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?