#280 Everth Cabrera

Yesterday, I mentioned how much I appreciate a dirty jersey. Playing hard and sacrificing the body to get the job done. I scrolled through the file folder of 2014 Topps cards until I came upon this gem.

#280 Everth Cabrera

First impression of what’s going on: Everth Cabrera has just slid into, I’m pretty sure, third base. He’s either arguing the call and telling the umpire how safe he was or he is caught mid celebratory clap. It could be a stolen base or a triple or maybe just a close play. The cropping is pretty good. Any tighter and we wouldn't have been able to see the base and for all we know, it would have just been Cabrera telling us how big the fish was he caught.

SAN DIEGO, CA-APRIL13: Everth Cabrera #2 of the San Diego Padres claps after sliding into third base with a triple against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park on April 13, 2013 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Andy Hayt/SanDiego Padres/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: We have another early season photo, this one in mid-April. The photographer didn't leave Topps much room to super crop, so the photo isn't much different than the card. Like I tell my barber, just a little off the sides and top. The caption confirms a triple but nothing of the score so let's head over to the BOXSCORE.

Looks like the Padres suffered a few rough innings early and ran short of outs to catch up. But not for lack of trying on Cabrera part.

Four hits, two runs and two RBIs.

He led off the bottom of the first the pictured triple and later scored on a sacrifice fly.

In the third, he had an RBI single. Too bad he ended the inning by being caught stealing. Third base. I swear my theory on him explaining to the umpire how far he was safe came before I looked at the boxscore. I pretty much write these as I research them and always do my “first impression” by just looking at the card. Luckily the caption already clarified that this was after his triple or else we’d have a dilemma on our hands.

After a ground out in the fifth, Cabrera bounced back with a solo home run in the 7^th. C’mon, teammates! He can only knock in those of you who get on base! I guess I just been J. Baker because Venable already cleared the bases himself.

And finally, in the 9^th, he tried to start another rally with a one out single before Chirs Denorfia ended the game with a double play. For those of you keeping track, that’s a double short of the cycle for Cabrera, something no Padre has ever done. How much did you miss it by, Everth?

That much.

If I knew Petco Park a little better, I could probably tell you what the sign behind Cabrera said. Fortunately for the Free Advertising collectors, Cabrera is sporting a Nike swoosh on his undershirt.

And since we’re in Petco Park, and Cabrera is not wearing the typical white colored jersey of the home team, this must be an alternate jersey, correct?

Correct. This is one of two alternate uniform the Padres sported in 2013, along with their Sunday camo jerseys.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Everth was the first Padres rookie to hit a walk-off grand slam.

Just about every young ballplayer has pretended at one point or another to be at the plate in the bottom of the 9^th, two outs, down by three and hitting a walk-off grand slam. On August 7, 2009, Everth Cabrera almost lived that dream. His Padres weren't down by three and there weren't any outs but it's still pretty awesome to come up that big, especially as a rookie.

As to the aforementioned “dream” feat (walk-off situation, two outs, down by three), that has only happened fifteen times in the hundreds of thousands of games in MLB history. It has happened twelve other times with either one or zero outs for a total of twenty seven walk-off grand slams with the team down by three. Source: Baseball Almanac

Knowing that every team gets at least one player onto the All-Star team, the first part of the last sentence in the blurb makes you think he was the token Padre. But the second half lets you know he deserved it. Those are some impressive half season stats.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #280

Player Name: Everth Cabrera

Team: San Diego Padres

Position: Shortstop

Game Date: April 13, 2013

Opponent: Colorado Rockies

Stadium: Petco Park

Division: National League West

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 9-5, Rockies over Padres, Loss for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: Yes, alternate

Bats/Throws: Both/Right

Birthdate: 11/17/1986

Birthplace: Nicaragua

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Andy Hayt

Niche collections this card could fit into: League Leader in Italics, Switch Hitter, Dirty Jersey, Alternate Jersey, Free Advertising, Celebration

My Grade: No doubter, A+. Good photography, catching a great moment. Good crop. Lots of niches. The player had a great game. The rookie fact was interesting. And I didn't even go into the red text on the back touting his League Leader status. Nice job all around.

#327 Pablo Sandoval

We’ve got a couple of connections between yesterday’s card (Dioner Navarro) and today’s. Both were born in Venezuela. Both are wearing sunglasses. But the connection I was trying to make is they are both Switch Hitters.

#327 Pablo Sandoval

First impression of what’s going on: This is another solid photo with a unfortunate crop. No elbows for Pablo! I always like a dirty jersey so without a bunch of obvious niches, the card has that going for it at least.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - APRIL 5: Pablo Sandoval #48 of the San Francisco Giants fields during the game against the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park on April 5, 2013 in San Francisco, California. The Giants defeated the Cardinals 1-0. (Photo by Michael Zagaris/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Look at all that elbow room Sandoval has! The caption doesn’t give much to go on so let’s go to the BOXSCORE and see if we can’t figure something out ourselves.

We knew it was 1-0 from the caption, but only nine hits from both teams combined probably puts it on the bubble for an actual pitchers’ duel, right? Throw in another combined 9 walks and the error you have 19 base runners. I don’t know who to give credit (or blame) for on that.

Sandoval had a number of assists in this game and aside from the two double plays he started, it would be tough to rule any of them out.

Kind of a boring card to investigate.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Pablo hit .393 in August of 2008 – highest of any MLB Rookie that month.

