Orioles Card "O" the Day

An intersection of two of my passions: baseball cards and the Baltimore Orioles. Updated daily?

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Earl Weaver, 2003 Upper Deck Vintage #133

I've talked about Upper Deck Vintage before. I suppose if they were going to have the nerve to rip off their chief competitor's classic designs, they at least had the good sense to rip off the very best of those designs. This card, of course, cribs the 1965 Topps set; I happen to have a mild interest in the originals.

Earl Weaver looks absolutely terrible in this photo. He looks pale, old, tired, and haggard. I'm fairly certain that this photo was taken at some point after his retirement, maybe a fantasy camp or a visit to Spring Traning. I can certainly identify with the Earl of Baltimore, after a hideous week of baseball. Twice in three days O's starting pitchers lasted two-thirds of an inning. Two...thirds. The team won a single game on a six-game west coast road trip against two of the worst, weakest-hitting teams in baseball. There were pointless baserunning mistakes and a complete offensive meltdown involving everyone not named Luke or Nolan; thirteen runs in the last eight games ain't so good. To top it off, Jamie Walker was released, Cesar Izturis had an appendectomy, and Felix Pie fouled a ball off and it hit his Adam's apple on the rebound. This is not fun. I know, it's a long season, etc., etc., but it just drives me nuts. Last weekend, the O's seemed to reach a turning point, as Matt Wieters' debut came in front of 42,000 screaming fans and the club won their seventh game in eight tries. And now, this.

Whose brilliant idea was it to make the baseball season 162 games long?

4 comments:

jacobmrley said...

I guarentee they will catch fire again next week when they play my equally taciturn and enigmatic mets. plus i have tickets to the game, a kiss of death for an away game...

Kevin said...

Well, the O's are a completely different team home vs. road, I'll say that. Time will tell...

Commishbob said...

Earl looks like a figure in a wax museum in that shot, like he is sick or something. I've never seen him look that bad. I saw at the airport in Houston some time back. He still uses 'Orioles' luggage!

Kevin said...

Bob - That's great! Must be some sturdy luggage.