Through The Years: Alfonso Soriano

Introducing a new style of post, while also being a throwback to the original blog writer Peter, and his Showdown Hall of Fame presentation style. So what I am bringing to you is a look back at a players career for each season that they could have qualified for a card, generally for me that is 400 or more plate appearances. The player that I am starting with, is one of my all-time favorite players Alfonso Soriano. Now I know what a lot of you are thinking, "but Matt he never played for the Indians" I know that is crazy right, a non Indians feature post about a favorite player of mine who never played here in Cleveland. Well here is my explanation for that, my cousin and I used to go downtown in Cleveland when i was between 10-14 years old. We would go to the hotel that the opposing teams stayed at and wait outside after games for players to be returning to their Hotel and try to get autographs. So when the Yankees were coming to town in 2002 we were hoping to snag a Derek Jeter or any of their hall of fame caliber players for an autograph. I was lucky enough to get Alfonso Soriano who was still a young guy, that I really didn't know much about, I mean I didn't even have his pennant run showdown card in 2001, so I  barely knew about him. He was very kind and signed for everyone waiting outside, as we watched the more established veteran players (looking at you Jeter and Clemens) walk by without even acknowledging the fans outside. By taking the time he instantly had a fan in me, and I started paying attention to Soriano's career. He exploded in 2002 onto the scene and was fairly consistent for the most part of his career.

(One of the first cards I ever made there on the left, you can tell by how odd it looks, and a Peter special on the right of Soriano's time in DC)

 Also to finish the story up, I had a great Yankees night, getting Soriano's autograph as well as Jason Giambi and Mariano Rivera.

But back to the topic at hand, our new style of post, "Through the Years" looking back at a players career in showdown style. As much as I would like to make this a weekly thing, that is a lot of time, so I am shooting to try and make a post like this monthly, but I don't want to make any promises, so I will say it will pop up again this year, but not all the time ,so you never know when something like this might drop.

So here we go, let's look Through the Years of Alfonso Soriano

Overall, Soriano made his Major League Debut on September 14th,1999 at the age of 23, and finished up his career on July 5th 2014 when he was 38 years old. In that span of 15 years he was a 7 time All-Star, a 4 time Silver Slugger and an All-Star game MVP. In 2001 he finished third in the rookie of the year voting, and followed it up in 2002 by finishing third in the AL MVP voting. For the solid career he had that was the best he finished in MVP voting, even though in 2006 he put up a 40-40-40 season finishing 6th in MVP voting. All 7 of his All-Star appearances were in a 7 year span from 2002 through 2008. Also in his career he played for four teams including two stints with the New York Yankees. 

What better way to start your career than a walk off game winning homer run to win the division and be your first career hit. 

The elusive Pennant Run Card, to think in 2001 Pennant Run we got Pujols, Ichiro, C.C. Soriano and Barry Zito debuts

Chapter 1: 2001 New York Yankees

Game 5 of the World Series, step in the Rook

1-1 game, Game 7 of the World Series, Don't give the rookie an 0-2 pitch to hit

**3rd in Rookie of the Year Voting 

.304 OBP .268 AVG 34 Doubles 3 Triples 18 Homers 73 RBI 43 Stolen Bases

Chapter 2: 2002 New York Yankees

Full season of highlights in 2002 with these kind of stats.

**All-Star, Silver Slugger, 3rd in AL MVP Voting, AL Stolen Base Leader

.332 OBP .300 AVG 51 Doubles 2 Triples 39 Homers 102 RBI 41 Stolen Bases

Chapter 3: 2003 New York Yankees

In 2003 Soriano set the MLB single season leadoff home run record (special appearance by Big Sexy)

**All-Star, 20th in AL MVP Voting

.338 OBP .290 AVG 36 Doubles 5 Triples 38 Homers 91 RBI 35 Stolen Bases

Chapter 4: 2004 Texas Rangers

Becomes first player in Rangers history to have 6 hits in a game

Homer in All-Star Game

**All-Star, Silver Slugger, All-Star MVP

.324 OBP .280 AVG 32 Doubles 4 Triples 28 Homers 91 RBI 18 Stolen Bases

Chapter 5: 2005 Texas Rangers

**All-Star, Silver Slugger

.309 OBP .268 AVG 43 Doubles 2 Triples 36 Homers 104 RBI 30 Stolen Bases

Chapter 6: 2006 Washington Nationals

6 Homers in 2 games vs the Braves

Join the Club

Home Run Party

**All-Star, Silver Slugger, 6th in NL NVP Voting

.351 OBP .277 AVG 41 Doubles 2 Triples 46 Homers 95 RBI 41 Stolen Bases

Chapter 7: 2007 Chicago Cubs

Loves All Star Games

**All-Star, 12th in NL MVP Voting

.337 OBP .299 AVG 42 Doubles 5 Triples 33 Homers 70 RBI 19 Stolen Bases

Chapter 8: 2008 Chicago Cubs

Plus 2 Outfield Defense (yikes that video quality)

**All-Star

.344 OBP .280 AVG 27 Doubles 0 Triples 29 Homers 75 RBI 19 Stolen Bases

Chapter 9: 2009 Chicago Cubs

Grand finishes

.303 OBP .241 AVG 25 Doubles 1 Triple 20 Homers 55 RBI 9 Stolen Bases

Chapter 10: 2010 Chicago Cubs

Don't run on Fonso

.322 OBP .258 AVG 40 Doubles 3 Triples 24 Homers 79 RBI 5 Stolen Bases

Chapter 11: 2011 Chicago Cubs

I just love his swing with that big bat

.289 OBP .244 AVG 27 Doubles 1 Triple 26 Homers 88 RBI 2 Stolen Bases

Chapter 12: 2012 Chicago Cubs

Full year of highlights in a bounce back year

**20th in NL MVP Voting

.322 OBP .262 AVG 33 Doubles 2 Triples 32 Homers 108 RBI 6 Stolen Bases

Chapter 13: 2013 Chicago Cubs / New York Yankees

2003 to 2013 not much has changed

.302 OBP .255 AVG 32 Doubles 1 Triple 34 Homers 101 RBI 18 Stolen Bases

162 game career average

If you are looking for a full career of highlights

.319 OBP .270 AVG 39 Doubles 3 Triples 3 Homers 95 RBI 24 Stolen Bases

7 OB Speed B(17) 2B+1 LF/RF +2    1-3 out 4-5 BB 6-8 1B 9 1B+ 10-14 2B 15-20 HR  

I know you are probably thinking, what am I going to do with 13 Alfonso Soriano cards, but his career really gives you a card for any situation in a salary cap league, you have his 40-40 season to be the middle of your order, and then different price points from 130-430 points to fill in the needs of your team. So that is Through the Years of Alfonso Soriano's career, I hope you find these cards useful, and as always follow me @mlbshowdowncup on twitter for more stuff. Also since this is a new type of post, what do you think of it? Should we make more of them, and who would you nominate to look through a players career at?