The pros and cons of Icons

I bought a blaster of the new Upper Deck Icons product a couple of weekends ago when I was on a baseball-card buying high. I had birthday money to burn; I had just busted my second box of Allen & Ginter; and my vacation was coming to a close. I wanted one last thing to finish off the week. Because, you know, vacation memories aren't made of activities and friends and family and all that junk. They're made of the cards you got!

I didn't post my Icons findings right away because there were a bunch of trade packages to open and all that Gint-a-Cuffs fun. Plus, I wasn't all that interested in what I found. Other folks are so much better at the set-examination stuff. I just don't have the interest in reporting how many packs are in a box, etc. I guess that means I'll never write for "Consumer Reports."

But even though I'm not doing all that, I still arrived at the same conclusion as others. First, I'll start with the positives, or "pros" of the set.

The pros are, well, uh, hmmm. The pros are, the set is, um, uh, well ... geez, this is hard. I guess, uh, one "pro" is the base set is only 100 cards. That's a positive, isn't it? It can't take too much effort to complete that set, right? I got over 40 of the cards in the one blaster.

But something tells me that the traditional set-collectors who collect base sets aren't going to be interested in this set, which means that "positive" goes out the window. Because it's not about the base set with Icons. Instead, the big selling point is the autographed letter patches of athletes and celebrities, which I couldn't give a flying Felix Fermin about. And then there are the short-printed rookie cards (there wasn't a single one in my box). And some other stuff.

Here is the silver foilboard variation, that I think is one per blaster. I'm not sure. But I am sure that I prefer the base cards.

Don't confuse the foilboard variation with this foilboard numbered insert set. That's numbered to 999 if you can't read it.

The Dodgers I pulled were the Clayton Kershaw card up top (thank you! thank you!), Matt Kemp, and Manny Ramirez.

But the number of Dodgers didn't come close, nor did any other team (except for the Red Sox) to the number of Yankees I pulled.

Six in the box. There's a good way to get me to collect a set: fill it with Yankees! Oooh, goody. I think I'll just bang my head against that wall over there.

The fronts of the cards are decent. Nice, big photos. Clear, crisp pictures. The design isn't boxy, which has been an issue that has been plaguing Upper Deck for years. But the thing that irks me about this set, the "con" of Icons, is the backs of the cards:

Filled with knowledge aren't they? Upper Deck has never been about the backs of cards. They used to fill the backs with large photos, which collectors appreciated. But lately it seems like the backs are complete afterthoughts. I mean that is the most useless back to a base card I've seen in some time.

Upper Deck defenders may say, "nobody looks at the back anyway." Well, I do. And I know I'm not the only one. Ignoring the back of the card is like not combing the back of your head before you go to work in the morning. People are going to notice.

My other complaint is strictly a personal one. It has to do with the relics that I have pulled this year. Icons promises you one relic per box. This year, I have pulled five relics from packs other than Allen & Ginter. One was of Lastings Milledge. Three were of Angels players. Guess what I pulled this time?

For heaven's sake, I do NOT like the Angels! Stop it!

That aside, I agree with just about everyone who has weighed in on Icons. I'm not collecting any more of this. But I will accept Dodgers (someone just sent me the Chad Billingsley card today).

Upper Deck is really crapping the bed this year. With the exception of OPC, which I have a mild interest in, I have crossed every other Upper Deck set off my list.

Upper Deck base? Boring. Don't like the design.
First edition? It's nice and cheap, but it's basically UD base.
Spectrum? Die, die, die!
Piece of History? Rinse and repeat.
Goudey? So very frightened.
SPx? Meh.
Legendary Cuts? I haven't seen it in my hands. It may be interesting, but I can't afford it.

So that leaves X, which I know I can ignore, Ballpark Collection, which I probably won't see at all, and Goodwin Champions, which a lot of collectors are excited about, but I haven't been impressed with from what I've seen.

I've always been a Topps guy. I think most collectors who were born before the late 1970s would say that. But even I'm shocked by how unappealing Upper Deck sets are this year.

I'm not the first to say this, but this year Topps is kicking Upper Deck's ass from New York to Carlsbad, Calif.

Sorry, I tried to say something nice.