#76 - Brandon Inge

What’s that Turtle doin’? Just funnin' around there in the dugout. For the first time in the set, Topps keeps it loose as it breaks the official set theme of live action baseball and chillax' a little.

Over time collecting Topps Baseball cards created by photographs from inside MLB stadiums, one begins to recognize where the various pro photogs around the League tend to shoot from. In Oakland, for some reason, the photographer seems to have total access to the dugout; I base that on the # of cards created from either dugout there, which are not rare.

And that's a good thing. A good set of baseball cards should let the atmosphere of the game out onto the baseball cards sometimes, too, and this certainly does that.

One thing I like about Dugout Cards is a quick glimpse at the card subject's teammates. I think that is Chris Carter going a round with Inge here. Meanwhile Josh Reddick seems about to say "hey, I'm trying to watch a game here" while for some reason Jarrod Parker looks like he is about to cry. Over to his right, it looks like the actor who played Jeremy Giambi has stopped by fresh from the set of Moneyball, though now sporting Catcher gear for some reason. Can't explain that one.

+Bonus points for a nice view of the classic A's shoulder patch.

Uniform Hero? No; Inge was just a regular baseball 'positional' player, who wore rather basic, low uniform #s commonly associated with starting fielders.

Where’d the egg hatch? Brandon was drafted by the Tigers in the 2nd round of 1998, a year earlier than checklist neighbor Barry Zito, and is thus one of the older Sea Turtles still playing in 2013.

How about the migrations? This card documents the first of such actually. Inge reached the majors at 24, in 2001, debuting as a Catcher, where he would play about a quarter of his career. Known for his overall athleticism, he was a mainstay at Third Base for Detroit through the decade of the '00s, but also played a fair bit of Outfield as well.

But after the '00s ended, Time was starting to assert it's inevitable presence, specifically on Inge's offensive production, which had only occasionally reached league average. Though he was well liked by his Manager and General Manager for his defensive versatility, his reception in the fanbase was wearing thin despite his being a survivor of the worst Tiger season ever in 2003. Perhaps in the 20th Century, he may have been considered a Fan Favorite, but in the Social Media 21st Century, well, I'm not sure there are quite as many Fan Favorites as there used to be, when it is so easy to casually hate people online whenever one wishes.

When Dave Dombrowski unleashed his latest blockbuster signing of 2013 Topps Baseball cover star #28 - Prince Fielder in early 2012, Miguel Cabrera returned to Third Base and Brandon Inge was basically out of a job, though the Tigers seemed unwilling to forget his ten years of service with the club. The result felt rather cruel as the team kept Inge on through Spring Training with vague plans to play him at Second Base, some, and elsewhere, somehow, but Inge was totally unable to warm up his bat that early April and finally after just 9 games Dombrowski had to pull the plug he should have pulled back in January.

Oakland promptly signed him for infield depth and he promptly hit a Grand Slam for them on his first visit to Detroit in early May 2012. But as this card was being pulled from packs, Inge was in camp with a new team, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

What I like about this card back is that for a Tigers fan, this is pretty much the complete story of his career in Detroit, excepting the slow conversion from Catcher to Third Baseman, for which there isn't room on complete stat card backs.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 641 RBI, Inge is 1,656 away from Hank Aaron's all-time record of 2,297.

I like how this comparison draws the card back reader to Inge's 2006 season, which was one of his best at the plate and the year the Tigers lost a World Series. But for most collectors, that would probably be just a whatever.

Brandon Inge finished his career with 648 RBI.

Subspecies? Though this 'fun' card image would seemingly be a perfect fit for the Opening Day set, an almost sunset card for just an ordinary everyday Major Leaguer isn't something that Opening Day nor Chrome has much checklist room for. There are no variants.

Bling That Shell For this somewhat goofy card, I went with the somewhat goofy parallel choice, the Factory Set Orange. Which somehow slightly pays a little tribute to Inge's time in Detroit too, if you mentally squint at the idea a little:

#32 - Craig Breslow

What’s that Turtle doin’? This is probably technically a live game photo from the field of play. There would be no way or much reason to worry about knowing for sure. I am going to Blogger label it a "Candid" as it does contribute nicely to some baseball card variety in this set.

