UD Past Time Pennants Countdown: Tossing Water Balloons

Welcome back to the next installment of my 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants Countdown.  If you missed some of the earlier posts, let me explain what's going on here.  Back in the summer of 2013, I completed my 2005 UD Past Time Pennants set.  As I was getting ready to put the cards in the binder, I kept saying to myself "this is one the best cards in the set."  Problem is, I felt like I said that thirty times or so as I collated my set.  Never one to turn down a potential blog idea, I decided to actually sort the pile from worst to best in the eyes of me.  What you see now is the result of my ordering - I began on November 1st with the three worst cards in the set (Ron Guidry gets the "honor" of the worst card) and I've been slowly climbing my way to the best card in the set ever since.  November has 30 days and the 2005 set has 90 cards so three cards a day makes for a perfect month-long series.  Enjoy!

#36:  Bob Feller

This is one of the cards in the set that I could see being a Top 10 card to some people and a bottom 10 card to others.  Some will hate the motion blur at the bottom while others will love the baggy pants and classic windup.  For me, I fall in between the two camps with the blurriness mostly cancelled out by the great delivery of Feller.  Hence, an (almost) top-third finish

#35:  Orlando Cepeda

While the Feller photo may not be a unanimous pick at #36, I think most people will agree that the Cepeda card is all kinds of awesome.  He's got a great facial expression (it appears someone is about to toss him a water balloon rather than a baseball) and the fact that he's standing in front of stands that could just as easily be for a high school team is the icing on the proverbial cake.

#34:  Don Larsen

I don't think I ever knew that Larsen's last name had an "e" rather than an "a."  Since I learned something, the card could simply use that fact to justify its relatively lofty placement in the countdown.  However, I initially slotted the card in the 34th spot because of the beautiful steel girder silhouette in the background.  I know that might come off as sarcastic via type (and to be fair, I usually am sarcastic) but in this case I mean it.  I really, really like the look of the background of the card!

2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants - Best Cards, In Order (so far).
Note:  The card number is the number in parenthesis after the player.
#90.  Ron Guidry (74)
#89.  Paul Molitor (62)
#88.  Will Clark (87)
#87.  Kirby Puckett (50)
#86.  Carl Yastrzemski (14)
#85.  Mike Schmidt (57)
#84.  Keith Hernandez (49)
#83.  Jim Rice (43)
#82.  Gary Carter (32)
#81.  Bill Mazeroski (4)
#80.  Catfish Hunter (16)
#79.  Tony Gwynn (76)
#78.  Cal Ripken Jr. (13)
#77.  Jack Morris (39)
#76.  Ozzie Smith (61)
#75:  Graig Nettles (37)
#74:  Dale Murphy (17)
#73:  Goose Gossage (36)
#72.  Bucky Dent (12)
#71.  Jim Palmer (42)
#70.  Robin Yount (70)
#69.  Willie McCovey (88)
#68.  Dave Parker (18)
#67.  Billy Williams (5)
#66.  Don Mattingly (20)
#65.  Steve Carlton (79)
#64.  Gaylord Perry (33)
#63.  Sparky Lyle (77)
#62.  Jim Bunning (40)
#61.  Eddie Mathews (24)
#60.  Tommy John (82)
#59.  George Kell (35)
#58.  Monte Irvin (58)
#57:  Bert Blyleven (3)
#56:  Early Wynn (23)
#55:  Larry Doby (51)
#54:  Joe Morgan (45)
#53:  Nolan Ryan (59)
#52:  Lou Brock (52)
#51:  Rico Petrocelli (68)
#50:  Bob Lemon (8)
#49:  Fred Lynn (31)
#48:  Bobby Doerr (9)
#47:  Robin Roberts (69)
#46:  Johnny Podres (47)
#45:  Maury Wills (55)
#44:  Pee Wee Reese (63)
#43:  Luis Aparicio (53)
#42:  Warren Spahn (85)
#41:  Ernie Banks (27)
#40:  Tony Perez (83)
#39:  Mickey Mantle (56)
#38:  Eddie Murray (25)
#37:  Wade Boggs (84)
#36:  Bob Feller (6)
#35:  Orlando Cepeda (60)
#34:  Don Larsen (19)