Pages

Chachi Checklists

Season Summaries

Virtual Wall Archive

Vintage Phillies Team Sets

Monday, September 2, 2013

2013 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs Update #21 Darin Ruf

Cubs 7, Phillies 1
Game 137 - Sunday Afternoon, September 1st in Chicago
Record - 62-75, 4th Place, 21 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Kyle Kendrick had yet enough rough outing as the Phillies fell to the Cubs, 7-1.

What It Means:  I think it's safe to say at this point that Kendrick can't be relied upon to fill a spot in the team's 2014 pitching rotation.  In his last 12 starts, Kendrick has a 6.23 ERA.

What Went Wrong:  Kendrick allowed five runs on eight hits in his six innings of work and from what I saw, he was getting hit hard.  Reliever J.C. Ramirez allowed two runs in his one inning of work to raise his ERA to 9.18.

Featured Card:  The lone bright spot in this game for the Phillies was Darin Ruf who hit his 12th home run of the season.  Ruf's home run provides me with a good enough excuse to feature his card from the Lehigh Valley IronPigs' update set, made available a few weeks ago.

And here's the thing about this set - it's my opinion that the design used for this set is the best design on a baseball card in 2013.  That's a bold statement, but I can't find another card design from any of this year's sets that I like better.  Wouldn't a whole set of Topps cards using this design look awesome?

It's got easy to read player name and full team name, a team logo, the player's position and the card is color coded to match up with the IronPigs' colors.  It's got a unique design, reminiscent of something Topps, Fleer or Donruss would have put out during the good old days.  Ignore the little Verizon Wireless logo in the corner, and it's a fantastic looking baseball card.

So what do you think?  Is this the design of the year, or is there something better out there?

2 comments:

  1. If this were a Major League product, I'd buy a lot of packs.

    I also looked at it and thought "Isn't that a hockey set design?"

    After a little searching, I realized it looks like 1984/85 Topps Hockey... It's not an exact match, but it's close enough to think that Choice did an "Upper Deck Vintage" on this set.

    But in the words of that song by Icona Pop: "I don't care! I love it!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love it too. I wish Topps would hire Choice's card design team.

    ReplyDelete