That’s impressive, but not necessarily that interesting. On the other hand, mentioned in the blurb, is that Sandoval was a judge at the 2012 Miss Universe Pageant. Kind of random, but here are a couple of photos from the event I found.

Kung Fu Panda posing on the red carpet:

With what I’m assuming are some of the other judges:

I think Sandoval is second from the left

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #327

Player Name: Pablo Sandoval

Team: San Francisco Giants

Position: Third Base

Game Date: April 5, 2013

Opponent: St. Louis Cardinals

Stadium: AT&T Park

Division: National League West

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 1-0 Giants over the Cardinals, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No

Bats/Throws: Both/Right

Birthdate: 8/11/1986

Birthplace: Venezuela

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Michael Zagaris

Niche collections this card could fit into: Sunglasses, Switch Hitter, Dirty Jersey

My Grade: I thought this one was going to be better when I picked it. The photo is pretty standard for a fielding third baseman, but as I mentioned, I like a dirty jersey and the extra effort that can be assumed from one. The cropped elbows hurt it along with a lack of mini collections this would fit into. The back was also kind of boring too although it allowed me to Google image search the Miss Universe pageant so I’m going to give this one a B-. 

#211 Dioner Navarro

Continuing my streak of connecting players, today I’m using sunglasses. But unlike yesterday’s Mitch Moreland card, Dioner Navarro is actually wearing his properly.

#211 Dioner Navarro

First impression of what’s going on: I know there are quite a few fans of the players that wear the Tools of Ignorance, but as a lefty, it was never a position I gravitated towards. I can appreciate them but as for collecting them specifically, I could take ‘em or leave ‘em. But here we have a Cub so I would definitely be taking this one.

It’s a nicely cropped action shot. It could be a dropped third strike or a bases loaded double play but with the player in the background, it’s more likely to be a bunt. If I had to guess, I’d say that’s one of the Cubs rotating third baseman in 2013, #1 Cody Ransom. The boxscore will probably tell me definitively.

CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 9: Dioner Navarro #30 of the Chicago Cubs fields a sacrifice bunt by Jeff Locke #49 of the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning on June 9, 2013 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: The caption confirms a bunt attempt and while it doesn't mention Ransom, the photo of him is much clearer than on the card. I assumed Topps does some touch up work on cards to make the pictures show up better (lightening and such) but never really thought about them blurring out backgrounds. It look like Navarro beat Ransom to the ball so Ransom is racing back to cover third to prevent runner(s) from advancing further. The original photo also shows the bunter, Pirates starting pitcher, Jeff Locke.

The caption calls it a sacrifice bunt so Locke was out at first. But did the sacrifice pay off? There’s no mention of the final score so let’s check out the BOXSCORE.

Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Since the sacrifice happened in the third inning and the Pirates did not end up scoring, let’s see how it all went down.

Clint Barmes was the lead runner on the sacrifice and only managed to make it third base before the inning ended.

At the plate, Navarro went 2-for-2 with two walks. Unfortunately, the Cubs weren't able to capitalize on his perfect day at the plate but managed to win anyway. At this point in the year, Navarro was only batting .279 but by the end of the season, he finished with a nice round .300.

Just above the Cubs logo on the card, the shoulder that’s nearly cropped all of the way out belongs to pitching coach Chris Bosio. He can be seen more clearly in the original photo. I can’t make out the other Cubs player in the dugout though, just beyond Cody Ransom’s knee.

While the Gatorade logos in the dugout are cropped out and the State Farm insurance logo on the dugout are blurred with the rest of the background, there is still a bit of Free Advertising. Navarro is clearly using a Wilson catcher’s mitt.

And Nike swooshes make not one, not two, but three appearances on Navarro’s catcher’s gear. He’s a walking billboard!

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Dioner’s first longball, on August 12, 2005, was a 10^th-inning walk-off.

Here’s a link to the BOXSCORE of that game. While I didn’t see anything on Getty Images from that moment, here are some photos from rival APIMAGES.COM.

Watching his shot:

Image Number 05081303429, Photographer: Matt Sayles

Lost in the crowd celebration as he scores:

Image Number 0508130465, Photographer: Matt Sayles 

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #211

Player Name: Dioner Navarro

Team: Chicago Cubs

Position: Catcher

Game Date: June 9, 2013

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates

Stadium: Wrigley Field

Division: National League Central

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 4-1, Cubs over the Pirates, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No

Bats/Throws: Both/Right

Birthdate: 2/9/1984

Birthplace: Venezuela

Cameos by: Cody Ransom, Chris Bosio’s shoulder

Photographer: David Banks

Niche collections this card could fit into: Sunglasses, Free Advertising, Switch Hitter, Cameo

My Grade: This might be my Cubs bias coming through but I'm going to give this card an A-. The cropping/framing is excellent. There's a good action shot with a cameo. If Ransom wasn't intentionally blurred out, that might have helped the grade a little. The runner is a bit too far away to justify trying to make it a horizontal card, but that would have been pretty cool. Navarro is also the first switch hitter I've come across.

The back blurb mentions his three home run performance against the cross town White Sox. I'm not a Chicago native so I wasn't raised with a love-the-Cubs-hate-the-Sox mentality and have no ill will towards the Sox or their fans. But it is always nice to do well in as rivalry game.

Good luck to Dioner in Toronto his season!