#68 - Colby Rasmus

What’s that Turtle doin’? Bat Down! It has been 22 cards in this checklist since we have seen a baseball card with a baseball bat on it. Surely a record for a live action Topps Baseball checklist.

Though I will bet basically no baseball card collectors uttered those 2 words about this baseball card back in 2013. Writing here from the future, this has become a bit of an iconic baseball card baseball playing situation, thanks to the 2018 Series 2 Ronald Acuña short print RC that I both love & hate (hate because I hate artificial scarcity created by Topps, and my deep down knowledge that I will never own a copy of that card).

But now I have my own Bat Down card to enjoy and appreciate instead. I would also bet very few collectors in the 2020s wishing to afford the famous Bat Down card will instead simply enjoy other examples of it in the history of baseball cards. I have a feeling I will be trying to assemble 9 examples of them in my binder of miscellaneous baseball card fun that needs a far better name than that.

On this card, I like how the wrinkles on Colby's uniform draw the eye into the rotational force he has just released, leading the viewer all the way back around to the bat, OR to Colby's eyes now admiring the flight of the ball just like we do when able to see some live baseball action. 

And that bat...a 2 tone special. I used to collect cards with a black bat, just to see what would happen later, in terms of who all would end up on that checklist together. I should probably revive that little effort. The hieroglyphics on the bat do invite inspection, now that I can zoom in on the scan. The bat proves to be a Marucci, a brand new manufacturer in the 21st Century, and probably one of the forces in the game behind the ever stronger use of Maple bats. Their story can be found here.

This card is definitely re-awakening my interest in the lumber, and the mystery of who uses Ash, Maple, or Hickory. 

As for the over-arching mystery of this card — Fly Ball? Home Run? This card's not telling, but that's OK.

Uniform Hero? Clearly a No. But a little intriguing nonetheless, in that Rasmus clearly is #28, and is card #68 - is this a sly use of a hero # akin to the way even, say #35 was a better player than #34, in really old Topps sets? Topps isn't saying, and I basically doubt that possibility here, but I will be watching.

Where’d the egg hatch? Rasmus was a first rounder for the Cardinals originally, as the 24th pick in 2005; right out of high school, so

How about the migrations? he did not debut in St. Louis until 2009. Which wasn't a particularly remarkable Rookie campaign except to remark that playing 147 Games in a debut season is a strong accomplishment in and of itself.

He was then able to defeat the sophomore slump that hits so many Rookies (and keeps Topps making Rookie Cards), on the field of play at least. Things in the dugout & clubhouse weren't so good as Rasmus didn't get along with St. Louis or St. Louis didn't get along with Rasmus, probably depending on which party was asked about it all.

In mid-2011 Rasmus was traded to Toronto in a rare 4-for-4 swap of all active Major Leaguers, no prospects. Headed back to St. Louis were both my man Octavio Dotel _and_ Edwin Jackson, the latter being the player who would eventually break the former's record for Most Teams in a career. And to think they were both traded together at one point, huhh.

Like several Sea Turtles in this prestige filled checklist portion, Rasmus was headed towards the year of the Sea Turtle being the year of his career.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

This could be yet another example used to illustrate a baseball card textbook. Of course most baseball fans, or at least most long-time baseball card collectors, know than most baseball players experience an unusual achievement every single year, if you look for the unusual carefully enough. Like Topps does.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 76 home runs, Rasmus is 686 away from Barry Bonds' all-time record of 762.

Topps doesn't seem to have really gotten along with Barry Bonds all that well, and the instant Bonds' career ended, so did any and all Topps Baseball cards. So I have to wonder how often this particular comp will be pulled out as this set progresses. But then on the offensive side of the game, they also have difficulty using the Hit King here. Perhaps, Hank Aaron's RBI record will win out in total comparisons.

As for this comparison on this card, I guess that traces to 2010, when Rasmus had that .498 Slugging % and hit 23 Home Runs, as he had also just done in 2012. Way back then, i.e. before MLB changed the baseball manufacturer in Central America which in turn lowered the seams on the ball and in turn made every utility guy everywhere a 20 Homer masher, well, 23 Home Runs was more of a deal and a sign of optimism. And we do have that sweet bat down optimism on the front of the card.

Rasmus would play 6 more seasons; his stops included Houston, where he became the first player in MLB history to sign a "qualifying offer," but his career had a very ragged ending as he stepped away from the game during the season, twice, first with Tampa, and finally with Baltimore in 2018.

That final summer for Rasmus included hitting a Home Run off Max Scherzer in his first game back in pro baseball; he finished his career with 166 Home Runs.

Subspecies? Colby Rasmus probably (unwittingly, probably) provoked too many fans to then make it onto as many baseball card checklists as he might have; this is his only Sea Turtle designed card.

Bling That Shell Mmmm-mmm, anyone got some bubble gum? This card makes me fondly remember Maple flavored bubble gum, which like most Maple flavored items didn't last long on the American market place. But we all know a country where it probably can still be purchased.

#58 - Jeremy Hellickson

What’s that Turtle doin’? Perhaps, purring a little, just as the baseball was released? I mean, when the cats in my house have the tip of their tongue sticking out like that, they are always purring simultaneously. Surely one of the more odd 'Pitcher Face' cards you ever will see.

The live baseball playing motion is captured by the line of Hellickson's right leg flowing up to the billowing uniform and along the Rays logo but then the overall momentum of the pitching motion is even whip-sawing Hellickson's glove a fair bit. That is probably the most dramatic element in the photo, but somewhat brings your eye to a halt there, rather than at the frame sliced baseball at the top of the card. But a good reminder of just how rapid and forceful a Picher's delivery motion really is.

Otherwise, this is most definitely a Tampa Bay home game, which, on-card, always seem like neither a day game, or a night game. Just, an indoor game. For that reason, many baseball cards produced for Rays players just never interest me all that much, and to be honest, neither does this one. Maybe Topps will throw me a lifeline somewhere on the flip side.

Uniform Hero? Hellickson did wear #58 for his entire career.

Where’d the egg hatch? He was drafted by the Rays in the 4th round of the 2005, after his high school graduation.

How about the migrations? Naturally his MLB debut would not then occur until a good amount of minor league seasons; he would first appear in Tampa in the 2010 season for 3 starts and a few summons from the bullpen. In 2011, however, Hellickson would join the Rays' rotation and go on to win the AL Rookie of the Year award and this checklist position. Things were beginning to look very promising for a Tampa Bay club with a solid, high quality, young rotation.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

Must be break time at the Topps Baseball card mine.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 27 wins, Hellickson is 484 away from Cy Young's all-time record of 511.

Ultimately, Jeremy Hellickson only appeared out of a bullpen 8 times in his career; Wins thus becomes the go-to stat comparison here. 

Hellickson's post ROY seasons included more successful ones in Tampa, then a series of ups and downs, stat wise, in Arizona, Philly, and then Baltimore. He reached Baltimore at the trade deadline in 2017 from Philly - quite a strange trade for Baltimore to be essentially trading _for_ a veteran starter like Hellickson in the middle of a season. Things must have been, perhaps all too usually, tough in B'more that summer. Jeremy's final 2 seasons with Washington in 2018-19 included the same mix of more success on the mound than not, but also more time with shoulder problems than without.


I am actually composing this one on February 15, 2020, several days before my devoted readers will follow along with me here. 2-15-20, it turns out, was the day Hellickson officially announced his retirement on news that his shoulder would require yet more surgery and another long rehab process in order to try pitching again.

Jeremy Hellickson finished his career with 76 Wins.

Subspecies? Sooo much promise in that early 10s rotation in Tampa; this card would also appear in Opening Day and Chrome, though without any variations.

Bling That Shell Another Tampa Bay card, another easy chance to acquire a parallel with a low print run, fairly cheap. I went with the tasty Pink here:

#45 - Travis Ishikawa

What’s that Turtle doin’? This is not an inherently exciting card. But after so many pitchers appearing sequentially in checklist just before the previous few cards, this is still a welcome card when you reach it, however you might have stored, stacked or sorted a set of 2013 Topps Baseball.

A Fielding card like this one is livened up immensely by a live action baseball, but the baseball is not cooperating with the photographer. 

But that's OK. The uniform hooks us up with the team name and then the card shows off the logo. Beer comes from grain, you know. In Wisconsin. Exciting stuff. 

I notice details on Brewers cards a little more than most teams; I think a pro photographer working at Miller Park often sets up somewhere behind Third Base, as this is not the only Brewers card one can find showing their First Baseman awaiting an incoming throw.

And Ishikawa sure likes his armbands.

Uniform Hero? This card shows off it's card # on the front not once, but twice. That might be unique in the set. I will be watching, I guess.

Although the uniform<>card # linkage has to inevitably run out of steam as the card #s start to climb, this card is still a nice selection, due to all those Pitchers. As we shall see, they like the higher uniform #s quite a bit more than the positional players do.

Where’d the egg hatch? Ishikawa was drafted by the Giants in the 21st round of the 2002 draft.

How about the migrations? He would then debut with them in 2006. I will let the Topps card back writer pick up the story from there...

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

...perhaps the crew in Brooklyn couldn't resist calling the Giants mean, a little.

Ishikawa would play only 7 Games in the year this card appeared; the Brewers had released him in November, 2012. Those 7 games were with the Orioles and the Yankees.

After 2013 he put the journey in journeyman, with 2 contracts with the White Sox despite never appearing in an MLB game for them, and then 2 stops in Pittsburgh and also back in San Francisco, also twice.

His most famous MLB moment is a Walk-Off Home Run to clinch the 2014 NLCS for the Giants. It is celebrated on cardboard at least twice.

In 2016 he made one final (unsuccessful) try at reaching the majors once again, naturally once again with the San Francisco Giants.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 199 hits, Ishikawa is 4,057 away from the all-time record of 4,256.

The Hit King, nearly forgotten in this card back feature, after all those Pitchers. At least Topps is getting the math right now.

Travis Ishikawa finished his Major League career with 241 Hits.

Subspecies? And now you know the basic story of Travis Ishikawa, and now you won't be surprised that there are no other variants of this card.

Bling That Shell This spot sat empty in my All-Parallel project for a long time. It was obvious to me that this would be an easy card to acquire, in any color I wished. Finally, I pulled the trigger and bought a copy of a parallel color I particularly like for a baseball card, because every time I see it, I think of bubble gum:

#30 - Neftali Feliz

What’s that Turtle doin’? This card is an example of a seeming ever increasing style of baseball card in each given year's Topps Baseball set.  Whereas horizontal cards had generally been used for some of the best action photos available to the set editor, they are now more likely to use just a simple individual profile shot like this one.

One reason for that could be a basic increase in horizontal cards. It does seem clear to me that they are cut off of the printing sheets from adjacent positions - because these days they always arrive together, in packs, which is true even of the smallest runs of base cards as when 2 of them are packed together in a retail 'blister pack' including 2 parallels. Those will both be horizontal, or both be vertical. No one will find a pack of all horizontal cards as there aren't quite that many, but no one will ever find a pack with only one horizontal card, either. Though it is possible to open a pack with zero horizontals.

Now it would be easy to conclude with that printing sheet based logic that each large checklist release might now have one sheet of horizontal cards each time, but I don't think that is the case. 2013 Series One being examined here has 330 cards and was most likely produced from 3 sheets of 110 cards each - but there are not 110 horizontal cards in this set. Lately, I am pretty sure printing sheets have been changed to 100 cards each, as Opening Day and Chrome checklists have decreased from 220 card sets to 200 cards (2 sheets each), while S1 and S2 have increased to 350 cards (3.5 sheets each).

