This 2017 J.D. Martinez card is a long time coming for the Monster Card Monday column. Back in the day, three ones were reserved for the likes of Babe Ruth and Jimmie Foxx. The 2017 baseball set included four APBA card with three automatic dingers on their card and two were regular starters.
Yes, J.D. is one of them. I guess I held a grudge against him as he’s my leftfielder on my Twin City Thunderchickens in the Illowa APBA League and he didn’t quite hit as I expected at first. In the first 97 games of our season, he was hitting .196 with just 10 homers.
At the All-Star break, things changed. Since then, he’s gone 37 for 146 for a much improved .253 average. More importantly, he’s gotten my attention by hitting the long ball. In 40 games, he’s hit 15 homers with 32 ribbies.
So now, he gets a little recognition. This is how he did in real life in the MLB.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 Totals | 119 | 489 | 432 | 85 | 131 | 26 | 3 | 45 | 104 | 4 | 53 | 128 | .303 | .376 | .690 |
J.D. played pretty spectacularly especially towards the end of the season. Interestingly, he had over twice the homeruns and rbis in the second half o the season than the first prompted by his trade to the Diamondbacks. The analogy to his season with my Thunderchickens is quite similar minus the trade (hands off, IAL managers!). Overall, J.D. hit .303 with 45 homers and 26 doubles in 489 plate appearances.
Alas, he also hit into 23 double plays.
Let’s get this out of the way… Martinez has (count ’em) five 24s on his card including a 63-24. He’s not the only Thunderchicken in the lineup with a 63-24 either… Wilson Ramos sports one, too.
But hey! Who doesn’t like power numbers 1-1-1-6-6? With a runner on third, J.D. is particularly nasty. He only has two 8s to go with his two 9s but does have a 15-10 based on his four stolen bases.
APBA cardmakers had to get creative on where to put Martinez’ 13s since the 26 and 46 (and I guess the 63) were occupied with the 24s. He has an unusual 32-13 and 52-13. Oddly, he does have a 24-30, though.
The good news for the Thunderchickens is that J.D. is fully rested. When he was hitting so poorly early in the season, I actually benched him. He now can play the rest of season. Now that I am rolling well for him, his card is producing!
I’m a proud Martinez owner as well, and both his first and last home runs for my Coalminers in the 2018 season were on 44-6 with a runner on third. The irony.