#CHC-16 Jose Veras

For the most part, I’m going to slowly add the Factory Team sets to my collection but wait and see which cards actually make Series 2 and the Update set before writing about them. With that said, I picked up the Cubs set for my team collection and did a brief write up on my other blog, Once a Cub, where I briefly touched on this card. I don’t want this card to show up in Series 2 or the Update series and I’m pretty sure Topps doesn’t either.

#CHC-16 Jose Veras

First impression of what’s going on: To a non-Cubs fan, this might look like a pretty good card. Jose Veras is making a goofy face. The card is horizontal (one of my favorite attributes) and is framed well. We get to see a nice grip on his breaking ball. In fact, if Topps keeps this card for Series 2 or Update, but makes the correction, this might be one of my favorite Cubs cards of the year. What correction am I talking about?

THIS!

Any respectable Cubs fan and even a lot of good baseball-in-general fans can tell you that the Cubs retired the #31 in honors of Hall of Famers Fergie Jenkins and Greg Maddux. For you non-Cubs fans, this happened five years ago, May 3, 2009 in a joint number retirement ceremony.

The problem begins with the source photo.

Screen grab courtesy of Getty Images

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 11: Jose Veras #31 of the Detroit Tigers in action against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on August 11, 2013 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The Yankees defeated the Tigers 5-4. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Veras signed with the Cubs as a Free Agent during the off season so Topps does what it normally does and uses a photo from the player's previous team but touches it up a bit. As you can see, Veras wore #31 with the Tigers last season and Topps just carried over that number to the Cubs, regardless of the fact that it is retired.

For what it’s worth, Topps did an otherwise pretty good converting the Tigers road jersey to the Cubs road jersey. They even added the logoed sleeve patch to his left arm.

Enough with the “error” and let’s go to the BOXSCORE to see how Veras did in his game against the Yankees when the photo was taken.

Screen grab courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

A walk off loss after coming from behind doesn’t look good. Hopefully, Veras wasn’t the closer this game.

Screen grab courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

Whoops! Veras got through two thirds of an inning but took the loss, his fifth of the season.

Screen grab courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

It took 13 pitches to get the first two out, but the 15th ended the game with a solo home run from Brett Gardner. As Yankee biased as Topps can be, I wonder if this was a subtle dig on Veras with the photo selection. But Veras is a former Yankee so I’m probably just reading too much into it.

We do get the Nike swoosh on Veras’ undershirt for a little Free Advertising credit.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Jose retired the only batter he faced in a 1-run game for his 1st save.

I like the fact that Topps carried over the Rookie Facts to the Factory Team sets. As I mentioned, Veras is a former Yankee, making his MLB debut with them in 2006. His first Save came on September 18^th that year against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Screen grab courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

After the Yankees extended their lead with three runs in the top of the 9^th, the Troy Glaus brought the Blue Jays back to within one run with a three-run home run.

Screen grab courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com

A single by pinch-hitter JasonPhillips chased reliever Mike Meyers and Jose Veras was able to induce a fly ball from Aaron Hill to end the game.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #CHC-16

Player Name: Jose Veras

Team: Detroit Tigers (Chicago Cubs)

Position: Pitcher

Game Date: August 11, 2013

Opponent: New York Yankees

Stadium: Yankee Stadium

Division: American League Central

Home/Away: Away

Outcome of the game: 5-4, Yankees over the Tigers, Loss for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No.

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 10/20/1980

Birthplace: Dominican Republic

Cameos by: Greg Maddux, Fergie Jenkins

Photographer: Jim McIsaac

Niche collections this card could fit into: Cubs, Horizontal, Photoshopped, Error, Free Advertising

My Grade: I really wanted to like this card. As I already said, it’s horizontal, it’s cropped well, Veras is making a funny face. This card was destined for an A+ grade, but with one Topps oversight, it goes straight to an F. No offense to Veras or the photographer, Jim McIsaac. They did their parts. This one rests solely on Topps.

Normally, if a card gets a failing grade, I'll look for some photos that would have worked better. But I really like this photo and just want them to correct the number, not change the photo. 

Hopefully this was caught early enough that someone at Topps can change the “3” to a “4” before it goes to print in Series 2 or the Update series. As I mentioned in my other post about the team set as a whole, last year Edwin Jackson was a National in Series 1, a Photoshopped Cub in the factory team set and had a different third card altogether in the Update series. So it can be done. 

I tweeted Topps earlier today from my Once a Cub twitter account pointing out the error, but haven’t heard anything back yet. I've never been a “rally the troops” kind of guy but do we bloggers and collectors have any power here? Can this oversight be corrected in time? I don’t ask for much from this tiny blog, but let’s see what the power of the people can do!