But let's get back to this Neftali Feliz card before it scrolls too much further away. I do like this particular card. Feliz's arms obviously set the main line of whole image. What I like about it is all the harmoniously parallel lines with that - the brim of the cap, his eyes, even Neftali's mouth; they all are inline with the plane to the Plate he is about to deliver that fastball right through.

Ultimately for all the cards like this one now, I like some of them a fair bit, but perhaps that just depends to a large degree on how many such cards I have run across on that particular day. Some days, it's too many.

I still don't much care for this white Texas uniform, though it does come off better being in 'full' view on this card, as it pleasingly participates in the main line of the card. 

One thing that arrives to the viewer much more slowly from this card is the colors in the composition - & I don't mean the fantastic red glove making a trio with the cap and the red sleeves. This card is a "Mother's Day" card, from a photo taken on that day each year when MLB teams wear a pink ribbon on the left breast, which many players augment with pink "flair" in various ways. Feliz decided to sport a pink necklace, though it takes some familiarity with the card to realize that, after the red glove captures so much attention, at first. I very much like these Mother's Day outings in MLB, which donates some money to Breast Cancer research along the way. My own Mother has survived Breast Cancer, twice, while one of her sisters has not.

Uniform Hero? Still rolling strong here. Topps occasionally slots 2 teammates together on their checklists, and sometimes even several altogether and then more rarely entire teams get sequential checklist ordering. Probably, this happened on this unique checklist more due to the random chance of who sported Uni #s 29 & 30 in 2012 MLB, and how Topps felt about all of the players to pick from here.

Where’d the egg hatch? Feliz was originally an international signing out of the Dominican Republic, scouted and signed by the Braves. He was subsequently traded to the Rangers at the 2007 trade deadline as part of the package Texas received for Mark Teixeira, who now lives just 5 cards away on this checklist. He then debuted impressively with Texas in 2009 but did not use up his "rookie limits."

How about the migrations? Thus 2010 would become his official Rookie year and he would subsequently win Rookie-of-the-Year honors for the AL. Feliz contributed much to the strength of the Texas clubs, early in his career, and I well recall the Tigers facing him in the 2011 ALCS, where it hardly seemed fair to see someone so good in a bullpen; a luxury I can rarely recall the Tigers having.

But the 2011 postseason was probably the peak of his career, unfortunately. Injuries would become a sad routine for him and he would pitch only 4 2/3 innings the year this card arrived. Texas eventually traded him away during the 2015 season, the start of a four team odyssey that never saw a return to the brilliance of his first years in the Majors. His last stop was with the Kansas City Royals in 2017 but he was subsequently unable to reach the 'bigs' in 2018 from within the Diamondbacks' minor league system. Although he might well throw a baseball for an MLB club in Florida or Arizona in March, 2019, not much optimism remains for the career of this former Topps All-Rookie Cup selection.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

Basically reads now as a sad foreshadowing of what was to come, rather than what could have been.

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 74 saves, Feliz is 534 saves away from Mariano Rivera's all-time record of 608.

A simple comparison choice to make for a Rookie breaking into MLB so spectacularly as a Reliever.

Neftali Feliz has 107 Saves after the 2017 season, though technically he could still pitch again in Major League Baseball.

Subspecies? As evidenced by this checklist position, Neftali Feliz was an exciting young Pitcher as 2013 got rolling; he was also placed in the Opening Day and Chrome checklists with this same card composition, but without any known variants in those products. There is one more Topps Baseball product that could still yield a variant of this card, that I have not been able to examine just yet.

Bling That Shell Although the ab-fab red glove, etc., makes it tempting to pick a Target Red parallel for this card (and those do work well for the Ranger team logo in particular, with the blue Sea Turtle), I much prefer accenting the Mother's Day memorial-ness of the card by using the Pink parallel: 

Also of note here is that this card is the 9th horizontal card in the set. Back in 2013 I quickly had far more copies of the base cards in this set than I truly needed, so early on I began assembling a side collection of the horizontal cards. Going forward in baseball card collecting, I am pretty sure I am going to junk sequential checklist #-ing on binder pages and display all the horizontal cards together, like this:

Oops!

