2008 Upper Deck Documentary = Epic Fail

So, I realize that I'm about a month late on this. But this seems so silly that I'll hop in on the Upper Deck bashing.

Upper Deck Documentary was touted by UD as "The most extraordinary set ever to be completed." The set was described as a card for every game for every team. I think in actuality it worked out to 166 cards per team in the set. (I have no idea what the extra four cards are, and after opening up a box.. I really don't care)

Now, at first glance this is a brilliant idea. I honestly thought that this had the opportunity to be a really cool and memorable set that team collectors would love, and set builders would eventually work on. (ignoring the high MSRP) To turn this good idea into a great set UD had to do what every single collector in the world would have done, and expected UD to do. Feature on the card front a photo of the player who was important in the outcome of the game. Of course we would prefer the photo be from the actual game played.

What UD absolutely could not do is use the same stock photos over and over.

What would be unforgiveable is using the same players irrespective of their influence on the game.

So, UD, in what I can only assume was a feat of unbelievable laziness and stupidity, did exactly what no one would want.

The photos on the cards bear absolutely no relationship to the game that the card is purporting to represent. Greg Maddux is featured regularly on cards in which he didn't pitch. I pulled 6 Ichiro's out of the one box I've opened. The same photo is on each card.

Card 4690 represents the Giants 155th game. The photo on front is a stock photo of Tim Lincecum. Of course Tim Lincecum didn't start that game. If you are going to feature a Giant in that game feature Travis Ishikawa who had three hits, or Bengie Molina who had 2 RBIs. Not Lincecum who may not have even suited up that day.

I just picked up the last card in the pile.. that was it. I'm too lazy to pick out any more as examples.. but what's the point? It's clear that UD made no effort to match photos with the right card.

UD had the chance to create a memorable set, that could have turned into a yearly staple. Instead they put out a worthless and useless 5000 card set just for the sake of putting out a 5000 card set.

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