

Been awhile since I posted an actual Yount card.  I've been so busy keeping up with all the new cards coming out.  Let's go back to the well that is the 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set. Unlike the 2005 version that was HOF centric and that Robin had 5 cards in, in this set Robin has only one card.  Well that and a thousand parallels.  Just kidding of course, but there are a lot.  There are 10 base card color parallels alone, and then the relics, autos and relic autos that parallel the base set.  And while Robin isn't in very possible parallel, he is in a lot of them.  

I'll be honest this set just screams 2008.  Well at least the way the just parallel the base set, by punching a hole for the relic and then applying sticker autos to the card.  That being said it's an overall nice card, the background works well with the very much on display classic Brewers uni.  And we get a nice posed Robin Yount in his later years.  And of course the plain gray swatch is totally 2000s.

2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts - Legendary Memorabilia Blue Parallel Bat Relic

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Set: SP Legendary Cuts

Card Number: LM-RY

Card Type: Insert Relic Color Parallel

Insert Set: Legendary Memorabilia Dark Blue

Relic Type: Bat

Card Attributes: Piece of Authentic, Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 08/25

2008 holds the distinction of being the year in which the second most cards featuring Robin Yount were produced with 477.  Although 2020, did come close to beating it.  One of the reasons for the title is sets like Baseball Heroes and this set.  Robin is featured in the Legendary Memorabilia set.   A set with 10 different color variations to chase.  

It might be tough to tell by looking at it but this is the dark blue color parallel.  It's a well laid out card with a nice big photo for Robin and a decent chunk of bat.  I also like that they designed in a nice little box for the serial number stamp, even if it looks like they couldn't hit it just right.

2008 Upper Deck Goudey Mini Red Back

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Set: Goudey

Card Number: 214

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel: Mini Red Back

2008 was a great year for baseball cards especially Robin Yount cards.  Upper Deck was in prime form in 2008 and Goudey was a nice retro/vintage set which by now with Topps leading the way had become all the rage with examples like Allen and Ginter, 206, and Heritage.  Not to be outdone Upper Deck followed suit with sets like this and Goodwin Champions.  This homage set is of course based off the 1930s Goudey baseball sets but also to some of the Goudey non-sport sets as well.  The base set was paralleled by 5 mini parallel sets with the red backs being the most common falling in about 1 in 3 packs.  Also mini cards were not one per pack but rather fell about 7 per box (at least that's what baseballcardpedia says.

2008 Donruss Threads - Century Proof Green

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Threads

Card Number: 29

Card Type: Parallel

Parallel Set: Century Proof Green 

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 155/250

Donruss' last hurrah.  I have no idea why I really like this set.  Maybe it's because Donruss got away with what almost bankrupted Upper Deck.  This is an unlicensed set, but you can clearly see logos.  Sure not full logos, no team names, but still Robin's not airbrushed.  Maybe I like this set because Robin's all over it.  Relics, autographs, insert, parallels.  There's lots to chase in this set and I did.  There are 4 parallels for this set, Gold, Green, Platinum, and Silver Century Proofs.  The Green Century Proof Parallels are the most common being numbered to just 250.  Plus the Century Proofs are shiny and I do love shiny cards.  In 2009 Donruss, and all of it's acquired brands with it, would be bought by Panini and well you know how it is now.

2008 Upper Deck Premier

Year: 2008

Manufacture: Upper Deck

Set: Premier

Card Number: 196

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 80/99

Continuing my series of new Younts from my COMC Black Friday hall.  One of the things I love is on Black Friday is to sit in front of my computer with a nice hot cup of coffee and go hunting for cards I need and hopefully find some deals.  It also always surprises me when I find something I though I had, but didn't.  There were quite a few of those cards this year and this 2008 UD Premier base card is one of those cards.  Upper Deck had a couple premium baseball brands near the end of their run on baseball with sets like Ultimate, Sweet Spot, and Premier.  As a matter of fact this base card is rarer than the base cards in this year's Topps Transcendence.  And lets face it Upper Deck could do high end and low end.  The base cards for the Premier set were numbered to just 99.

The front features a great full bleed photo and a nice little design for the serial numbering.  On the back we only get one line of yearly stats, Robin's 1982 MVP season and total career stats. 

There are 3 parallel set for the base cards all very low numbered, Blue #/15, Silver #/5, and Gold #/1.

2008 Topps Triple Threads Emerald Parallel

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Triple Threads

Card Number: 138

Card Type: Parallel

Parallel Set: Emerald

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 235/240

2008 was the third year of Topps' mid-high end product.  This wasn't Topps' most premium brand at the time, that was Sterling, but Triple Threads was a close second. It's a set that's composition really hasn't changed much since it was first introduced in 2006.  The base cards in the 2008 set have this bumpy texture to them which is kind of odd, but I love that the serial numbering is huge.  I also like the vintage image used for the card and we can date the image to sometime pre-1978 from the uniform and batting helmet.