That was just a somewhat inevitable result of pondering the parallel possibilities presented by this next page...and I would rather this post end with a very nice page of baseball cards, the way they are meant to be enjoyed:

#8 - Ryan Braun

What’s that Turtle doin’? Here we have another just-Now completed swing, as on the Jeter card, without as tight of a cropping effort. The lines in the image, including even the wrinkles in the uniform, all lead the eye around to the bat behind the back, as if one just watched the swing happen, less than one second in the past. Braun has not even had time to exhale yet. Framing off half of his fore-arm doesn't make a great deal of difference - but then there is a bit of wasted space on the left side of the card.

Uniform Hero? There is a bit of a conundrum with this card # = uniform # approach somewhat ranking the players of Major League Baseball, and we are only 7 cards into the set.

After the 2012 season, Braun's stock of popularity with MLB fans had already fallen substantially. A failed urine test for PEDs had become public in late 2011, however Braun had successfully avoided MLB disciplinary action by filing an appeal. This was widely regarded as having been able to get away with cheating on a "technicality."

His perception by the public would continue to fall much further with more Braun & PED related news revealed in February, 2013, just as card collectors were beginning to purchase Series 1 cards. This led to a long season of public spectacle and ultimately disciplinary action by MLB, a sad tale basically known to MLB fans with details easily followed elsewhere. I am interested in the 2013 Topps Baseball set and how it was constructed.

Before the tag "PED" became forever attached to Ryan Braun, his career was white-hot - wait till you see his card back here, eventually. Topps was such a fan of his young career that in 2011, he was card #1 in the set. He proceeded to win the NL MVP and lead his team to the NLCS that year. Topps followed up that success with again making him card #1 in the 2012 set.

Another player famously connected to the words "Performance Enhancing Drugs" had also received multiple Topps Baseball #1 cards over the years - Alex Rodriguez. Even as rumors began to engulf him from 2009 on, Topps continued to issue him "Hero" #s in their sets - #400, #50, and #500 in 2010-2012. He also would have a terrible season-in-the-news in 2013 and ultimately be barred from playing for an entire season in 2014.

However even by the time of the 2013 set construction, there was enough of that type of bad news swirling around a player well-liked by Topps baseball cards, that he did not receive the most prestigious Card/Uniform/Hero # possible at his Uni # - 13. Instead he finished in about 3rd place in the calculations, as we will see here on this blog sometime well over a year or more from now.

So what was Topps to do with a now far less popular, former set poster boy - while building a set based on Uniform #s? Let's consider their options, based on use of Uni #8 in the 2012 season.

Five teams had already retired #8 - the Pirates, Reds, Yankees (for 2 players, even), Orioles and Red Sox.

Here were their options in the AL:

Rays - Desmond Jennings - a solid, mostly regular OF, but just an ordinary MLB player

Blue Jays - Ben Francisco &/or Yorvit Torrealba - who? and who?

Indians - Lonnie Chisenhall - 43 Games in 2012, still largely unknown

Royals - Mike Moustakas - fame would come later; still only a .708 OPS in 2012

Twins - Jamey Carroll - another solid MLBer with 10 seasons of pedestrian stats, 2013 would be his last card 

Mariners - Carlos Triunfel - 22 AB in 2012, never received an MLB baseball card

A's - Kurt Suzuki - already traded to Nationals after '12 season but would appear in Series 1

Rangers - Geovany Soto & Yorvit Torrealba - who? & that guy again?

