#27 - Mike Trout

What’s that Turtle doin’? I think he might have just stolen that particular Third Base, and stolen it in such a blink of an eye that the visiting team could not do a single thing about it, because they are nowhere to be seen.

This is also the first baseball card in the set that actually shows one of the bases, which are seen on baseball cards now much less often than is the ball. I like how different portions of the grass on this card have differing amounts of light on them. 

Writing in 2019, I now notice how this card foreshadows a certain nervousness among fans of Mike Trout today - the only injuries that have cost him any significant amount of playing time have each come while sliding into a base. I do not know if he has begun participating in the current trend of wearing a "sliding mitt" on the basepaths yet, but I know some fans hope that he does, just in case. No one who enjoys Major League Baseball wants to see Mike Trout hit the Disabled List.

At this point, there are new Mike Trout cards issued routinely in every product checklist, and most insert checklists as well. There are so many I don't even have time to scroll through online sources of all the imagery that would be involved - but I have to wonder how many of all those new cards depict a slide.

This card could ultimately become the "best" card in the set, for those who pick "best" to mean "most valuable." The Topps Rookie Cup remains a popular icon in the hobby, though for many only in so far as when it appears on a card of a player that goes on to financial success, with 'financial' meaning The Cup appears on a card worth more than several nickels and dimes, which is rare even for some eventual All-Stars.

Should Manny Machado ever fall back to more ordinary WAR #s in his still moderately young career, this card will then likely be THE card to own from 2013 Topps Baseball.

Uniform Hero? Topps is firmly back in the groove on this concept now, as this is the 4th sequential card to display a same # on the front and on the back. A fitting selection for the 2012 AL Rookie of the Year.

Where’d the egg hatch? It is now becoming a bit of a standard trivia question/answer to know for fans of the 24 teams that selected someone other than Mike Trout in the first round of the 2009 MLB draft - who did they pick instead? Trout would debut in 2011 for the Angels, but would not use up his "rookie limits," which are 135 At Bats or 45 days on the 25 man roster, though he came fairly close to those in '11.

How about the migrations? Mike Trout is currently signed through the 2020 season with the Angels. The amount of screen pixels that will be dedicated to pondering what happens after that in his career has only just begun to ramp up, but it will be considerable.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

It is rather nice that this card is Trout's 2nd regular Topps Baseball checklist appearance beyond his official Rookie Card in 2011 Update, so there are still only 2 MLB statlines to show and thus room to include both some basic text -and- his minor league stats, something one does want to read for a player as bound for glory as Mike Trout.

Of note on this card is the details in the "Acq:" slot which one would normally predict to read "Via Draft." Instead we see "Free Agent 1-28-11" which is much more curious. Baseball Reference just notes his initial contract signing in 2009, though there has been one extension signed just before the 2014 season, carrying through the 2020 season as noted above.

One thing I can find on the Internet connecting Mike Trout and January 28, 2011 is that on that date, official "Transactions" lists for 2011 mention that they "came to terms" with about 2 dozen players that day on their minor league contracts. Just what type of "Acq" action occurred between Mike Trout and the California Angels on that date can possibly only be divined in some future Trout biography, perhaps.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 149 runs, Trout is 2,146 away from Rickey Henderson's all-time record of 2,297.

This is the second sequential card to ponder this record, and the 2nd card to do so for a player that Lead the League in Runs. Though Trout also Lead the League in Steals in his Rookie season, making the Rickey Henderson comparison much more relevant for a Center Fielder than a 2nd Baseman.

And after this card appeared, Trout would go on to Lead his League in Runs in 2013 and 2014, and then again in 2016 before the pair of sliding injuries in 2017 and 2018 somewhat cut into his ability to Lead Leagues in counting stats. Otherwise one of his newer cards might well have more stats printed in red than in black.

After the 2018 season, Mike Trout had scored 793 Runs, placing him only 33rd on the Active list; however only one player in front of him has 10 or fewer seasons, as compared to the 8 seasons Trout has completed now. This places Trout 1,504 Runs away from Rickey Henderson's all-time record, which took Henderson 25 seasons to score. After his first 8 seasons, Henderson had 862 Runs scored.

Subspecies? No one should be surprised to know that this card is also in Opening Day, where it also is card #27, using this same image. The same image would also appear in Chrome, which has one of those exceptionally tough variations floating around in the world.

On the Sea Turtle design in this set, this card has 3 variations - including a "Great Catch" issued in Series One, which is probably the only one I will ever seriously consider tracking down, given the prices for Mike Trout cards. Series 2 delivered a new Mike Trout #27 card in each type of variation - "Sunglasses" and "Fan Interaction" / "Autographs".

A final Sea Turtle variant appears in the All-Star Game Factory Set checklist of 5 cards, which I can share with you:

Bling That Shell The realities of Mike Trout card values forces my hand on this selection once again. I think the varying brightness levels of the grass would make this a fantastic "Blue Sparkle" card but even in the summer of 2013 I was not going to luck into one of those by buying a random 4 dozen card lot of them. I hope to see that card in-hand someday.

I was fortunate enough to pull the Wal-Mart Blue version of this card in 203-2015, twice even, as well as one Target Red version. So perhaps those key "dups" will get me closer to owning a Blue Sparkle version, some day. Many Trout collectors consider the red 'team color' parallels to be non pareil; I much prefer good old red, white, and blue for such a quintessential American baseball player.