Here’s a link to my tweet. Please retweet that or this post to @Toppscards and make our voices heard!

Hopefully, this doesn't come off as too whiny. I don't want anything but a fixed card!

#13 Juan Nicasio

Today’s card is connected to the last card through the Colorado Rockies organization. A sliding Josh Rutledge appeared as a cameo on Mark Ellis' card and today I have Juan Nicasio, a pitcher with the Rockies.

#13 Juan Nicasio

First impression of what’s going on: I don’t think even my love for horizontal cards can save this monstrosity. This is a worse-than-usual crop job by Topps here. Right leg in the upper left corner, cropped. Glove hand on the right side, cropped. Left leg, cropped. Even the one appendage we can fully see, Topps managed to find a photo where it looks like Nicasio’s thumb is missing! This card is very synergetic with my Once a Cub post from today, Ugh.

DENVER, CO - JULY 25: Juan Nicasio #12 of the Colorado Rockies pitches against the Miami Marlins during a game at Coors Field on July 25, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. The game was delayed due to rain in the middle of the seventh inning. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: This photo by itself isn't bad at all, but on this particular baseball card, Topps chose poorly. Nicasio's delivery is so spread out, it didn't really have a chance of being cropped properly. The caption is generic so we can’t pinpoint to any particular play in the game. But let’s go to the BOXSCORE and see if they at least finished the game, since the caption says it was delayed.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

Looks like some solid starting pitching before the dam broke for both bullpens. Is that literal since there was a rain delay between the shutout and scoring?

To be honest, I couldn't even tell you if Nicasio was a starting pitcher or a reliever so I’ll have to further into the breakdown to see what this means for today's subject.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

I guess the good news for Nicasio is that despite the crappy card, he had a very nice day on the mound. Seven innings pitched while only giving up two hits and a walk and striking out nine seems pretty good in the Mile High City. Who knows how it would have turned out if there was no rain delay and Nicasio kept pitching. According to this RECAP, it was 93 minute delay.

Unlike during the Rutledge cameo, the Rockies weren't wearing an alternate jersey on this day. But we do get to see a decent shot of the Rockies 20^th Anniversary patch that Nicasio is sporting on his sleeve.

Here’s a better look courtesy of Chris Creamer’s Sportslogos.net:

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: The Colorado Rockies won six of Juan’s seven starts at Coors Field in 2011.

He must have gotten a little bit more run support than he did in the game pictured on the front.

Turns out that while the Rockies were 6-1 when Nicasio pitched at home, they were 1-5 when he pitched on the road. And that only home loss? That was the game that Nicasio “broke his neck” as mentioned in the blurb.

For those that don’t remember, while pitching against the Washington Nationals, Nicasio took a line drive to the head. When he fell, he fractured a vertebrae in his neck. There is video online for those curious, but I won’t be posting it here. Scary stuff.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #13

Player Name: Juan Nicasio

Team: Colorado Rockies

Position: Pitcher

Game Date: July 25, 2013

Opponent: Miami Marlins

Stadium: Coors Field

Division: National League West

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 5-3, Marlins over the Rockies, Loss for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No.

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 8/31/1986

Birthplace: Dominican Republic

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Dustin Bradford

Niche collections this card could fit into: Horiztonal

My Grade: When I saw this card, I hated it. After the breakdown, and remembering/learning more about Nicasio’s injury, I feel a little guilty about that but it is still a horribly conceived card. The fact that it is horizontal can’t even carry it out the doldrums. Sorry, Juan, but this card gets an F.

Also apologies go out to photographer Dustin Bradford because the photo itself is pretty good. Not his fault.

As I did with the other “F” card, here are a couple of photos that would have been better.

This is a slightly different angle of the one used but would have been much better as the only thing cropped would have been his left leg. Still nothing that would set it apart so I kept looking.

Cropped at the waist, this one would have made for a good horizontal card too. We have an alternate jersey with a celebratory motion going on.

Can't go wrong with a pitcher at the plate. And laying down a bunt, too. The last three were also by the same photographer as the one that was used.

And last, we have what could be my favorite. We've got a cameo by the bat boy and the player most synonymous with the Rockies organization, Todd Helton. There's the pitcher's appreciative and congratulatory butt slap. And of course one of the rarest of locations for a card, the on deck circle. Photographer Doug Pensinger's work has already been used on other cards and the game is from May, well within Topps time frame for cards, so I see nothing that would have stopped the use of this photo.

