October 04, 2007

Goudey Trade-away #31: Ortiz for Hernandez



This trade comes in from Eric in Sacramento, California.

Giving: Felix Hernandez, #39
Getting: David Ortiz, 2006 Upper Deck

When I was younger, I didn't understand why Upper Deck chose to use photographs of the players off the field, in the clubhouse, and generally away from actually playing (including the inevitable card of Jose Rijo and his trusty supersoaker). I always thought that there were so many exciting things about baseball, why remove that element from the equation? OK, so flash forward to today and though I've been writing about cards now for almost two years, and I've dissected Upper Deck and its use of photographs, I still don't get it.

Take this card of Ortiz. He's had so many big moments in the field ... he's charismatic ... not to mention his swing is naturally dramatic. So why show him pooping around the field? Was it to get the American flag in the shot? Because if that's the case, that's pretty lame.

1 comment:

Feldspar said...

It's gotta be because of the flag. Couldn't they get Big Papi jumping into a pile at home plate after a walk off homerun?