One particular Twins card from this year’s Topps Update set is an eye catcher: Rene Tosoni in front of a back drop of St. Louis’ Belgium’s finest. Besides wanting to share this card with The Nation, I was also curious how closely we could get to identifying the exact play?
2011 Topps Update #177 Rene Tosoni
First, the basics. As we can see in this picture, the Bud ad at TF is in LF. Of Tosoni’s 60 appearances, that rules out 7 DH games, 2 RF games, 9 PH only games, and 4 games as PH were he was in the lineup as not LF. That leaves 36 games from which to begin to pare it down. #12 is Alexi Casilla, so we need to find games in which they appeared together.
Looks like it was pretty cool outside- both players have on long sleeves. Early or late in the season.
Of course, cut those down by throwing out the away games. Duh.
Good throwing form- looks like we could use him as a
relieverCuddyer’s replacement.I tried to look at pictures of all the away stadiums Tosoni played in last year, and I could not find many good shots of outfield walls. The only one I think might have a Budweiser sign in left-center is Kaufmann Stadium, but I can’t tell for sure. If that’s the case, there two games last year where Tosoni played left and Casilla played short in Kansas City, on April 29th and May 1st.
This play looks like a line-drive or flyball double or triple. In that case, Treanor, Maier, Betemit, and Gordon all had those types of doubles on April 29th and May 1st.
Honestly, though, I’m wondering if that Budweiser sign is photoshopped
That’s the home white uniforms though, right? I’m not the uni expert, so I might be mistaken.
oh man, yeah. But I could not find any red signs on the outfield wall at Target Field. Do they change advertisements throughout the year?
The first link in my first post shows the ad fairly clearly.
It’s not the 8/24 game when he was a PH then put in left field as Casilla didn’t play that game (his only PH appearance that resulted in playing LF). That leaves the following 21 games where Tosoni started in LF at home:
Apr 28 (1)
Apr 28 (2)05/10/11
05/11/11
06/27/11
07/01/11
07/03/11
07/05/11
07/06/11
08/18/1108/19/11
08/20/11
08/21/11
08/26/11
08/27/11
08/28/11
Sep 5 (2)
09/06/11
09/17/11
09/21/11
Edited to include beau’s sleuthing into mutual games played.
Apr 28 (1)
05/10/11
06/27/11
07/01/11
07/03/11
07/05/11
07/06/11
Games Casilla also played
Erase May 10th. Casilla only played one inning in field, and the other team had no hits.
Updated.
7/28 -- Casilla put on 15 Day DL
8/12 -- Casilla activated
8/13 -- Casilla put on 15 Day DL
9/27 -- Casilla transfered from 15 to 60 day DL
So that takes out the final 11 games from that list above. Going on bhiggum’s suggestion re: sleeves, It looks like either of the April games would be a good place to start
Rays hit two doubles to left field on April 28th, both by Ben Zobrist. I suppose it could have been a single, but it just feels like an extra-base hit to me
Also, it looks like day time, so it almost assuredly is the first game of the doubleheader on April 28th
dang, you guys rock. I doubted that a single play could be identified, but I was curious just how far it could be pared down.
It’s definitely not a late season game, as any photos from those would be too late to use in the update set release.
So, we got the game then. April 28th against the Rays. The exact play is impossible, but at best we got it pared down to two plays.
Incidentally, or perhaps not, it was Tosoni’s first major league game ever.
Were either of those plays run-scoring plays? Perhaps there’s video on the MLB archive?
Wow, nice point. They both were run scoring plays!
The second double does not end up near the Budweiser sign.
It’s the first one!
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2011_04_28_tbamlb_minmlb_1&mode=wrap&c_id=mlb#gid=2011_04_28_tbamlb_minmlb_1&mode=video
Dang, you beat me to it- seventh inning, two outs, drove in Upton and Joyce to make it 13-1. Nice choice of a game, Topps.
definitely a team effort.
I do wonder if the fact that it was Tosoni’s first game matters, or if it was coincidence
I would think that the photographers would be sure to get a few of him that day; no telling if it was a quick cup of coffee and was the only one he played in.
It really is a nice card front: bright colors, action shot, foreground image, and I like the horizontal format they use in some of their card fronts.
I was at that laugher of a game. The highlight was definitely hearing the Iceman’s PA music for the first time.
Well done gents. Cigars and whiskey all around.
I’ll say it again — you guys rock! I’m glad I threw this card out here now.
Let me add just how much fun it was to read this thread, even though I missed participating in it “live”. Cool stuff.
agreed
I seem to miss out on these posts but always enjoy reading them
Agreed as well. That was a fun read.
Ditto