Do you notice anything that isn't right about this card?
First off, it's Albert Pujols, 1st Baseman for the Cardinals. Second, it says he's an outfielder, but he's apparently playing 3rd Base.
This is a 2003 Fleer Ultra Albert Pujols. A quick check of the wonderful Baseball-Almanac.com shows Albert played a variety of positions in 2002. He had 21 games at first, 41 games at third, 118 games in the outfield, primarily left, and 1 game at shortstop. Can you imagine Albert Pujols at short? That seems crazy.
Albert didn't become the Cardinals primary first baseman until 2004.
I would like some Cardinals fan to tell me why Albert played one game at second base in 2008? What happened...did LaRussa lose a bet?
By the way, here is the back of the 2003 Fleer Ultra cards.
These cards had great colors on the front and the back. The only negative to this design is on the front. The space below the red and yellow colored border is wasted. They should have dropped that border down to the bottom of the card, leaving a little more room for the great photos they used.
Here is another example of a great Fleer Ultra card from 2003.
I'm not an A's fan or a Miguel Tejada fan, but that is a great picture. That's what I like about Ultra and what a certain company should think about as they put out more products...great photos and great designs make a product hold up long after people tire of the gimmicks. 
Those cards look great. I may have to try and find me some.
ReplyDeletePujols only logged an inning or two at 2B in that game if I recall. La Russa had what some of us fans like to call a "Crazy Tony" moment. Sometimes it affects entire lineups (particularly on Sundays or day games when they've already won the series) or sometimes just late game substitutions. That might have been the craziest moment of them all, however, with Pujols and his famously balky elbow.
ReplyDeleteThis may be the only Fleer Ultra set I am unfamiliar with.
ReplyDeleteI remember a little bit of Pujols on third base in '02. For fantasy baseball purposes, I wish he'd have been able to stay there...so my draft choices wouldn't be down to Evan Longoria and ARodriguez.
I knew it had to be some crazy LaRussa moment.
ReplyDeleteBenny, if I ran across some older Fleer Ultra, I would buy it.
ReplyDeleteima tell you what - miguel tejada cards have some really cool photos, and a lot of double play turns.
ReplyDelete