#34 Buddy Boshers

#34 Buddy Boshers

First impression of what’s going on: Buddy Boshers just closed out a game and is getting a congratulatory “good doggy” pat on the head from his catcher. I think battery shots like this would make a good insert along with double play combos. Maybe for Gypsy Queen like they do for Sliding Stars or Glove Stories. Unfortunately, a lot of mound conferences are negative as they’re usually calming the pitcher down or pulling him.

SEATTLE, WA - AUGUST 24: Relief pitcher Buddy Boshers #54 (L) of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is congratulated by catcher Hank Conger #16 after defeating the Seattle Mariners 5-1 at Safeco Field on August 24, 2013 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Like I thought, this photo is pretty self-explanatory. We can see from the caption that it wasn’t a save situation and I’m not even sure that Boshers is the Angels official closer. American League. Pfffft. Anyway, let’s take a look at the BOXSCORE and see if Boshers was in any kind of trouble at all.

Doesn’t look like much trouble unless he pitched the 7^th inning.

Nope, just the 9^th. And two strikeouts to boot.  Let’s see who he got.

Dustin Ackley fly ball. Nick Franklin for the backwards K. And finally Brad Miller for the swinging K. Not a bad day’s work.

But let’s play I Spy for a minute back on the picture. With two players being featured, there’s a lot going on.

On Boshers, we have a Nike logo on his undershirt.

And his clearly marked (twice) Rawlings glove.

Also, on his chest, he is wearing the LEW patch. The patch is in memory of team doctor, Dr. Lewis Yocum. But his influence wasn’t limited to the Angels as some other players wore the patch as well.

Moving over to catcher, Hank Conger, we see the Mizuno logo on his glove and juuuust barely on his catcher’s mask.

And a new one that I’ve either missed a dozen times already or just didn’t get a clear enough shot, under the Angels patch on Conger’s sleeve, we see the Majestic Athletic logo. Majestic Athletic is the current official provider of MLB uniforms.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Buddy held lefties to a .158 average as a rookie.

This is one of those facts that I’ll trust Topps to get right because I’m too lazy to actually do the digging myself. If anybody has a quick and easy way for me to verify this kind of information, please let me know!

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #34

Player Name: Buddy Boshers

Team: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Position: Pitcher

Game Date: August 24, 2013

Opponent: Seattle Mariners

Stadium: Safeco Field

Division: American League West

Home/Away: Away

Outcome of the game: 5-1, Angels over the Mariners, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No.

Bats/Throws: Left/Left

Birthdate: 5/9/1988

Birthplace: Alabama

Cameos by: Hank Conger

Photographer: Otto Greule Jr

Niche collections this card could fit into: Southpaw, Cameo, Free Advertising, Patch

My Grade: I like this card. Probably more than I should considering I’m not an American League fan and it is not horizontal. It does fill quite a few niches though and I like that it shows a congratulatory mound conference instead of one of the negative ones. The crop and centering is really good and the only drawback that I can think of is that Boshers isn’t the one front and center. Not that Hank Conger is, but they kind of co-share the space. Like I said earlier if this was a “Battery” themed insert, this photo would have been perfect.

It still gets an A+ from me though and as you can see by the grades in the left hand column, I don’t give those out willy-nilly like!

#46 Kolten Wong

#46 Kolten Wong

First impression of what’s going on: Well, this card has failure written all over it! Starting with Kolten Wong being a Cardinal and then having him trying for a double play against the Cubs? Blasphemy! All kidding aside though, this is a pretty sharp looking card. Nicely framed.

CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 16: Second baseman Kolten Wong #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals throws to first base to complete a double play as Donnie Murphy #8 of the Chicago Cubs slides into second base at Wrigley Field on August 16, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. The Cubs defeated the Cardinals 7-0. (Photo by Brian D. Kersey/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Wow, look at all that open space. And for once, Topps didn’t over crop. The caption says that Wong is throwing to first base to “complete” a double play but it also says the Cubs won 7-0 so how much do I believe that?  I’m going to have to verify that by taking a look at the BOXSCORE.

The caption was right that the Cubs did indeed win 7-0 so I guess Murphy’s attempt to break up the double play doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things though with that score.

The Cubs grounded into three double plays that day, but only one involved Murphy.

The culprit behind it in this case was shortstop Starlin Castro.

This must have been sweet revenge for Wong as he himself killed a rally by grounding into a double play in the top of the second inning.

I don’t think the Rawlings logo on Wong’s glove is visible enough to count it as Free Advertising. And I don’t remember if I counted any previous MLB logos but there is a clear one between Murphy nameplate on the back of his jersey and his helmet. I guess between the two, I can give him a little credit.