The only action on the card is the standard habit of a Pitcher rubbing the baseball vigorously to improve his grip on it. Though only, probably - the viewer can't confirm that a baseball is actually present in Breslow's hands. But I bet it would take a little while to find another baseball card depicting this particular baseball playing activity, so that makes me like this card.

Given the overall relaxed nature of the image, I like the torso-only approach here, which is perfectly framed/composed.

The other items of interest in the image are no less than 3 shoulder accessories to consider. For the classic red socks the Red Sox wear on their left shoulder, on the road uniform only, this is probably the best card in the set for showing them off. And probably one of the best examples of them on a baseball card I can think of. Sometimes using a from-the-uniform logo in the design of a baseball card can result in duplicative or even triplicate usage of the logo, sometimes in close proximity on the card design and the player photo, and that can get a little nutty on some cards. Two pairs of Sox, as on this card, feels just fine though.

Also interesting are the 2 items on Breslow's right shoulder. The "Fenway 100 Years" patch was worn by the Red Sox in 2012 and the best on-card example of it could be (we'll see...) a 'manufactured patch' card I included in the post for the first Red Sox card in the set, #15 - Dustin Pedroia.

What do I mean about a 2nd item on his right shoulder? There is also a black armband being worn, something easy to miss on a baseball card. This is a memorial effort for Boston Red Sox all-around everyman with the club, Johnny Pesky. He died on Aug. 12, 2012 after a near complete lifetime in a Red Sox uniform, as a player (debuted in 1940), manager, coach, broadcaster, front office employee, roving instructor, and general historical lodestar for decades; he was sometimes referred to as "Mr. Red Sox." 

The black armband was only worn on the road uniform for the balance of the 2012 season, due to the use of the red socks patch on the left shoulder. On home uniforms at that time, a more traditional round uniform # (6) patch was worn on the left shoulder. I can't recall seeing a clear image of that on any Topps Baseball card, but I will certainly be watching for even traces of it on all my 2013 Boston Red Sox baseball cards.

Uniform Hero? As with the previous card, another technical "yes." Placing a basic journeyman reliever amidst all the star power in this checklist sequence is basically the third wtf? on this idea.

I suspect that here again, a player team change may have resulted in just an ordinary player assuming this card #. The most famous player to wear #32 in 2012 was Josh Hamilton, who's star was still burning it's way brightly onto many Topps cards in 2013 releases. However he had signed with the California Angels in mid-December 2012 as this set was being assembled; he would appear on a couple insert cards in Series One as a Texas Ranger and in Series Two as a California Angel, and more importantly, his base card was issued in Series 2.

Quite likely, it was simpler to just plug in any other random Uni #32 player right here and keep on makin' more baseball cards.

Where’d the egg hatch? Craig Breslow was originally drafted by the Brewers in the 26th round in 2002, making him the highest draft round selection in the set so far.

How about the migrations? He eventually debuted in MLB action with the Padres, commencing a fairly normal career arc for a reliever that included pitching for 7 teams, and 3 of them twice. Across his career, he would appear on only 4 Topps Baseball cards, this one being his third.

Perhaps being placed in this checklist spot created excellent luck for Breslow as his 2013 season was probably his best, statistically, and he was able to enjoy being a key cog in a bullpen for a World Series winning team.

Breslow would remain in Boston through the 2015 season and retire after the 2017 season, his 12th. In the winter of 2019 he was hired to work in the Chicago Cubs organization on the strength of his reputation in the game as being one of the smartest players around, a rep slightly fore-shadowed on the back of this very baseball card...

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

Now that is the kind of just exactly perfect uselessly entertaining / entertainingly useless information one enjoys reading on the back of a Topps Baseball card, particularly for one featuring a player in New England.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 358 games pitched, Breslow is 894 away from Jesse Orosco's all-time record of 1,252.

