What’s that Turtle doin’? Here we have another just-Now completed swing, as on the Jeter card, without as tight of a cropping effort. The lines in the image, including even the wrinkles in the uniform, all lead the eye around to the bat behind the back, as if one just watched the swing happen, less than one second in the past. Braun has not even had time to exhale yet. Framing off half of his fore-arm doesn't make a great deal of difference - but then there is a bit of wasted space on the left side of the card.
Uniform Hero? There is a bit of a conundrum with this card # = uniform # approach somewhat ranking the players of Major League Baseball, and we are only 7 cards into the set.
After the 2012 season, Braun's stock of popularity with MLB fans had already fallen substantially. A failed urine test for PEDs had become public in late 2011, however Braun had successfully avoided MLB disciplinary action by filing an appeal. This was widely regarded as having been able to get away with cheating on a "technicality."
His perception by the public would continue to fall much further with more Braun & PED related news revealed in February, 2013, just as card collectors were beginning to purchase Series 1 cards. This led to a long season of public spectacle and ultimately disciplinary action by MLB, a sad tale basically known to MLB fans with details easily followed elsewhere. I am interested in the 2013 Topps Baseball set and how it was constructed.
Before the tag "PED" became forever attached to Ryan Braun, his career was white-hot - wait till you see his card back here, eventually. Topps was such a fan of his young career that in 2011, he was card #1 in the set. He proceeded to win the NL MVP and lead his team to the NLCS that year. Topps followed up that success with again making him card #1 in the 2012 set.
Another player famously connected to the words "Performance Enhancing Drugs" had also received multiple Topps Baseball #1 cards over the years - Alex Rodriguez. Even as rumors began to engulf him from 2009 on, Topps continued to issue him "Hero" #s in their sets - #400, #50, and #500 in 2010-2012. He also would have a terrible season-in-the-news in 2013 and ultimately be barred from playing for an entire season in 2014.
However even by the time of the 2013 set construction, there was enough of that type of bad news swirling around a player well-liked by Topps baseball cards, that he did not receive the most prestigious Card/Uniform/Hero # possible at his Uni # - 13. Instead he finished in about 3rd place in the calculations, as we will see here on this blog sometime well over a year or more from now.
So what was Topps to do with a now far less popular, former set poster boy - while building a set based on Uniform #s? Let's consider their options, based on use of Uni #8 in the 2012 season.
Five teams had already retired #8 - the Pirates, Reds, Yankees (for 2 players, even), Orioles and Red Sox.
Here were their options in the AL:
Rays - Desmond Jennings - a solid, mostly regular OF, but just an ordinary MLB player
Blue Jays - Ben Francisco &/or Yorvit Torrealba - who? and who?
Indians - Lonnie Chisenhall - 43 Games in 2012, still largely unknown
Royals - Mike Moustakas - fame would come later; still only a .708 OPS in 2012
Twins - Jamey Carroll - another solid MLBer with 10 seasons of pedestrian stats, 2013 would be his last card
Mariners - Carlos Triunfel - 22 AB in 2012, never received an MLB baseball card
A's - Kurt Suzuki - already traded to Nationals after '12 season but would appear in Series 1
Rangers - Geovany Soto & Yorvit Torrealba - who? & that guy again?
Angels - Kendrys Morales - a Cuban escapee slugger who had recently been on the Home Run leader boards
Here were their options in the NL:
Marlins - Chris Coghlan - a former Rookie-of-the-Year declining fast, 39 Games in 2012
Braves - David Ross - a solid back-up Catcher in '12 for Atlanta, he would not receive a Topps card in 2013 but go on to fame in the World Series, anyway
Phillies & Dodgers - Shane Victorino - traded in July 2012 but signed by the Red Sox in December, 2012; he will appear on a Red Sox card in Series 2
Nationals - Danny Espinosa - the everyday 2B in Washington in '11 and '12, he led NL in Striking Out in 2012
Cardinals - Ryan Jackson - also never received MLB card
Diamondbacks - Gerardo Parra - another everyday ordinary MLB player mostly unknown off the West Coast
Rockies - Charlie Blackmon - yet to blossom by 2012, when he had barely reached 200 AB
Padres - Jason Bartlett - a long time SS for the Rays, his career looked to probably be over and did not receive a card in 2013
Giants - Hunter Pence - ahh, if only Topps HQ had known the West Coast teams a little better, this whole problem goes away
So after flubbing the potential use of the popular Pence in place of Ryan Braun here, by already assigning him card #3, his _former_ Uni #, Topps had few options at #8. Ultimately, they did reward both Kendrys Morales and Kurt Suzuki with #8-related card #s, as we will see later in Series 1.
A final wrinkle to their possibly unconsidered dilemma with this now premium checklist position - and remember, the really, really bad news for Braun would only occur during 2013 - is also one of Braun's decently well-known nicknames: "Ochoa."
Ultimately, I am looking at this rather trivial question from 20/20 hindsight of course. But I think as you will see through the early portions of the 2013 checklist, the Star power is well concentrated in the card #s below 50; there are some impressive, multiple All-Star binder pages coming up. And looking at the set today, this card for Ryan Braun really stands out after the 6 very well-regarded players that preceded it, and a potentially epic lead-off binder page looks partially dated today as a result.
And unfortunately, that last minor point would become magnified a bit more, a few years after the 2013 season, as we shall see on the very next card in the checklist.