Wong is also sporting the Stan Musial Commemorative patch that I briefly mentioned on Matt Carpenters’s post a few weeks back but didn't really go into.

Hall of Famer Stan Musial passed away in January 2013 and the Cardinals wore the patch all season.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Kolten was the 11^th Cardinals player to make his MLB debut in ’13.

That’s kind of crazy. He wasn’t even the last, as they had one more debut in September.

By comparison, the Cubs, who used a team record 56 players in 2013, only had 6 make their MLB debut. Houston led the Majors with 15 MLB debuts while Colorado, Kansas City and Toronto all had the least with 3. Here’s a link to all 230 players who made their dreams come true last year.

The other two Hilo players mentioned but not named in the blurb are former Dodgers pitcher, Onan Masaoka (1999-2000) and former Tigers, Rangers, Padres and Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Villafuerte (2000-2004).

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #46

Player Name: Kolten Wong

Team: St. Louis Cardinals

Position: Second Base

Game Date: August 16, 2013

Opponent: Chicago Cubs

Stadium: Wrigley Field

Division: National League Central

Home/Away: Away

Outcome of the game: 7-0, Cubs over the Cardinals, Loss for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No.

Bats/Throws: Left/Right

Birthdate: 10/10/1990

Birthplace: Hawaii

Cameos by: Donnie Murphy  (Cubs)

Photographer: Brian D. Kersey

Niche collections this card could fit into: Double Play, Free Advertising, Patch, Former 1^st Round Draft Pick, Rookie Card, Cameo, Partial Southpaw

My Grade: As I mentioned, this is a pretty well laid out card. The crop is good. The action is solid, if not unfavorable to the Cubs. And despite being shown in a poor light here, the Cubs came out victors in the game from which this photo originated. Not every rookie has a decent photo for a card so Wong lucked out here.

It pains me to do this, but I’ll give this card an A. J

#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!

#111 Mark Ellis

Continuing a string of connected cards, I’m going to pair up yesterday’s Lonnie Chisenhall card with Mark Ellis.

#111 Mark Ellis

First impression of what’s going on: Tying these two cards together are the cameos. Chisenhall had a guy on deck and an umpire. Ellis' card has the lead runner in what looks to be a double play. This card is going to hit a lot of niches but I don’t know how I feel about that. Could Topps really not squeeze in two or three more pixels to get Ellis’ throwing pinkie in the frame?

DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER 02: Second baseman Mark Ellis #14 of the Los Angeles Dodgers turns a doube play on Josh Rutledge #14 of the Colorado Rockies as shortstop Hanley Ramirez #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers watches in the sixth inning at Coors Field on September 2, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. The Dodgers defeated the Rockies 10-8. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: This photo didn’t come up right away from me on Getty Images. The term “Mark Ellis 2013” brought up over 1000 results so I tried to narrow down. Next, I tried “Mark Ellis 2013 Double Play” but as you can see, Getty spelled “double” wrong in the caption so it didn’t come up. Luckily, Topps kept the Rockies Josh Rutledge in the picture as “Mark Ellis 2013 Rockies” finally brought up the picture with just a few options.

We also get to see Dodgers shortstop, Hanley Ramirez who was cropped out of the card and the caption credits him as “watching” the double play. That makes me wonder if this actually was a 4-3 double play that Ellis handled on his own or if Hanley is watching after feeding the ball to Ellis for a 6-4-3 twin killing. Guess we’ll have to check out the BOXSCORE.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

The Dodgers were winning 8-5 at this point in the game, so a double play was definitely crucial to stopping a potential rally. Let’s see how it went down.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

Wow. The Rockies had runners on first and third with no outs and the Dodgers managed to get out of it. Thanks in part to Mark Ellis and the double play. And as you can see, Ramirez did more than just “watch” the play.

I mentioned that this card qualifies for a couple of niches so let’s break those down. From the top down, we have sunglasses (even if not worn over his eyes) and a pair of logos for some Free Advertising.

There’s a Nike undershirt and a Rawlings logo on the glove. I believe there’s a second Nike logo on his wrist band but since the card is already getting Nike credit from his undershirt and you can’t really see it, I didn’t screenshot it.

I also thought it was worth noting that even though Ellis is not wearing an alternate or throwback jersey, Josh Rutledge is wearing one.

Screenshot from Chris Creamer's Sportslogos.net

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Mark’s .368 AVG in the 2002 ALDS included a ninth-inning 3-run homer.