This is a new record chase to consider, although this is still only the fourth Pitcher card in the set. Still I doubt anyone having already read a passel of these nerdy little baseball card back lines expected to consider a Jesse Orosco All-Time record on the back of this one, or already knew that Jesse Orosco held an All-Time record. Topps, keeping you connected to The Game.

For a middle reliever, this is of course the perfect record to consider. I expect we won't see this Career Chase very much until we reach the Update cards, several baseball seasons from now.

Craig Breslow pitched in 576 Major League Baseball games in his career.

Subspecies? Nope.

Bling That Shell Given the Hall of Fame future of this particular page of 9 Topps Baseball cards, I am always surprised when I look at this page at how things worked out for this card in particular. That probably traces back to a mixed lot purchase of some of these parallels, which supplied the next card in the checklist and in turn probably made using one of the parallels with the 2 highest prints (unknown in total) for one of the 2 most common players on the page -- a bit of a fait accompli here:

#23 - Jemile Weeks

What’s that Turtle doin’? A card from Whoville? There aren't many such cards in this part of the checklist; so far only Lawrie and perhaps Duda are fated to largely become players mostly remembered by baseball card collectors of the future. So when a player like this appears in the midst of so many All-Stars, one takes note.

And probably, that doesn't totally hurt the player/card in question - there must be a reason Jemile Weeks follows Clayton Kershaw in a checklist like this, one reasons - what is it? Piquing curiosity is a central function of baseball cards.

I will delve into that a little more below, but a key reason is probably the success of his brother - our first familial pair of Sea Turtles in the set, though I do not expect to find another one.

As a card, this is largely a successful one. Who doesn't like a Dirty Uniform card? You can only get a uniform dirty like that one by sliding in head first, Pete Rose style. The image also relates well with the constructions on the back of the card that we will see shortly - something that is not always the case with Topps baseball cards.

For A's fans in 2013, enjoying a peak in franchise success, this was probably a happy card to find, with a nice cameo from their new Cuban star and an augury of 2013 game plans - we'll get Weeks on the basepaths, then we'll get Cespedes to knock him in. I like the way the 2 yellow batting helmet brims somewhat connect the 2 players.

Sometimes, when you don't view baseball cards through the 20/20 cloud-tinted glasses of hindsight, they can be quite a bit more enjoyable.

Uniform Hero? And right here on the front of this card for everyone to see, the whole Uniform # = Card # tie-in comes thudding to a four flat tire halt for the first time in the set. What gives?

This is a relatively simple error to divine, though not traceable to a change in teams, as with the #3 - Hunter Pence card.

Turns out, Jemile Weeks' brother Rickey, a 2011 All-Star at the peak of his career in Milwaukee as these Sea Turtle cards were hatching - wore #23. Most likely, an early checklist mock-up only used last names, would be my guess. Sigh.

Where’d the egg hatch? Jemile Weeks was a first round pick by Oakland, a team baseball fans probably largely suspect make the most careful draft picks of them all, back in 2008 and was the 12th pick overall. That was a post-College selection; Weeks was also drafted in the 8th round by his brother's team, the Brewers, in 2005, two years after his elder brother's selection.

How about the migrations? Jemile debuted with the A's in 2011 and has a minor Topps footnote in that he does not have a coveted RC logo card in Topps Baseball - only in 2011 Bowman Sterling and eTopps, despite a 97 game Rookie season.

That 2011 season was dynamite - a .303 AVG! The A's had a new lead-off hitter for a long time to come, it seemed.

That 2012 season was a dud. Topps supplies a few more clues to what all was going on in his career on the back of the card as we will see shortly. When a Rookie debuts in the Major Leagues, the rest of the League often needs experience facing the new player, in terms of designing a pitching strategy to exploit the "hole in the swing" that almost every baseball hitter has. This is called "writing the book" on that player and to maintain success in MLB, a Rookie has to be able to make adjustments to the changes he starts to see from the opposing Pitchers.

Weeks could never do that, unfortunately, and he would appear in only 8 games in the 2013 season for Oakland. A classic post-season "change of scenery" trade never really worked out for him at multiple other MLB stops and the result is that this 2013 Topps Baseball card is technically his "Sunset" card, though one could quibble that Opening Day comes out 2 months after Series One.

