#9 - Dee Gordon

What’s that Turtle doin’? This is another long-time standard live action baseball card image - a middle infielder attempting to create a Double Play.

Fortunately for the card, Oakland wore their Home Alternate, solid color uniforms that day, supplying this card with a helpful extra dollop of primary bright color.

One potential color missing here is the classic red of the Uni # the Dodgers wear, blocked by Dee's glove. His glove does pleasantly line up with the "Los Angeles" of the road uniform. Although half of all MLB teams are wearing a road uniform in every game, by no means do road uniforms supply half of all baseball card action shots, which is definitely for the better. But for the sake of assembling a team set each year, it is always nice to have at least one card with a well executed road uni shot.

Uniform Hero? Yep. Dee Gordon has worn #9 for his entire career.

Where’d the egg hatch? Gordon was drafted by the Dodgers in the 4th round in 2008. He debuted in L.A. in 2011, when he received one of the more bodacious RC logo Rookie Cards of the 2010s, in 2011 Topps Update.

How about the migrations? Dee played for the Dodgers through 2014, when he had his best season in L.A., playing 148 games and leading the League in Steals for the first time with 64, and Triples with 12. Despite that, he was traded to Miami Marlins after the season. In Miami his career blossomed significantly and he led the NL in Steals once again - and Batting Average at .338.

At the beginning of the 2016 season, his 2nd in Miami, he was suspended for 80 games for failing a test for PEDs, supplying a bit of irony to his checklist position adjacent to Ryan Braun.

At the end of the 2016 season, he hit probably one of the most famous Home Runs in Marlins franchise history, in the team's first At Bat after learning of the previous day's death of their young Ace Jose Fernandez. The next year he again led the NL in Steals and hit over .300, but was traded to Seattle for 3 prospects after the season, in the midst of a deep re-build in Miami.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

It is always nice to read of Major Leaguers of the past on a card back, even when mentioned somewhat obliquely.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 56 stolen bases, Gordon is 1,350 away from Rickey Henderson's all-time record of 1,406.

This is our first consideration of the Henderson record, and an apt choice for a Dee Gordon card, even this early in his career. But I do not think we will see this particular "Chase" considered often in the set.

Gordon has since led the NL in Steals three times and a current card would be well lit up with various League Leads in Italics.

At the conclusion of play in 2018, Dee has stolen 308 bases and is 31 years old.

Subspecies? Gordon is our first player who does not appear in either 2013 Opening Day or Chrome, making this a unique card in the Topps pantheon. Except, of course, for the parallels....

Bling That Shell The first binder page is filling up now, and it is time for a classic Topps selection - the Gold parallel, numbered to the year of the set: