#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!

#318 Luis Valbuena

This morning we had one hot corner representative from the Windy City. This evening we go across town to see the other third baseman in Chicago.

#318 Luis Valbuena

First impression of what’s going on: Luis Valbuena is trying to score. It didn't happen enough last season (for my beloved Cubbies, I’m not picking on Luis). I'd like to think Valbuena is flipping off his haters as he jump slides home, thus it’ll get some Unnecessary Censorship status. More on the throwback uniforms in a bit.

SEATTLE, WA - JUNE 29: Luis Valbuena #24 of the Chicago Cubs scores on a single by Nate Schierholtz in the sixth inning against the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field on June 29, 2013 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Can this really get a Play at the Plate designation since there is no one in the vicinity of the sliding Valbuena? In the uncropped photo, you can see Valbuena is holding his batting gloves and not shoving anything in the Seattle crowd’s collective faces. Also cropped out are third base coach, David Bell and the third base umpire. According to the BOXSCORE, the third base umpire for the game was Mike Winters.

The Cubs pulled one out in extra innings after Kevin Gregg blew the Save in the 9^th. Here’s the play by play of the 6^th inning.

Looks like Valbuena’s run tied the game at two and the Cubs took the lead on the next batter.

Since Nate Schierholtz advanced to second “on the throw”, I guess there was a play at the plate even though we can’t see it. The throw must have been up the line or cut off.

As for the uniforms, this was a Turn Back the Clock game, so the Cubs wore their 1909 throwbacks. Those with a little bit of baseball history knowledge will note this as the first year of the Cubs World Series drought. The Mariners wore a throwback uniform as well but since they were an expansion team from 1977, they opted to wear a Seattle Turks uniform. The Turks were a Northwestern League (Minors) team in Seattle at that time.

The screen grab above was taken from one of my favorite sites, sportslogos.net. They have a breakdown of each team by what uniform they wore for each game and the team's record while wearing each uniform during the season. I was only interested in this particular game, but I'll definitely go back when I have more time. What a great resource!

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Luis’ first and only 2-HR game occurred on 6/20/09 at Wrigley Field.

Wait. What? Valbuena wasn’t a rookie with the Cubs, which means….gasp! He was their opponent! I found the BOXSCORE for the game, which also happened to be an extra inning affair. His first home run of the day came in the 5^th to double the Indians lead to 2-0.

 

Later in the 13^th, Valbuena tried to put the Cubs away with his second solo home run of the day.

Luckily for the Cubs, it wasn't enough as they managed their own rally against former and future Cub and fan favorite, Kerry Wood.

C’mon, Kerry. A game winning losing wild pitch against your former team? Thanks!

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #318

Player Name: Luis Valbuena

Team: Chicago Cubs

Position: Third Base

Game Date: June 29, 2013

Opponent: Seattle Mariners

Stadium: Safeco Field

Division: National League Central

Home/Away: Away

Outcome of the game: 5-3, Cubs over the Mariners, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: Yes, 1909 Chicago Cubs

Bats/Throws: Left/Right

Birthdate: 11/30/1985

Birthplace: Venezuela

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Otto Greule Jr.

Niche collections this card could fit into: Throwback/Alternate Jersey, Unnecessary Censorship, Play at the Plate, High Socks

My Grade: I may be biased towards the Cubs but I think most collectors would give this card an A. Not only is it a great shot of Valbuena sliding home, but it's a full shot of the throwback uniform. Valbuena is also sporting the high socks in this photo, not something he normally does.

#73 Kyle Seager

In honor of the Super Bowl yesterday I thought I’d show some baseball representatives from the areas involved. First up from the Seattle Mariners, I have Kyle Seager.

#73 Kyle Seager

First impression of what’s going on: Good action shot, though not great. I’d call it a play at the plate even though it doesn’t appear to be close with the catcher jumping to make the play. I’m going to go out on a shaky, thin limb and say Seager was safe. A couple of cameos I’ll have to try to figure out.

SEATTLE, WA - APRIL 14: Kyle Seager #15 of the Seattle Mariners scores on a single by Jesus Montero as catcher Geovany Soto #8 of the Texas Rangers takes the throw in the sixth inning at Safeco Field on April 14, 2013 in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners defeated the Rangers 4-3. (Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo:  Another pretty self-explanatory photo. Surprise isn't the right word for it, but I found it interesting that Geovany Soto was the catcher. Former Cubs isn't a real niche collection of mine but I do point them out when I see them during Repack Breaks on my other blog, Once aCub… and will be tracking appearances even if its just his butt. 

The caption gives a little more detail, like who hit the ball, but let’s go to the BOXSCORE to see if we can find out some more information.

Looks like the Mariners took the lead for good in the sixth inning when this picture was supposedly taken. Was this a game-winning run? Let’s go a little deeper and look at the inning summary.

Ok, so not the game winner, but Seager started the rally with a one-out double. He then scored on the Jesus Montero single to right field that resulted in the photo above. In the background, Montero is advancing to second on the throw home. Baseball-Reference also has a chart that shows the top plays of the game. Montero's RBI single tops the list for this game.

In my baseball experience, a ball hit to right field has the second baseman as the cutoff man. With the positioning of the photo, the blurry Ranger could very well be keystoner, Leury Garcia. Any Rangers fans out there that can help me ID the Rangers fielder and the other one in the photo that got cropped out of the photo on the left?

On to the back:

 

Rookie Fact: Kyle was the first Seattle rookie to go 4-for-4 with 3 XBHS, 8/24/2011.

There may have been a rookie to go 4-for-4 but without the extra base hits or one that had three extra base hits but not a perfect 4-for-4. But even with the qualifiers, this is still a pretty impressive feat. In case you were curious, I’ve tracked down the BOXSCORE for that game too. Seager’s three extra base hits were all doubles and he managed to score three runs while driving one in during a 9-2 drubbing of the Cleveland Indians.

The blurb mentions Seager has been the team MVP for the past two seasons, but knowing the Mariners are just as happy the Astros have joined the AL West as the Cubs are disappointed they left the NL Central, that's not saying much. They've got some good young guys, tough.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #73

Player Name: Kyle Seager

Team: Seattle Mariners

Position: Third Base

Game Date: April 14, 2013

Opponent: Texas Rangers

Stadium: Safeco Field

Division: American League West

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 4-3, Mariners over Rangers, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No

Bats/Throws: Left/Right

Birthdate: 11/3/1987

Birthplace: North Carolina

Cameos by: Jesus Montero (Mariners), Geovany Soto (Rangers), ???? (Rangers)

Photographer: Otto Greule Jr.

Niche collections this card could fit into: Horizontal, Cameo, Play at the Plate, Former Cub

My Grade: Although this card fits into four niche collections and is another I wanted to like, I think Topps could have done better. In my opinion, Seager’s head is too close to the top border. I have no formal art/photography/graphic design training but I vaguely remember a concept from art class when I was in school regarding the rule of thirds. It had to do with framing important elements of the art in certain areas of the overall composition. This card would have benefitted greatly from lowering the photo from where the top of his helmet is down to where his nose is, putting his face in a more prominent spot on the card. Even if that sacrificed a little more of his legs (an acceptable crop), you can still tell he was sliding home with the catcher in the picture.

My love of horizontal cards can’t overcome the fact that while Seager has all of his important appendages, the card is poorly cropped and just slightly above average at best. I'll go C+.