This is the first such card on the checklist, and is one reason I started a Set Blog for a set of cards that is only 6 years old when the blog starts. Careers are shortening dramatically in Major League Baseball, and I was already beginning to forget just who some of the players on the Sea Turtles cards were, and what they accomplished. Baseball card collectors will be seeing a lot more cards like this Jemile Weeks card in the decade to come.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

How often do you ever consider a player's Height and Weight? They are listed on the back of just about each and every baseball card we collect. On this card, 5' 9" and 160 Lbs ties in directly with all the other information presented.

Topps did what it could to find a ray of hope amidst the disappointment of everyone involved given the results of Weeks' 2012 season. One thing standard card back structure does not reveal, as it always lists MLB stats after MiLB stats from the same year, is just when Weeks played those games in Sacramento. Those occurred late in the season, as part of a retool-your-swing-in-the-minors attempt, which didn't really help much, as it turned out.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 38 stolen bases, Weeks is 1,368 away from Rickey Henderson's all-time record of 1,406.

Another easy does it chase comparison by Topps; who wouldn't think of Rickey Henderson when the Oakland Athletics have a lead-off hitter banging away at over .300 and stealing 22 bases as a Rookie?

Jemile Weeks would add just 3 more MLB SBs and finish his career with 41. 

Subspecies? Weeks also appears in 2013 Opening Day, which is technically his final baseball card of any type.

Bling That Shell So I guess it is quite fitting that I selected the /2013 Opening Day Blue parallel for this checklist spot, though I was unaware of Weeks' baseball card oeuvre when I picked it.

#12 - A.J. Pierzynski

What’s that Turtle doin’? Here we have one of my favorite cards in the entire set. If I can someday get around to a Base Set's Top 40 Baseball Card Countdown just for the 2013 set say by the year 2029 or so, this card will finish very high indeed.

Even though there is very little mystery or action to discern here. Pierzynski is simply posing for a photographer, probably in what appears to be a voluminous part of what was then called U.S. Cellular Field and is now called Guaranteed Rate Field. I would think he is standing closer to the short wall at the edge of the field than he is to the actual on-deck circle.

And this is a classic baseball card image, with a lineage going back through decades of baseball cards. I would expect that anyone reading this blog is familiar with such. If not, please go out and purchase a random lot of 500 mixed beat-up 60s - 80s Topps commons and start over with the Sea Turtles later on.

But I can hear the complaints coming in through my computer screen already - "I hate all that advertising." "I hate corporate ball-park names!"  I'm with you on that 2nd one; only as pitiful a name as 'Guaranteed Rate' could make you miss saying something like 'out at the ole Cellular today...'

Advertising has been part of baseball pretty much from the beginning, or at least the beginnings of the players being paid. Money to support the whole thing has to come from somewhere, and even 19th century club owners would not turn down a revenue stream just for the sake of some non-commercial purity ethos.

And of course, the very first baseball cards were actually tiny advertisements.

But the ads were largely kept off of the fronts of the cards for a very long time. The first one I could find on a card, admittedly without an exhaustive search, was a 1950 Bowman issue, here cribbed from my collecting projects partner COMC:

I think because of a card from the year 2013, I will some day purchase my first card from the year 1950.

Now to be sure, ads you can't quite connect to a specific actual advertiser aren't quite the same as the 6 easily recognizable ads on the Pierzynski card. And as long as cards were created by hand-made artwork, like this one was, the ads on outfield fences and billboards were usually simply not re-created, even when they were possibly part of source photographs used to create the artwork.

This remained true as baseball cards transitioned to be the simpler-to-create printings of the actual photos. Some of my own base hunches about all this are that photographers shooting photos at major league ball games across all decades were a) cognizant of the fact that an ad in the background of a photo distracts from a subject in the foreground, and were b) largely working for newspapers, who wished to sell advertising, not give it away free in their photographs. Printing an image of a baseball player in front of the Burma Shave billboard in the outfield on the cover of the sports section is not going to be appreciated by the Barbasol executive who just purchased a few weeks of print ads in that same sports section, though maybe the Burma Shave exec would buy you an extra martini at lunch the next day.

