Community Gum Break - Loot Arrives!

A couple of weeks ago I expressed how I was going to use my substitute teaching pay for cards.  I found it very serendipitous that Jon from Community Gum was hosting a break of eight different boxes of Upper Deck and the Cubs were available for the exact price of my substitute pay.  Sweet Deal!

The cards arrived late last week.  Let's take a look at my favorites!

2007 Upper Deck Elements - Derrek Lee

 This was probably my favorite card from the break.  All the cards were done in team colors and Upper Deck did a really nice job with the red and blue in this card.  The red portions or the card are actually transparent, which is kind of neat.

2004 Upper Deck Legends Timeless Teams - Ken Holtzman and Ernie Banks

 I find it odd that the Cubs have a "Timeless Team" seeing as they didn't make the playoffs during the 50's, 60's, or 70's.  Another question, why is Holtzman's card in color while Banks' card is black and white?  Curious.

2006 Upper Deck First Pitch - Nomar Garciaparra

I was always a fan of Nomar, even before he became a Cub.  I remember driving home from Wrigley with my friend Jim when the trade to acquire Nomar was announced on the radio.  What a fun ride home that was!

2002 Upper Deck 40-Man - Matt Clement, Augie Ojeda, and Mark Prior

 

Clement was the winning pitcher of the Cubs game on the day I proposed to my wife.  Augie Ojeda is a scrappy, blue collar, fan favorite. 

 This set featured every player that was on each team's 40-man roster.  Talk about a BIG set to try to collect. (Think 1,200+ cards!)  Mark Prior was new to the team that year, thus the "New Releases" card.  My sister kindly refers to him as just another Cubs prospect that I helped to jinx on their way to failed stardom.

 Two cards of Joe Girardi.  I believe Joe was finishing up his second tour with the Cubs in 2002.  I still root for this Central Illinois native even though he is now the manager of the dreaded Yankees. 

 The first card is the base card from the set, the second is a parallel numbered 39 out of 40.  Shiny!

1999 Upper Deck Retro - Ernie Banks and Mark Grace

 Two of my favorite Cubs of all-time.  Nice cards, but a little too modern of a design be called "Retro" in my opinion.

 1999 Upper Deck PowerDeck - Sammy Sosa

 This is actually a CD-rom that is about the size of a baseball card.  I haven't played it yet and I'm not sure that I'm going to.  Sammy was a pretty terrific slugger and helped carry the team to the playoffs during that magical summer of '98.  BUT, he was a little full or himself and also a little artificial if you catch my drift.  I was at the last game of the season in 2004 at Wrigley when he walked out on the team.  His last days as a Cub left me with a bitter impression of a tremendous baseball talent.

Thanks for hosting a great break, Jon!  These Cubs cards were all new to my collection!