#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.

#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.

#77 Aroldis Chapman

Since I waited so long to do the Reds, I’ll go back-to-back with them.

#77 Aroldis Chapman

First impression of what’s going on: Again, I’m not good with other team’s alternate vs. throwback uniforms but this one has an old-timey feel to it. The crop is ok, better than most Topps has done, but still a little too zoomed in, cutting off his right elbow.

PITTSBURGH, PA - JUNE 01: Aroldis Chapman #54 of the Cincinnati Reds closes out the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the game on June 1, 2013 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Like the Leake photo from yesterday, this is another really nice photo, if you’re a Reds fan. The subtle red in the uniform really pops against the grey and there’s nothing in the background to distract from Chapman. The caption doesn’t give much information so as usual, let’s check out the BOXSCORE.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

Despite giving up 10 hits, the Reds shut out the Pirates, so it looks like Chapman got the Save.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

Yep, five batters faced though. Late game rally for the Buccos?

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

Wow, three pinch hitters for the Pirates. I guess if you’re not scoring with the guys you got out there, the last of the 9^th is the time to pull out all the stops. Despite a single and a walk, Chapman maintained the shutout, earning his 14^th Save on the season. Coincidentally, yesterday’s subject, Mike Leake was the starter and earned the win.

As for the uniform, it was a throwback. Both teams wore Negro League tribute uniforms as shown below.

Screenshot courtesy of Chris Creamer’s Sportlogos.net

This was the only time last season the Reds wore this uniform, going a perfect 1-0 with this win.

And for a little Free Advertising, it looks like Chapman is a Nike guy. Sporting “swooshes” on his glove and undershirt, Chapman gives a double shoutout. There’s also a little bit of self-promotion with his name stitched on the glove.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: A 105-MPH fastball by Aroldis was the fastest ever recorded by Pitch/FX.

What is Pitch/FX you ask? Well, here’s a handy dandy LINK to the FanGraphs explanation because I was curious myself. It mentions that it has been installed in every MLB stadium since around 2006. I don’t know if anyone has thrown faster than that, but having the fastest pitch in the past 8-ish years is till pretty impressive. Especially for a rookie.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #77

Player Name: Aroldis Chapman

Team: Cincinnati Reds

Position: Pitcher

Game Date: June 1, 2013

Opponent: Pittsburgh Pirates

Stadium: PNC Park

Division: National League Central

Home/Away: Away

Outcome of the game: 2-0, Reds over Pirates, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: Yes, throwback

Bats/Throws: Left /Left

Birthdate: 2/28/1988

Birthplace: Cuba

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Justin K. Aller

Niche collections this card could fit into: Free Advertising, Southpaws, Throwback

My Grade: I have nothing against Chapman except that he plays for the rival Reds. The only time I see him play is against my Cubs so if he’s not in the game, that’s a good sign for my Cubbies. The card itself doesn’t have much going for it but the throwback uniform carries a lot of weight. Enough to bring it up from an average C to a B-. 

#277 Mike Leake

This wraps up a sample for each of the 30 teams. After this, because of the difference in the cards per team ratio, they’re may be team repeats before others.

#277 Mike Leake

First impression of what’s going on: Standard swing follow through, slightly mis-cropped. Meh. I say this as a card collector, not as a fan of the rival Cubs. At first glance the only niche this might fill is Pitchers at the Plate. There's some pine tar on the helmet. Enough that I noticed, but not quite Manny Ramirez proportions (look here and here). Does anybody have a pine tar mini collection? If somebody cops to it, I’ll add it as a niche. I know somebody or two collects cards that show name plates and or numbers from jersey backs but this one doesn't quite get either in full.

CINCINNATI, OH - APRIL 17: Mike Leake #44 of the Cincinnati Reds bats during the game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Great American Ball Park on April 17, 2013 in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Reds won 11-2. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: The photo itself is a nice shot, even if it wasn't a pitcher. If I collected signed photos and/or Reds stuff, I’d have it in my collection. With the tight crop, you miss the high socks. And the Free Advertising of Nike on his shoes. We know the Reds crushed the Phillies from the caption but maybe Leake had a great day at the plate and made this special. Let’s go to the BOXSCORE.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

There’s a five run second inning. Maybe he hit a grand slam!?

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

Not quite. But he did go 3 for 4, including an RBI triple and scored three runs himself. Nothing like helping yourself out at the plate when when you’re not pitching a real gem.

Screenshot from Baseball-Reference.com

What’s that? Oh it was a gem? Seven innings of scoreless, three-hit baseball. Fine, Reds fans. He had a great game. Are you happy now? LOL

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Mike was the 21^st player to reach the show while skipping the minors.

So I went looking for a list of the other twenty players to reach the Majors without playing in minor leagues and got confused along the way. The first link that popped up was courtesy of WIKIPEDIA but it had a list of 90+ players. It mentions that some of the players may have later played in the minors for rehab, demotions or other various reasons. And anyone who has been to college in the last decade knows, Wikipedia is a great source, but not one you can necessarily get away with citing.

Another LINK  from 2007 (pre-Leake) had a list of 19 players and stipulated that these were since the First Year Player Draft in 1965. Going back to the Wiki list, most of the players were from before that time. I’m guessing this was the criteria used by Topps when constructing the Rookie Fact. But if this list has 19, and Leake was the 21^st, who was number 20? Inquiring minds want to know.

Finally, I came across a link from BASEBALL-ALMANAC.COM that, in my opinion, gives a definitive answer as a trusted source. There wasn’t anybody between #19 Xavier Nady and #21 Mike Leake. According to this list, Nady is actually #20 as the previous link neglected Darren Dreifort of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1994.

I’m trying to get better about citing my sources, but if you don’t want to click the links I provided, here’s the screenshotted chart from Baseball-Almanac.

