Sunday, October 14, 2007

2001 UD SP Legendary Cuts

The older I get, the more I have come to enjoy cards featuring the players that starred in the game before I was there to watch them. The 2001 Upper Deck SP Legendary Cuts are nice cards, though a bit heavy on the gold foil. Still, surrounding great players with gold is a nice tribute. The cards feature the SP logo in the upper left corner, a gold border all the way around the card, and an inset 'frame' of gold with the players in black-and-white. Below the player pictures, the name is in gold, as is the Cleveland "C" logo. In white, the years of MLB play are below the players names, and beneath the "C" is the position the player held. On the back, a grey "sunburst" effect with a blue inset area featuring the player's name, biographical stats, a paragraph about the player, and their lifetime MLB totals adorn the card. The top of the back of the card features the Indians logo, expect on Flick's card, which features the collegiate-style "C" of the day...

The writing on the back is full of alliteration: "Feller's Fastball" and "Fleet-Footed Flick." Of these three, Feller is one the one I am most familiar with, so it was fun learning more about the others.

These three have been a part of my vocabulary since I was about 5 or 6 years old. They are among some of the first Indians I knew about, despite the fact that I was 5 or 6 in about 1975. I had just started liking baseball, and was beginning my love for the Tribe. Throughout my youth, I had other teams that I liked a lot... Mets, Phillies back in the powder blue/maroon days, the Pirates (I was born and raised there after all, and we're talking about the time when they were the hot team, or becoming the hot team), and the A's. But, no matter what teams I liked, I always loved the Tribe as "my" team. I can remember grabbing onto Boureau's name because it sounded so foreign to a kid from the 'Burgh...

Satchel Paige. Not until I was older did I know about his being an older rookie in MLB. It's amazing that today (well, not exactly today!), he would be 101...


On another note, the Tribe got their butts handed to them in game 1 against the Red Sox. But, seeing as it *IS* "Tribe Time Now," they came up with an amazing (and record-setting) 7-run 11th inning that carried them on to tie the ALCS, and get them back home to Big Jake! I was really worried for a while there, and of course never expected a run-away inning like the 11th! Statistically, by the numbers, Boston looks much MUCH better than the Indians on paper (and in many ways on the field), but the Indians are doing a killer job of sticking in there. During one interview, I heard one of the Tribe say they were playing as a team, that they saw themselves as a team. In today's world of "me, me, me" free agency, it's refreshing to hear a player say that about the team he is on. Though, for the most part, I believe that's how the Indians have always seen themselves - as a team... Or maybe that's how I'VE always seen them, anyway....

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