"What the hell is that fool doing? He knows that's a card from 2010, right?
"And why are we talking about 2012? That was two years ago! He expects me to stay around for a card from two years ago? How lazy is he that he can't even stay current. I mean, I know he's stuck in the past, but this is pathetic.
"It's bad enough that there's an A's card leading off this thing. Bleeping Night Owl and his bleeping minis."
Hey! Hi there! I'm ignoring all those bad things you just said about me to tell you I played a little trick on you like I often do! The card at the top doesn't really have anything to do with the post at all! It's only tangentially related to what I want to talk about! This is to get you to actually click on the post rather than ignore it because the card image at the top bores you! Isn't that sneaky of me? Well, that's what you get for bad-mouthing minis.
Anyway, the reason that the Andrew Bailey card is here is because it came from a package that arrived today from David at Tribe Cards. As you know he put on one hell of a season-long giveaway last year and it was so over the top that he's just getting the goodies out now because he doesn't have 50 employees shipping out cards for him.
I'll show you some of the other cards from David (actually, it was a box) some other time. But I wanted to feature another card from that package separately.
It's a card that I've wanted to show for almost two years now.
Back in 2012 I saw a card that I knew instantly would be a candidate for card of the year. It showed up rather late in the year and I knew nothing else would beat it. There wasn't enough time.
I liked the card so much that when it popped up during the weekly draft at Tribe Cards, I made sure to jump on it (by the way, I was a lot more active in last year's festivities than I am with Dave's current project. I'm just not able to devote much time to it this year).
Then I waited for it to arrive. The 2012 End Of The Year Celebrations came and went, and I bypassed announcing a Card of the Year. Then 2013 came and went, and I eventually named a 2013 card of the year, although I was late again.
And now it's 2014 and I'm ready to retroactively name a Card of the Year for 2012.
But first, let me tell you about that time ...
Out with it, man?
OK.
Here it is:
Congratulations, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, card #192 from 2012 Topps Chrome, you are the card of the year.
This is pretty phenomenal for a chrome card.
In fact, the photograph of this awesome catch might be even better than the catch. I wish that this appeared on a Stadium Club card, minus the chrome and the surfboard nameplate.
The photo is from a Mets game against the Phillies on April 14, 2012 at Chase Field. Nieuwenhuis (my brain must strain mightily to spell his name correctly) ran from a long way to make a leaping catch of a fly ball by Brian Schneider.
You can see video of the catch here. (It's the third video once you click on the little video icon).
If you look closely at the video, you can even see the Phillies player in the bullpen with his mouth agape, just like on the photo.
Congratulations, 2012 Topps Chrome, Kirk Nieuwenhuis card, it was well worth the wait.
Now don't you feel bad about complaining?
(P.S.: The Bailey mini is going in the frankenset. Like you care).
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