Bucket or Chuck-It 2013 Topps Chrome Value Pack

The break in the 2013 PostSeason gives us the chance to clear out some old stuff from the Draft Folder.  Today we add to our Bucket or Chuck-it with a "Value Pack" of 2013 Topps Chrome.

\\  

2013 Topps Chrome #208 Cliff Lee

I have admitted it before, parallels are lame and rarely show creativity, but boy am I a sucker for them. Not to the point where I would pick up a hobby box, but I typically pick up a couple of packs each year.  

Opening a pack is generally fun, even if most of the cards are ones that I have seen previously.  The Cliff Lee card above is the base chrome. It is the same photo featured on his series 1 card

Highlights 

 1972 Topps Retros appear once again.  Yu Darvish is probably one of the better players in the set.

As with 2011 Value packs contain 3 Orange parallel cards.  This is the best card I picked up among the bonus cards.  I don't see Gerrit Cole on the S1 or S2 checker for 2013 Topps, so this may be what the Cole card will look like in 2013 U&H.

 Refractors are the lowest level parallel in Chrome. I picked up one player from each of the FLA franchises as the two parallels.

 

Selected foursome of the base cards, Mike Nunino and Alex Colome RC. Former Phil Hunter Pence, in what I believe is a photoshopper.  Victor Martinez here to fill out the quartet. 

 The Last 2 orange cards were Wainwright and Nick Maronde RC.

Topps Chrome Curse?

Topps Chrome comes out and finally puts an Oriole on the cover, 5 minutes later Manny Machado rolled his knee.

Bucket or Chuck-it Verdict

I got a pretty good pack, but the $9.50 price point for 15 cards takes some of the fun out of busting packs - Verdict = Chuck-it. 

And what makes this a value pack.  The Target I was at didn't sell individual packs at all, so there were only 2 ways I could pick up Topps Chrome - Value Packs and Blasters (32 cards/ $20). Shenanigans.

2009 Topps WBC #1 Yu Darvish

Almost Perfect

 

2009 Topps WBC #1 Yu Darvish

There is a reason they call them Perfect Games - The pitcher has to be on, and a lot of things have to go their way. 

In fairness to the baseball fates Darvish did give up some soft liners that went directly to infielders.  That sort of balances out the the 5-hole single that ended Yu Darvish's Perfect Game and No-Hit bid.

Regardless the 2013 season is off to a fun start, I hope the remainder of the campaign can measure up to the drama of these first few games.

Last night a question came up from @SoozOnSports about removing Darvish on pitch count.  I cited a 1990 opening day game that featured Nolan Ryan's removal from a No-Hitter.
The game is noteworthy for several reasons.  

1) There is the significance of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan being on the mound.  By 1990 Mr Ryan was already a Hall of Famer and had likely earned the right to start and finish a game any way he pleased. 

2) As we all know Nolan Ryan authored a Major league record 7 no-htters - 5 prior to the Opening Day game  noted above. 

3) Nolan Ryan is a noted opponent of pitch counts

4) Finally Yu Darvish and and Nolan Ryan are both members of the same organization, the Texas Rangers.

So yes way back in 1990 Nolan Ryan, pitch count opponent, was removed from a No-Hitter largely because it was early in the season and he had not been stretched out.

This is only partially true - nothing exists in a vacuum.  If we look a little deeper into the Ryan non-No-Hitter we find he was only 5 innings deep.  He had 91 pitches at that point - Yu Darvish was 20 outs into a perfect game by the time he threw his 91st pitch.

The Ryan Box Score also does not note that there was a labor lockout prior to the 1990 season. At the time of the Rangers opening day game the Ryan Express had only logged about 7 innings during an abbreviated and rushed spring training. While Ryan is not a fan of pitch counts, there was likely little doubt he was going to be lifted from that particular game prior to it's conclusion - regardless of the circumstances.

1986 Topps Yu Darvish

Another one of those 1986 Topps Fantasy Cards

Faux 1986 Topps Yu Darvish