Upper Deck's SP Signature Really is a Failure

I think the collector blogoshpere has been loud and clear about this product.   Upper Deck's 2012 SP Signature Baseball is a dog.  I've read plenty of complaints, and don't disagree with any of them.  In fact, I want to add another criticism.

Check out the card above that is for sale on eBay.  It is a Pittsburgh Pirates Prospect autographed card of pitcher Dinesh Patel, and it should not exist in this or any other future Baseball card set.

You see, Dinesh Patel is effectively out of the game, and as far as I know is now living in India- a Baseball hotbed.  He, along with Rinku Singh won a reality show contest in India called "The Million Dollar Arm".  This show was an attempt to find raw talent in a country where Baseball is totally foreign.  Eventually, both game show winners won contracts within the Pirates organization.  Rinku thrived (and still pitches in their system today) while Dinesh was released in 2010 and went home.

As a novelty card I could be happy with Patel's autograph, but as a prospect card I find it insulting.  What is Upper Deck trying to do here?

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Anyway, I read another commentary on the set at Pack War and suddenly became enthralled with a custom card Corky made at the end of his post.  He wonders aloud, "what if."

What if they added photos to the cards?

So, he made his own Edgar Martinez card by taking out the center portion of the card and inserting  his own photo.  All in one swoop, Corky turned something ugly into something desirable.  It was like watching the ugly duckling bloom into a princess.

I had to do the same thing myself.  Check out the Ron Cey autographed card I made below.  I love how the B&W photo gives the card a more distinguished look.

Here is a Chad Billingsley card I made using a Jon SooHoo photograph.  I thought this one turned out really nice.

I am really proud of these next two cards.  I tracked down the Kemp and Ethier autographed cards and inserted a photo that features both of them.  It's almost like a puzzle card.  Put them together, side-by-side, to make one large horizontal card.