I was worried that I might not get a box of O-Pee-Chee from Upper Deck to review but like clockwork, Mr. Scott delivered a three-box break for the readers of Wax Heaven. Enjoy!
2009 O-Pee-Chee
Boxes: 3
Packs: 36
Cards: 6
Price: $49
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20th Anniversary Retrospective Memorabilia: 1 (Jason Varitek)
20th Anniversary Retrospective: 18
Black: 108
Black Mini: 3
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Review: This product has to be the most reasonably priced boxes I have opened this year. Not a lot of bang for your buck but you do get a great assortment of cards. The photography is very crisp & all different. These cards would be perfect to get autographed in person or through the mail.
I would like for companies to stop putting other sports in baseball products. I don’t collect Hockey, why would I want these Hockey retro cards? The best insert in this product is the New York, New York cards. They are thicker and have a gloss to them. Only disappointment here was that about 15 packs had dupes in them. Card 5 & 6 were the exact same cards in these packs, I guess it was sorting mistake.
I wouldn’t buy anymore O-Pee-Chee but they will make a great addition to my collection. You get some players other sets don’t have since the base checklist is 600 cards deep.
I like the fact of getting different designs and themes in 1 box. I might get a box when it’s below the $40 mark even if I have to wait.
Mostly base boxes aren’t my cup o’ tea but this looks like a good price point for set builders.
Several comments:
1) Although the box price may seem cheap, when you consider that you only get 216 cards per box, it’s not really that good a value. You’re paying about a quarter a card, which is about the same as most other base level products and not a terrific value.
2) The design is lame. What made the 1976 Topps cards that this product is trying to imitate so cool were the miniature action figures for each position, which are replaced here by a boring baseball. Additionally, the vibrancy of the color of the 1976 Topps design is lost here because the color bars at the bottom of the card are so much smaller. Additionally, from what I’ve seen, there are way too many posed photos. What made the 1976 Topps set so good what some terrific photography, including iconic shots of Bench, Rose, Ryan, and Yaz.
3) The plethora of inserts and subsets make it very difficult to accumulate cards to build the set. Most people are reporting getting only 4-5 base cards per pack, which means that even with perfect collation you are looking at 120-150 packs. At 36 packs a box and $50 per box, that’s in the vicinity of $200 to try and build the set from wax.
So my grades are:
Value: C
Design: C
Set-Building Potential: F
I didn’t know they had mini-card variations, too. 13 different inserts and mini-cards? This is an A.D.D. collector’s dream.
Awesome Pelfrey mario! Did you get the base?
Second mfw13’s comments. I was really excited to bust a box of O-Pee-Chee. It’s a nice set, but here are the main problems:
1) Way too many posed photos. When done well they’re great (e.g., ‘89 UD Griffey), but O-Pee-Chee probably has half the set as posed photos. That’s overkill.
2) As mfw13 said, you get 6 cards per pack. One is a black-border parallel, and one is most likely some other insert set (including the awful 20th Anniversary monster set). So as a set builder, you’re looking at about 4 base cards per pack out of a 600 card set. Realistically that means 6+ boxes to build just the base set from wax packs. No thanks.
3) The card stock feels cheap. I didn’t think I’d care much about that, but after holding O-Pee-Chee up next to Topps Heritage, the difference in quality is readily apparent. Topps Heritage cards feel substantial; O-Pee-Chee don’t.
i busted two boxes and agree with a lot of the comments here. i toyed with the idea of putting together the base set, but with the number of posed photos, i am going to pass.
i did get a triple jersey in one box and a 1971 opc buyback in the other, so my luck was good in that regard.
i did notice that i didn’t pull any base of the big star guys – pujols, jeter, manny, vlad, etc. i hope that just means the odds weren’t in my favor and not a short print situation.
Like the old topps cards.
A Jason Varitek case hit? Ouch.
The hockey stuff makes sense – OPC was a Canadian company with product sold only in Canada to Canadians.
I just threw up in my mouth. UD had over a year to make this product great and I feel like they took a big dump on it. I can’t believe they threw in the hockey retro cards, since that was part of their 08-09 hockey set. It has more of a mid 90’s Fleer feel to it than anything OPC ever did. WHen is UD going to learn that design is everything for these cards and when they don’t respect the design they don’t respect the customer.
Being a new collector, I rarely catch the Red Sox stuff before it goes to somebody else. Do you still have the Varitek memorabilia, and would you be willing to trade for it. I also have a Johnny Damon New York New York if you like.