Saturday Night Pack Rip and a Couple of Nolan Ryans

Last week when I swung by the hobby shop for some supplies I picked up 3 packs of 2009 Topps Updates & Highlights baseball. I don't have the energy to chase any baseball sets right now, but this year's Topps release is the best looking set since I got back into the hobby in 2007, and from what I've seen may even be the best of this decade. Given that, I pick up a couple of packs here and there. I've opened two so far, the first one was the best. Only 10 cards per hobby pack so I scanned them all:

#UH58 - Omar Quintanilla - Colorado Rockies - I have to say that Omar's name sounds vaguely familiar, but I know nothing about him. After a quick check of his career stats I'm not surprised.

#UH207 - Garrett Jones - Pittsburgh Pirates - Jones was basically a career minor-league player until he was called up by Pittsburgh mid-season. He hit .293 with 21 HR and 44 RBI in just 82 games for the Pirates, and was elected Rookie of the Month in July. Not too shabby, if he keeps playing this well the Pirates will trade him I'm sure.

#UH261 - Aaron Bates - Boston Red Sox - Sweet, I'm positive this is my first Aaron Bates card. He played in just 5 games for the Red Sox this summer. He actually had a good showing, but there's just no room for him in the big league lineup.

#UH184 - Francisco Cordero - Cincinnati Reds - All-Star - What would an Updates & Highlights set be without the All-Star cards...

#UH256 - Tim Wakefield - Boston Red Sox - All-Star - Nice, second Red Sox player in the pack. I get tired of All-Star subsets in modern sets generally, but this is probably the All-Star card I'd want most. Tim was finally elected to the AL team for the first time in his long career this summer.

#RH76 - Babe Ruth - Boston Red Sox - Ring of Honor - Awesome! Best card in the pack. I don't have many of these Ring of Honor cards, but what a great shot of the Babe in a Red Sox uniform.

#TTT73 - Matt Cain - San Francisco Giants - Topps Town - Talk about going from a high to a low. I can't stand these Topps Town cards. This is the only card out of the 10 that's going up on my "for trade" list. Snooze...

#UH10 - Tommy Hanson - Atlanta Braves - I don't get to see a whole lot of National League games, but I've sure read plenty about this guy. I think this is actually one of the better rookies in the set.

#UH177 - Neftali Feliz - Texas Rangers - Baseball America lists this guy as the Rangers top prospect, and he's supposedly one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball.

#UH122 - Youkilis, Wright, Jeter & Victorino - Team USA - This card just bothers me for some reason. Whether it's for our country or not, I don't want to see Kevin Youkilis and Derek Jeter being friendly.

Great pack overall, 3 Red Sox cards out of 10, a couple of great rookies/prospects and a fantastic Babe Ruth card.

While I was at the shop I grabbed 2 Nolan Ryan cards out of the bargain bin. Ryan was one of two players I collected as a kid, and while most of my original cards are gone, I always pick up a Nolan Ryan or two when I can. I guess he's probably the one baseball player I collect individually...

1991 Mother's Cookies Nolan Ryan 300 Wins - #3 of 4 - I was really psyched to pick this card up for 50 cents. It's part of a 4 card set that Mother's Cookies released in 1991 to commemorate Ryan's 300 career wins. I think I like it so much because it's the very first Mother's Cookie card in my collection.

I love the back of the card too, that Mother's Cookies logo is great. Nice clean back with the Autograph spot at the bottom, which is standard on pretty much all of these as far as I know.

2001 Upper Deck Decade 1970's #120 - Finally, I picked up this card for 50 cents as well. I wasn't collecting at all in the late 90's/early 2000's, so I didn't even know this set existed. I love the old California Angels photo and the design is pretty cool. It almost reminds me a bit of 1972 Topps. I can't seem to find a single card from this set on eBay, I must be searching wrong.

Check in later this week for a hockey wax box bust!