Following the crowd

I decided to rip a pack of 2008 Topps Stadium Club here, because that's what all the kids are doing these days. You won't find me featuring the latest and greatest very often, so enjoy it while it lasts.

Actually, I got this pack today so I can lead into something else. It has to do with the polls off to the right. I'll get to that in a minute.

In the meantime, you might be asking yourself: only a pack? How come there's no blaster? And my response is: one month to Christmas my friends. No blasters until after then. If you want to see Stadium Club blasters, check out a number of the fine card blogs out there. Cardboard Icons, Free Andy LaRoche, Fielder's Choice, and a bunch of others have busted this stuff in the last few days.

My quick thoughts on Stadium Club before I get to the cards: I respect Stadium Club, I recognize its ground-breaking ways, I like its photography. But I'm not ga-ga over it, like some are. Full-bleed photos contribute to a sameness in which it's hard telling one set from another. Like I've said before, more design (but not too much) gives cards character.

I'd also like to remind people of one of Stadium Club's past contributions. Namely, this:

That is not a baseball card. That is a poster in Tiger Beat. I don't know what they were thinking in 1991. But if it was an attempt to get 14-year-old girls to buy baseball cards, they failed miserably.

I don't think there's any of that nonsense in the 2008 packs, so let's see what I got:

Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays. This photo effectively gets across how tall Halladay is. He's 6-6, and he certainly looks it there. He almost dwarfs the TV and photographer cameras and those cameras aren't exactly tiny.

B.J. Upton, Tampa Bay Rays. A very nice photo of Bossman Junior's interesting stance. Upton was an absolute offensive force in the 2008 postseason. He made me a fan.

Derrek Lee, Chicago Cubs. Not much to say about this card except that I don't know why so many fans are standing for what appears to be a routine foul pop-up. Maybe the last out of a Cubs win?

Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles. My brother will be happy with the last two cards in the pack. He's putting all his money on Markakis that he'll somehow make the Orioles respectable again.

Radhames Liz, Baltimore Orioles, First Day Issue. The writing on the back of these cards is not great: "Featuring a fastball that touches the upper-90s, Liz has flirted with the Orioles rotation the past two seasons." Liz is flirting with the rotation? And exactly how do Daniel Cabrera and Jeremy Guthrie feel about that?

That's the whole pack -- well except for David Wright bribing students to work hard by offering free cards.

So, now, I ask you: is Topps Stadium Club the best set of 2008? Is it the worst? It's time to cast your vote in the end-of-the-year set review poll. I've included most of the sets from 2008, but not all of them. I didn't include Opening Day or First Edition issues because I'm guessing those would automatically be voted the worst sets of the year. And justifiably so. But I'm looking for something less obvious. I also didn't include all of the high-end products, because, let's face it, most collectors don't see that stuff.

I'm leaving the polls up for a month because I want to get as many votes as possible and the polls are going to lead into some sort of end-of-the-year review. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do, but I know it'll feature a countdown of some sort, because I'm a sucker for end-of-the-year countdowns.

You can vote for more than one set in each category. So cast your vote for what was great, and what stunk. I already know what I'd vote for.