#64 - Will Middlebrooks

What’s that Turtle doin’? It's a bird, it's a plane, it's - an impossible camera angle? I mean, is the photographer allowed out on the field, now?

This is one card where I particularly wish the player's position was noted on the front of the card. I already knew Middlebrooks played Third Base, but knowing that is a big part of what makes this photo even more dramatic. I'm thinking the photographer (Jim Davis, Boston Globe) must have been at least a bit beyond First, to capture Middlebrook's face coming towards us like this. So let's once again see what the Internet might have on this one:

BOSTON - JUNE 26: Red Sox 3B Will Middlebrooks dives, but can't get to a sixth inning ball hit by Toronto's Rajai Davis, not pictured, but the ball went to SS Mike Aviles, who threw to secondbase for a force out to end the inning. The Boston Red Sox hosted the Toronto Blue Jays in a major league baseball game at Fenway Park. (Photo by Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Knowing all that mentally drags the image even farther into the middle of the diamond, making this an even more impressive display of camera wizardry. I also like how this photo & baseball card comparison illustrates that sometimes, the crowd is already blurred in the photo, before the Topps wizards go to work.

As for the wizards' decisions here, the card does crop out the baseball zinging past, but that is quite alright in this case.

I have a nice, specific 2013 memory about this card, though not about acquiring the card. I completed Series One fairly early in it's release that winter. A month or so later, with Opening Day quite close, I was delighted to be baseball card shopping in eastern North Carolina one rainy day and the Local Card Shop owner proved to be a Red Sox fan. Naturally, conversation turned to coming season outlooks, and I imparted my base optimism for the Sox' chances that year - "Looks like they have a great new third baseman," I said. "Yeah, did you see that new Middlebrooks card?" replied the owner. "That's one of my favorites. I think the Sox will be back in the playoffs this year." This drew a shrug - the correct pessimistic New Englander response.

I also like how this card foreshadows Middlebrooks famously diving for a ball in the World Series some 7 months later.

There is no question that if I had to pick 9 favorite cards from the 2013 set, this card would make that cut.

Uniform Hero? For such a heroic photograph selection, I would hope the card # would match even though it is not visible. Middlebrooks did wear #64 with the Red Sox in 2012, a number more likely to seen on a Rookie than a veteran.

One other heroic thing about this card is that it finally ends what I have been calling the 'Pitcher Parade' in this set - 16 sequential cards for Pitchers. I have to wonder if that has ever happened on any other Topps Baseball checklist.

Where’d the egg hatch? The Red Sox drafted Middlebrooks in the 5th round of the 2007 draft.

How about the migrations? This is Will's card for his sophomore season in MLB; his Rookie campaign in Boston had this particular baseball card collector already pondering what might happen...

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

That is such a nice looking Rookie stat line. But what those #s, nor the bit-of-a-stretch pun in the card back text, can relate is a certain shadow already routinely falling over the career of Will Middlebrooks: injury; his 2012 campaign actually ended in August.

His 2013 season would include only 93 games and Boston had to work around yet more injuries for Middlebrooks by bringing up another infielder a little earlier than planned, but that ultimately worked out just fine as that younger prospect's name was Xander Bogaerts.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 54 RBI, Middlebrooks is 2,243 away from Hank Aaron's all-time record of 2,297.

A different stat clipping from his call-up informs this one: in his first 41 games for the Sox, Middlebrooks had 34 RBI. A slugging % > .500 for a Rookie will also bring on such thoughts of a key batting order spot and steady production.

Will Middlebrooks seemed to perpetually battle injury in his career, which probably peaked on this card, really. Subsequent stops included San Diego, Milwaukee, and Texas. A broken leg playing in Spring Training for Philadelphia in 2018 was his final entry on the IL. As the front of this card shows, it seems he always played hard.

Middlebrooks finished his career with 155 RBI.

Subspecies? Recall here that the original photo shows this great attempt at diving for the ball didn't work; perhaps that would disqualify including this great photo in the "Great Catch" series of photo variations in Series One. 

But Topps would hardly let a card this good go to waste, and it is included in both Opening Day and Chrome.

Bling That Shell Like many of my favorite cards in this set, I am a little tempted to collect a rainbow of this card. However it is such a popular card that I can't recall often seeing any of the limited /x parallels of it for sale. The photo is shot at night and the only real feature of the card is Will Middlebrooks himself, so I think any parallel of this would look pretty good; really this is another one for which the base "white" version is hard to improve on as photography clearly trumps design here.

I went with the Opening Day Blue version, probably because I pulled it from a pack but did not hit the OD version of the preceding Masterson card. I believe these parallels are very similar to what are called "foilboards" in the 2020 baseball card collecting world; what is more dramatic here is the nice dark blue frame rather than the background 'foil' effects.

Another great thing about this spot in the checklist is that we have reached the end of a binder page again, and can move on into the checklist and away from the Pitcher Parade via the best way possible in a baseball card binder: by turning the page.