#191 Chris Perez

Staying in the American League, today we have Chris Perez of the Cleveland Indians.

#191 Chris Perez

First impression of what’s going on: That’s a lot. A lot of red, lot of green, lot of off-white and a lot of hair. Kind of a generic shot, a pitcher doing what a pitcher does. I don't know the Indians uniforms well enough to know if this is a throwback or alternate, but it is not their normal home jersey. The crop job doesn't help the overall appeal of the card. Cutting off legs and feet can be unavoidable, but I hate missing arms, elbows and hands. And in this case, the forearm. I don’t blame the border design on this one because, depending on the source photo, it could have easily been zoomed out.

And a look at said photo confirms that. Look at all the room!

Photo courtesy of Getty Images. Photographer: Jason Miller

CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 14: Closing pitcher Chris Perez #54 of the Cleveland Indians pitches during the ninth inning against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field on April 14, 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio. The White Sox defeated the Indians 3-1. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Yep, a pitcher doing what a pitcher does. And plenty of space to not have zoomed in quite so close. Giving this photo a horizontal layout on the card may have worked better.

The caption mentions this was taken during the 9^th inning. That makes sense seeing as Perez is the Indians' closer. But then again, Getty was wrong yesterday, right?

Taking the date from the caption I headed over to Baseball-Reference.com for the BOXSCORE and further details.

Ok, they could be right today. Looks like Perez pitched the top 9^th inning, despite his Indians trailing the White Sox 3-1. Most closers only come in when their team is leading. His pitch count for the appearance was 9 and without much else to go on, the photo could have been taken during his strikeout of Dayan Viciedo, the four pitches thrown to induce Conor Gillaspie’s groundout to third base or the single pitch that caused Alexei Ramirez to fly out to deep right center.

Chris’ line for the day:

A perfect inning of work but unfortunately it came in a losing effort for his team. They failed to rally in the bottom half of the inning, despite a two out walk by pinch hitter, Carlos Santana.

Earlier today, I debuted a new niche collection with the Notable Fan designation. This card inspires the Free Advertising label with Perez displaying, not one, but two fairly prominent Nike swoosh logos.

Undershirt and glove

I vaguely remember seeing a blog post last year in regards to all of the advertising on the legendary AJ Pierzynski card, but I’m sorry I can’t site the source. If somebody else remembers, I would be glad to give credit where its due.

On to the back:

Again, since the backs are relatively the same, I’ll just be breaking down the content.

Rookie Fact: Chris’ first major league save came in August when he was 6-for-6

This stat made me chuckle a little bit.  Being a rookie usually means a late season call up so to have a first of anything in August isn't anything to look down upon. And going 6-6 is certainly commendable. But my first thought was it sounded like it was trying too hard to put a positive spin on something. Sure enough, when I went to his Baseball Reference page, his first save came in his 24th relief appearance. Granted, he worked mostly in a setup role, but he is also credited with a blown save and a blown loss before he earned his first save. I do give credit to the Topps writer who put a good spin on it. It's exactly what I like to do when writing blurbs for former Cubs in my custom ATCRCS set.

And as you can see by the rest of his stats on the back of the card, Perez went on to become a pretty solid reliever, racking up over 100 Saves since joining the Indians.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: 191

Player Name: Chris Perez

Team: Cleveland Indians

Position: Pitcher

Game Date: April 14, 2013

Opponent: Chicago White Sox

Stadium: Progressive Field

Division:  American League Central

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 3-1,White Sox over Indians, Loss for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: One or the other, not sure which

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 7/1/1985

Birthplace: Florida

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Jason Miller

Niche collections this card could fit into: Free Advertising, Throwbacks/Alternate Jersey, Awesome Hair, Former First Round Draft Pick

My Grade: With all due respect to Perez and through no fault of his own, this card gets a B- from me. Its just an average card with a bad crop but it does get a few extra bonus points thrown in for meeting the criteria of four niche collections. That's only one less than Murphy's card earlier, but this is still just an average card. As for the Awesome Hair category, long hair by itself doesn't qualify it. The flowing mane action resulting from his throwing motion that removes any doubt it belongs.

That wraps up day one. Come back tomorrow to see whether the randomizer continues to favor the American League.