2004 Upper Deck SP Prospects Hobby Box Break (Part 2, The Good Hit)

If you didn't get a chance to read SP Prospects Hobby Box Break (Part 1) posted earlier today, give it a quick check to see how things ended up:  Part 1 SP Prospects Box Break.  The bust was not what was hoped for, however after studying the makeup of this product, it did not seem all that unusual a result for these boxes.

All hope shifted to box two.  Here is what happened:

2004 Upper Deck SP Prospects Hobby Box
24 packs, 5 cards per pack
5 Autographs (2 Autographed RC's; 3 Others Including a Dual, Triple or Quad)
Cost: $49.95 (Blowout Cards - Black Friday deal)
Estimated Cost Through Ebay (with shipping): $60-80
Holiday Sale Price at Blowout Cards Right Now: $59.95

The first box didn't have doubles but this one did:

Two Kazmir rookies and two Yadier Molina rookies.

Overall there were 14 stars.

 



















12.5% of the cards were stars versus 10.6% in the first box.  Close enough to be pretty much an identical pull rate.

Five semi-stars.

Now for the hits:

Kevin Frandsen (s/n: #182/400).  This 27 year old middle infielder has actually had a nice bat in the minors.  His ability to hit has not translated to the majors thus far (Career: .240 ba, .645 OPS, 408 ab).

Greg Golson (s/n: #047/400).  As a 23 year old in AAA, Golson had a .258 ba with 3 home runs in 457 ab (.642 OPS).  He's an outfielder in the Rangers' system.  He steals some bases so maybe he's defensively strong as well.  Beats me.

Reid Brignac (s/n: #130/325).  I had not heard of Brignac but it appears he is a solid prospect.  He's a shortstop blocked by the Rays' Bartlett.  Brignac will be age 24 in 2010.  He looks like he could start in the majors if given a shot.  He hit .282 with a .744 OPS in AAA in '09.  Although he doesn't walk often, he seems like a potential .270 ba/15 hr type player.  Not bad for a SS.

Brignac was given 90 at bats in the majors in '09 and performed well (.746 OPS).  Perhaps he will be on the club all year in 2010.

Clay Meredith (s/n: #346/400).  Hey look it's Clay Meredith!  Actually he spells his name Cla not Clay.  He's on the Orioles now.  As crazy as it sounds, out of the eight solo player signatures I received in these two boxes, Cla Meredith is far and away the most experienced major leaguer in the bunch.  His 268.1 career innings pitched makes him my veteran.

That fairly sums up just how bad the single solo autos are.  I'm just reporting the truth.

Ian Kennedy and Alex Gordon game used jerseys.  Much better than last box.

So going into the dual, triple or quad auto, box two is soundly beating box one (like two last place teams battling to stay out of the basement).

I got a dual auto, just like the first box.  Will it beat the Kendall/Walker dual auto?

Erick San Pedro/Devin Ivany (s/n: #148/175).  San Pedro is out of baseball.  Ivany is a 27 year old in A ball.  They were drafted by some mysterious team called the Expos.

After that terrible dual auto the boxes ended up basically tied.  The Kendall/Walker is much better and a lower print run.

Now you are saying, what the heck, you told us there was a good hit in this box.  There was!

I didn't get five autos in the box as is expected.  I got six.

About two thirds of the way through the box I pulled this!

Ozzie Smith/Nomar Garciaparra/Matt Bush (s/n: #17/25).

This is probably the second best auto I've ever received from a pack.  I was very excited.  It's my first Ozzie auto and second Nomar.  Matt Bush is out of baseball.

In the end, as I mentioned in the first box break, I can't recommend this product.  At the same time I am thankful that I at least pulled one card I will always rank as one of my favorite auto cards.

Thanks for reading!