An ugly card of meh player

The last few weeks, I've been trying to go through a few monster boxes of Yankees in an effort to divide the cards by a few notable players. I've also been setting aside dupes in hopes of selling a Yankees lot on the online marketplaces before Christmas.

This exercise has led me to see a lot of cards. A lot of ugly cards. But one sticks out, so much so that I'm pretty sure I have refused to even keep one copy of it.

Here it is:

This card is ugly on so many levels. I'll start with the player. I don't think there is a more disliked Yankee than Jacoby Ellsbury. Now, I don't blame him one bit for taking the Yankees contract offer. It was a bad deal and they likely blew everyone out of the water for his services. We'd all take 7 years, $153 million. Seriously, can't fault the dude for that.

He never made himself endearing to the fanbase the way former Boston players did, including Wade Boggs, Roger Clemens, and Johnny Damon. He just never really connected with the fans or did anything on the field to make you forget his past life.

He really had one good year in Boston. Many acknowledged at the time of the deal that he likely wouldn't stay healthy. And by and large, that has been true. Games played during the contract: 149, 111, 148, 112, 0. Two out of five seasons over 140 games. Two years left to go on the deal, and a crowded outfield. Hopefully, for the sake of both player and organization, the Yankees can find a way to send him elsewhere, maybe taking on a bad contract in return, preferably one that can eat some innings.

Aside from the player, the card is u-g-l-y.

First, the design. This was Panini's first foray into the Donruss baseball brand, and the base set is brutally unattractive. The borders are tragically massive, cutting off much of the player's photo.

The font in which the city name is written feels out of place. Not quite script. Not quite italics.

And the logos. Now we all know Panini can't use team logos. It's what has prohibited some decent looking sets from really gaining traction with collectors. But in this instance, Ellsbury is seen still wearing red from his Red Sox days (understandable, but come on), with his name scrawled across the back of his jersey. If you're going to try and Yankeefy him a little bit, at least remove the name during the airbrushing process.

This card is ugly. The player has no role on a team that has no room for him. He rarely stays on the field, and when he does, he doesn't show the game-changing skills he possessed earlier in his career.

And for those reasons, this might just be the ugliest card I own.