I was about seven when my grandfather bought me my first pack of baseball cards. It was a $9.99 value pack, filled with a random assortment of 200 older cards -- many were the familiar mid-'80s Topps "woodgrain" cards, and a special few were of the painted Donruss "Diamond Kings" variety. This single purchase led to a childhood obsession of collecting cards. My spare change was converted into wax packs. Baseball cards were my parents' go-to stocking stuffer or Easter egg filler. I subscribed to Beckett's Baseball Monthly, and learned economics from a price guide. I was around for the launch of the glossy Upper Deck brand, and remember how crazy it seemed that these packs were selling for more than a dollar. One of my first major moral dilemmas surrounded a fairly lopsided trade with a less than intelligent boy at school.

By the time high school ended, soaring prices and interest in other things (namely driving, movies and girls) saw my collecting days come to a slow close. It seemed harder to spend money on things that didn't do anything and ended up relegated to a trunk in my room.

In college, a few of my friends plus myself spent a summer playing MLB Showdown, a trading card game that added functionality to the cards we loved to collect. For those few hot months, we devised a schedule, kept stats, and crowned a Showdown champion. But, like many things during those transitional years following childhood, we each moved on and the league burned out like the XFL.

Briefly, you are given a "starter pack" of cards -- lower ranked players with limited skills.

Then, last year, my collecting interest was rekindled, this time virtually. I had managed to secure a soccer coaching job, and I needed to refresh my tactical knowledge. Taking a cue from NASCAR drivers, I picked up a soccer game -- UEFA Champions League 2006-07 -- and again fell in love with tearing open packs of player cards. Sure this wasn't the most up-to-date game, but like MLB Showdown, the game not only looked pretty nice, there was card functionality within the title. Best of all, the cards didn't require any real money.

You see, UEFA 2006 had a mode called Ultimate Team. Briefly, you are given a "starter pack" of cards -- lower ranked players with limited skills. Additionally, you get cards for a home stadium, uniforms, and a team logo; and if you are lucky, maybe a head coach or a medical trainer.

From these cards you could build a team. If players needed to play out of position, your team chemistry took a hit. If they were playing with fellow countrymen, the chemistry increased. Playing -- more importantly, winning -- games earned you credits which could be used to buy more packs of cards; or, if you chose to, you could buy, sell, or trade cards online.

Perhaps the most innovative aspect of the Ultimate Team mode was that everything was done using cards. A key player gets injured? You'd better have a card that helps speed up the healing process -- player and staff contracts could only be extended using specific cards. Training, resting, and game-time performance boosts were all represented with cards.

And so this mode became not only about creating the best team, but doing it with what you pulled from packs of cards.

And so this mode became not only about creating the best team, but doing it with what you pulled from packs of cards. You might also be fortunate enough to snag a sweet card for a few points online, or get a windfall from someone willing to overspend for your duplicate player. This mode brought to life the same feelings I had as a kid when I ripped open a new pack, discarded the stale gum, and looked for a coveted Mike Schmidt card. The only downside: I didn't know a thing about 90 percent of the players I was pulling.

I was really excited about the trading card feature announced for MLB 2K8, because it would add player recognition to a similar system. Then upon release, I found it was somewhat hard to earn certain players; very difficult to ever get enough credits for a pack. Then, once you had enough players, it was again too hard to fit them under an arbitrary salary cap. In the three or four months I owned the game, I was never able to complete a functioning card team (I didn't want to resort to using the cheat/glitch). So, my hopes were dashed by this less than stellar attempt at incorporating cards into the game that deserves them the most.

The UEFA model for using cards needs to be transferred directly to a baseball game. You should be able to rip open a starter pack and make a team -- a bad team maybe, but a playable team. You might have to play guys out of their natural positions -- at a penalty of course -- to make a team. Maybe they get a boost if they are playing under their real manager or with real teammates -- especially at key positions, i.e. shortstop and second base. The injury and contract systems could be incorporated as they are, requiring deft management of cards and players, and the online functionality could be enhanced to feature multi-card trades and eBay-like auctions.

I'd take a mode like this in any sports game over half-hearted career modes, mini-games, or mascot contests. Perhaps I'm simply trying to recapture my childhood and college days, but isn't that what so many games today are all about?