Born in Yaracuy, Venezuela on October 30, 1975, World Series champion Marco Scutaro. Like many good glove infield journeymen before him, this year's success follows ten years spent in a multitude of uniforms, cities, and hotels; even his Prospects card can't decide between the Brewers and Mets.
Today's card shows Marco as a Brewer because he spent 2000-01 in their farm system, but names him as a Met, where he debuted as a big leaguer in 2002. Not sure how Upper Deck planned this release, as Scutaro's signature is just a white card under that windowed cut-out; collectors almost always want on-card signatures with photos that match the team. I suspect card makers anxious to get rookies on the market try to get autographs from everyone with a pro contract and put less concern into the set design itself.
Scutaro's 14-for-28 hitting and solid fielding against St. Louis netted the 36 year-old his first hardware, the 2012 NLCS MVP, a nice shelf companion to the Giants championship ring. March's go-ahead knock in game 4 was the first World Series RBI in extra-innings by a Giants player since Dusty Rhodes in 1954, who won game 1 with a walk-off homer (box score). Topps honored his august accomplishment with their first card in 1955.
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| 1955 Topps #1, Dusty Rhodes |
Topps had good reason to salute Dusty, as they and the Giants were both still in New York. Putting a relocated team hero like Marco on 2013 card #1 is wishful thinking, but would make a nice birthday present. Congrats to San Francisco fans; the rest of us look forward to next spring!
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