Back to Base in Upper Deck week

You might be thinking, surely there aren't any Upper Deck base cards Jon hasn't blogged yet? Well, you'd be surprised...

Card Number 825: Upper Deck Collector's Choice, 1998; #480

This card is from the last year of  'Collector's Choice'. It became UD Choice in 1999 before being lost forever. As a swansong, that is a fantastic card photo.

On the back we have Tony reaching up to sign autographs. He was well-known for signing autographs, often staying behind long after his team-mates had disappeared into the changing rooms. Any regular readers of this blog will know the 'Did you know?' factoid. I comment on it a lot! (It's still remarkable.)

Card Number 826: Upper Deck Encore, 1999; #77

Encore was a parallel set that Upper Deck released, with shiny versions of their base cards from that year. (This could have been a Tuesday Twin card.) As is sometimes the case with these random sets, I've already blogged the two much rarer insert cards from this set. It's nice to add the base card!

The front is practically the same as the card from the regular set but has an additional 'Encore' on it. The back has half an additional 'Encore' on it. (At the top!)

Card Number 827: Upper Deck Ovation, 2001; #51

This completes my run of Tony's base cards in the Ovation sets, as I've already blogged the cards from 1999 and 2000. The central motif of these cards was the baseball 'stitching', which was embossed. The stitiching isn't in red on this card, but the embossing marks are quite clear on the back. 

Tony looks disappointed in the photo. Maybe it's because he knew this would be his last year in the Ovation set. The stats box has his figures from the previous two years. It's as if the years before Ovation sets don't count. 

Total: 827 cards

Scanning nightmares - Upper Deck Ovation

My wife laughs about how much I like shiny things. You know that giant crab in the Disney film Moana who lives at the bottom of the sea and hoards shiny things? That's me. I like shiny cards too. Right up to the point where I want to scan them and put them on my blog. And then I hate them.

Today's post is probably the first in a series I'm going to call "scanning nightmares". I'm sorry in advance.

Card Number 370: Upper Deck Ovation, 1999; #55

It's only the bottom portion of this card that is foil and has scanned as a big black block. Here's an awkwardly angled photo showing what it actually looks like.

I really like the baseball stitching design on this card, which is embossed. You can see the embossing on the back, where it really stands out.

On the cardback, Upper Deck predicted Tony would reach the 3000-hit mark sometime "early in 1999". In fact, it took him until August to record his 3000th hit.

Card Number 371: Upper Deck Ovation, 1999; #R16

The foil on this insert card scans so badly it makes Tony appear like a ghost on a photo negative on one of those silly ghost hunter shows on late night cable channels.

This is what the card looks like when photographed.

It's still not that great a photo really. Tony is pulling a rather odd expression.

The write up on the back talks about Tony leading the Padres to the National League pennant, rather than mentioning the World Series. It also hails Tony as a "future Hall of Famer". 

Card Number 372: Upper Deck Ovation, 2000; #ST9

The difference between the scan (above) and the poorly positioned photo (below) is striking.

This card was so shiny it kept reflecting me taking the photo as I was trying to photograph it.

There were 20 cards in this insert series featuring the really big names in baseball at the time. Tony is one of seven who have subsequently been inducted in the Hall of Fame.

A few posts back I picked up on the description of Tony as an "icon" for my collection of ways Tony is described on cardbacks. Upper Deck use it here as well, so it's not that rare a descriptor. 

Thank you for putting up with the awful scanning and amateur photography!

Total: 372/394