This Card Is Terrible.

Long before getting stuck at home, I had found another copy of a 2012 Topps Archives Jose Oquendo autograph.  For those not familiar with the player, or the cards, here is a little background.

Oquendo played for the Cardinals during the 1980s and 1990s.  Whitey Herzog, the Cardinals manager nicknamed him "The Secret Weapon".  He played almost every game, but you just did not always know where he was going to play.  Players got double switched out of games, and you could almost bet that part of the substitution would be Oquendo playing somewhere else.  

Topps decided as a part of their 2012 Archives set to include Jose in their autograph set.  They also added a little wrinkle, by making 9 different versions of the card, one for each position.  I have a bunch of the cards, but not all of the cards.  They are all on a 1988 Topps style card.  

One already in the collection......

The late 1980s were the prime years for Jose Oquendo, so I really like that they used this 1988 style card for the autograph set.  

My newest card from the set arrived a few weeks back, and has been sitting on desk.  I took a little time to catch up on life yesterday, which included a little time cleaning.  I took the card out of the envelope, scanned it, and filed it away in its box.  Scanning and filing is kind of non-thinking activity at times, my brain flies on automatic.  

At some point, I came back and looked at the scan.  This card is terrible.  

Why is Jose Oquendo all blurry?  

Why is the catcher in the background blurred out?  

Why did I not notice this before I bought the card?  

So, I did a little digging.  Maybe there is a reason why the card is made this way.  

It's obviously a game at Busch Stadium.  Oquendo has a patch on his sleeve.  The Cardinals wore sleeves patches three times during Oquendo's career:

• The 1992 season, which was the team's 100th Anniversary.

• In 1990, in memory of long-time owner Gussie Busch

•  During the 1987 World Series against the Twins.  

The blue catchers gear pointed me towards the 1987 World Series.  

Google search "Jose Oquendo" and "1987 World Series" and what turns up?  

Clearly the same play.  I just don't get the reason behind blurring out the Twins catcher and using a grainy photo of Jose Oquendo.  Is Tim Launder not allowed on baseball cards anymore?  

This is the center fielder variation of the Jose Oquendo cards.  Isn't there a photo somewhere of Oquendo playing the outfield?  

This photograph is easily one of the worst I have seen on a baseball card, and I just do not understand why the card has to look this way.