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Saturday, March 14, 2020

Strikeout or celebration?

My first Tino Martinez card of 2020 rolled in yesterday. It's an autograph from 2020 Topps Series One, from the Baseball Stars insert set. It's sticker autograph (which means there are more stickers out there), and it's numbered just 15/25.
I'm trying to figure out what's going on in the photo, and have two theories.

1. Tino just struck out, and is walking back the dugout. It looks like a perhaps annoyed smile, or even clenching his jaw in frustration.

2. Or, he's on his way back to the dugout after a teammate brought him in, and he grabbed his bat. I'm pretty sure when zooming in that it is NOT Tino's bat. He rarely used a black bat. I can't quite make out whose bat it is, but when I zoom in, I don't think it is his name.
What do you think? Any other theories?
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6 comments:

  1. Tim B.March 14, 2020 at 10:54 AM

    Cool new Tino auto. I concur, it doesn't look like that's his bat. I think we are looking at scenario #2 here.

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  2. gcrlMarch 14, 2020 at 11:11 AM

    with topps using getty for their images these days, we can confirm that tino did use that bat in a game against the royals on 4/11/01, and it looks like he had an unsuccessful at bat.

    https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/tino-martinez-yankees-2001-royals?family=editorial&phrase=tino%20martinez%20yankees%202001%20royals&sort=oldest#license

    ReplyDelete
  3. FujiMarch 14, 2020 at 2:53 PM

    My eyes are terrible, so I won't be able to help you out. But glad to see Topps is producing more cards of him this season.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Collecting CutchMarch 15, 2020 at 2:47 PM

    Congrats on the new low numbered auto. I thought it was option 1 and thanks to GCRL it looks confirmed. It is cool to see a new photo used though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. acrackedbatMarch 16, 2020 at 6:44 AM

    This is a nicely designed card. "Baseball Stars" has a retro ring to it.

    ReplyDelete