Angels - Kendrys Morales - a Cuban escapee slugger who had recently been on the Home Run leader boards

Here were their options in the NL:

Marlins - Chris Coghlan - a former Rookie-of-the-Year declining fast, 39 Games in 2012

Braves - David Ross - a solid back-up Catcher in '12 for Atlanta, he would not receive a Topps card in 2013 but go on to fame in the World Series, anyway

Phillies & Dodgers - Shane Victorino - traded in July 2012 but signed by the Red Sox in December, 2012; he will appear on a Red Sox card in Series 2

Nationals - Danny Espinosa - the everyday 2B in Washington in '11 and '12, he led NL in Striking Out in 2012

Cardinals - Ryan Jackson - also never received MLB card

Diamondbacks - Gerardo Parra - another everyday ordinary MLB player mostly unknown off the West Coast

Rockies - Charlie Blackmon - yet to blossom by 2012, when he had barely reached 200 AB

Padres - Jason Bartlett - a long time SS for the Rays, his career looked to probably be over and did not receive a card in 2013

Giants - Hunter Pence - ahh, if only Topps HQ had known the West Coast teams a little better, this whole problem goes away

So after flubbing the potential use of the popular Pence in place of Ryan Braun here, by already assigning him card #3, his _former_ Uni #, Topps had few options at #8. Ultimately, they did reward both Kendrys Morales and Kurt Suzuki with #8-related card #s, as we will see later in Series 1.

A final wrinkle to their possibly unconsidered dilemma with this now premium checklist position - and remember, the really, really bad news for Braun would only occur during 2013 - is also one of Braun's decently well-known nicknames: "Ochoa."

Ultimately, I am looking at this rather trivial question from 20/20 hindsight of course. But I think as you will see through the early portions of the 2013 checklist, the Star power is well concentrated in the card #s below 50; there are some impressive, multiple All-Star binder pages coming up. And looking at the set today, this card for Ryan Braun really stands out after the 6 very well-regarded players that preceded it, and a potentially epic lead-off binder page looks partially dated today as a result.

And unfortunately, that last minor point would become magnified a bit more, a few years after the 2013 season, as we shall see on the very next card in the checklist.

Where’d the egg hatch? Braun was selected by the Brewers in the first round of the 2005 draft, 5th overall, a very successful draft class which ultimately yielded 9 All-Stars.

How about the migrations? Once again on these initial checklist slots, it seems likely Ryan Braun will spend his whole career with the Brewers. It is thought that he has been made available in trade talks the last several years, but his production no longer matches his salary and Milwaukee would likely have to pay a portion of it to receive anything in return. He is now yet another player in his 30s headed towards the "now profiles as a DH" tagline, but the essential problem for all such players is that MLB only needs 15 of them per year. He is signed through the end of 2020.

Don’t flip over real Turtles.

This is what you want to see when you turn over a baseball card. A pair of "30-30 Club" memberships is even more impressive than a 20-20. 7 League Leader stats puts him in a tie with the previous Ryan Howard card for the League Leader lead in this set.

A minor pity the text portion begins conflating youthful Hit/Homer production a bit confusingly, particularly with the card feature just above it -

Can the Turtle Catch the Rabbit?

CAREER CHASE: With 202 home runs, Braun is 560 away from Barry Bonds' all-time record of 762.

Well, I guess one has to give Topps credit here for considering a record pursuit of Barry Bonds by Ryan Braun, as it turned out. Hitting 202 Homers in just six seasons would seem to be the way to start such a chase — if it hadn't started at the age of 24.

After the 2018 season, Braun has increased his Home Run total to 322.

Subspecies? Again like the other Star players this low in the Checklist, and star players not changing teams, Braun has this same basic card in both Opening Day and Chrome. He is all over other 2013 Topps checklists both long and short, but without any other Sea Turtle type cards.

Bling That Shell Now we finally get to see one of my favorites of the 2013 parallels, the /50 Pink. All of such cards, regardless of 'team color' of the Turtle, remind me of bubble gum, and that always makes for a pleasant baseball card experience, regardless of the player on the card. I particularly like the blue-on-pink combo seen here -