Set of the Month: 2007 Upper Deck Masterpieces

So I broke down and decided to get the entire set of Upper Deck Masterpieces 1-90. I like the set because it combines two of my favorite things about contemporary baseball cards: an all painted set and an interesting material. The material is considered canvas paper, which is like a textured heavy cardstock and had been touted by Upper Deck as "unlike any set ever created before."* The paintings transferred to the cards depicted some of the greatest moments in baseball along with some of the best players and rookies of the year. It is a nice set, so onto some pictures.

This is one of my two favorites. A card worthy of Play At The Plate whose current blog header is also from this particular set.

Here is my other favorite.




















Now these two are both base cards, but the set also had nicely framed versions in various colors which I am sure each had different runs and seeding ratios. Anyway, I got a Jared Weaver, Vlad Guerrero, and Travis Hafner with a green frame, which I believe is the least rare of the parallels, depicted below that are up for trade. I actually also got a game used jersey Matt Holliday insert called "Captured on Canvas" but I already promised that to Madding over at Cards on Cards.




* Check out this press release for more info on 2007 UD Masterpieces

Card of the Day: Anderson Hernandez Printing Plate

2006 Upper Deck Artifacts #88
Anderson Hernandez
Materials: Aluminum and Magenta Ink

The Card:

Now most Met fans never had serious offensive hopes for Anderson Hernandez, but I have to admit I always thought his hitting for average in the minors might translate to a better-than-Rey-Ordonez hitter. He has shown flashes of offensive competency in the majors, but at this point I don't think anyone believes he has enough skills with the bat to be more than a backup.

On the other hand, his skills with the glove were never in doubt. Too bad those skills led to injury in what was probably his best shot at winning the starting second base job and a significant piece of the Mets.

When this card was made there was still hope, at least in my mind, that Hernandez might be the next starting second baseman for the Mets. That was a simpler time, before the much maligned Luis Castillo came to New York and got an even more maligned four year deal.

Interestingly enough, Hernandez ended up back on the Mets last season playing SS in the absence of Jose Reyes and will likely remain with the Mets as a bench player or a minor leaguer waiting for an injury this season.

The Aluminum:

Aluminum is such a versatile material used so often in manufacturing industry. Who knew it would eventually be a part of the card collecting industry? It certainly is though, and since the printing plates are 1/1 issues they are quite valuable even when the player is a backup like Anderson Hernandez (though there are always deals to be had). There are actually five printing plates of each card, but only one in each color: magenta, cyan, yellow, and black.

For some additional information on elemental aluminum check out this site.

Some of the information on printing plates was obtained from this cool blog entry.

PS: Want a reason to actually root for or against a team in spring training? Check out the following contest over at The Great Orioles Autograph Project.

PPS: If anyone has a normal base card version of this printing plate up for trade, please let me know!