By that I mean, I sure hope Trevor Bauer likes his sophomore Topps Baseball card, as he is fairly well known for a deep study of all things Pitching. The lines of the image do seem to align correctly in every way, both for a good photo, and a good pitch. Having his right foot included in the frame makes for a particularly strong overall line all the way to the top of his cap; a line which doesn't carry the viewer to the plate with the ball but does make the viewer of the card easily hear the announcer saying "from the stretch" pretty clearly.
I always like the high socks look; it says to me 'baseball' far better than the pajama leg uniform look does. With the socks, the long sleeves, solid color uni, the red advertising on the outfield wall, the cap, the red Sea Turtle, and the red team logo — well, overall the white frame nicely offsets all that red very nicely. Would a 'full bleed' card design do the same, for this photo?
I suspect this is probably a Night Card; day games under a roof tend to have a different lighting I think. But indoor Night Cards aren't usually as noticeably night-timed. However the photographic effect of shooting it at night creates my favorite part of the card - the white orb just beyond Bauer's pitching hand. So calming, somehow.
Somehow, so far, this 2013 Topps Baseball set manages to only offer up a 100% complete image of a baseball player about once per binder page; this card is only a close, but no toes for that idea. The result of seeing 99% of Trevor Bauer is that we are a little less able to see the expression on Bauer's face, which, given his now well-known enjoyment of discussing the state of Major League Baseball very publicly - is not surprisingly a fair bit 'earnest.' If you wish to see that a little better, this same image is used on an insert card in the set, his "1972 mini."
Uniform Hero? Negatory. Although MLB regulars wearing uniform #s this high start to thin out some, Topps did still have some options here for players that would appear elsewhere in Sea Turtle land.
Where’d the egg hatch? Trevor Bauer was drafted by Arizona in the first round in 2011, as the 3rd pick, which is something that leads to the creation of a lot of baseball cards, such as being included on insert checklists despite appearing in only 4 MLB games so far.
How about the migrations? Like most successful college starters selected early in the draft, he debuted the next year, but the Diamondbacks elected to largely keep him in the minors after that brief July call-up.
Bauer was then one of an impressive set of chips moved in a 3-team trade in early December 2012 as this card was 'going to press,' as it were, which also included Shin-Shoo Choo and Didi Gregorius; Bauer ended up in Cleveland where he again pitched in only 4 games in 2013 before joining their rotation to stay in 2014.
At the 2019 trade deadline, Bauer was again on the move in a complex 3-team trade, this time changing leagues but not States of the Union as he moved just downstate to Cincinnati. As the 2020 season commences he has only a year of club control left for the Reds.
Bauer was then one of an impressive set of chips moved in a 3-team trade in early December 2012 as this card was 'going to press,' as it were, which also included Shin-Shoo Choo and Didi Gregorius; Bauer ended up in Cleveland where he again pitched in only 4 games in 2013 before joining their rotation to stay in 2014.
At the 2019 trade deadline, Bauer was again on the move in a complex 3-team trade, this time changing leagues but not States of the Union as he moved just downstate to Cincinnati. As the 2020 season commences he has only a year of club control left for the Reds.
Don’t flip over real Turtles.
One thing feels certain to me about Trevor Bauer — the Topps card back writer will never lack for subject matter in this assignment, something his Rookie Card foreshadows as well.
I do enjoy occasionally reading any active Major Leaguer's current take on Major League Baseball, but I do hope that Bauer someday shares a few thoughts on baseball cards. Though I can't say I am optimistic those will be sunny ones, I would still like to hear them.
Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?
CAREER CHASE: With 17 strikeouts, Bauer is 5,697 away from Nolan Ryan's all-time record 5,714.
This could be the greatest counting stat differential in the entire run of these stats, depending on how many Rookies Topps might subject to a Nolan Ryan comparison later in the set. This is surely the greatest differential so far.
As the 2020 season commences, Bauer has thrown 1,179 Strikeouts.
This could be the greatest counting stat differential in the entire run of these stats, depending on how many Rookies Topps might subject to a Nolan Ryan comparison later in the set. This is surely the greatest differential so far.
As the 2020 season commences, Bauer has thrown 1,179 Strikeouts.
Subspecies? There will be more Trevor Bauer Sea Turtle cards in the set, but there are no variants of his Diamondbacks card.
Bling That Shell High print run parallels make this whole project possible; here I went with the Emerald parallel that might have fallen out of any pack of Sea Turtle cards, in every pack design:
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