Additionally while the backs are pretty much a right-off, the card number is large and the back is colored to match the parallel and isn't just a back used across all the parallels like alot of Topps' sets today.

2008 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts Base card

Year: 2008

Manufacture: Upper Deck

Set: SP Legendary Cuts

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 094/550

2008 a time right before the age of exclusivity.  I miss Upper Deck in the baseball card game.  Sure they deserve their exile, but man they also put out some great sets back in the day.  Hard to believe we are closing in on 10 year's of Topps exclusiveness.  SP Legendary Cuts was on interesting product the relied heavily on relic hits for the set, but there are some really nice autographed cards and combo relic cards in the set.  The base cards are numbered to only 550 and there's only one parallel set, the Memerable Moments numbered to just 1.  The base cards had a nice appeal with a great color head shot and an action black and white photo.  Robin has lots of cards to chase in this set as well from all the relic parallels to some great autographed cards.  

2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes Charcoal Parallel

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Upper Deck

Set: Baseball Heroes

Card Number: 99

Card Type: Base Parallel

Parallel Set: Charcoal

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 295/399

The 2008 Upper Deck Baseball Heroes set is the poster child for parallels.  Much like the insane sets put out by Donruss earlier the set pretty much centers around the base checklist and then just parallels it to death.  There are 10 base color parallels alone for this set and then 20 auto, relic, and auto relic parallels.  Although not every player is in every parallel set.  Robin's card here is the Charcoal parallel, or gray.  Besides the coloring, which is also featured on the back, each parallel, except for the Black parallel, is serial numbered.  The Charcoal just happen to be numbered out of 399, with just the Emerald, numbered to 499, and the unnumbered Black parallels being less rare.

2008 Playoff Prime Cuts Icons MVP Triple Relic

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Playoff Prime Cuts

Card Number: 22

Card Type: Insert Relic Parallel

Insert Set: Icons 

Parallel Set: Materials MVP

Card Attributes: Relic, Serial Numbered

Relic Type: Jersey

Serial Number: 13/15

Donruss put out a couple unlicensed sets in 2008.  The one I remember best was the Donruss Threads set, but they also put out a couple last gasp Playoff brand sets.  The Prime Cuts was a mix of active, rookie, veteran retired, and hall of famers.  The set itself was not licensed by the MLB or MLBPA, but rather Donruss contracted directly with the player to use their likeness for the set.  Donruss also skirted the legality of using partial logos and team colors and in doing so the set isn't half bad.  There are also a ton of inserts, parallels, relic and autograph parallels, and just lot of variations to sort through.  It's a homage to the crazy sets Playoff put out in the mid-2000s.  

The card featured to day is part of the Icons insert.  The set is called the Icons Material MVP relic set.  The MVP part comes from the die-cut MVP relic windows on the card.  For an unlicensed card it's a nice looker.  The plain gray swatches aren't much to look at, but it's a fairly rare card being numbered to just 15.

2008 Donruss Threads - Silver Century Proof

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Threads

Card Number: 29

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Silver Century Proof

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 037/100

As I've stated before this last year's haul from COMC's Black Friday sale concentrated more on filling in holes and picking up fairly common cards, but I did manage to snag a couple low numbered parallels for the collection.  Next up we have one of Donruss' last issues before being bought by Panini.  This was also before Topps got exclusivity on the hobby, but Donruss made this set without a MLB license or an MLBPA license.  And still got away with using true team colors and partial logos.  This was before Upper Deck pretty much made sure that wouldn't happen again.  For an unlicensed set it's not bad,  the overall design is nice I like the baseball rounds in the corner, but for the most part the card is pretty simple and they sure didn't waste any money putting too much information on the back of the card.

2008 Topps Sterling White Suede Parallel #219

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Sterling

Card Number: 291, RY3

Card Type: Parallel

Parallel Set: White Suede

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 38/50

It's been awhile since we had a Topps Sterling card on the blog.  When 2008 Sterling came out I was enamored by it.  Not enamored enough to drop the $250-300 per box, but definitely enough to pony up for some great relic autos featuring Robin.  The product was HOF themed and each box was player specific.  Robin had 11 base cards in the set.  Base cards were numbered to only 250 and of course there were parallels.  While I have long since finished my Robin Yount base card set, I only have a few of the Suede White parallel cards.  Numbered to only 50 they are the most numerous parallel in the set.  The only difference between this card and the base card is the bright white border and the bold serial numbering to 50.  Card 291 commemorates Robin's breakout 1980 season that earned him his first All-Star appearance and his first Silver Slugger award.

