On this card, for some reason, it seems uncertain if Lawrie will actually throw the ball. Normally that would be part of what a Third Baseman does, imminently after fielding a ball. But something about the 'air' of the card leaves the viewer thinking Lawrie is staring down a runner on another base - "if you take one more step, I'm gonna throw this thing!"
I'm not sure why that is, that is just my reaction to the card. Has been since I first saw it. It is also the first card so far where the crowd can be seen, somewhat. They are all sitting, looking at Lawrie. I think they have the same question I do.
Uniform Hero? Yes, though we don't have much of a Star power convergence here, as it turns out. In 2012, Lawrie had to wear #17 when Omar Vizquel came to Toronto for his final 60 Game swan-song. But he went back to #13 in 2013, probably indicating a personal choice, and it seems the correct choice for his basically star-crossed career.
Where’d the egg hatch? Lawrie was actually drafted by the Brewers in the 1st round (16th pick overall) in 2008. Toronto thought highly enough of him to send their #2 Starter at the time, Sean Marcum, to Milwaukee in a straight-up single player trade after the 2010 season. Lawrie's debut and official Rookie season then came in 2011.
How about the migrations? Brett hails from a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, so his early career in Toronto was looking to be a win-win for everyone as a Canadian player on the Blue Jays squad is always going to be popular.
After putting up largely ordinary numbers from 11-14 along with plenty of injury down-time, he was included in the package of players sent to Oakland for Josh Donaldson, after Donaldson was overheard bad-mouthing Billy Beane in the clubhouse. Beane promptly traded him, and Donaldson promptly won the 2015 AL MVP. This all seemed dramatic at the time but was probably largely a wash for both clubs, and was probably better for Oakland to have an extra handful of lottery tickets while mired in multiple 4th place finishes, which would have largely wasted the talents of Donaldson. Once the tickets were all scratched off, none of them are/were really key pieces of the, as I write in early 2019, newly contending again Oakland Athletics.
Lawrie was subsequently traded to the White Sox for one more try to beat what the analytics were saying, and the injury bug, in 2016, but has not returned to the Majors since.
Don’t flip over real Turtles.
Sometimes, I am a little intrigued by Minor League stats. But without the context of which minor League is considered "hitter-friendly" or not, and without knowing when a player was playing at a younger age than the rest of that minor League, etc., I usually can't pull much out of reading them. "Prospectors" probably can, but they aren't interested in 2nd year MLB cards.
I mention all this because I don't see anything in his '09 & '10 MiLB stats that screams out - "trade away our #2 starter, we gotta have this guy!" But then I am not a Major League scout or General Manager, I just play one in my mind, with 20/20 hindsight too, while reading baseball cards.
Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?
CAREER CHASE: With 73 RBI, Lawrie is 2,154 away from Hank Aaron's all-time record of 2,227.
Lawrie produced exciting power #s in his 43 game Rookie campaign, before the AL pitching staffs could "write the book" about him, so RBI production seems an appropriate choice.
Brett eventually knocked in 253 'ribbies'.
Subspecies? Topps was certainly excited about Lawrie's potential, making him one of the "It" Rookies in 2012, placing him on plenty of checklists including the special 5 card pack issued in Factory Sets, along with Bryce Harper and Yu Darvish. The '12 card was his official RC logo card, the affixing of which is not an exact science, considering his official Rookie status ended in 2011.
Nevertheless, the checklist love continued on many products in 2013, when he also made the Opening Day checklist, but not the Chrome checklist, a somewhat unusual combination but the opposite of the previous card on this checklist, A.J. Pierzynski.
All of that flurry of Topps activity probably led to a Sea Turtle to show you; I am now happy to share with you the first card I have from the "Great Catch" series of photo variations / short prints:
With these cards, even more than most action image cards, the viewer is left with an immediate question: So, did he catch the ball?
Given the web resources at our fingertips today, particularly that ever handy website of Getty images, reveals that this photo was taken on April 29, 2012 when the Seattle Mariners were in Toronto. The only pop-fly in foul territory to Third Base was hit by Seattle Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki, a player who managed 633 At Bats in the Major Leagues but never appeared in the Topps Baseball set, so I had never heard of him until .... just now.
In that game, Toronto was up 7-2 in the top of then 9th with one out already when Kawasaki came to the plate. Lawrie didn't hesitate to keep playing the game the right way, as they say, and made the catch.
Given the web resources at our fingertips today, particularly that ever handy website of Getty images, reveals that this photo was taken on April 29, 2012 when the Seattle Mariners were in Toronto. The only pop-fly in foul territory to Third Base was hit by Seattle Shortstop Munenori Kawasaki, a player who managed 633 At Bats in the Major Leagues but never appeared in the Topps Baseball set, so I had never heard of him until .... just now.
In that game, Toronto was up 7-2 in the top of then 9th with one out already when Kawasaki came to the plate. Lawrie didn't hesitate to keep playing the game the right way, as they say, and made the catch.
Bling That Shell Here we have another temporary (I hope) blank spot in the proceedings, though I am cheered that I do have 2 cards shown in this post already. I am basically looking for a /50 Pink version of this card, or one other on this page. I will do a quick run-down of the possibilities after card #19.
No comments:
Post a Comment