Leaf's National Pride featuring Jose Canseco

Check out the card below featuring a metal card stock and an on-card signature of Baseball Pariah, Jose Canseco. It’s a decent enough design featuring a good photograph and no sign of stickers anywhere … but it leaves so much to be desired. For starters, Upper Deck did the whole “national pride” thing way back in 1998 and even though it didn’t have any signatures on it, killed Leaf’s design all the way.

I commend Leaf for including such a disliked character like Jose in any set these days but I really want to see him in uniform with the addition of the right amount of Photoshop to keep MLB satisfied. Also, when a 13-year old design can beat out what your graphic artists are producing, it’s time to bring in a new crew. This is something that could be whipped up on a computer in five minutes … I expect a lot more from Leaf Trading Cards.

As for the cards, they are doing pretty good on the secondary market. Now that I have my money right I may even pick up a few of them through card shows and eBay if the price is right. Many of these are selling in the low-$50s and high-$40s, which is not bad for a guy that almost no card company wants to touch. Just imagine what an action shot featuring MLB logos and from Topps Company could fetch.