When I first saw the 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces set, I thought oh sweet these are cool! I'm kind of a sucker for the linen/textered style cards. This set certainly has texture, at least on the front, the embossed gold edging is a really nice touch (though the scan doesn't do it any justice), and set completion folks like me appreciate there are only 90 cards in the base set. Yet, looking through the set I feel a bit unsatisfied. Honestly, should Andy LaRoche have been included along side some of the greats of the game? How about Billy Butler or Hanley Ramirez? I digress.
The set highlights (rehashes) some of the great moments in baseball as well as a few of its greatest players. It relies heavily on Yankee players (15 in all, 16 if you count the Berra/Robinson card) and Red Sox players (10). So roughly 28% of the set are players from two teams. In case you're curious Cal Ripken Jr is presented the most, 4 cards total.
There are plenty of landscaped cards, such as this nice Brooks Robinson, though I'm not sure the Bucky Dent card should have been cropped this way.
I do enjoy most of the photos in the set, especially this Ozzie Smith photo. That had me turning the card around several times to get my bearings. Of course, Upper Deck had to include Michael Jordan because he left such a big impact on the game.
Hey there are Twins in this set! I suppose UD felt compelled to include these guys because they all had great seasons the prior year. 2006 was a great time for Twins fans.
Twins win the division by 1 game over Detroit - check.
Morneau AL MVP - check.
Santana won the Cy Young - check.
Mauer - First catcher in AL to win batting title - check.
Twins swept out of playoffs in 3 - check.
Well, so much for 2006.
On the lighter side, UD included three presidents in the set. Nixon and Kennedy threw out the first pitch for the Senators, and Clinton made an appearance at Jacobs Field when it first opened.
Unlike the front, the backside of the card is smooth and flat. There's a nice cropped photo of the front, a brief description of the highlight and a little stat line. The team logo is included just in case you forgot the team the player was with.
Overall I like this set, and though the wrapper states it features "an entire base set of exclusive artists paintings" I wish UD would have stuck with the "masterpiece" script and included a few more greats of the game. Unless of course, people want more cards of Delmon Young and Stephen Drew.
That is not a good pic of JFK. I like the Ozzie though.
ReplyDeleteI like the Masterpieces sets a lot. I thought about completing them at one point, but decided against it. Still might do it sometime.
ReplyDelete2007 and 2008 UD Masterpieces are two of my favorite baseball card sets from the 2000's... and it all starts with the art and linen texture.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree, I wish the checklist was longer. Some teams only have 1 player represented and has me scratching my head wondering why?
ReplyDeleteI don't have any from the baseball side, but do have a few singles from the basketball and football sets. I've never bothered to look at the checklists for those, so I don't know if those sets are composed any better or not. I do really like the textured effect on the cards though, and wouldn't mind grabbing a few more for player collections somewhere down the line.
ReplyDeleteI like the sets, though not as much as I used to. I have completed the 2007 set and just need the Berra (#110) and Ripken (#92) to complete the 2008. Someday!
ReplyDeleteUD Masterpieces is what Topps Gallery aspires to be. It's a nice set, maybe not one I'll ever complete, but one I'll hope to eventually get all of the Red Sox cards from.
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