Unlike many Pitching cards we have seen there is very little here to suggest captured live game motion; even though it is such, it also looks quite a bit like a posed shot. Perhaps following the line of the left arm and then the glove leads the viewer back to the ball, with the "troit" logo illustrating where the ball is headed in 3...2...1...
For such a clear view of Scherzer's eyes, the lighting angle in the stadium that day and the shadow interplay make it just about impossible to pick up Max's famously different color eyes.
Perhaps one of the more notable features of this card is a quite clear view of the Rawlings logo on the glove; a pity it is upside down.
Perhaps one of the more notable features of this card is a quite clear view of the Rawlings logo on the glove; a pity it is upside down.
Uniform Hero? This is one of the first times I have ever really thought about how Detroit puts the uniform # on the road uni, as seen here. Giving Scherzer this checklist spot seems a tad prescient on the part of Topps; his career was certainly good to this point but he was just getting warmed up. Ironically, the most heroic other player wearing #37 in 2012 was Stephen Strasburg, who would appear in Series 2 with his own Hero #. But overall it was a nice touch by Topps, printing this run of Lee-Hernandez-Verlander-Weaver-Scherzer; a checklist sequence I doubt we will see again until some 25th Anniversary of the Sea Turtles, somehow, perhaps.
Where’d the egg hatch? Scherzer was drafted originally by the Diamondbacks in 2006, as the 11th pick. He was also drafted out of High School by his hometown Cardinals in 2003, but in the 43rd round - a draft position that would not hand out any signing bonus at all, which probably made pursuing a college education an easy decision.
How about the migrations? Like most post-college draftees, Scherzer reached the majors 2 years later with a fairly nice yet unremarkable debut of 56 Innings Pitched in 2008. His 2009 #s - full 170 IP, 4.12 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 174 SO - have always interested me. At about an even 1 K / Inning, I somewhat assume here that Arizona didn't have the greatest defense in 2009.
My interest in those specific stats flows from what happened after that season, when Arizona traded away Max Scherzer. Turns out, Arizona was ranked 29th in Fielding % that year. Maybe the Diamondbacks should have considered FIP or some other advanced Pitching stats before pulling that trigger. Maybe Detroit did.
At first glance it seems like a complicated trade to analyze, with 6 players on the move and 3 different teams involved. The Tigers gave up Curtis Granderson to the Yankees, early in his career; he would thrive batting left in the House That Ruth Built, with it's very special "porch." However the Tigers also received Austin Jackson in this same trade, who proved to be a plenty serviceable replacement for Granderson, on a roster plenty stacked offensively anyway.
The Diamondbacks? They gave up Max Scherzer and in return received perpetual journeyman starter Edwin Jackson and a young Ian Kennedy, who put up a 21 Win season in Arizona not long after, but could not maintain such results. Dave Dombrowski notched another one here.
Ahh, what might have been, such is Major League Baseball. Speaking of which, Tigers fans still today like to whine and complain about the Tigers giving up Scherzer after his contract expired in 2014, as if Detroit could have somehow afforded a $100 Million rotation of Verlander, Scherzer, Porcello, Price, and Sanchez in perpetuity. Scherzer eventually signed in Washington for 7 years @ $30 Million per; it is highly doubtful that Detroit offered him more than they had already signed Verlander for - $28 Million.
This all means Scherzer is signed in Washington through 2021.
Don’t flip over real Turtles.
One surprise here is as yet not a single league leading stat, though Topps certainly seems to be predicting some with the text. The 2013 season to come after this card was Scherzer's first to really display elite level production. From this point on, his card backs would be covered with stats printed in red.
Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?
CAREER CHASE: With 829 strikeouts, Scherzer is 4,885 away from Nolan Ryan's all-time record of 5,714.
Unfortunately for this idea, Max got off to a bit of a slow start; only reaching 200 Ks in his 4th full season. However, he would go on to throw a 300 Strike Out season....so....
After the 2018 season, Scherzer has 2,449 strikeouts, so he is 3,265 away from Nolan Ryan's all-time record of 5,714.
Subspecies? This card appears in both Opening Day and Chrome, but otherwise has no other variants.
Bling That Shell This has been an action packed page of parallels, and Max Scherzer cards have action packed prices on them. So I was quite content to find a simple Target Red parallel for about a buck fifty not long ago:
I was very happy to finally receive that card and fill the last spot on this page. By lucking into the Lee and Feliz parallels in a lot purchase, while also spending a little (about $8 each) on the deliberate purchases of specific parallels for Beltre and Verlander, I had many options on finishing this one. This page then becomes the first without a blue foil parallel from Opening Day, and also the first without a /2013 Gold parallel as well. I only recently made sure this nuttily complex collection has one of each main parallel and team color combination; I think I will also insure there is a page without each key parallel color as well. That should be the final (well, I hope so) binding rule I will place on creating these colorful binder pages:
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