Although as I consider the card closely, I think the lack of a complete follow through probably indicates that Rizzo is just watching a simple fly ball Out, rather than a Home Run. It does take some thought to arrive at that conclusion. One shouldn't really over-think baseball cards like this one.
On my main blog, Base Set Calling, I have a series I call "What IS That?" I am a bit surprised I have never noticed whatever it is that is sticking out of Rizzo's back pocket - What IS That?
Uniform Hero? Most definitely. There will never be much debate on who the All-Time best player to ever wear #44 was - that would be Hank Aaron. Because of that, certain other players have selected it; most notably Reggie Jackson and Willie McCovey.
So far, Anthony Rizzo seems to have selected his uniform # very well.
Where’d the egg hatch? Rizzo was actually drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 2007, and only in the 6th round. I write 'only' because that feels a little surprising to me, considering his franchise moves. He earned his trade value through post-draft play and then high prospect rankings.
How about the migrations? Considering how his career has developed in Chicago, his early career moves are fairly well known. The Red Sox traded him to San Diego, with 3 other prospects, in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez.
That one seems about equal, as these things go. After his 2011 MLB debut, where he seemed a touch overmatched, San Diego in turn traded him to Chicago. The Padres received starting Pitcher Andrew Cashner in return; I would say they did not do as well as the Red Sox.
All of these roster decisions involved baseball executive Jed Hoyer, who scouted him with the Red Sox and then ended up working in both San Diego and then Chicago at the points these trades were made.
Rizzo is signed with the Cubs through the 2019 season, however the Cubs have a team option for 2020 and 2021, which they will almost certainly use.
Don’t flip over real Turtles.
When Topps notes Complete Major and Minor League Batting Record, they mean it, and it is handy to see all of Rizzo's professional stats here, which dovetails nicely with the simple, direct, efficient, and informative text.
Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?
CAREER CHASE: With 57 RBI, Rizzo is 2,240 away from Hank Aaron's all-time record of 2,297.
This is a nice touch by the Topps card back writer, picking the Hank Aaron RBI record for a young player wearing #44, rather than that Home Run record which would not reference Hammerin' Hank any more.
After the 2019 season, Rizzo has hit 729 RBI.
Subspecies? This beautiful card would also appear in Opening Day and Chrome. It does have a "Great Catch" variation which we will see shortly.
But a baseball card blog post can't have too many baseball cards in it, so I thought I would show off one of my favorite "pulls" from 2013 Topps Baseball. I have always managed to hit rare Anthony Rizzo cards for some reason, starting with a /60 version of his RC in 2011, which will probably fund some expensive dental work later this year. Thanks, Topps. And that trend has continued on past 2013 as well. Although I don't buy baseball cards looking for a financial return or the ooh-ahh factor of owning someone's autograph, I can't say I am displeased when I pull a card like this:
So, did he catch it? First, an image from Getty:
Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo (44) catches a foul ball for an out that is hit by Houston Astros shortstop Jed Lowrie (4) in the first inning at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, on Sunday, July 1, 2012. The Cubs beat the Houston Astros 3-0. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images)
Now, the Topps version:
Though the baseball didn't make the framing cut here, the original newspaper caption says "catches."
Bling That Shell This is yet another card that contributed a fair bit to the genesis of this project. I pulled this parallel from a pack, and knew it was a just exactly perfect baseball card combination of red, white, & blue. But how could I "collect" it, in it's all-by-itselfness perfection? It would need some qualified neighbors, I figured.
This is one of my favorite parallels in the project:
...and, we're back. I have missed y'all, and missed my beloved Sea Turtle cards. I recently finished a minor remodeling project that moved the key piece of baseball card blogging equipment: the scanner. That will make blogging a lot, lot easier.
Though I don't know how many turtles I will be able to hatch for this run as I might be back on the road in a few weeks, I am really looking forward to writing a new batch. It did turn out to be a little strange writing up set blog entries for players that are still playing - after all, a player featured just 3 entries before this one ended up closing down Game 7 of the 2019 World Series not long ago. Thankfully, I did OK on predicting his future on that one.
When I came to a stop on these last year, I was also not looking forward to writing about a soon upcoming player - Craig Kimbrel - who hadn't even signed for the 2019 season yet.
But at this point, not very many Sea Turtles are still playing Major League Baseball, so those sorts of concerns will largely fade, going forward. It will still require several years to write about all of the Sea Turtles, but it will be my pleasure to do so. Thanks for reading!
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