Pujols Parade - 2009 Upper Deck Goudey

Upper Deck was really good at remaking other card companies' sets. It all started with their Upper Deck Vintage sets whose designs were borrowed from 1960s and 1970s Topps sets. That product eventually died out, but during their last few years of producing baseball cards, Upper Deck made a Goudey set. You are not going to believe this, but the sets were based on the 1930s and 1940s Goudey sets. The 2009 Goudey set is based loosely on the design of the 1933 Goudey set.  

Upper Deck was great at pushing the envelope on copying other sets without crossing any sort of lines. They are the Vanilla Ice to Goudey's David Bowie.  

You see, the border says "GOUDEY" and not "BIG LEAGUE", like the original Goudey cards. Just like Vanilla Ice wrote a song that sounds like a David Bowie song, but there is a little cymbal ting at the end of the beat.  

Everyone be cool. There is no need to call any lawyers. Let's just look at the baseball card.  

Even if Upper Deck stole the design, it's not a bad one to steal. I like the bright yellow background behind Pujols. The art work is fine, but I feel like his face is off, as well as the bat. Pujols has a look about him while he is hitting, but whatever is happening on this card is not that look. 

Albert does not squint while he is hitting and he frequently pulls his lower lip into his mouth. His bat on the Goudey card is also too north and south. Pujols starts with his bat high, behind his head, with a slight upward tilt. You can always see his bat knob looking at him from the side.  

I am sure the artist tried very hard. I am already over the inaccuracies.  

Back of the card.  

I cringe.  

The first sentence says, "people talking about him in the same breath as the greatest players to ever play the game". The second sentence mentions Nomar Garciaparra. 

Nomar is not even the best athlete in his house, let alone one of the greatest baseball players.  

Let's do a quick rewrite.  

Albert Pujols hits baseballs like Mia Hamm scores goals.