This card is a good example of the down-side of my frequent blog comments on wanting to see a few more complete baseball players — & this card still does not feature 100% of Kyle Kendrick. After looking through a lot of cards featuring players often from the belt-up, only, one kind of gets used to being as acquainted with the player's face as on a posed/portrait card.
Then sometimes when Topps decides to zoom out for a change, I end up squinting at the card to get a clear view of the player's face. Here, I also end up flipping the card over quite quickly when it is in my hand, because the near-complete view of KK but with a face so distant quickly leads to an obvious conclusion: Kyle Kendrick must be pretty tall. So the quick flip to the back informs us that he is indeed 6'3", tall but not extraordinarily so.
All this loss of perspective on just what Kendrick looks like may have even confused Topps during production of this card, as we will see later in this post.
A different loss on this view-from-farther-away card is as much of a sense of motion as can be quickly picked up on cards more zoomed to the player. Here, the billowing uniform is the only small clue to the fact that this is a picture of live motion.
Aside from the various pretty lights in the distance, this card has one more eye-catching detail: the patch on Kendrick's left breast. This is the 4th Phillies card in the checklist but only 2nd to show a uniform front, and on the first card #6 - Ryan Howard, this uniform patch addition is not present. What gives?
Turns out, Topps had to go back in time for this picture of Kendrick, for some reason, as that letter "B" memorial patch was worn in the 2011 season "in honor of minority owners Alexander and John Buck, who died in late 2010," as Wikipedia kindly explains. All of which might also tie into how things went during production.
Uniform Hero? Nope. I'm sure Topps still hopes some free spirit can be found that makes us all rise to notice such a high uni #, but we shall see. In 2012, Uniform #71 managed all of 3 At Bats in MLB action.
Where’d the egg hatch? Kyle was drafted by the Phillies in the 7th round in 2003.
How about the migrations? Kendrick then debuted at what is probably a league average for a player drafted out of high school - four seasons later, in 2007. He then settled in as an example of how the draft system is supposed to work - a team drafts a player, they come up from the minors, and become a regular player for the team, as Kendrick had done for 6 seasons before this card was created.
Don’t flip over real Turtles.
And yes, Topps notices the regular every day players too, and often explains why you should notice them, too.
Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?
CAREER CHASE: With 54 wins, Kendrick is 457 away from Cy Young's all-time record of 511.
As the card back just explained Kendrick's value as a starter (though he had some stints of bullpen experience, too), this is the natural stat to pick for a Pitcher seeming to profile, in the stats, as a bit of a 'pitch-to-contact' type Pitcher.
Kendrick finished out his contract in Philly and then signed with Colorado for the 2015 season; always a forbidding place to pitch but one that proved especially forbidding for a Pitcher in his Age 30 season. A final pair of starts in Boston in 2017 were the final footnote.
Kyle Kendrick finished his MLB career with 81 Wins.
As the card back just explained Kendrick's value as a starter (though he had some stints of bullpen experience, too), this is the natural stat to pick for a Pitcher seeming to profile, in the stats, as a bit of a 'pitch-to-contact' type Pitcher.
Kendrick finished out his contract in Philly and then signed with Colorado for the 2015 season; always a forbidding place to pitch but one that proved especially forbidding for a Pitcher in his Age 30 season. A final pair of starts in Boston in 2017 were the final footnote.
Kyle Kendrick finished his MLB career with 81 Wins.
Subspecies? #3-4 starters routinely make the Topps Baseball checklist, but they routinely do not make the more star-driven Opening Day and Chrome checklists.
Nevertheless, there is sort of a known variant to this card, though not all collectors would consider including it to 'complete' this set, not even for a 'master set.'
But here it 'tis, you be the judge:
Nevertheless, there is sort of a known variant to this card, though not all collectors would consider including it to 'complete' this set, not even for a 'master set.'
But here it 'tis, you be the judge:
This is just a production error card; it was only ever found in early deliveries of Factory Sets in the early summer of 2013. I was quite happy to see one appear on COMC recently, though my quick purchase of it hasn't arrived at the home of the Sea Turtles as of yet.
But outside of generally quite rare minor printing snafus affecting one card at a time, this is the only known 'error card' in the set, at least as far as I am aware.
My hunch is that someone noticed how distant Kendrick looked on the card, and attempted to 'zoom in' while the image was already part of a sheet about to be clicked along to the next step in the production process.
Overall, a pretty rare thing in the world of 21st century baseball cards. Now, I just have to figure out where to keep my copy, when it eventually arrives.
Bling That Shell This was another easy selection; I figured all that blurred scoreboard goodness there in the background would make for a fun 'Blue Sparkle' card, and that did not disappoint:
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