Random Ray - 2001 Upper Deck MVP

This week's Random Ray is one of the last Ray Lankford cards as a Cardinals player. He was traded during the 2001 season to the Padres, so all of his 2002 cards are all with San Diego.  I believe he might have one card as a Padres player in 2001.  That's for another day.  

This week I am going with an Upper Deck MVP card. These were inexpensive cards that were sold at a lot of big box retail stores.  I believe it is supposed to be a notch up from the Collector's Choice cards.  Collector's Choice were inexpensive cards for kids and MVP were inexpensive cards for adults.  Something like that. I liked Collector's Choice better, but that's just me.  

This is a pretty standard MVP set design.  It's clearly made by Upper Deck, even if there was not an Upper Deck logo in the top left-hand corner, its just got that look.  The pixels on the left actually have the word "Lankford" hidden in them running top to bottom.  Sneaky, Sneaky.  

The picture is decent.  Clear action shot of Ray playing a game in Busch Stadium.  I wish the catcher was visible in the picture rather than having the pixels on the side.  It would be fun to see who they were playing here.  You know I am a big fan of figuring when pictures were taken on baseball cards.  

Back of the card.  

The little photo in the top, right-hand corner is a little odd.  It's off center and the background is really dark.  Ray is sitting in the dugout, which was painted dark green in Busch Stadium.  We can do better.  

The stat line is pretty simple, but also standard for Upper Deck baseball cards.  The write-up is a little odd being split between the top and bottom of the card.  However, I do like that they mention he is the career home run leader at Busch Stadium II.  Albert Pujols did not catch him before the stadium was torn down after the 2005 season.  

Overall, this is a decent baseball card.  I am not going to tell you I love it, but Upper Deck MVP was a solid product considering it cost roughly $1 per pack.