Product Review: 91 Ultra

And so it begins. I began my last post by talking about why I chose Ultra. I was not impressed with 91 Ultra when it orginally came out. Looking at all my monster boxes however, I really wish I would have been considering I have more 91 Fleer than any human should have. Thats melted yellow crayons thrown in a blender with mustard. Yuck. I guess they just wanted to go with a "higher end" card. Ultra in a sense is about premium, its better than regular fleer, blah blah you get the gist. On to the actual cards...


Vital Statistics
Base: 1-400
Inserts: Ultra Gold 1-10

The base card is nothing special. Plain on the front, ultra decided to go with the silver look, but its not glossy, so it just comes off as kinda gray. The back is pretty solid though. Multiple shots of the player and an up close shot. 400 cards is good for a base set and the cards are organized by team name and alphabetically through each team. I like that concept. I know the Braves are going to come first, etc. There is only one insert set, the Ultra Gold. I have to be honest, I have seen them, dont have any. Looks just like a star insert set with the regular culprits.

Overall Analysis: (C) Launching a new card line cant be that easy. It works because it fits in with most of the early 90's sets. Stadium Club was the revolutionary during that time frame, so this was a decent way to start it off. Ultra really takes off in '92. This didnt get my attention then, but its an ok springboard in what was to come.

Next week, we get down to the business of 92 Ultra!

A New Series Coming Soon...

People ask me all the time why I chose Fleer Ultra Baseball as my number one and only set to collect. When I was collecting in the mid 90's, for some reason I fell in love with it. Shiny things impress this native. It was really a combination of several factors. My best friend collected Leaf, and we always wanted to try different things so there was no way I was going to make my main set Leaf as well, we wanted to double our chances of getting great cards, not doubles. We hated doubles. So, Ultra was a respectable set, fairly inexpensive and just different. I like the photography, the color schemes, and I LOVED the inserts. I am not a huge "hit" guy, but I always felt the inserts had a point, they were different and usually fairly easy to pull from packs. That didnt always mean they were mid end inserts (sometimes they were), but it was nice to pull star cards at a good rate. So, with that being said I will begin by reviewing every Ultra set starting with 91 later tonight. Enjoy this blast from the past and dont forget to checkout my needs list from each set!

It was just a matter of time...

I mean, who hasnt had a hard day out in the field? You gotta do you, dog.

Mailbox Goodness

I made what I consider a great trade over on the sports card forum. Traded an 09 Clemente patch card from Topps for 4 Cal Ripken's and a Will Clark for my personal collection. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE UD Masterpieces and hate that they are not continuing the set after two successful years. Canvas looking cards, good mix of young, veteran and retired, some old school uni's, just a great base set to collect.

So good to come home after work to something that gives me a smile. I guess I should take a look at the bills now? Nah, we have cards here!

Great Trading Partner!!

I have done two successful trades with this guy Chris. I think his website is fantastic and what I wanted to do but I dont know crap about buiding a website. Great lists, great communication with him. Check Chris's site out!

If Good Pitching Beats good hitting...

Does good hitting ever beat good pitching? You always here that phrase thrown around but never the inverse. Weird. CC Sabathia mowed us down tonight, he was on, thats cool. I respect that. If he had lost, would it have been bad pitching and good hitting or good pitching with great hitting?

Never sure about these things, but an L is an L either way.

I feel like Yogi Berra at this point, I will stop rambling.

What a difference a day makes...

yeah, i was never on the ledge, but still 6 game losing streaks are tough. Beat Tampa tonight. Nick Markakis is the truth. That is all. Working on some trades for some people now and will update my lists soon. Thanks to all who are reading, its slow going getting a blog up and running.

Boy, are the Orioles bad.

Disturbing trends:
1) Guthrie cant get the third out of an inning.

2) Bats absolutely DIE after the 6th inning.

3) I know its just a slump and every team has them but this team has no FIRE. None. They go through the motions and thats it. Need an igniter, need some passion. I actually miss Kevin Millar.

Local Card show exploits

Havent been to a card show in years. Got a beckett and sure enough this weekend there was one at the local mall. I usually hate going to the mall, this was no exception, but we dont have many options left with card shops folding quicker than the Orioles bullpen. (Editors note: Yeah, George Sherrill, not a big fan of you right now.) Anyway, I bought 10 packs of 93 Ultra to help with sets for 50 cents each. I actually traded a Heritage auto card of someone I didnt care about for a Cal Ripken Donruss Threads card. When I get the scanner to work I will post the card. Show was good, saw a lot of things I didnt think I would ever see. No Will Clark stuff though.

Weekend Series at Toronto...

I have a love/hate relationship with baseball. I groan because our utilityman doesnt seem to fit anymore. What the hell is that? You are a bench player, you are used when needed. How do you suddenly not "fit" in an organization? Ryan Freel you are a bum. Maybe you would "fit" a little better if A) you hadn't been pegged in the back of the head on a throwback to second or B) you actually did something worthwhile to help this club. 2 hits all year and you dont "fit" anymore.

On the other hand, I think a little weekend trip to Toronto might be the trick to get us back on track. They seem all smoke and mirrors to me. Anyway...gotta get some sleep. Helping a friend move a tv tomorrow. Really. Big. TV.

Sigh...

Well, its late, I cant sleep and I have no idea how to fix this blog. I am just trying to put up my want lists with a link from my main page to another page, but dont know how. Tired. Frustrated. At least the layout looks better than it did.