2013 Topps Derek Jeter

I'm not really surprised that Derek Jeter was a league leader last year. What I was a little taken aback by was that he has been a league leader so few times in his Hall of Fame career. But I guess if your strong categories are At Bats and Hits, its tough to be in the same league as Ichiro for the past 10+ years.

As you can see by the back of the card, this isn't the first time Jeter has been a league leader in hits but it has been a while. And it is the first time he led in At Bats, although a quick glance at his Baseball-Reference page shows he has been in the top 6 ten times in his career and is currently second for career At Bats among active players. The active leader is Omar Vizquel but without a team as of now, Jeter should surpass him this year. Teammate Alex Rodriguez is a pretty distant 889 At Bats behind in third place. Though Jeter is 35 At Bats behind Vizquel, he is 427 Hits ahead of him on the career Hits list, good for tops among active players and 11th All-Time.

Of all the Career Chase notes I've seen on the backs of Topps cards this year, Jeter breaking Pete Rose's all-time Hits record seems the most doable. He'll need to play another 5-6 at the same rate he's played the past 5-6 to do that though and who knows how his body will react as he gets closer to age 40.

2010, 2011 & 2012 Topps Carl Pavano

While combing through some cards looking for league leaders, I came across this interesting trio of Carl Pavano cards.

 

The first time Pavano led the league was in 2009. He spent most of the season with Cleveland before being traded to Minnesota in August. He gave up a combined 113 Earned Runs to lead the American League, narrowly edging out Baltimore pitcher Mark Guthrie's 112. Braden Looper of St. Louis led the National League and tied Pavano for the Major League lead with 113.

 

Fast forward to 2010, a full season with a better team. Now all of a sudden, Pavano falls out of the top 10 for Earned Runs and manages to tie Cliff Lee for the league lead with 7 Complete Games. You don't throw 7 complete games by giving up a ton of runs so naturally, he tied for the league lead in Shutouts as well. He and Oakland pitcher Dallas Braden each threw 2 shutouts.

 

Fast forward another year, and Pavano seems to have fallen a little. This time, he's back in the top 10 for Earned Runs at #5 after breaking 100 again. However, now he's leading the league in Hits with 262, thirty two more than the second place finisher CC Sabathia and eighteen more than National League leader Ricky Nolasco.

 

Pavano missed most of 2012 with a strained shoulder and is currently a free agent. So if he finds a team to sign him and somehow gets a 2013 Topps card, it won't show him leading the league in anything from the most recent season.