Another player famously connected to the words "Performance Enhancing Drugs" had also received multiple Topps Baseball #1 cards over the years - Alex Rodriguez. Even as rumors began to engulf him from 2009 on, Topps continued to issue him "Hero" #s in their sets - #400, #50, and #500 in 2010-2012. He also would have a terrible season-in-the-news in 2013 and ultimately be barred from playing for an entire season in 2014.
However even by the time of the 2013 set construction, there was enough of that type of bad news swirling around a player well-liked by Topps baseball cards, that he did not receive the most prestigious Card/Uniform/Hero # possible at his Uni # - 13. Instead he finished in about 3rd place in the calculations, as we will see here on this blog sometime well over a year or more from now.
So what was Topps to do with a now far less popular, former set poster boy - while building a set based on Uniform #s? Let's consider their options, based on use of Uni #8 in the 2012 season.
Five teams had already retired #8 - the Pirates, Reds, Yankees (for 2 players, even), Orioles and Red Sox.
Here were their options in the AL:
Rays - Desmond Jennings - a solid, mostly regular OF, but just an ordinary MLB player
Blue Jays - Ben Francisco &/or Yorvit Torrealba - who? and who?
Indians - Lonnie Chisenhall - 43 Games in 2012, still largely unknown
Royals - Mike Moustakas - fame would come later; still only a .708 OPS in 2012
Twins - Jamey Carroll - another solid MLBer with 10 seasons of pedestrian stats, 2013 would be his last card
Mariners - Carlos Triunfel - 22 AB in 2012, never received an MLB baseball card
A's - Kurt Suzuki - already traded to Nationals after '12 season but would appear in Series 1
Rangers - Geovany Soto & Yorvit Torrealba - who? & that guy again?
Angels - Kendrys Morales - a Cuban escapee slugger who had recently been on the Home Run leader boards
Here were their options in the NL:
Marlins - Chris Coghlan - a former Rookie-of-the-Year declining fast, 39 Games in 2012
Braves - David Ross - a solid back-up Catcher in '12 for Atlanta, he would not receive a Topps card in 2013 but go on to fame in the World Series, anyway
Phillies & Dodgers - Shane Victorino - traded in July 2012 but signed by the Red Sox in December, 2012; he will appear on a Red Sox card in Series 2
Nationals - Danny Espinosa - the everyday 2B in Washington in '11 and '12, he led NL in Striking Out in 2012
Cardinals - Ryan Jackson - also never received MLB card
Diamondbacks - Gerardo Parra - another everyday ordinary MLB player mostly unknown off the West Coast
Rockies - Charlie Blackmon - yet to blossom by 2012, when he had barely reached 200 AB
Padres - Jason Bartlett - a long time SS for the Rays, his career looked to probably be over and did not receive a card in 2013
Giants - Hunter Pence - ahh, if only Topps HQ had known the West Coast teams a little better, this whole problem goes away
So after flubbing the potential use of the popular Pence in place of Ryan Braun here, by already assigning him card #3, his _former_ Uni #, Topps had few options at #8. Ultimately, they did reward both Kendrys Morales and Kurt Suzuki with #8-related card #s, as we will see later in Series 1.
A final wrinkle to their possibly unconsidered dilemma with this now premium checklist position - and remember, the really, really bad news for Braun would only occur during 2013 - is also one of Braun's decently well-known nicknames: "Ochoa."
Ultimately, I am looking at this rather trivial question from 20/20 hindsight of course. But I think as you will see through the early portions of the 2013 checklist, the Star power is well concentrated in the card #s below 50; there are some impressive, multiple All-Star binder pages coming up. And looking at the set today, this card for Ryan Braun really stands out after the 6 very well-regarded players that preceded it, and a potentially epic lead-off binder page looks partially dated today as a result.
And unfortunately, that last minor point would become magnified a bit more, a few years after the 2013 season, as we shall see on the very next card in the checklist.
Where’d the egg hatch? Braun was selected by the Brewers in the first round of the 2005 draft, 5th overall, a very successful draft class which ultimately yielded 9 All-Stars.
How about the migrations? Once again on these initial checklist slots, it seems likely Ryan Braun will spend his whole career with the Brewers. It is thought that he has been made available in trade talks the last several years, but his production no longer matches his salary and Milwaukee would likely have to pay a portion of it to receive anything in return. He is now yet another player in his 30s headed towards the "now profiles as a DH" tagline, but the essential problem for all such players is that MLB only needs 15 of them per year. He is signed through the end of 2020.
Don’t flip over real Turtles.
This is what you want to see when you turn over a baseball card. A pair of "30-30 Club" memberships is even more impressive than a 20-20. 7 League Leader stats puts him in a tie with the previous Ryan Howard card for the League Leader lead in this set.
A minor pity the text portion begins conflating youthful Hit/Homer production a bit confusingly, particularly with the card feature just above it -
A minor pity the text portion begins conflating youthful Hit/Homer production a bit confusingly, particularly with the card feature just above it -
Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?
CAREER CHASE: With 202 home runs, Braun is 560 away from Barry Bonds' all-time record of 762.
After the 2018 season, Braun has increased his Home Run total to 322.
Subspecies? Again like the other Star players this low in the Checklist, and star players not changing teams, Braun has this same basic card in both Opening Day and Chrome. He is all over other 2013 Topps checklists both long and short, but without any other Sea Turtle type cards.
Bling That Shell Now we finally get to see one of my favorites of the 2013 parallels, the /50 Pink. All of such cards, regardless of 'team color' of the Turtle, remind me of bubble gum, and that always makes for a pleasant baseball card experience, regardless of the player on the card. I particularly like the blue-on-pink combo seen here -
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