Product details:
5 cards per pack, 14 packs per box, 20 boxes per case
Base Set: 100 cards, plus 30 rookies
Est. arrival: February 2009
You will receive three “hits” per box, including two autographs BUT one will be a celebrity.
You can view the product checklist HERE.
Opinions?
I do not like this set at all. ’07 Spectrum was one of the worst-reviewed products in Wax Heaven history and the ’08 release didn’t even see a full box break from me. That being said, I am curious to see who will be included in the celebrity autograph checklist as last year’s picks were terrible.
Cheech Marin > back-up bassist for Winger
The Baseball Card Blog 
Spectrum is a top contender for worst set of 2008 in my opinion. It looks like it’ll be just as bad in 2009. Upper Deck should really just pull the plug on it.
I can’t believe that they have this stuff for preview and it’s not even Christmas. What do the companies do work 100hrs a week to come up with the designs 6 months in advance. Oh great more celebrity cards wonder if you’ll get a chech authentic smoked roach card. Can’t it go back to the days of being surprised on what a product will look like give you something to look forward to the new year.
JL, the reason I do previews is to spread the information to help the consumer decided if they want to bust the product or not. I would hate for someone to not know what Spectrum looks like and end up buying it and hating it.
mario I hear ya, i’m still living in the past baseball card world where everything was about collecting.
What the hell is the deal now with the celebrity autos. The complete list is on the link. There are more celebs than accual players. And there are about 6 color varations. I can understand the UD has no exclusive rights to old time players like before, but JC why do I want a Celebs auto. This is why I’m sorta glad I semi-retired from collecting. What the hell am I going to do with a Helen Slater ( super girl) auto. Upper Deck if you read this, for crying out loud, remember 1989, try doing something that will thrill me again.
JL, aren’t you glad you read this at Wax Heaven? At least now there is no way you are gonna get duped into getting Spectrum.
I would suggest however that you be patient. I am sure there will be a few good products from both U.D and Topps in 2009.
This kills me, what celebs have to do with this product I don’t understand. Here’s an open invite to UD for a product since they have Fleer, Go back to 2000-2001 Fleer Legacy, the auto caps, replica jerseys, at least you get your moneys worth and a full piece of Memoribila and a auto.
jl, maybe you’d enjoy UD First Edition. LOL, so much venom… don’t like it, don’t buy it! Speak with your checking account!! Do what I do, and purchase boxes of early 90s cards off ebay, its like the golden age of collecting all over again…
… and by golden age I mean the age where I had no problems spending all of my allowance on cards…
Is it just me or do these card designs remind you of Upper Deck X?
JL needs a hug and a box of ’90 Upper deck.
Spectrum doesn’t do it for me, There’s such a thing as too shiny. I guess it sells if it’s back though. Looking over the checklist I see… The Braves rookie is James Parr?? ugh. The celebrity list isn’t all musicians at least. There’s a couple of autographs I like in there (Cheech, Bruce Campbell, Leonard NImoy) but there’s no way I’d ever pull one of them out of a pack.
Nice to see 2009 products though. Thanks Mario.
Haven’t wee seen this same design the lat two years/ I got suckered into Spectrum this year, but it will not happen again. What a crock of shit. I’m very surprised UD did not axe this line, especially given the poor economy and the fact that collectors are probably cutting back on purchases, particularly ones that are not a “staple” in their collection.
I was going through some Fleer Ultra and I know how everyone hates those cards but I really liked them. I wish they would bring that back. I collected so much junk in the 90’s but I really liked it. Upper Deck, Topps, and Fleer regular sets were BORING!! I loved Score, Pinnacle and Fleer Ultra cards.
Oh and the base cards for Spectrum aren’t half bad (IMO) but they ruin it with the inserts and those horrible autos. It’s a set with potential but they just can’t take it to the next level. Such a shame.
It’s not so much venom. This hobby used to be fun. I even like the game jersey concept at first, but it’s every year since 2000. You fall in love with a product and the next year its CRAP, or they had to sup it up. It’s like they don’t want to listen to the collector anymore, just give them what they want you to have more or less. Like I said above, 2000-2001 Fleer Legacy to me was the greatest product Fleer came out with. ( my opinion) You got a full Jersey w/ auto in basketball, a signed cap in baseball this is was great stuff. I used to spend hundereds if not thousands a month at my local card store, on great products with good collectable cards or memorbila. I have not spend over 200.00 in the past two years. It’s a shame I would have to go backwards for a good product made over 15yrs ago.