#247 Anthony Gose

No strategy today, just the randomizer.

#247 Anthony Gose

First impression of what’s going on: Oh my goodness, what is this mess? I think this will be a polarizing card. Some will like it for its uniqueness or will be nostalgic for the kind of cards where Spring Training/warm up/batting practice photos were the norm, while others will wonder why in this day and age of gajillion megapixel cameras are we still taking pictures through the BP netting.

TORONTO, CANADA - MAY 27: Anthony Gose #8 of the Toronto Blue Jays takes batting practice before an MLB game action against the Atlanta Braves on May 27, 2013 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: The photo itself is fine. Batting practice is something not a lot of people see so pictures of it can be kind of cool. But why on a baseball card? And can I do a boxscore breakdown on a photo that wasn't part of the game? Gose is a young guy, maybe not even a starter. What if he didn't even play that day? OK, I’m getting ahead of myself so let’s check out the actual BOXSCORE.

Blue Jays blowout. I’ll have to check my statistics on this but the team of the player depicted seems to have a pretty good record on the day their card's photo was taken. But did Gose play?

Barely! And I swear I expressed the concern before looking at the boxscore. It’s never good when you look better warming up than you do at game time.

So he pinch ran for Melky Cabrera in the 7^th inning and later scored on an Edwin Encarnacion home run.

Gose stayed in the game and walked in his only plate appearance of the day.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: In only 56 games, Gose’s 15 SBs were third-most ever by a Toronto rookie.

So I was curious and thought it would be helpful if I tried to figure out who the two Blue Jay rookies with more than 15 SBs were. But I opened up a can of worms. I headed over to FanGraphs.com and plugged in my information. Blue Jays. Rookies. 1977-2013. And then sorted the results by SBs. I got this:

Not only was Gose not third, but he was tied for fifth? Now I feel like I had to go back to Baseball-Reference and look at these guys individually and see if Topps was wrong.

Top guy Homer Bush got some playing time with the Yankees, but was still technically a rookie by MLB standards when he stole 32 bases in 1999 for the Blue Jays:

Homer Bush

Second place was Alfredo Griffin. Like Bush, Griffin had some playing time before coming to the Blue Jays but was still a rookie when he joined them. Enough of a rookie that he won the Rookie of the Year award despite playing in parts of three previous seasons. There seems to be a discrepancy in the stolen base total as FG lists 20, but Baseball Reference has 21:

Alfredo Griffin

True first year rookie Junior Felix had 18 in 1989.

Junior Felix

I don't know what to think about this Mike McCoy one. FG has him listed as having 17 stolen bases but in his first year in Toronto didn't use up his rookie eligibility and only had five stolen bases. In his second year with the Blue Jays, he was considered a rookie but only stole 12. So they’re combining his two seasons? I don’t even know.

Mike McCoy

Alex Rios is another true first year rookie and also had 15 stolen bases.

Alex Rios

Bob Bailor was a third year rookie and also had 15 stolen bases.

Bob Bailor

See, can of worms, right? But if you look at the number of games each of these guys played to get their stolen bases, you have every right to be impressed with Gose.

As for the blurb? One last screenshot to confirm that he did indeed tie for the team lead in triples in 2013.

Well, at least Topps got that one right.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #247

Player Name: Anthony Gose

Team: Toronto Bue Jays

Position: Outfield

Game Date: May 27, 2013

Opponent: Atlanta Braves

Stadium: Rogers Centre

Division: American League East

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 9-3, Blue Jays over the Braves, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No, but wearing BP gear

Bats/Throws: Left/Left

Birthdate: 8/10/1990

Birthplace: California

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Tom Szczerbowski

Niche collections this card could fit into: Batting Practice, Southpaw, Sunglasses

My Grade: F

From a different angle, the photo may have been unique in a good way but personally I don’t like the netting. Gose barely played in the game that took place after the warm-ups.

And don’t get me started again on the false fact on the back. I’m already spending more time on these than I anticipated so to have to go dig around because of inaccuracies is not going to win any points in my book.

Sorry, Anthony, if you happen to Google yourself and find this review. Nothing personal!

Always, the helper, I don’t just tell you you’re wrong, I show you how you could have done it better. Here are two photos that would have aided this card:

A head first slide into home. The caption says safe but with Gose looking up (at presumably the umpire) to get the call, it must have been a close play!

And what makes the original card such a shame is the photo below would have made this card a contender for card of the year. Taken the day before the batting practice photo and by the same photographer, I see no reason why this photo couldn't have been used instead. Check out this awesome overhead bunting shot: