I’ve probably owed Damaso Marte a better Card of the Day article since I published his first appearance here. Let me rephrase that. I probably owe him a better Pittsburgh Pirates Card of the Day article. His first appearance in this series was back in February of 2021, when I looked at his 2006 Topps card. I picked that card because it was a good talking point for cards. There are definite questions as to whether it qualifies as a card of him with the Pirates.
Today’s card choice leaves no questions. This is a Pittsburgh Pirates card. We take a look at the 2007 Upper Deck card of left-handed relief pitcher Damaso Marte, who played for the 2001 Pirates, as well as the 2006-08 Pirates. This is card #888 from the set, released as part of the second series. Upper Deck went big that year, posting a set with 1,020 cards. It has only been five months since we looked at this set here, but it’s a nice looking set and that first article was the first appearance for the set.
Here’s the front of the card:
Our first look at this set was for a horizontal layout card featuring Shane Youman. I mentioned in that article that I don’t care for the writing down the sides of cards, especially when it goes in different directions, but the Youman card solved that problem with the layout. One difference for that card was that they flipped the “pitcher” over that you see here in the right border, so it was facing the right way when you looked at the Youman card. That card also had his name in a different spot, but it’s exactly where you would think it would be by looking at this card of Marte.
I am going to mention another dislike here, but I do like the design, really. I never understood why so many sets from this era would use a dark foil writing on a dark area of the card. I know they aren’t going to change the spot for his name just because he wore black socks, but the placement isn’t the problem. It would look good in gray here with the border design. It was also look good in any color you could easily read.
I like the border look, especially with matching team colors. I like how there’s no bottom/top borders. Heck, I even like the Upper Deck logo. They had some great photos in the set, including many in-game pictures like this one.
Here’s the back of the card:
Did you notice the front didn’t have the Pirates logo and I said nothing about it? Of course it would look better with that logo, but they put it on the back, so all is forgiven. It’s a great logo. I don’t like all of the logos, trust me. Some of the early ones are boring (not the iconic PBC one). I can’t stand the one they used in 1960 that looks overly cartoonish. I’m also over the current logo. Why is this snoozefest lasting so long? The three logos used between the cartoonish one and the current one are all great logos
Besides enjoying the logo, I like how they continued the matching color theme on the back, along with the gray color usage. The second photo of players is a nice addition. The stats are extremely easy to read. That’s how you do a back. What could they have done better? Well, there’s a lot of blank space under the stats, so how about more fun facts above the stats? Other than the wasted space, well done Upper Deck.
If you’re interested in this card, it’s a typical common on Ebay purchase. You can get it for under $2 delivered, but there are sellers out there who overcharge for shipping, so just watch those charges before buying (that’s good advice for all commons). There are no special cards right now on Ebay. There are also no sales for this card in the last three months.
