We got our hands on some hobby-only Topps Finest Baseball, and there were a lot of refractors and other goodies.

Topps Finest Baseball

• 5 cards/pack
• 12 packs/box

These are pretty decent cards with nice photography. I'd like to have more stats on the back than trivia, but what are you going to do? It's fun getting something in nearly every pack, and with that, here are some of the highlights:

- David Price Autographed Letter Patch card gold parallel (numbered to 10)
- Conor Gillaspie Autographed Letter Patch (numbered to 107)
- 2009 Rookie Card Redemption #8
- Rafael Furcal green refractor (numbered to 99)
- 5 blue refractors (all numbered to 399)
    - Justin Upton
    - Scott Kazmir
    - Aramis Ramirez
    - Lance Berkman
    - Nick Markakis
- 4 refractors
    - Roy Oswalt
    - Michael Young
    - Justin Upton
    - Delmon Young


All in all, not too bad. And where is the video camera? Well, sometimes it's just easier and faster to post it in this manner.

On this Good Friday, we bring you a box of baseball goodness:

2009 SPx Baseball

• 4 cards/pack
• 18 packs/box ($120)

The box asks collectors to look for Joe DiMaggio career highlight cards, and we received a couple of those, all numbered to 425.

The cards themselves have a modern design geared more toward the younger generation with good photography of "cut-out" players. However, the real draw is the "four jersey cards and one autograph card per box."

Well, we did a little better than that, with two autographed cards and five jersey cards. They went a little like this:

• Vernon Wells Chirography auto card
• Chris Carpenter Game Patch Autograph (numbered to 23)
• Johnny Damon Flashback Fabrics (dual swatch)
• Matt Holiday and Jeff Baker Winning Materials
• Lance Berkman Winning Materials
• Hanley Ramirez Game Jersey
• Francisco Liriano Game Jersey.

Getting seven hits in 18 packs made opening the product a treat, even better when opened during the first week of the baseball season.

We're back, minus the video camera. But at least we have a new product, though Tuff Stuff pricing analyst and huge baseball fan Joe Clemens is not a fan of this product, which is...

Upper Deck Spectrum Baseball

• 5 cards/pack
• 14 packs/box ($80)

First off, the box is about three times bigger than it needs to be. There's lots of padding here that's not needed. But I guess size is a perception. Secondly, this product comes after UD's Series 1 Baseball. So why are there players in here in uniforms way out of date? You can see someone who has joined a new team in mid-season being in an old uniform (though Series 1 was updated). CC in an Indian uniform? Ehh, OK.

But why are there players in a uniform for a team in which he did not play for in 2008? It was 2007! Eric Bedard in an Orioles uniform? Come on!

And then there are those purple colors!

So what did we get? Spectrum includes a Spectrum of Stars subset with a bunch of celebrities included. We got an autograph of Ian Somerhalder, from the TV series "Lost." Ian doesn't know how to spell his last name - he just signs "Ian S."

Our other "hit" was a James Loney signed patch card numbered to 26 and a Rick Ankiel patch card numbered to 99. We also received two red parallel cards numbered to 250 - Justin Morneau and Ivan Rodriguez - and a green parallel numbered to 99 - Tim Hudson.

And there you have UD Spectrum Baseball - at least one box anyway. 

Before baseball dominates the releases for the spring and summer, we'd busted open some football product. Tuff Stuff's Sports Collectors Monthly's Editor Scott Fragale and pricing analyst Joe Clemens did the honors of breaking open:

2008 SP Authentic Football

• 5 cards/pack
• 24 packs/box ($120)

These cards offer good photography of the players, but in this design they are just "floating" out in space. The back are nice with full stats and bio information.

