If I Had My Own Baseball Card…
March 25th, 2011 by slangon
…this is not the picture I would like to have on it.
I mean, I know he’s just a rookie and maybe he’s not this highest rated prospect, but did you really have to use this particular picture for his first baseball card? Obviously, judging by his body language, he just screwed up. Maybe he let the tying run on base. Maybe he gave up a run scoring hit. I’d venture to say that he just gave up a homer considering he’s obviously not making any sort of effort to cover any base or anything.
Considering Travis Chick has only appeared in 3 games in his career, which all happened in 2006, it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what terrible moment in this young man’s career Upper Deck decided to immortalize on cardboard. The first game he played in was on September 13, 2006 against the Blue Jays. He came in the game in the 5th, replacing Cesar Jimenez. I doubt this photo is from that game considering he did pretty well. He pitched 3 innings of scoreless relief, scattering 4 hits and 1 walk.
On September 18, 5 days after his successful long relief appearance, he was called on again, this time in the 6th to replace Felix Hernandez, who was having an uncharacteristically bad day against the Rangers in Texas. His first inning was bad, but he managed to control the bleeding pretty well. He got one quick out, then walked 2, got another out and then gave up a single to load the bases. He followed this with another walk to force in a run, but then got the last out. The next inning things sort of fell apart, but it wasn’t completely his fault. He gave up a walk, got an out, gave up a walk, got another out and got pulled from the game. The guy who came in to relieve him proceeded to give up a 3 run dinger to Nelson Cruz, but Travis was responsible for 2 of those runs. Final line – 1.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB.
His last appearance came a week after that disastrous game on September 25 against Oakland in Seattle. Again, he came in the game in the 5th with Seattle down 5-3. This time, he didn’t even make it a full inning. He started things off well, getting Frank Thomas to strikeout swinging, but it was all downhill from there. The rest of his time in the Majors went like this: walk, single, walk to load the bases, 2-run double, walk to load the bases again, walk to force in a run, get pulled for a guy who proceeds to give up an RBI single. Final line: 0.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4ER, 4 BB.
Travis Chick has not been seen anywhere near a Major League ballpark since.
As you can see, either of those last 2 games could be responsible for the dejected demeanor on Travis’ 2007 baseball card. What made pinpointing this game a little tricky is the fact that Seattle uses that dark blue jersey as both an alternate home jersey and an alternate road jersey. Thankfully, you get a clear view of his white pants which I would say is good evidence of a home game, which would make the photo in question from his final September 25 appearance. I would further guess that the moment it was snapped was when he walked Jason Kendall to force in Nick Swisher which would explain why there is no indication of him trying to back up any plays.
Case closed. Or at least the case of what game this unfortunate photograph is from is closed. As to why Upper Deck chose to use that particular picture, thus forever reminding poor Travis of probably one of the worse moments in his life, that remains a mystery.
Not really the photo I’d want on my baseball card, either. (I think I asked him to sign a copy of it last year, though.)