To consider the implications of advertising & MLB for this post, I spent a little time wandering the web on the topic. I did not find a just-exactly-perfect, detailed history of the interaction of professional baseball and advertising to share a link with you - perhaps someone out there should write one. But I did pick up a few tidbits along the way this morning, including one about the famous "Green Monster" in Left Field at Fenway. I bet few fans today realize that it only became "Green" in 1947 as previously, it was covered in advertising.

I suspect that as the 50s and 60s and then 70s and even large portions of the 80s moved along, Major League Baseball probably was at a lower point in having tight connections between seeing live baseball action while simultaneously seeing advertising in the same visual frame, as compared to earlier decades, and the way 'the game' looks today, as seen on this A.J. Pierzynski card, and many, many other recent cards. At some point, ownerships once again became quite willing to bring in revenue by returning to selling ads on every surface a fan might gaze upon.

So I think by first becoming familiar with cards always free of ads in previous decades, this then creates a feeling of negativity around cards like this one. "I just want them to be like they were when I was a kid" is an incredibly common sentiment among older collectors today. Now, you kids get off my lawn, too!

Lately I have noticed a new access to historical images of the connection between pro baseball and advertising - on baseball cards, like this one:

Of note regarding this card from the 2011 Topps Lineage set, it is card #42, and not the only card # & Uni # match on the checklist, some 2 years before the 2013 Sea Turtles.

As Topps and Panini continue to mine old photos to use on new baseball cards, a little more of the historical amount of advertising around the game is now seen, on some cards. I haven't found a lot of them over the past decade, but they are here and there, and they do catch your eye with their contrast to original cards of the same Star players from 50+ years ago.

Thus this #12 A.J. Pierzynski 2013 Topps baseball card connects me to major league history in a certain way. It also connects me to baseball card history, as sets of baseball cards used to routinely use photos shot from the sidelines of baseball activity of all types. Naturally, given the location of Topps, Inc., a lot of such images came from Yankee and Shea Stadiums when this practice began. The modern composition of _the_ Topps Baseball set every year is to use action shots, action shots, action shots, as we will see routinely in this blog, but that is in no way an historical Topps approach. I'm not sure just when the set became > 95% live action, but that is the way it is today.

When the first true photographs of live action on cards began appearing (as opposed to the illustrated-from-photos technique occasionally used earlier, as in 1956 for example) in the 1971 set (none in 1970? correct if I am wrong), they were a welcome relief from sets composed of >95% posed pictures. And then for a long time sets were a mix of action, and semi-action or 'candid' photos snapped along sidelines or dug-outs or a spring training field, and actual straight poses for the camera shot in those same locations, often times from the official "Photo Day" teams have (and still do today, in about 3 weeks as I type) at the very beginning of Spring Training. 

Current decade sets have abandoned that approach entirely, at least in the 660 or 700 card Topps Baseball set. Recent Heritage releases have used cards almost exclusively sourced at Photo Day, but then recent Heritage years have been reproducing a difficult period for Topps, the late 60s, when photo rights contracts with the players were in a great deal of flux and assembling the images for the sets was probably the most challenging in the whole history of Topps. So Heritage sets of the last few years really shouldn't be judged much, on this question. The imminent release of the 1970 style Heritage set will be fascinating in this regard - will "the Stadium" once again appear as a back-drop on the baseball cards? One bright spot on this question has been found in recent releases of the Archives set, where the tradition of mixing up the photo sources has begun to ramp up somewhat, after initial Archives sets were heavily composed of generally tepid Photo Day images.

Meanwhile in the most recent Topps Baseball sets, only a similar handful of cards are drawn from 'candid' sources in a set using >95% live game images, though perhaps with a few more cards than we will see in the 2013 set. These days, 'candids' are largely reserved for use as Photo Variations, which most casual collectors will never own beyond an occasional example pulled from a pack.

