It's getting more challenging to be a fan

 

 

Andrew McCutchen found a new team yesterday. He's a Brewer, continuing his tour through every team in major league baseball apparently.

Not only has McCutchen bounced from team to team the last five years but many others have as well. The transactions on the baseball wire the past week are arriving rapid-fire as teams are making up for lost time. Then there's that practice of rotating players in and out of the lineup, up and down from the minors, that has grown in frequency the last few years.

Nobody stays in place much anymore and it's very tough as a fan to keep up. You need alerts on your phone to keep track and then you'd promptly turn notifications off because the incessant beeping would drive you batty.

 

Not only is it difficult to stay on top of who is on what team but you're now required to keep track of prospects, too. The attention given to prospects is off the charts compared with what it was when I first got into baseball. Prospects were guys you saw in the back of the yearbook once a year or sharing card space with three other guys on a rookie hopefuls card.

 

That's all changed and if you don't have somebody's 1st Bowman Chrome card you ain't shit in the eyes of a widening selection of collectors.

 

Cards have gone all-in to the prospect game, even in the flagship set, and increasingly I don't know who I am pulling anymore. Sure, it's probably my job as a baseball fan to keep up but I don't want it to be a J-O-B.

 

Perhaps nothing illustrates the ever-changing world of baseball and baseball cards better than the first card I pull out of a pack each year.

 

 

I'll return to Andrew McCutchen. His card was the first I pulled out of a pack in 2014.

McCutchen was a Pirate then, that's all we knew him as, and at the top of his game. I definitely knew who he was.

But that's been a rarity of late.

Out of the Topps flagship sets that have been issued since I started this blog, I have known the player I pulled first out of my first pack nine of 14 times. I guess that's not too bad.

I had an advantage one year, as the player I pulled in 2016 was a Dodger that most people who weren't Dodgers fans didn't know. Also, if you include only the first 10 years of the blog, my percentage of knowing goes up to nine out of 11. It's been a rough last three years.

Until recently I almost always knew who the player was with my first pull every year. Sure, the first couple of years of being a fan, I had no clue ("Who was Tommy John? Who was Darold Knowles?  What are Astros?"). But once baseball viewing kicked in, being a fan was no sweat. The only time I can recall not knowing the player I pulled with my first card was in 1988 when I pulled some guy named Phil Lombardi and had zero idea.

I chalked that up to barely collecting at the time and as I returned to pack-opening, I went back to knowing who those first guys were.

But let me demonstrate by going through each year since I started opening packs on the internet.

 

2009: Luis Ayala

I did know who Luis Ayala was. It helped living in New York. It also helped that it was a night card.

2010: Luke Scott

I knew who Luke Scott was as well, even if he doesn't want to show his face.

 

2011: Russell Branyan

Russell Branyan was a veteran who I also saw play for the Buffalo Bisons, so, yup, I knew him.

2012: Blake Beavan

A Mariner for the second straight year. And possibly the first time since 1988 that the first card I pulled didn't register at all. I did not know Blake Beavan, who spent 54 games in the majors.

This was just the beginning.

2013: Joe Nathan

I knew Joe Nathan. It was weird that he was a Ranger. Remember that? Remember Joe Nathan?

2014: Andrew McCutchen

Mentioned him already. Seems like his biggest fan is adjusting.

2015: Santiago Casilla

Really didn't know who Santiago Casilla was even though he had been a full-time major leaguer for seven years by then. That's what happens when you spend the entirety of your 15-year career in the bullpen, on the West Coast, and not in Dodger blue.

2016: Zach Lee

Possibly the first time I pulled a Dodger card first since 1977 and Ellie Rodriguez. (I don't remember my first pulls for most of the '80s/early '90s, which is why this is as much of an update post as you'll get for this post).

I knew who Zach Lee was, but considering what followed for Lee, I know I wouldn't have known who he was if he played for any of the other 29 MLB teams. Also, note the rookie card logo. That will be a theme.

2017: Mike Moustakas

Yes, I watched the 2015 World Series. I knew who he was.

2018: Billy Hamilton

I can safely say this is the best-looking first card I have ever pulled. Also even if I never saw Billy Hamilton play in a game, I'd know him just because of his baseball cards.

2019: Rick Porcello

The last time I would know who the heck I was pulling.

2020: Alex Young

Alex Young has been a bullpen guy for the Diamondbacks and Indians the last 3 years. Didn't have a clue who he was when I pulled this card.

2021: Ryan Castellani

Don't know. He played in one game last year. Ten games before that.

2022: Ronnie Dawson

Ronnie Dawson has had five major league at-bats. Not even Astros fans know who he is.

Note that the last three years I've pulled someone with a rookie card logo.

I've said in the past that I welcome players I've never heard of in sets because it gives me an opportunity to learn about them. That's still true. But if it's going to be a player who winds up playing in no more than 30 MLB games, I would rather you give me a journeyman reliever with six years of experience than yet another rookie hopeful who should be sharing space with three other guys on the card.

It's just too time-consuming to process all these "maybe guys" and keep up with their comings and goings. 

But all this will get is a shrug from people who are used to Bowman being the set for pre-rookies when back in 1988 I would've said "what the fuck is a pre-rookie?"

Fortunately, I don't have to be up to the challenge.

I can choose to follow the portion of baseball that I want. And if I don't know who somebody is, I can proudly say "who is HE?" and not care if people guffaw.

And if I don't want to turn over the card to the back and see no more experience than three games and five at-bats, I don't have to open those packs.

 

And leave the rat race for those with more time on their hands. Or better processing skills.

Now, which team is Isiah Kiner-Falefa on today?