Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 13 - 2004 Ultra Season Crowns Carlos Delgado

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 12 - 1993 Score Jor Girardi #419

Disclaimer: Joe Girardi is an awful manager. I didn't care for him as a player and his managerial style (which is basically putting his team in position for walk offs) makes my lunch curdle in my stomach and rise up my throat. However, this card is excellent. Why? The Rockies in the background.

So to you, Joe Girardi - you're lucky I do not have a scan of the Garrett Atkins '09 Goodwin Champs card.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 11 - 1996 Fleer Ultra Power Plus Reggie Sanders

No need to adjust the colour information of your monitor. This is foil. Super ultra mega foil. I think I need the other 11...

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 10 - 2009 Bowman #73

In the past, I've despised Bowman flagship. 2009 changed this. In my opinion these are the best new era Bowman set, with a sick dose of improved photography, card composition and design. This is the only Bowman set I've ever seen and though: "I wouldn't mind collating the whole set." But really, it's all about #73. I really wish Johjima would have stayed in the US for at least the remainder of his contract, but at least that means I can chase down a defined set of cards rather than a never-ending crusade for all things Kenji.

On to the card. What's not to love? Action Shot - Check. Horizontal - Check. Play at the Plate - Check. General badassery - Checkmate.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 9 - 2008 Upper Deck First Edition Garrett Atkins #350

This one is great. I've been reluctant to post this one since I don't want to come off as a Rockies homer, as I am a Jays fan, 100%. But there are reasons why I collect Rockies:

• The Players - Atkins I do not collect but will always accept, Tulowitzki has been my man since his NCAA World Series showing, Carlos Gonzalez won me over by ripping every pitch the Phillies threw him in the 2009 NLDS, Dexter Fowler makes the game look easy and straight-up embarassed the game's best 2B, Ubaldo has an average fastball of 96.1 MPH (tops among MLB Starters) and Huston Street, Ian Stewart, and soon-to-be Jhoulys Chacin are all great talents.
• Coor's Field. Go through your cards at Coor's Field. Chances are, all the cards are sleek, and if there's a view of the fans, there's a sweet sea of purple as a backdrop.
• The Flair for the Dramatic. The 21 for 22 win streak. Matt Holliday's header.
• The smooooooking hot girl behind the first base dugout in 2007 playoffs (and possibly 2009). Sorry, I had to pay my respects to her.

Anyways, damn. Good lookin' Garrett Atkins card there. And yes, it was a Home Run. How could it not be in a shot like that?




How long to Spring Training?

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 8 - 2002 Uppere Deck Jason Kendall #708

Sick play at the plate. 'Nuff said.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 7 - 1994 Upper Deck Collector's Choice David Justice #156

SMOKED!

I just found this one a few days ago in the "meh..." box. I actually found a lot of good ones, and have a nice stack for this segment, but with Alomar not making the Hall as I expected, we go with this card tonight.

A few things:

• This is the oldest card I have ever scanned. I was approximately 8 when I got this one, maybe a Braves fan at the time but could have possibly fallen for the blue corvidae by that point.
• You can tell by the look on Justice's face that this ball is either about to land in the right field bleacher seats or about to obliterate some kid's first baseball game popcorn bucket beyond first base. Either way, he must have hit this one hard.
• Pretty nice card all around, not in very good condition, but I was 7 and you can't tell much from the scan. If only the Braves on the bottom right had been real logos like Upper Deck usually produces, this would have been on of my favorite sets ever. Pretty decent though (700 cards + I believe.)

That's it. Congrats to Andre Dawson, please go in as an Expo and not a Cub.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 6 - 2002 Fleer Ultra Steve Finley #88

Awww. A little bit more heatwarming than when Barry Bond's little one almost got trampled back in...2002? Who cares, Giants lost. Back when I didn't like the Giants. Now they've got Timmy. Back to the card at hand. This is by far my least favorite Fleer Ultra set ever. But anyways....awww.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 5 - 2004 Fleer Inscribed Ichiro #63

Perfect. This is a set I intend to collect eventually, but just never see it in anywhere anymore, whether it be in foil, box or single form. These guys were pure eye candy. The scan just doesn't do it justice. Speaking of Justice...look for David in this segment soon.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 4 - 2004 Upper Deck Mike Sweeney #98

While scanning and uploading this card, I realized that Rafeal Furcal's 'o4 UD card was listed just a few days ago. I really want to avoid repetitious posting, so the readers will have to forgive me here.

Why this card needed to be here:

Seriously, if I was in Sweeney's place, even playing ball for a considerably poor franchise, I'd be this elated, too.

I don't know how many others have spent summers traveling their local geography on buses and overloaded carpools, waking up for 5AM before-school pitcher/catcher practices, walking door-to-door collecting bottles and cans to fund trips to sunny southern baseball tournaments, or anything related to playing baseball as a youth. I have been out of the game for four full summers at this point, due to injury, financial bounds, the enduring pursuit of science or just growing up, and I miss it.

Card collecting keeps me closer to the game than I ever thought it could, and is probably what keeps me sane outside of fantasy baseball and the MLB Network. If you ever wondered what it feels like to play baseball, please consult 2004 Upper Deck card #98.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 3 - 1998 Topps Vladimir Guerrero #5

What a great shot. Vlad will always be a favorite of mine, and this card is probably my favorite of him.

What's great about it:

Look at the smile. Vladdy loves him some baseball.

He's still rocking the Expos jersey. Nothing better than players in defunct jerseys. Okay, maybe relics of defunct jerseys and throwbacks.

The pose is fantastic. The glove is blurred because the focus is on Valddy's chops, but I think that makes the card work better.

What originally got me to love this card way back in '98 was the background, though. Most definately a Spring Training shot, the clouds in the background are big and puffy, and the close up of the perfectly trimmed grass along with the darkened tree background make this an incredible card.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 2 - 2004 Upper Deck Rafael Furcal #145

This card has it all:

• Night Card
• Action Shot
• Panoramic Stadium Shot (blue at bottom)
• Composition & Centering
• Team Logo
• Player Success (more on that in a later post)

The scan really brightened the card up, which is kind of a downer. The light in the card is really great, and Furcal's jersey has more of a rich hue rather than the bleached-out white of daytime shots.

Oh yeah, and he's like 3"+ in the air. Always a plus.

Plain Beautiful Cards: Volume 1 - 2007 Fleer Ultra #115

Within this space I am going to debut a new string post, honoring cards in which everything works: design, player pose, photograph (player and background) and overall composition. Our debut card is one of my favorites of all time, from one of my favorite sets: 2007 Fleer Ultra Jose Reyes. I don't know what it is about Reyes, but expect to see him back here often. Maybe it's the excitement he brings to the game that always makes the photographers ready. In this case, however, Reyes is stoic and proud, though it seems by his gaze that the ball may very well be behind him.

What makes this card is A) Horizontality (always a plus) and B) Background. What a great background shot. The card appears to be shot at an angle upward from the camera, and the dark background provides nice (a white home jersey would be perfect) contrast.