2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football
Product Review
2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football Review
Summary
The Good: 2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football does a lot of things well. It offers a robust checklist, an affordable price tag, and lots of value in each box. The 5x7 National Chicle R311 boxloaders are fantastic looking cards.
The Bad: The base set design is bland, though it wasn't enough of a liability that it hurt the appeal of the overall set very much. Having 3 hits per box at this price point is great, however it is disappointing that 2 of them are memorabilia cards.
The Bottom Line: 2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football is by no means a ground breaking product, but it is certainly a fun one to break. At right around $60 a box, it offers enough value and enough substance to easily warrant the purchase price.
Design
My first impression on the design of the base cards was not good, but they grew on me as I progressed through the box. There are some really good looking cards in 2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football, but overall they are fairly plain looking.
The inserts are another story. The 5x7 National Chicle R311 boxloaders, which are seeded at a rate of 1 per hobby box, are some seriously good looking football cards. It would be great to see a whole set of regular sized cards based on the R311 design. Another nice touch are the Goudey-influenced mini cards. The standard minis look good in their own right but the autographed rookie variations take the cake as they feature on-card signatures in addition to hand numbering.
Value
2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football is a very good value. Sporting two game used memorabilia cards and one autograph per box, in addition to a wide assortment of short prints, rookies, and inserts, there is plenty of substance to satisfy football card collectors at a price that is easy on the wallet.
With that said, I think its time to retire the 1-color vanilla game used memorabilia card, or at least downgrade it from a "hit" to a plain old "insert". I would rather have gotten a 1 in 2 chance of pulling a 2nd autograph or perhaps even a couple of serial numbered rookie cards instead.
Checklist
The 2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football set checklist is primarily composed of active football stars and rookies. Mixed in with the standard cast of NFL characters are an assortment of cards which feature prominent non-football subjects and events. This adds more of a distinctive feel to the 2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football set without diminishing its appeal to football card collectors.
I should warn you, however, that the set contains hippies. This was a rather unwelcome inclusion to say the least, but was quickly forgiven when I pulled a Jeremy Maclin autographed mini rookie card short print shortly thereafter.
 | Making purchases through affiliate links can earn the site a commission |
Product Details
2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia Football Product Information
Hobby Box Break
- (1) Autograph
- (2) Memorabilia Cards
- (15) base set short prints
- (1) 5x7 National Chicle R311
- (4) National Chicle Inserts
Hobby Case Break
- (1) 5x7 National Chicle R311 Autograph
- (1) 1935 National Chicle Auto
- (2-3) Original Philadelphia Buyback Cards
Product Breakdown
Autograph Cards:
- 1935 National Chicle R311 (1 per case)
- 1935 National Chicle
- Philadelphia Signatures
Memorabilia Cards:
- Philadelphia Fabrics
Inserts and Parallels:
- 1935 National Chicle R311 Over-sized
- 1935 National Chicle
Regular Set:
- 1964 Philadelphia Base Set - 300 cards
- The Story of Barack Obama
- Woodstock 40th Anniversary
- The Vietnam War
- The Election Years
- NFL Stars in Action
| Making purchases through affiliate links can earn the site a commission |
Brett J. Lewis
The frustrating thing with Philadelphia is that you can see it’s potential after opening a few packs, but after opening a box worth you’ll sit there trying to decide whether that potential is in the next box or if it even exists at all. The answer is simple, “It’s not there”. What you end up with is a stack of Short Printed Junk (Political Cards, Woodstock, The usual UD Heroes line up of retired players), a few Jersey Cards and a worthless on-card Auto. Call me crazy, but I am tired of this whole “hit” craze. I’m getting tired of hocking lots of Jersey cards on E-Bay to get money to put my sets together. If Jersey Cards had a little dirt, grass, or some sign of being used in a game, it would be an entirely different story! I guess I just can’t buy into the idea that Ray Lewis’ jersey after a game looks the same as a brand new jersey you could buy at the store.
Philadelphia leaves you wishing they had done more with the “Chicle Minis”. The on Card Chicle Auto Rookies are sweet, it’s just not worth opening half a case to get one. Also, the photography didn’t match the set design properly. They should have used only Photos of players in “throwback” jerseys or found a “unique” style that could have been associated with the “Philadelphia” brand.
I would recommend that you buy Topps Magic, even if the price point is signifigantly higher. In Philadelphia, you feel buyers remorse with each additional pack you open. Upper Deck just didn’t connect the dots on this one and the dots they did manage to connect don’t make sense.