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There’s no Rookie Fact on these as it has been replaced by the Identifying Feature.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

#26 Josh Phegley

#26 Josh Phegley

First impression of what’s going on: Here’s a guy I have never heard of outside of baseball cards. Granted I’m not a big American League guy but I've seen a few White Sox games on WGN when the Cubs aren't on. Phegley’s rookie card is in last year’s Update series.

On this card, he could be launching a bomb or merely flying out, but either way, his eye line looks like it’s headed towards the outfield.

CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 26: Josh Phegley #36 of the Chicago White Sox bats against the Houston Astros at U.S. Cellular Field on August 26, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. The Astros defeated the White Sox 10-8. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Cropping bats is ok with me, but it’s a little tight at Phegley’s elbow. The caption didn't give much detail about the at bat but let’s see if we can narrow it down with a little help from the BOXSCORE.

We knew the White Sox lost from the caption, but maybe Phegley had a good game?

Pretty good actually. Two hits, two runs, an RBI. Let’s see if we can pin down the photo.

A single to center in the third. That’s a possibility. And he came around to score. What else?

A groundout to shortstop in the fifth. Probably not.

An RBI single to center in the 5-run sixth that led to Phegley scoring another run too.

And finally a flyball to left field. If this was left center, I’d call it a maybe, but his eye line doesn’t say “left field line” to me. So the photo probably comes from one of those two singles from earlier.

Phegley was also involved in what seems to be an interesting double play in that game too, although its hard to tell from just a boxscore interpretation.

It looks like a squeeze play gone wrong for the Astros. With a runner at third and one out, Phegley fields the ball (bunt attempt?), throws to first for the second out. The first baseman, Paul Konerko, then fires home to the pitcher, Andre Rienzo for the third out for the uncommon, 2-3-1 double play.

*EDIT*

After a little search, I found the play on MLB.com. I can't figure out how to embed it but here's the link:

Double Play started by Josh Phegley

So it wasn't a sacrifice attempt, just a weak hit.

Unfortunately for Phegley, there isn’t much to latch onto with this card. No real niches. There’s a partial Astros cameo in the background, but the photo is too blurry to make out who the player is.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Josh threw out 13 runners and picked off two in 64 defensive games.

I couldn’t figure out if Topps was underselling Phegley behind the plate or overselling him so I decided to do a little research myself. How many innings was he behind the plate in these defensive games? Was he a pinch hitter who stayed in for one defensive inning with no runners? Did the White Sox pitchers give up tons of singles and walks last year?

I was actually a little surprised by these numbers. Of his 64 defensive appearances, 47 of them were complete games. That seems like a lot for a backup, but what do I know?

Phegley’s 13 thrown out base runners was good for 30% of the attempts. That seems like a pretty high, or at least decent, percentage to me. Nearly one in three. But again, I’m no expert on the catcher position, so what do I know.

This blurb actually gave a fact and followed up with the others who have done it so I didn’t have to do the research myself. Yay!

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #26

Player Name: Josh Phegley

Team: Chicago White Sox

Position: Catcher

Game Date: August 26, 2013

Opponent: Houston Astros

Stadium: US Cellular Field

Division: American League Central

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 10-8, Astros over the White Sox, Loss for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No.

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 2/12/1988

Birthplace: Indiana

Cameos by: Unknown (Astros)

Photographer: Jonathan Daniel

Niche collections this card could fit into: Former 1^st Round Draft Pick,
 

My Grade: This card isn’t bad. There isn’t much wrong with it at all, just some slight mis-cropping. But there isn’t much great about it either. It is the definition of average. Other than him being a younger player and no options, I don’t know why card manufacturers wouldn’t always showcase a catcher in their gear and/or a play at the plate. And I’m not even a catcher guy.

This card gets a C.

Although not a failing grade, here are some photos from earlier in the season than this one that could have been used to improve it.

A play at the plate where a Cub is safe? Yes!

A double high five with cameos? 

Throwbacks?

Broken Bat?

Celebrations and throwbacks? And a potential horizontal layout ? Ding! Ding! Ding!

Whoops, too many more and Topps might start to feel bad.

#45 Jake Marisnick

Yesterday I had cards representing the defending National and American League champions. Today I’m going to the other end of the spectrum and find the defending cellar dwellers. The worst record in the National League belonged the 62-100 Miami Marlins. Since I went rookie with the Astros earlier, I've got a rookie from the Marlins to match.

#45 Jake Marisnick

First impression of what’s going on: Oh good, another shot like this. One I've already seen on CharlieBlackmon and Matt Carpenter. Unfortunately, I don’t see any patches or tattoos or crazy hair or free advertising to set this card apart from the others that are similar. I wish the dugout guys were a little more in focus for a cameo. I will give Topps credit for one of their best crops so far though.

MIAMI, FL - AUGUST 02: Jake Marisnick #23 of the Miami Marlins bats during a MLB game against the Cleveland Indians at Marlins Park on August 2, 2013 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/ Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Nothing any more exciting about the full size photo. So let’s take a look at the BOXSCORE to see if anything exciting happened for Marisnick and the Marlins.

Alright. Marlins blowout. Maybe Marisnick did some damage at the plate too.

Three-for-five at the plate with an RBI, a double and a stolen base. Nice day at the plate! Here's his run scored:

And his RBI in the Marlins' 5-run 8th:

I’m so confused right now. This morning we had an above average photo in a lowlight kind of game. This evening we have a fairly boring photo taken during the middle of a thus far, career game.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Jake connected for his first Major League homer on July 31, 2013.

To be honest, these are the kind of facts I half expected when I first heard of the Rookie Fact concept. First hit was this day. First this, first that. I think I was spoiled by the earlier few that I've already written about so this one fell a bit flat. I guess not every first home run can come in your first at bat or be a walk off.

The blurb is a little more interesting, mentioning the time he hit grand slams in consecutive innings while in Double A earlier in the 2013 season. That could explain why he skipped Triple A and jumped right to the Majors.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #45

Player Name: Jake Marisnick

Team: Miami Marlins

Position: Outfield

Game Date: August 2, 2013

Opponent: Cleveland Indians

Stadium: Marlins Park

Division: National League East

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 10-0, Marlins over the Indians, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 3/30/1991

Birthplace: California

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Ronald C. Modra

Niche collections this card could fit into: Rookie

My Grade: After a feel good story of a career day for a young rookie, I really wanted to like this card. But the photo is average, the blurb was average and rookie fact was average. It couldn’t even manage any niche collections aside from the Rookie Card designation. Flat out C.

For fun, I looked to see if there were any more exciting photos from the game. There were a few post-swing-starting-to-run-to-first shots, but nothing real exciting there either. There was this diving attempt on defense:

And only super nerds like me that research this kind of stuff would know that he missed it:

Oh well.