2008 Topps Sterling White Suede Parallel #227

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Topps Sterling

Card Number: 227 (RY11)

Card Type: Parallel 

Parallel Set: White Suede

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 25/50

I will be the first to tell you how much I hate the new trend in the trading card market.  The move away from affordable products with large base sets to hit driven, expensive, low card count products is one of the things that is slowly killing the hobby.  But back in the mid 2000's the higher products were more like going to a car showroom.  Most car companies have multiple models that are affordable and met different consumer's needs, and sure there was some overlap in the models and what they offered, but they also offered some higher end models for those clients that could afford it.  That's what the early and mid 2000's felt like.  For the most part the hobby was affordable with multiple, ok, a lot of products to choose from with some higher end stuff mixed in for those with a little deeper pockets.   Starting in 2006 Topps brought out a new Cadillac, Topps Sterling.  This was Topps' high end brand.  And it was nice.  The cards were fancy, the hits were pretty, and very low numbered, even if most players featured had lots of different cards.  And in 2008 with Sterling being HOF-centric and featuring player themed boxes, I loved it. Not enough to drop the $200-300 a box this stuff was going for, but definitely enough to seek out some of Robin's hits and all of his base cards.  The set featured a large base set with all cards numbered to 250.  You also got a few parallel sets.  The base being numbered to only 250 made the cards fairly rare, but not too expensive or hard to find, thanks ebay.  The next most common parallel is the white suede.  Numbered to just 50 copies and very, very white.  I've been slowly picking up these parallels as I find them for a decent price.  Robin has 11 base cards in the set so it been a slow process and I think I've manage only 3 so far, but the hunt is most of the fun anyway.

2008 Playoff Prime Cuts Icons Quad Relic

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Donruss/Playoff

Set: Prime Cuts

Card Number: 22

Card Type: Insert Relic

Insert Set: Icons Materials - ICON

Relic Type: Quad Jersey

Card Attributes: Jersey Relic, Serial Numbered

Serial number: 7/9

I'd have to double check, but I'm pretty certain I don't own any 1 of 1 Yount cards, that includes printing plates. That might be surprising knowing that I super collect Robin's cards and he is by far my primary collecting focus for my entire trading card collection.  But honestly printing plates hold no more collecting value to me or emphasis than the card it was used to print.  That's mainly because I'm admittedly cheap and there are plenty of fellow Yount collector's that will pony up for those cards.  I'm not saying they wouldn't have a place in my collection, it's just not a focus of mine to chase those cards.  But that being said I do have a nice smattering of low numbered cards in my collection.  One of those is this quad relic from the Donruss/Playoff Prime Cuts set.  The Icons insert set has a ton of relic, autograph and relic autograph parallels.  This parallel is called the ICON parallel for the obvious reason the relic windows spell out ICON.  It's really a shame the swatches weren't more interesting on a card numbered to just 9.  Interestingly enough Donruss also skirted the licensing rules about logos.  You can clearly see the classic Brewers MB glove logo on Robin's helmet and he's in true team colors.   Upper Deck would pretty much put an end to this type of  card that walks the fine line when it got sues over it's 2010 Baseball set.  So now we get baseball cards from Panini that have zero logos and photoshopped false uniform colors.  

2008 Donruss Threads Base card

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Donruss

Card Set: Threads

Card Number: 29

Card Type: Base

Ah 2008 Donruss Threads.  I was pretty excited in 2008 when this came out and I saw how many new Younts I had to chase.  Who cares if it's non-licensed?  We still get partial logos and team colors!  It wouldn't be till 2010 and Upper Deck putting an end to that.  Overall a pretty nice design.  The baseball stitches up top are a nice touch, but they sure didn't waste any space on the back for stats.  

2008 Topps Triple Threads

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Triple Threads

Card Number: 138

Card Type: Base

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 0706/1350

2008 would mark the third year for Topps mid-high end brand.  The base cards were still serial numbered and the inserts still all looked the same.  I guess that's the one constant through the years with triple threads.  Relics and autograph cards still all kind of look the same.

Still the Triple Threads base cards are fun to chase down and collect.  They don't number the base cards anymore and I would suspect that eventually Topps will just do away with the base set.

2008 Donruss Threads Century Stars

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Threads

Card Number: CS-13

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Century Stars

2008 would mark Donruss' return to the baseball card game.  Donruss lost their MLB license in 2005 and never got it back.  I don't remember if there was a big tado over this set, but you can clearly see parts of logos and team colors looked true.  Of course Upper Deck made sure that you couldn't get away with this anymore. And this would be the last year before Donruss was aquired by Panini.

 I was really excited when this set came out.  Robin was featured in the main checklist and was in the inserts and had lots of parallels, relics, and autos to chase.  Through my collecting life I've gone through ebbs and flows with collecting.  That mainly had to do with what I was doing for work.  My first be reawakening came in 2002 when I discovered ebay and had time to spend lots of money.  It didn't hurt, or maybe it did, that 2002 was also a great year for Robin's relic cards and inserts.  But my second great awakening came in 2008 and I'll be honest I've been riding the crest of that wave for awhile now.  

