#M-10 Dinger (Colorado Rockies)

I know my posting schedule here has been a little out of whack but I’m trying to find my groove again. I’m back today with another Mascot from 2014 Topps Opening Day.

 #M-10 Dinger (Colorado Rockies)

First impression of what’s going on: Unlike the Orioles Mascot, the Colorado Rockies mascot gets a name on the card, Dinger. There isn’t much “mascotting” going on here as Dinger looks more like a deer caught in the headlights. I have no idea if Dinger is male or female so I’ll say “it” until my research tells me otherwise.

Dinger is a purple triceratops with some multi-colored freckles(?) on it’s head. No pants, just a too short jersey.

 

DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 25: Dinger the mascot of the Colorado Rockies adorns a beard to commemorate Todd Helton #17 of the Colorado Rockies as he plays his last home game at Coors Field on September 25, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: The caption didn’t help much for Dinger’s gender because anybody can sport a fake beard to honor longtime Rockie, Todd Helton. I noticed the black around the mouth but I had no idea what it was supposed to be. Let’s take a look at the BOXSCORE and see if Dinger did its job of cheering the Rockies to victory.

 

Yikes! Nope. Well it didn’t help the team, but maybe sporting that honorary fake beard helped Helton.

 

 

Yes! In his Coors Field swan song, Helton went 2-3 with a double, home run and a sacrifice fly.

On to the back:

 

There’s no Rookie Fact on these as it has been replaced by the Identifying Feature.

Identifying Feature: Colorful Dots on His Head

Nice! I identified his identifying feature in my first impressions. Score! And in case you missed it, his head. Dinger is male!

The write up on the back provides Dinger’s origin story. Apparently, during contruction for the stadium, the construction crew found dinosaur bones. Maybe it did, but I’m surprised this didn’t cause some kind of delay or even relocation of the facilities.

I couldn’t find much information on Dinger through the Rockies website (just his rates for private appearances) and it appears he doesn’t even have his own Wikipedia page. There does appear to be a lot of anti-Dinger propaganda out there though. It’s a hard knock life for a mascot.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #M-10
Player Name: Dinger
Team: Colorado Rockies
Position: Mascot
Game Date: September 25, 2013
Opponent: Boston Red Sox
Stadium: Coors Field
Division: National League West
Home/Away: Home
Outcome of the game: 15-5, Red Sox over the Rockies
Alternate/Throwback Jersey: N/A
Bats/Throws: N/A
Birthdate: Hatched: N/A
Birthplace: Colorado
Cameos by: N/A
Photographer: Doug Pensinger
Niche collections this card could fit into: Awesome Hair, Mascots

My Grade: I mentioned at the beginning that Dinger didn’t seem to be doing any “mascotting” in this photo and that, to me is kind of a detractor for a mascot card. He should be hooting and hollering and pumping up the crowd. I know there are some mixed feelings on mascots and their place in the game, but I think they’re fun.

To be fair to Topps, there wasn’t much of a selection to choose from though.

This card is getting a C.

#274 Jonny Gomes

Yesterday I honored the Super Bowl teams with cards from their baseball counterparts. Today, I’ve got two random members of the two World Series teams. Actually, this first one is the only Red Sox player I pulled in either the blaster or the hanger box I bought so it was randomly selected by Topps I guess.

#274 Jonny Gomes

First impression of what’s going on: I remember this image quite well as it, or one much like it, was on the cover of Sports Illustrated last April. It followed the terrible bombing at the Boston marathon. I have mixed feelings about putting this particular image on a baseball card and think its selection walks a fine line between honoring a community and capitalizing on a tragedy.

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 20: Jonny Gomes #2 of the Boston Red Sox reacts after hitting a double against the Kansas City Royals in the eighth inning on April 20, 2013 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Michael Ivins/Boston Red Sox/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo:  Despite another mis-crop by Topps, this really is a great photo. The caption makes no mention of the importance of the play. Following the marathon bombing on April 19, 2013, the Red Sox/Royals game was cancelled. The next day, David Ortiz game the crowd an impassioned speech, even dropping the F-bomb on live TV. That's a story you won't see in the BOXSCORE.

What you will see is that down 2-1, Gomes came off the bench to lead off the bottom of the 8^th with a double. This pose was the result after reaching second base. He would later score on a three run homer by Daniel Nava which secured a 4-3 win for the Red Sox and the city of Boston.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Jonny’s 21 HRs were most by a Rays rookie between 1998 and 2007.

Gomes got a few games under his belt in 2003 and 2004 but was still able to qualify as a rookie in 2005 when he clubbed 21 HRs in 108 games for the Devil Rays.

For those curious, I looked up who broke his Rays rookie record in 2008. Only two players on the Rays that year had more. Carlos Pena (not a rookie) had 31 and some guy who won the Rookie of the Year award that year, Evan Longoria had 27. And to be nitpicky, Gomes still has the Devil Rays record as 2008 was the year they became just the Rays.

Beacuase of all the stats the card has, Gomes is the first card I’ve shown without a blurb. Funny how the veterans with a career’s worth of stories are the one left without them.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #274

Player Name: Jonny Gomes

Team: Boston Red Sox

Position: Outfield

Game Date: April 20, 2013

Opponent: Kansas City Royals

Stadium: Fenway Park

Division: American League East

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 4-3, Red Sox over the Royals, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 11/22/1980

Birthplace: California

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Michael Ivins

Niche collections this card could fit into: Horizontal, Awesome Hair, Tattoos, Celebration, Patch

My Grade: I hope this card doesn’t end up lost in dime boxes somewhere and the significance lost.

A horizontal layout is one of my top niches. Awesome hair isn’t just limited to long flowing manes, facial hair counts too. I myself am not a tattoo guy, but I've noticed a lot more popping up on players and cards. The Boston Strong patch is the first one I've seen this year, although when I get to the Cardinals cards, I'm betting I'll see a Stan Musial commemorative patch.

If Topps hadn't zoomed in so close and kept his fists in the frame, this would have been my second A card. But I won’t let my disdain for bad cropping drop this otherwise pretty awesome card a full letter grade. A- it is.

UPDATE: Since I wrote this, I've decided to change my grade to an A. If it was cropped better, I would have given it an A+, not just an A, thus the change.

#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.