McCovey Monday #27 - 2012 Panini Cooperstown

My favorite player of all time is Hall of Famer Willie McCovey.  I have amassed a collection of over 1100 different  McCovey cards since I started collecting him in the late 1980s.  I will show off one of my favorite cards every Monday.  Stretch was one of the most feared hitters of all time and I am excited to show off my collection.

Last week on my way back from work I stopped by Valley Sports Cards.  I really enjoy the shop, it has a bunch of dime boxes, a good selection of vintage and tons of autographed pictures and memorabilia.  It is over an hour away from my house so I only hit it after venturing to our main office.  The vintage/dime boxes, etc. are in the main store but recently I realized a couple of doors down there was a second shop that housed unopened packs/boxes and a big board of items to bid on. I actually bid on a few cards for the first time and picked up 5 packs of the new Panini Cooperstown cards.  I wasn't as lucky as I was on my first 2 packs, no auto, but I did pull some nice cards including the base card of Willie McCovey.  I will share the other goods sometime soon but thought McCovey Monday would be a good place to review the McCovey card.

 First off, the front. As outlined in my post from the 1st two packs, I really like this design.  I didn't note it before but the two small banners at the top highlight the year McCovey was inducted into the HOF - 1986 - which I think is a nice touch.  I like that the HOF logo is on the cards and the size is just right, recognizable but not over the top.  My biggest complaint is the photo that was used.  I assumed that the HOF archives would be used to pepper this set with new pictures but this one has been used tons before.

Here is a 2005 Upper Deck card using the same picture.

Here is a 2006 Fleer card using the same picture.

Another Upper Deck card from 2006 this time - this card has tons of parallels.  I have at least 3 other cards with this picture as well.  I was really disappointed with the repeat photo, I really thought we would get a new and fresh picture in this release.

Now for the card back, again as state before solid design.  The circles at the top feature the years of his career, another nice touch.  A nice write up that touches on his impressive debut, his ROY award, his teaming up with Willie Mays, the 1962 World Series and his first-ballot HOF election.  Very nice.

The picture looks very familiar to me but I was unable to find a match in my scanned McCovey pictures.  My binders are stuck behind some hidden Christmas gifts and too hard to access.  It is close to this photo but not the same. After I get the presents wrapped I will have to dig through the binder to see for sure but at this point I would have to give the back of the card a slight pass.

However, coupled with one of the most prevalent McCovey picture already used in cards on the front, this card is a big disappointment. It still won't stop me from pursuing the parallel of it but actually lessens my excitement for the product as a whole.