Box Break - - 2007-08 Upper Deck Be A Player Hobby

The Be A Player name has been bounced around the card collecting world for years in various forms.  Having done stints with In The Game, Pinnacle, and now Upper Deck, the BAP name in and of itself for most collectors conjures up images of one thing...autographs!

BAP has been pretty synonymous with autographs since it's inception in the late 1990s.  That same tradition has continued throughout the years since.  I found a deal on a box of 2007-08 Be A Player Hobby and couldn't resist the temptation. 

Essentially what you get here is 1 Autograph in each pack.  Yes, that literally means in each pack.  And this isn't one of those 2 or 3 pack boxes either.  There are 8 packs per box with 5 cards in each pack (40 cards for the mathematically challenged).  Also, one of the autographs will be at least a BAP Duals Autograph, with the possibility of a BAP Trio thrown in for good measure.  All the rookies cards and extended rookie cards are numbered out of /99.  This 2007-08 incarnation of BAP also contains Players Club cards that are essentially the same as the regular release but serial numbered at different tiers; gold base /99, gold rookies /10, platinum base /25, and platinum rookies /1.

Would this box yield another Stamkos rookie (as I am now 3/3 on pulling Steven in 2007 hobby boxes)?  Let's find out.

To reiterate, there are 8 packs with 5 cards per pack.  As you can see on the package, it says "Find 1 Autograph Card in Every Pack!" on average


First the base cards in case anyone has never seen what these look like.

As you can see, there isn't anything too spectacular going on here.  These look like a combination of Artifacts and MVP rolled into one.  The front features a player in some action pose along with some airbrushing in the team colors, a small team colored stripe in the top left corner with a super imposed jersey number, and the name, team and position on the bottom.  Strangely in this batch, I scanned all red based uniforms.

And here are a few more just for posterity.  In this batch, I chose all the blue/white uniforms.  That was completely unintentional.  Also, I don't recall ever seeing Mark Recchi in a Thrashers uniform.  He just looks weird. 

I pulled on Players Club Gold card of Jerome Iginla numbered to /99.  I have to say I like the gold parallels better than the regular base.  They just look nicer.

I also pulled one rookie card, that of James Sheppard.  This too is numbered /99.  The rookie are a much harder pull in this product as they don't even fall at one per box.  I do like the rookie design here though.  There is no mistaken that it is a ROOKIE card.

And now the moment you have all been waiting for....the EIGHT AUTOS...

 First up was Jordan Staal.  SWEET!!  A Penguin and an autograph at that.  Very nice card for my PC.  Staal's signature could use a little work though.  If I was to guess, I wouldn't have ever know that to be a Staal auto.  More like....?  I don't even know.

 Next up was Zach Parise.  Parise has a much nicer auto.  You can actually tell it is his.  But unfortunately, we have the sticker auto syndrome going on here.  That's where the player signs a sheet of auto labels and his or her signature runs over the edge.  It ends up cutting of some of the autograph.

Then came Lee Stempniak.  Lee has had three other teams since playing for the Blues back in 2007.  He had a stay on Toronto, Phoenix, and then Calgary.

The next pack awarded me with another illegible auto...that of Mr. Mike Komisarek.  At least you can still read his jersey number.  Here he still played for the Montreal Canadiens, the team that drafted him.  In 2009 he was sent to Toronto where he remains...at least for now. 

 Oh look.  Another former Hab.  This time in the form of Kyle Chipchura.  Kyle has spent the majority of his time as a career minor leaguer.  Only until the last few years has he actually gotten a good deal of playing time for an NHL squad.  He is currently on the Phoenix Coyotes roster.

Pack number six yielded another Penguin.  This time former winger Petr Sykora.  I have another Sykora auto somewhere in the collection but this one is much nicer looking.  That fish hook looking think on the right is actually a 17 in case you were wondering.  Petr played 2007-08 and 2008-09 for the Penguins before spending a few moments in the Wild organization.  He then went back to Europe to play in the KHL for a season.  He spent all of this season with New Jersey, chipping in 44 points in 82 games.  I am just happy to add another autograph to my team PC.

Pack number 7 was a bit of a disappointment.  I puled an Adrian Aucoin auto when he still played on the Flames.  Aucoin has been in the league quite a while now.  His first game was in 1994 for the Canucks.  He later played for the Lightning, Islanders, Blackhawks, Flames, and now sits on the Coyotes.  I'm not a big Aucoin fan.  I am neither a fan of his autograph. 

And the final pack...

What are the odds of pulling three cards for my PC with autos?  No really.  What are the odds?  I was trying to figure it out but couldn't.  Regardless, he we have an awesome Double Signature card of Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, both former Pens.  Whitney got traded before the Cup win mid-season in 2009 to Anaheim for Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi.  He is now on the Oilers.  But Gonchar was a very stable part of the defense for the Pens from 2005-06 until the end of 2009.  He was a big reason why the defense flourished during the back to back Cup runs.  It eventually just came down to one of those things where the guy just wanted too much money to stay so off he went to Ottawa where they have been getting less than their money's worth for sure.

Over all, this is a great box if you are looking for autos for a decent price.  Plus it is fun opening packs knowing you are going to get a hit each time.  My opinion is probably slanted though since I got three cards for my PC.