First Edition Fridays

With money the way it is around here, I can't think of a better buy than this year's Upper Deck First Edition. Normally, I avoid First Edition (and in past years, Opening Day). But at 99 cents per pack, I literally can't afford to ignore these cards.

I already find myself buying more packs than blasters this year. I guess if I did the simple math, I'd find out that is not the economical way to go. Blasters save you money if you're the set-collecting type. But I've never been all that thrifty, so I buy a pack here and a pack there and tell myself I'm saving money. At least at 99 cents a pack, I really am saving some cash (unless First Edition blasters are going for $7 a box. Are they?).

So tonight I bought my first two First Edition packs of 2009. You'll probably see a few more of these on future Fridays. I'm calling them First Edition Fridays. A little bit of fiscally responsible fun to kick off the weekend.

Almost everyone has seen this year's First Edition already. They're pretty much the same as the UD flagship set, except for three key elements. We'll compare '09 cards of big boy Aaron Harang (who somehow has managed to make himself look skinny this year, which is quite the feat for someone 6-7).

Here is the 2009 Upper Deck flagship card.

And here is the First Edition card.

As in past FE sets, Upper Deck has done away with the gloss and the foil. That's expected. And everyone has noticed that First Edition adds a gold bar to the left side of the card. That trims down the picture space, which some probably don't like. But I actually prefer it to regular UD, because the left-hand stripe balances out the design. You don't have that damn distracting bar at the bottom sitting all by itself anymore.

I agree with some who say, the "First Edition" wording in bold type is also distracting. I think if they just toned down the font a little, kind of like they did for the position listing, it'd look a little better.

But perhaps my favorite change is the use of the team logo on the First Edition card. The flagship cards use the "letter logo," which you often see on teams' caps (interlocking "LA" and "NY" for the Dodgers and Yankees, "C" for Cubs, etc.). But I much prefer the team logo.

As for the backs, they are almost identical except for the lack of the hologram on the First Edition cards, as Cardboard Junkie pointed out. The First Edition cards also appear to feature a lighter gold for the bio background, although in hand it's awfully hard to tell the difference. Either that or I need more lighting in my house.

My biggest complaint with First Edition is that I believe all of the card photos are the same as they are in the flagship set. At least with Opening Day, you'd get a couple of cards in which the player had a different photo than in Topps flagship.

So, now that I've dissected the set to death, let's see what is in the two packs that I bought.

PACK ONE

47 - Hideki Okajima, Red Sox

28 - Adam Jones, Orioles

80 - Aaron Harang, Reds

267 - Rick Ankiel, Cardinals

153 - Jeff Kent, Dodgers (I don't think he deserved a card in this set. Isn't it only a 300-card set? Save it for someone who was assured of playing this season).

272 - Yadier Molina, Cardinals

SQ-22 - Cecil ... er, Prince Fielder, Brewers, Starquest insert. The gold Starquest cards work a lot better than the purple common ones in the flagship set. Although, Upper Deck's inserts are pretty darn lame compared to Topps this year.

222 - Huston Street, Athletics

172 - Rickie Weeks, Brewers

157 - Andre Ethier, Dodgers. Woo-hoo!

PACK TWO

247 - Barry Zito, Giants. Barry helped the Dodgers to a sweep of nasty S.F. this week. Thanks, Barry. You're all right.

6 - Mark Reynolds, Diamondbacks

35 - Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox

254 - Bengie Molina, Giants

260 - Adrian Beltre, Mariners

97 - Brian Fuentes, Rockies

SQ-5 Chase Utley, Phillies, Starquest insert

293 - Alex Rios, Blue Jays

208 - Joba Chamberlain, Yankees

195 - Endy Chavez, Mets. More Mothers' Day pink magic from the Mets.

So there you go. What's better than that? A Friday night of dinner at the Chinese buffet, some clearance spring clothes shopping at Target, and some 99-cent Upper Deck. Some would call that a cheap date. These days, I call it getting the most out of your money. And it's still fun, too.

I'm sure this won't be the last First Edition Friday.