When I first beheld this A.J. Pierzynski card, it gave me hope that the set was going to become more 'mixed' in terms of photo type diversity, a hope that did not come true. But whenever I see this card, that hope is renewed, as with baseball cards, the old expression re: baseball is also quite true: "there's always next year."

Whew. That leaves just one more mystery about the card at hand - what game is it from? I have tried several times to figure that out; only a high quality scan of the card finally cracked the case for me. There is a very similar image of A.J. from September 2011 in the Getty archives, however it clearly shows Paul Konerko in the batter's box. On this card, Alex Rios is batting in front of Pierzynski, in the bottom of the 1st, with a runner on 3rd and 2 Outs. It is a nice sunny day game, with full stands - probably a weekend game. The visiting team has their road greys on, but they have blue caps and other bits of blue on.

As it turns out, the Blue Jays visited Chicago on Saturday, July 7, 2012. In the At Bat underway on this card, Rios grounded out, ending the inning.

Uniform Hero? As seen on A.J.'s right breast - and the bat knob.

Where’d the egg hatch? A.J. Pierzynski was drafted in the 3rd round by the Twins in 1994, for whom he essentially had 3 "Cups of Coffee" type appearances in MLB from 98 through 2000, before becoming a starter at Catcher for them in 2001.

How about the migrations? His stint in Minnesota would include 2 more full seasons before a trade to the Giants for the 2004 season and then moving to the White Sox in 2005. As this card was coming out of packs, he was coming off his best ever season at the plate for Chicago, posting an .827 OPS. However his contract expired after the 2012 season and Pierzynski had already (December, 2012) signed with the Texas Rangers for the 2013 season. So this became his final White Sox baseball card. He would go on to also play in St. Louis and Boston before retiring after 2 seasons with Atlanta in 2015 and 2016 - his 19th.

Pierzynski was definitely not a "beloved" player by many, for transgressions I am not always familiar with, including one famous on-field brawl. Despite that, he began a broadcasting career while still an active player in 2011, by working on post-season broadcasts. He is currently a full-time baseball analyst for the Fox network.

My own most cognizant memory of A.J. Pierzynski is an oddball stat that I have never put much time into tracking down. After his many years in the AL Central, he was quite familiar to broadcasters in the division. The radio crew for the Detroit Tigers, who supply me with a large portion of my baseball news every season, would always comment on one of his hitting tendencies - he would normally be found atop the current  'leader boards', wherever those are kept, for one specific stat: his tendency to swing at the first pitch of an At Bat. I do hope to see some actual #s on that, somewhere, some day.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

No fuss no muss, just a nice compendium of his career stats to date.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 1,645 hits, Pierzynski is 2,611 away from the all-time record of 4,256.

On their 4th try with this one, Topps did get the math right, for only the 2nd time.

Pierzynski finished his career with 2,043 Hits, becoming just the 9th (10th if you count Joe Torre, who played more games in the infield than behind the plate) Catcher to break the 2,000 Hit mark. Unlike Yadier Molina, I do not expect he will receive many Hall of Fame votes, though his career was very impressive nonetheless.

Subspecies? After changing teams probably during the production of this card, Pierzynski does have some other Sea Turtle design cards, though he is the first player on the Series 1 checklist to not appear on the 220 card Opening Day checklist. He appears with the Texas Rangers in the Update set, as he does in Chrome and on one other card. When I reach his Update card, many years from now, I will examine the other Pierzynski Sea Turtles.

2019 Update: As I detail in the #49 - Chris Sale entry, I have now begun adding unique cards from the Topps 'factory' "Team Set" issued in blister packs in June of each year. As I wish to keep the one card, one post format for the blog, I will be adding the various unique cards to the most apropos pack issued card as I go along. This is clearly the right post to add this card:

& the straight-forward card back:

Bling That Shell Another easy decision to select this one, although another that also took a few years to track down. The White Sox have a singular Sea Turtle 'team color' - grey - that looks excellent on most every parallel, though of all the teams, their cards do struggle the most on the /99 Camo version. But along with one other easily guessed team, their cards look absolutely exactly perfect on the /62 Black versions:

However, I like this card so much that I decided to collect a partial 'Rainbow' of the possibilities. My first shipment home from COMC includes our first view of the /230 'Factory Set Orange' parallel, for a page I have made good progress on, with just 2 easy spots and one difficult one to go:

#4 - Yadier Molina

What’s that Turtle doin’? On our first horizontal card, Topps deploys a not uncommon live game baseball card trope, though technically a post-game trope: a Catcher congratulating his battery-mate on a Win.