Unfortunately for the Athletics, it was a case of too little too late. In Game 5, the A’s were down 5-1 before Ellis’s homer and couldn't quite complete the comeback. They lost not only the game, but also the series. 

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

Because of his veteran status and years of playing experience, there’s no blurb on the back of the card.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #111

Player Name: Mark Ellis

Team: Los Angeles Dodgers

Position: Second Base

Game Date: September 2, 2013

Opponent: Colorado Rockies

Stadium: Coors Field

Division: National League West

Home/Away: Away

Outcome of the game: 10-8, Dodgers over the Rockies, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No, kinda. Cameo player has one.

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 6/6/1977

Birthplace: South Dakota

Cameos by: Josh Rutledge

Photographer: Doug Pensinger

Niche collections this card could fit into: Free Advertising, Double Play, Sunglasses, Cameo

My Grade: I think I’m supposed to like this card as it hits a couple of the bigger mini collections but something about it doesn’t do it for me. I’m ok giving it an A, but again, this is not a “No Doubter” of an A+. 

#317 Lonnie Chisenhall

I think going forward I’ll find something to tie cards together for consecutive posts and then link another card through a different attribute. Kind of a six degrees of Kevin Bacon thing but with cards. Let’s see how long I can keep it going. From Mike Leake (Reds) to Aroldis Chapman (also Reds) to…

#317 Lonnie Chisenhall

First impression of what’s going on: Bringing Chapman and Lonnie Chisenhall together are Throwback uniforms. As much as I like the Reds versions, this Cleveland Indians one is bad. So horrendous, it almost comes back around to glorious. We've got a couple of cameos but I don’t know enough about the Indians or umpires to recognize them. If I had to guess, this is probably a home run but could be just about anything. For the umpire to be where he is, it must be one of those “No Doubters” I mentioned in a previous post. Probably not a walk off though, as the on deck guy isn't jumping around or anything. Surprisingly, this is also one that Topps could have actually cropped a bit tighter.

CLEVELAND, OH - JULY 13: Lonnie Chisenhall #8 of the Cleveland Indians runs the bases after hitting a grand slam home run during the sixth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Progressive Field on July 13, 2013 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Ok, a grand slam. You’d think the on deck guy would be a little more excited! But since the caption didn't give the final score, maybe the Indians were still down by five, even after the grand slam. So let’s check out the BOXSCORE.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

Nope, it actually quintupled the Indians lead.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

And as the top play of the game, it raised the probability of the Indians winning by a staggering 21% to 98%. That’s pretty high considering it was only the 6^th inning. That percent would creep back down after the Royals tacked on a few runs, but the end result was an Indians win.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

A peek at the inning summary shows that after a single, a double and an intentional walk (with two swinging strikeouts mixed in), Chisenhall drilled the first pitch he saw to drive everybody in. This was his first career grand slam.

As for the jersey, Chisenhall and the Indians are sporting the 1902 Indians jersey. This was the only game these were worn this season.

Screenshots from Chris Creamer's Sportslogos.net

Back to the boxscore, I’m concluding that the Indian in the background is Yan Gomes, the #9 hitter in the lineup behind Chisenhall. Any Indians fan care to verify that? Also according to the boxscore, the home plate umpire for the game was Dan Iassoga. The Royals catcher that was cropped out of the card but still shows up in the photo is Salvador Perez.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Though a lefty himself, Lonnie hit five of his seven homeruns off of southpaws.

I guess there’s some sort of statistical analysis about this, but as a lefty myself, I always liked hitting against left handers, too. Between the fact and the blurb there isn't much for me to look into. Oh well. Good thing the front was exciting. But for those curious, a pair of his first seven home runs came off lefty Mark Buehrle in the same game.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #317

Player Name: Lonnie Chisenhall

Team: Cleveland Indians

Position: Third Base

Game Date: July 13, 2013

Opponent: Kansas City Royals

Stadium: Progressive Field

Division: American League Central

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 5-3, Indians over Royals, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: Yes, throwback

Bats/Throws: Left /Right

Birthdate: 10/4/1988

Birthplace: North Carolina

Cameos by: Dan Iassoga, Yan Gomes

Photographer: Jason Miller

Niche collections this card could fit into: Partial Southpaws, Throwback, Cameo, High Socks, Career Milestone (First Grand Slam), Umpire

My Grade: This card is easily one of the best of the Series. It hits several of the bigger niche collections. The questions is, does it deserve an A+? The weak back side is the only thing keeping me on the fence. And to me, an A+ is a “No Doubter” so this card has to settle for merely an A.