I do think this photo was shot at night, and though normally I like that, I think on this card it creates some weirdness. Like having a shadow patch south-east of his left eye. What's up with that?
Then I think with the way Felix's head is cocked back from his torso a bit, which naturally has to be the focus point of the image, some things in the foreground will come out blurred - specifically, most of his left shoulder and arm. Which then contributes to the next problem...
...this card looks like a classic Topps photoshop job, with that perfect black cap bill in particular, and the poorly visible, anything-but-sharp image of the team logo on the cap. And that's not good.
But there would be absolutely no reason for Topps to alter a card of a player who has never changed teams, ever - so I don't think this card was photoshopped at all.
Maybe it should have been, I dunno. The only things I can find to like on it are the way the King's eyes bee-line to the plate, and this mysteriously cool rubbery blue bracelet he is wearing.
Regardless of all this whining, I can tell you one conclusion I can still reach looking at this card. There would be absolutely no way I would be able to hit that baseball about to come out of Felix Hernandez's hand here. Could you?
Uniform Hero? Yes - the #1 Ace Train is just getting rolling here.
Where’d the egg hatch? Felix Hernandez is from Venezuela, where he signed with the Mariners when he was 16 years old in 2002.
How about the migrations? Hernandez would throw his first MLB pitch for Seattle before he was even 19.5 years old, in 2005. Teenage debuts are frequently followed by lots of good baseball things and though he had a bit of a sophomore slump, he improved steadily and was a bona fide Ace from his 5th season (2009) and onwards.
Just before this baseball card's season, he signed a lucrative ($175 Million) contract extension with Seattle, which ends after the coming 2019 season. 2018 was the toughest season of his career and Hernandez went through a non-voluntary demotion to the bullpen at one point. Meanwhile, news swirling around the Mariners has not been good, with perplexing personnel moves and some chaos in the front office, including word of a lawsuit - and some of that off-field drama seems to involve Hernandez.
When the '18 season concluded, Hernandez had pitched 2,658 Innings, placing him 5th on the Actives list - and he is the youngest in the top 10. That is not necessarily a good combination, as it would be on a Hitting stat list. No one knows how much more his arm can take and as I write in February, 2019, Felix Hernandez sits squarely at a career crossroads at the end of his "early" 30s. Plenty of famous MLB Pitchers, including the one on the next card in the set, have reached this point before, and some have been able to continue to develop their pitching approach with their now older bodies. He has let it be known that he wants to pitch in 2020 and beyond.
If King Felix can "make some adjustments this year," as the sports cliché goes, a few more good seasons will start up some Hall of Fame discussion for him once again.
Don’t flip over real Turtles.
"King 34" - neat. Maybe that is a bit of a known way to apply his nickname, as with this baseball card # feature I like. But I had not heard this variant before, and that's why I turn the baseball cards over.
Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?
CAREER CHASE: With 1,487 strikeouts, Hernandez is 4,227 away from Nolan Ryan's all-time record of 5,714.
Another simple stat choice to consider, as in the 3 seasons before this card was created, Felix Hernandez had 232, 222, and 223 SOs - yet wasn't a league leader with such impressive #s.
But once again, going full Nolan Ryan on any other mere mortal Pitcher in MLB almost seems somewhat cruel.
After the 2018 season, King Felix has 2,467 Ks - still not half-way to the Ryan Express.
Subspecies? Naturally, this card also appears in Opening Day and Chrome. In Series 2, this card # would have a photo variation of the "Sunglasses" type, which also became a variant in 2013 Chrome.
Bling That Shell Mariners cards are classy, when Topps uses their cool team color of "Teal" on a baseball card. I have always particularly liked the Purple + Teal combination:
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