Holy shit, there’s a lot of parallels in next year’s Spectrum.
jl, your sentiments are shared by many. You mention you used to spend hundreds a month at your local card store… I wish I could find a card store to spend money at, and I live in San Diego! I literally have no idea where I might find one…
That’s the trend now a days, I have 3 shops in my area, one guy had to start selling wrestling stuff to keep afloat, the other in the mall had to move to a smaller shop and the one that I used to go to I found out was letting his friends pack search. The one guy who started selling the wrestling stuff was losing close to 8000.00 a month when the high end stuff starting hitting shelfs.
Didn’t buy it this year, won’t buy it next year. For the same price, I’d rather have Topps Finest with 3 BASEBALL autos, and a rookie redemption.
Why can’t we at least get a better picture of Cheech than in front of the hotel he was signing at. This is what is wrong with most cards today! Keep the parallels, give us better relevant photos. Give us something we have to have in our collections and not some space filler you got to sign on the cheap.
Mario, maybe you could talk to the Upper Deck Gods and suggest letting us bloggers design a set and see how much better we could do than the guys they waste their money on. I know the card companies need to make money but they will continue to lose revenue if they don’t start listening to the core consumer.
Not to mention that what IS left in the shops that stick around is EXPENSIVE. I just remembered that there is a shop in my local mall that sells cards, but ONLY very high end local “hits”, meaning Padres and/or Chargers autos and game used. And anything that isn’t high end is priced like it is. Its a shame…
My 6 year old nephew decided after a Padres game last season that Mike Cameron was his favorite player… why? Because he had a friend named Cameron. A good a reason as any, I suppose. So being “fun Uncle Joe”, I took him to the shop to pick up a few Cameron cards, figuring I’d find them for a quarter a piece or so since he was a hometown guy (at the time)….. but the singles were priced starting at $5. Are you kidding me?!?! For a base card from early 2000 Topps?!?!
Shop owners complain about ebay ruining the hobby, but it’s the only to get reasonable prices on cards.
By the way, this is a nice little forum you’ve created, Mario!
JL, I just busted a box of 2008 U.D Timeline (video coming tonight).
Boy are you going to be happy. 🙂
I’ll comment after I see the video.
Must be designed by the same clowns that did UD X.
Definition of “Stars” in the spectrum of stars autograph set is very loosely used as well.
PASS.
no more Spectrum for me, but I do want a Cheech auto
yeah, it looks too much like UD X
I was going to comment on how much this looks like X but I see a few people already beat me to it. If it wasn’t for Masterpieces, I don’t think i’d be collecting any Upper Deck products. I bought some 2008 UD baseball and football and all I can say is CRAP! What’s with the foil flakes on the cards? OK, i’m getting off base now so i’ll stop!
I don’t think the cards look bad, but there are too few players in the set and too many parallels.
The celebrity autographs might be fun… but then again, if that horrible Cheech Marin photo is the one that Upper Deck wants to show off, maybe not.
I’ll stick with buying Upper Deck and Topps base sets in pack or box form, and skip this one. (Though I probably will check eBay to see if any of the Spectrum celebs I like are cheap enough to pick up.)
Worthless product.
UD….PLEASE do us all a favor a release UPPER DECK CELEBRITY. You can feature Paris, Cheech, Racheal Ray…whatever the hell you want. At least it won’t be a BASEBALL issue.
I would rather pull a Low-A ball BASEBALL player than an A-list celebrity (secondary market value argues otherwise, but call me traditionalist).
I knew 04 DLP series “Fans of the Game” would lead to this crap….and I’m sure another company did something before that as well (not that I care).
What makes me mad about this is it’s a lazy looking set. I have no doubt I’ll buy a blaster of it, but there’s nothing that would inspire me to even consider putting a set of it together. As mad as I got about all of the parallels in Baseball Heroes and all of the SPs in this year’s Masterpieces, I would still consider building a set of both. But stuff like this, X, SPx, SP Authentic, SP Legendary Cuts, SP Whatever-the-hell-variation-I-forgot, First Edition, and the completely forgettable Piece of Shit… I mean Piece of History provide me no motivation to pursure them. And this is coming from a shameless Upper Deck fan boy. The more I think about it, the more I’ll wait until the card shop in town gets it in and opens a box, or wait for a trader to swap me the cards I want.
I totally wanted to be the first to make fun of that Cheech picture, damn! And I totally agree it looks a lot like UD X.
i love baseball cards and i think these cards this year were better then last year i started getting into cards in May!