We were supposed to get three autos in this box, but we nabbed just two:

• Jacob Tamme (numbered to 999 in the Rookie Authentics Signatures line)
• Gosder Cherilus (numbered to 25 in the SP Authentics Gold line)

We also opened four Rookie Authentics base cards:

• Jamey Richard (numbered to 1,399)
• Louis Rankin (numbered to 999)
• Lex Hilliard (numbered to 1,399)
• Pierre Garcon (numbered to 999)

For the rest of the break, please check out the video:

 

With the NBA basketball All-Star game fast approaching, we thought it was a good time to break open:

2008-09 Skybox Basketball

• 10 cards/pack
• 12 packs/box

The one thing I like about these cards is the design. there are some great action shots with the featured player in color and the background in black and white. It's like the colorized version of The Wizard of Oz.

The other cool feature is the Close Ups insert, many featuring old school talent. We nabbed Jordan and Magic Johnson. No matter the context, it's always fun to pull one of those out of the bunch.

Each box boasts three memorabilia cards and one autographed card. Our three memorabilia cards come in three different inserts:

• Rookie Prevue: O.J. Mayo
• One On One: LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas
• Larger Than Life: Ray Allen

The autograph card:
Paraph Signatures: Alando Tucker

Nothing to blow your mind away here, but a decent basketball product all around.

With spring training now just days away and not weeks away (most camps open by Feb. 14), it's a great time to look at some of the young ballplayers in the minor leagues by busting a box of:

2008 Playoff Contenders Baseball (Feb. 4 release)

• 5 cards/pack
• 24 packs/box ($115)

The draw in this box is to get cards of "rookies" in one of their first years in the minors. The autographs are the big draw, as you never know who will be the next David Price or Cole Hamels in the years ahead.

There are also parallels and limited inserts such as Roll Call, Round Numbers and Draft Class. There's also a Legendary Rookies insert made up of five players.

Here is what we pulled:

Rookie Ticket Autos (5, the box average):
Robbie Grossman (Pittsburgh)
Brad Mills (Toronto)
Brad Hand (Florida)
Ike Davis (Mets)
Angel Morales (Minnesota) 

Playoff Tickets (all numbered to 199)
Byron Wiley
Jared Bolden
Brandon Crawford

Roll Call
Isaac Galloway (numbered to 1,500)

Round Numbers
Buster Posey and Gordon Beckham (numbered to 1,500)

Draft Class
Jon Jay and Lance Lynn (numbered to 1,500)

Legendary Rookies
Cal Ripken Jr. (numbered to 1,500)

All in all, not too bad - considering we'll have to see how these players progress.
 

We're hitting the hardwood in this edition of Bustin' Wax, taking a look back at the rookies of 2008-09. Get it? Well, let's explain in:

2008-09 Fleer Basketball

• 16 packs per box ($70)
• 15 cards per pack

You see, this Fleer offering brings you the rookie class (30 in all) on 1986-87 retro cards. So you can see what O.J. Mayo would look like in that famous Jordan year. 

In addition to that, each box offers up four memorabilia or autograph cards per box. Here's what we got among those hits:

• 1 Signature Approval auto: LeBron James
• 2 Throwback Classic dual patch cards: Jerryd Bayless and Jason Thompson
• 1 Genuine Coverage dual patch: Tim Duncan

The rest of the box are decent base cards, many in the throwback style.

We're staying with the high-end baseball products, breaking open a box of:

2008 Sweet Spot Baseball

• 8 cards/pack
• 6 packs/box ($95)

One auto card or memorabilia card per pack, on average. That has my interest! And some of what we got was cool, others ho-hum. But first this little diddy.

The last pack was thicker than the rest. When the cellophane was opened, it contained a tin box. I'm thinking, "Cool, must be something really good." Well, what was in it? Nothing. Nothing but base cards and an extra thick filler!! Wow, what a disappointment. Too bad it wasn't on video, because you'd all be groaning.

So what did we get among the goodies? Here's the list:

• Sweet Spot Signatures: Bobby Richardson (numbered to 250)
• Sweet Beginnings Auto: Brian Bixler (numbered to 699)
• Sweet Swatch Quad Memorabilia: Mike Schmidt, Ozzie Smith, Will Clark and Ryne Sandberg
• Sweat Swatch Memorabilia: Chipper Jones, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz.

The coolest part of the base cards in the "stitching" placed along the sides of the cards.