Card of the Week: In Your Face

Here we have a very common 1990 Upper Deck Baseball card of back-up infielder Jose Oquendo. This fellow spent most of his career with the Cardinals. He had a fairly unremarkable career, but did fill a niche. Oquendo was a very patient hitter and an able utility man. In fact, he could play any position on the diamond, including pitcher.

Oquendo even made it into TV.

In 2004, a comical one hour special aired on ESPN and was produced by MLB Productions about José Oquendo. It featured Randy and Jason Sklar of Cheap Seats going on a trip all the way to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on a campaign to get José "The Utilityman" Oquendo inducted for his versatility to play any position on the baseball field. The special included the Sklars receiving Oquendo's blessing to lobby for his spot in Cooperstown, collecting signatures for the petition, and giving a lackluster presentation to the Hall of Fame's committee. After initially denying their claim, the committee agreed to place his plaque in a spot that fits the man- the utility closet.

Now, why is his card the "Card of the Week?" Well, it's not the front of the card that strikes my fancy, but the reverse which makes me laugh. This card features a wrongly placed hologram sticker on the back that covers Jose's face.

I guess Upper Deck was still working through some kinks as they improperly aligned the card sheet when putting on the holograms. I have 6 different cards like this, as well as, 3 no hologram cards, and they are all number in the 300's. I do not believe other double hologram/ no hologram cards exist on cards starting with a number other than 3.
Here is a Willie Wilson no hologram card.