Card of the Week: John Maine Game Used + Autograph

2008 Ballpark Collection
John Main #SA-86

Construction: Cardstock, Game Used Jersey, Sticker Autograph

The Player:
As I mentioned at the bottom of an earlier post I have good reason to like John Maine. Actually, I forgot to write there that Maine also helped me win the first year of my current NL Only Fantasy League (2010 will be the league's fourth year). While I do not have him in this year's league, and he is on an opponent's roster, for the Mets' sake I hope he has another great year. This is no big news, but he an Ollie Perez will go a long way to determining how good the Mets are this year. I'll be rooting hard for both guys, but it is a bit easier to root for Maine who came up big down the stretch in 2007 by almost firing a no-hitter and has been inconsistent only because of injury problems rather than wildness. The nice thing about Maine is that his cards are inexpensive and yet he appears in some of the nicer sets, so it makes good looking cards like this one easy to add to my collection.

The Card: Now while I do believe that this is a sticker auto, it is way nicer than some of those silver foil ones from Topps. In fact, this sticker is barely noticeable unless one holds it up to the light at just the right angle. I think this type of sticker auto is not overly bad, especially since the card design has a specific spot for it. It just does not bother me and seems to fit well with the card design. While the jersey piece is a solid white, Maine's photo and the general layout of the card make up for the lack of a stripe. Needless to say I am a fan, though I bought it as a single rather than having this as my hit in an expensive purchase of UD Ballpark Collection, so maybe I am a bit biased.