The base insert itself is fine, but like all the inserts it's made for the relic and auto versions.  There are also serial numbered parallels to chase. 

2008 Topps Sterling - Sterling Stardom Quad Relic auto

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Sterling

Card Number: 4SSA-130 (RY31)

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Sterling Stardom

Card Attributes: Relics, Autographed, Serial Numbered

Relic Types: Bat, Jersey

Serial Number: 04/10

I own three of Robin's hundreds of 2008 Topps Sterling autograph cards.  This one marks the last one in my collection not yet featured.  You can see the other two HERE and HERE.

Part of the Sterling Stardom set this card commemorates Robin's 1983 All-Star Game appearance.

I like the mix of relics on the card, much better than 4 all white pieces.  I'm not a huge fan that the sticker auto hide part of the signature, but it is still a great card.  Sorry about the blurry scans I have this card well encased in a screwdown.

2008 Topps Triple Threads Relics Sepia Parallel

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Triple Threads

Card Number: TTR-218

Card Type: Insert Multi-relic Parallel

Insert Set: Triple Threads Relics

Parallel Set: Sepia

Card Attributes: Relics, Serial Numbered

Relic Type: Bat, Jersey

Serial Number: 11/27

Sorry about the scan, I should have taken the card out of the top loader and penny sleeve, but I'm not going to dig it back out so it is what it is. 

I've never been a huge fan of Triple Threads.  Maybe its because the cards look the same year after year, or that the relic gimmicks just aren't my taste, but I'm not going to let that stop me from adding any of Robin's cards from the set to my collection.  This card celebrates Robin's 251 career home runs.  Not a monster number compared to the some of the power hits, but still very respectable.  And while the lettering may make this card look like a 6 relic card it vary obviously is only 3 separate relic pieces.  Like all things Topps there are a ton of parallels in the set, but even what is considered the base relic card is limited to only 36 copies and this sepia parallel is numbered to just 27.  The star of the card are the relic pieces with Robin's head taking up a very small portion of the card.

2008 Topps Sterling - Sterling Moments Quad Relic Autograph 4SMA-136

Year: 2008
Manufacturer: Topps
Set: Sterling
Card Number: 4SMA-146, RY61
Card Type: Insert
Insert Set: Sterling Moments Autograph Relics
Card Attributes: Autograph, Relics, Serial Numbered
Relic Types: Bat, Uniform
Serial Number: 01/10

I've decided to open the vault and pull out another Sterling gem.  Still one of my favorite high end sets, even if the autographs are stickers.  I think I like the set so much because it was player focused.  Intensely player focused.  I won't go into the whole set layout you can read about it here if you don't remember.

One of three quad relic autos I own from the set.  The card numbering is a little insane for the set as well.  This card number 4SMA-146 is not different.  But let's decifer what the coding means.  The 4 means four relics, the SMA stands for Sterling Moment Autgraph and of course the 146 is the card number in that set.  Topps also went one step more and numbered each card with a player specific numbered.  This card is RY61, or Robin Yount 61.  I'm not sure exactly how many cards Robin has in the set, but it's well over 100 when you count all those Sterling Silver 1 of 1 cards.

The biggest problem I have with this set is the people who sell the cards.  Believe it or not with as many cards that are in this set and how confusing and cumbersome the set numbering is sellers don't seem to bother with listing it, or include a scan or photo of the back of the card.  These cards are pretty awesome to gaze upon and most sellers listing go like this:

Awesome Robin Yount Autograph Relic card.  The End.  

I'm ranting, but as a Yount collector and a self appointed Robin Yount baseball card historian I love filling holes at the TCDB.  These cards are rare and some are seldom seen so the more information about a card I can find the better.  OK rant over  check out my Awesome Robin Yount Autograph Relic card!

2008 Tri Star Signa Cuts

Year: 2008

Manufacturer: Tristar

Card Set: Signa Cuts

Card Number: NNO

Card Attributes: Autograph, Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 014/150

This card is by far the ugliest Robin Yount autograph card I have in my collection.  You might know Tristar from it's repacks, it's website, where you can buy autographed memorablia, or it's collector's shows.  For a few years Tristar also put out it's own series of cards.

The back is generic, but at least the front has the player name.  Of course to get around all sorts of legal stuff, you get no mention of team or even a player photo.  The card is serial numbered, but damn it's ugly.  I think this card actually looks worse in hand.  The large sticker autograph sticks out like a sore thumb in the large white field.

But this card was cheap in terms of certified Robin Yount autographs and in the end it's still a Robin Yount card.