It features a man in his late 40′s wearing a shirt with a spider on it. That about sums up the entire card. Jose Canseco wearing a douchebag spider shirt, probably a hand me down from a company Jose promotes on Twitter for. The card is sad, the photography has nothing to do with sports, and even Upper Deck, once on top of the baseball card world, appear to be scrapping the barrel at this point.

This card below is currently on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $150 dollars. Sounds ridiculous I know but there are plenty of Jose Canseco nuts (and I mean NUTS) who will likely pay top dollar for this card and the next few that appear on eBay in the coming days. Short print or not, it should be a $20 dollar card at best, which is the absolute most a normal person would pay for.

Here’s hoping Upper Deck has another Jose card in their World of Sports release …

Simply put, without MLB licensing, baseball cards lack everything that makes them great. I don’t care if you pack your product full of parallels and autographs, it won’t touch licensed products from the Topps Company and clearly that can be seen by the prices seen on the secondary market. That doesn’t mean non-licensed companies should give up, though. In this case, despite some pretty bad Jose cards … I am glad Leaf kept trying.

Below is Leaf’s latest effort from 2011′s (released in 2012) Legends of Sport. Although the photo chosen is not the greatest, is does its job of covering up “Athletics” on his chest but still shows the Oakland A’s colors of yellow and green and Jose’s iconic #33 jersey number. I also love that they went with a younger Jose from what appears to be 1989-1991. It is the first new Jose Canseco card in four years I am considering purchasing.

As for Leaf’s Legends of Sport … it looks like one of the coolest products I have seen in a very long time, logos or no logos. I have already seen autographs from Rickey Henderson, Cal Ripken Jr., Andre Dawson, Joe Montana and others. Oh, and of course this absolutely sick Babe Ruth. Looks like Topps Company finally has some competition on its hands. It also appears that I may be back on the collecting saddle thanks to Leaf Trading Cards.

Maybe not …

Jose Canseco is old. Seeing this photo of Jose during the Tigres’ Spring Training/Tryouts makes me sad. I wonder if Jose regrets being a major douchebag during his days on top of the baseball world? The cocky attitude, the “I’m better than everyone else” behavior, and coldness to his biggest fans. It all comes back around one day.

I for one hope he gets signed at least. At 47 years of age and with no steady income, Jose needs all the help and happiness he can find and feed his ego, which at this point is probably on life support. Hell, I hope he even puts up some respectable numbers and brags about it on Twitter.

I’d much rather see him in a cheap uniform in the middle of nowhere than on the front page of TMZ for some tragic event we all can see coming a mile away. Jose has battled his demons (it was in his book) and if this sport still bring him joy, more power to him. Let’s just not be unrealistic about it. He will never play in the MLB again.

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.

Recently, Jose has been in the news again but not for anything negative. Simply put, he wants to play in the Majors again at the age of 47. While most news outlets are just poking fun at Jose’s delusions like always, some have picked up the story and have tried to get comments from the Oakland Athletics and Boston Red Sox, two teams Jose wants to tryout for. The problem is that Jose Canseco is a shell of his former self. Sure he may look good and his bulging muscles are for the most part still there but that’s all he’s got left.

In Jose’s final season in 2001 with the White Sox, he hit just .258. The prior year he hit .243 as he rode the bench with the Yankees. In fact, in the final six seasons of Jose’s career, he played on seven different teams. Three years after his last game, he tried out with the Dodgers, which went nowhere. It’s not just the blackballed claim, Jose is just not good enough to play anymore. If you need more proof, just look at last year’s independent league stats. In 60 games, he hit just .256 with 8 home runs and 55 strike outs.

If you can’t cut it with the Yuma Scorpions, there’s no hope for you against MLB pitchers.

I am not saying I would be opposed to seeing Jose Canseco wearing Oakland’s colors one more time. It would be a dream come true watching your childhood hero come back against all odds and show the world that he is still worth a damn. Unfortunately, this is not the movies and in baseball once your skills have eroded, they don’t just magically return after an 11 year layoff. Can you imagine Jose trying to hit off Tim Lincecum? He’d end up cross-eyed and on his back after striking out horribly. It’s just not gonna happen, at least I hope not.

Their new cards are gaudy, loud … and seem to be getting more and more ugly. Case in point, their Golf and Army All-American High School cards. How about a little less Superwhateveryoucall it and a little more emphasis on a clean design. Right now there is just too much going on in these preview cards.

I don’t care how much hype Freedom Card Board lets you create, these cards are atrocious.

Now, let’s say some kid walks into Wal-Mart with a $10 and picks up one of those cheap Topps Value boxes. In his box, which contains Hobby packs of Bowman Chrome, he finds a redemption for an autographed 1/1 Superfractor of hot prospect Eric Hosmer. You would think his fellow collectors would be thrilled and happy that one of their own “beat the odds”, sort of speak, right?

Well, you’d be wrong.

I can understand the frustration that comes from a collector who spent $700 on a case or worse someone who bought multiple cases only to miss out on a card like this. Still, what makes one collector better than the other? Just cause these little boxes are found in retail chains and not hobby shops doesn’t make it any less worthy. It just goes to show that the next big card could be pulled from anywhere.

Click here to read more bitching …

In case you have been living under a rock, there are a lot of updates to this card. For starters, Ken Griffey Jr. is now retired (thank God!), Upper Deck is out of the baseball card business after losing their MLB license, and the only place you will find licensed Ken Griffey Jr. licensed baseball cards is in 2012 Topps products.

Merry Christmas card collectors!

Also, due to Corey Haim’s death at just 38 years of age, I would imagine companies sitting on Haim sticker autographs have to be running pretty low. Feldman, the surviving Corey, will likely sign away for companies like Leaf and Panini for the rest of his life before dying of Auto Erotic Asphyxiation while watching Michael Jackson’s ‘Black or White’ video.

For collectors on a budget, you can find Corey Haim certified autographs from Upper Deck and Panini which can be had for under $30 dollars on eBay. If you are a Corey Feldman fan, I feel for you. You can find certified autographs of the other Corey for under $10 dollars all day every day. You can find his music cds for free, however.

This is not a personal attack on Panini because quite frankly I do like a lot of their current and past products. Simply put, no company in this day and age could put out a non-licensed baseball card set and survive the critic’s wrath. As outspoken as some have been about Topps’ use (or misuse) of the MLB license, no one can deny that they still make great baseball cards with some amazing gimmicks that cannot be ripped off (Refractor technology).

The problem is that without Felix Hernandez’s logo on that huge hat, it looks like any other high school kid in mid wind-up. Reaching the Major Leagues is a huge accomplishment which in itself creates a mystique that young collectors can get sucked into. I still remember looking at Jose Canseco’s 1986 Topps Traded card with the ugly A’s uniform and day dreaming of some day reaching “The Show”.

The problem with the card below, which features “King Felix”, a 25-year old Venezuelan pitching phenom, is that it could be just about anyone. I could buy some gear from Sports Authority and being that I am 31 and also Venezuelan, could easily fit into that card or any other made by someone with a little Photoshop talent. It’s bad when custom cards look better than “official” products.

Who knows? Maybe this is Panini’s chance to get on MLB’s good side (unlike Upper Deck) by playing by the rules. You never know, Panini America could one day be granted an MLB license and with their proven track record and history of the Donruss brand, they could very easily provide some serious competition to Topps Company someday. You have to crawl before you walk, right?

As for now, I have to take a pass on Playoff Contenders 2011.