Screenshot from Baseball-Almanac.com

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #277

Player Name: Mike Leake

Team: Cincinnati Reds

Position: Pitcher

Game Date: April 17, 2013

Opponent: Philadelphia Phillies

Stadium: Great American Ball Park

Division: National League Central

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 11-2, Reds over Phillies, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 11/12/1987

Birthplace: California

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Joe Robbins

Niche collections this card could fit into: Former First Round Draft Pick, Pitchers at the Plate

My Grade: This card didn’t wow me right off the bat. A standard batting pose, but wait! It’s a pitcher! Different, although not altogether unique. Leake did have a hell of a game, both from the mound and at the plate. That’s got to count for something, right? The Rookie fact provided some interesting information, and intrigued me enough to do some more research. Maybe if he was dropping down a bunt, I could justify an A, but it’s going to have to settle for a solid B.

If somebody can show me a Pine Tar mini collection, maybe I’ll bump it up to a B+.

More Updates

I live in the mid-Atlantic region and was lucky enough to have a snow day from work on Monday, so I took some time to revamp a few things here on the blog.

First, I went through and re-tagged all of my posts thus far. On the Gregor Blanco card, I ran out of characters to use for the labels so I eliminated the city/state for each team tag in all previous posts. I also separated out Alternate Jerseys from Throwbacks. Some posts were missing tags of the grade, the photographer and/or the stadium, so I filled those in, too.

After this, I reorganized the labels (tags) on the left side of the page, using smaller groups to make it more search friendly. You will now see all of the card grades grouped together. The teams, the stadiums, the niches and the photographers all have separate groups now as well. The grades are sorted alphabetically, although I couldn't get the +'s to come before the flat grade. The rest of the groups are sorted by how often they appear.

Some of these searches may seem a little silly now, 30 cards into the 1000+ card set, but hopefully this will be helpful the further I get.

Finally, I added a new tab to the top of the page with a list and brief explanation of when and how I use certain resources. I write my posts from start to finish in the order they are presented. I give my first impression of the card, I look for the source photo and continue on from there. But since I don't use every source for every card, I thought it might be helpful for some to see them all in one place.

I'm always looking for feedback on how to make this more enjoyable and useful so please let me know how I'm doing!

Thanks!

#192 Pedro Alvarez

#192 Pedro Alvarez

First impression of what’s going on: I’m as big a fan of horizontally laid out cards as it gets, but in my opinion, this one probably could have been your standard vertical card. The crowd shot would have been cool if everybody was on their feet, pumping fists and whatnot, but some of them hadn't gotten the memo yet that Alvarez just launched one. That’s what I’m guessing happened anyway.

PITTSBURGH, PA - JULY 03: Pedro Alvarez #24 of the Pittsburgh Pirates bats against the Philadelphia Phillies during the game on July 3, 2013 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: After my last post had a most informative caption, we have the other end of the spectrum with one of the least. No final score, no inning, nothing even noting a home run. We've got the two teams and the date but I guess that’s good enough to find the BOXSCORE.

A two-out rally was squashed in the 9^th and the Pirates were able to hang on for the victory.

With no indication of the inning for the Alvarez photo, I’ll go to the inning recap and see how he did in each at-bat.

Alvarez leads off the second with a single but gets stranded at third despite the Pirates loading the bases with no outs. I don’t think too many players would watch a single like this so I’m going to say this is probably not the at-bat featured.

Second at-bat, Alvarez strikes out swinging. Unless he’s watching a jumbotron replay of the pitch that got by him, I doubt it is this at-bat either.

Following three straight singles in the bottom of the fifth, Alvarez hit a three run home run to deep CF-RF, breaking the 1-1 tie. I think we have a winner.

Just to be sure, in the bottom of the 6^th inning, Alvarez struck out swinging again.

The black Pirates jersey is listed as an alternate jersey.

So much for being an alternate. Of the 7 different uniforms the Pirates wore in 2013, they wore this one the most.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Pedro drove in a run in seven straight games, August 4-11, 2010.

I think it’s pretty good to get into seven straight games as a rookie, let alone drive in a run. And not only did he drive a run, but in two of those games, he drove in three.

I was only somewhat familiar with the ESPN Home Run Tracker (Free Advertising, on the back!) so I decided to look a little more into it. After finding Pedro Alvarez’s page, there are some neat statistical breakdowns. A scatter plot of his home runs. A list of all of his NL leading 36 home runs with info on the opposing pitcher, ballpark, inning, distance and a ton of other stuff.

Here's how they breakdown each of the three types of home runs.

Now, I’ll admit that even before the steroid era, I was more of a fan of small ball than home run power, but this kind of statistical analysis leaves me downright giddy. There are even video links for each one and here is the video from the home run depicted on the card.

Sorry, the embedding didn't work. Here's a link instead.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #192

Player Name: Pedro Alvarez

Team: Pittsburgh Pirates

Position: Third Base

Game Date: July 3, 2013

Opponent: Philadelphia Phillies

Stadium: PNC Park

Division: National League Central

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 6-5, Pirates over Phillies

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: Yes

Bats/Throws: Left/Right

Birthdate: 2/6/1987

Birthplace: Dominican Republic

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Justin K. Aller

Niche collections this card could fit into: Alternate Jersey, Horizontal, League Leader in Italics, Free Advertising (ESPN), Former First Round Draft Pick, Partial Southpaw

My Grade: This card has a lot going for it. It led me to some great nerdy statistics. Funny enough, the one thing holding it back from getting an A+ is something I generally give bonus points for, the horizontal layout. As I mentioned, this would have looked much better as a vertical card, and I don’t say that lightly. It still gets a solid A, which is a pretty good grade for a NL Central, non-Cub card.