Except normally, such cards feature relievers at a minimum, and usually show well-known Closers. This card features Cardinals Ace Adam Wainwright, leading one to guess this is a celebration of an ever more rare thing in today's MLB - a Complete Game Victory.

And a quick bit of clicking through Baseball Reference and Getty Images, the source of a great many Topps baseball cards, reveals that this image is from the conclusion of a game on May 22, 2012, when Wainwright threw a 9 Inning, 4 Hit Shut-out at home to beat the San Diego Padres, 4-0. 

Uniform Hero? No question on a card with this low of a #. In his first two seasons, Molina wore #41 before settling in at #4 in 2006. I would say there is a good chance the Cardinals might someday retire this #, as they have not done so since honoring Ozzie Smith at #1, and a future date in Cooperstown is not out of the range of possibilities for 'Yadi'.

Where’d the egg hatch? A 4th round pick for the Cards, Molina debuted in 2004.

How about the migrations? A steady presence in St. Louis ever since, with numerous accolades, MLB Awards, All-Star games, and post-season triumphs, Molina is quite likely to remain a Franchise Player for his entire career. He is currently signed with the Cardinals through the 2020 season.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

A straight-forward, insightful comment on Molina's impressive gains with the bat as his career matured.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 1,022 hits, Molina is 3,727 away from the all-time record of 3,234.

Perhaps The Hit King invisibly looms so large over this stat challenge construction, that the worn-out miner deep in the Topps baseball card mines has lost the ability to do basic math here. Though one also has to wonder just who has 4,749 Hits in some combination of baseball Leagues, somewhere, or who it is/was that had 3,234 somethings playing organized baseball.

Of course few would ever expect a Catcher, given the wear&tear and rest days required of the position, to be able to catch an Infielder in any given offensive stat of the counting variety. This example also illustrates the possibilities that could have existed if Topps could have put more miner hours into the creation of this set, and used occasional position-specific stats for this card-back feature.

After the 2018 season, Molina's career Hit total has reached 1,850. This gives him an excellent chance to reach 2,000 Hits - something only 9 other Catchers have done in the history of Major League Baseball, and just one simple reason he may some day give a speech in a small town in upstate New York.

Subspecies? This image is also used in Chrome, and in Opening Day, which we will see shortly. However as seeing more cards is more fun, I thought I would share a Molina card from an insert set I quite enjoyed and collected to completion in 2013, in Opening Day - the "Play Hard" inserts. 

Now, Play @ the Plate cards are always popular of course, but seeing a moment of impact is somewhat rare. Would a Catcher blocking Home with another Catcher coming down the line from 3rd receive any professional courtesy from that Catcher, a year or so after the famous injury to Buster Posey, but before the new Buster Posey Rule? Nah man, Yadier Molina wants to win this game. Brace yourselves.

Bling That Shell This was another easy decision for the All-Parallel Turtles. As I am already going to be using the Emerald Foil parallels included in S1, S2, & Update, it was not much of a leap to also use the Blue Foil /2013 parallels found on the 220 card Opening Day checklist, about 97% of which uses the same image on the front of the card as is used in Series 1 & 2. I somewhat prefer the parallels that do not use the 'Foil' image modification, but the project would be too overly difficult without them.

The only minor nitpick to the idea is the basically superfluous Opening Day logo included on the cards, but I can live with that. I do like the dark blue border on these quite a bit.

Although 8 of the 9 cards on the 1st binder page have equivalents in Opening Day, 3 of them are "Blue Team" cards, which would break a basic color rule I use for constructing the set, as I will explain a bit more after the post for the 9th card. Of the five choices for using an Opening Day Blue on the page, I pulled this card from a pack: