From the Pedro Binder

2002 UD Ovation

I had to get a copy of my birth certificate at one point. I drove to my birth city to have them print me out a new one. The important part was that it needed to be embossed with a seal from the city office. Anyone could make a photocopy of a certificate. Or, even create their own certificate. But, only the select official few could emboss it with a seal.

Apparently Upper Deck is one of those select few. After all, they chose to emboss this card with the Red Sox seal.

While it doesn’t make the card any more official, it does give it a nice look. I do like that it’s not embossed just for the heck of it. It’s not bumpy stripes. It’s not raised letters. A large Red Sox logo is exactly the sort of thing that might be embossed on a regular basis. I could just imagine Ben Cherington sitting in his office with a trade proposal in front of him. If he agrees with it, he’d sing it and emboss it with his Red Sox stamp. Then put it in an envelope, and melt some wax on the back. Now, I doubt Ben handles proposals in that manner…although, I suppose he might. But it certainly does give the feeling that the Red Sox approve of this card.

Maybe it makes the card more official after all.

(Am I allowed to change my mind after just a paragraph?)

Another thing that’s nice about the seal is that it provides an huge design element without detracting from the rest of the card. It’s different, visually, than if the logo was a red and blue circle behind Pedro. It’s obvious without being distracting. The rest of the card? Lots of clutter. If you have the big stamp, what do you need all the gold foil lines for? Or the different colored background effects? It makes it a lot more cluttered than it should be.

And, makes it look much more official.