2007 UD Masterpieces Cliff Lee

Who is this? Indians pitcher Cliff Lee.

What is this? An autograph card from 2007 Masterpieces

Where'd I get it? Out of a pack of 2007 Masterpieces.

How much did it cost? Three bucks.

Why is this so special? Dadgum, UD Masterpieces shore has some purdy cards. This card came out of a retail pack I picked up at Target. They had no blasters so I grabbed a few looking to fill in my set. I didn't expect to get this. At the time it was a pretty blah autograph as Cliff was suffering through a terrible year. I remembered the Cliff from 2005 though and was pretty happy with it. The card looks great too, with an on card autograph on that perfect textured paper that sucks up the ink so well. t's an interesting signature too, while it borders upon squiggle it also conveys "C. Lee" quite well. I'm wishing now that I hadn't abandoned my fantasy baseball leagues now as Cliff was my very last pick in a live draft. I needed a pitcher, and took a shot on Cliff. It paid off, or would have if I had checked my lineup at anytime after May. Ah well, at least I'm good at drafting.

2007 UD Masterpieces Chris Duffy

Note - for the foreseeable future, I'll be posting cards on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with an occasional card on the weekend. One a day is a little too much right now.


Who is this? Pirates outfielder Chris Duffy.

What is this? An autograph card from 2007 UD Masterpieces, card SG-CD.

Where'd I get it? Sports Card Alley.

How much did it cost? Two bucks.

Why is this so special? I really like the UD Masterpieces set so I snagged this card out of the 3 for 5 case. Duffy seems to have been bitten by the Pirates curse. He was the Bucs' starting center fielder out of Spring Training in '06, hit poorly and was optioned to the minors. Instead of reporting to the minor leagues, he just went home. He eventually returned and was reinstalled as the Pirates' center fielder. However he injured his shoulder last year and has not played in a major league game since last July. The Pirates recently moved him to the 60-day DL to open up a roster spot and may be blocked in the organization now by center field prospect Andrew McCutcheon. Things aren't looking too good for the Arizona State star and another Pirates prospect might be going by the wayside. The card is nice at least, the black frame bordering Duffy's portrait and autograph on the canvas-style textured cardboard looks really good and you have to love that signature. I have no idea what those loops and hooks are supposed to be but it is an elegant graph. This won't pay for the kids' college or anything, but it looks good in the binder with the rest of my Masterpieces set.