Stumbled into a local Target and what do I see? A small stack of 2009 Upper Deck Goodwin Champions staring at me. Yes, the retail version of this product is live. Not only were there a handful of blasters, but also a gravity feeder, which someone apparently rifled through before I got there. Someone remind me why Upper Deck is using nearly transparent wrappers for the retail product? Gah. Anyway, here is the break of my one and ONLY blaster — 12 packs, 4 cards per pack. All will be for trade except for any Red Sox.

Pack 1: Phil Hellmuth, Hunter Pence, Ryan Braun, Jonathan Toews

The very first Goodwin card I see is Hellmuth. Hmm ...

Pack 2: Alex Rodriguez, Carl Yastrzemski, David Ortiz MINI, Phil Niekro

Pack 3: Matt Cain, Lyndon Johnson, Nate McLouth AUTO, Stephen Drew

Happy to have pulled an auto, but my luck has been off. That's a topic for another post soon ...

Pack 4: Curtis Granderson, Bill Rodgers, Rollie Fingers MINI, Matt Ryan (college)

Pack 5: Nick Markakis, Carlton Fisk, Josh Johnson, Carlos Delgado

Is UD going to use the same shot of Fisk in every release? This is a repeat of Goudey.

Pack 6: Derrick Rose, Grady Sizemore, Derek Jeter MINI, Robin Roberts

Can't go wrong with Jeter

Pack 7: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Chien Ming Wang, Alexander Ovechkin BLACK MINI, CC Sabathia

I'm not a hockey guy, but I believe Crosby and Ovechkin are Nos. 1 and 2 in the sport.

Pack 8: Kristi Yamaguchi, Ben Roethlisberger (college) mini, Great White Shark ANIMAL SERIES, Ken Griffey Jr.

This is what happens when the sports leagues go with exclusive contracts. Barf.

Not sure if I like this one better than the Allen & Ginter Great White Shark card. /sarcasm

Pack 9: Michael Beasley, Todd Helton, Akinori Iwamura, Koji Uehara

Pack 10: Vlad Guerrero, Jeff Samardzija, Adrian Gonzalez MINI, Alexander Ovechkin

Pack 11: Kevin Garnett, Roy Oswalt, Al Gore Nobel Peace Prize Anniversay card, Joey Votto

For a split second, I thought this was a instant-win scratcher card of some sort. Nope.

Pack 12: Chad Reed, Brooks Robinson, Jake Peavey MINI, Joe Dimaggio

Comments: From the first card (Hellmuth) to the last (DiMaggio) this blaster of Goodwin Champions was entertaining. Can’t argue with an on-card auto of a Major League star — even if he is is pictured in the uniform of his former team.

From a broader perspective, Goodwin Champions is indeed UD’s answer to the wildly popular Topps Allen & Ginter set, but it does feel like a slight variation on Goudey — which really was not that impressive. As is the case with A&G, the minis are pretty neat, but hard to store.

As far as people represented in the set, it is refreshing to see a set where Micket Mantle IS NOT a big draw. Not to hate on Mickey, but Topps really has harmed his cardboard legacy. As collectors, we shouldn’t groan every time we see a card of one of the game’s greatest stars, but that seems to be the case these days. I was more than happy to see Mr. DiMaggio though.

This entry was posted on September 27, 2009 at 11:38 am and is filed under Box / Pack Break with tags baseball, baseball cards, Boston Red Sox, Derek Jeter, Goodwin Champions, Hockey, Joe DiMaggio, New York Yankees, poker, sports, Upper Deck. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.