Max Scherzer’s historic game prompts key hobby question

Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer did something last night that had only happened three other times in MLB history.

He struck out 20 batters in a game.

It’s a feat that only Roger Clemens, who did it twice, and Kerry Wood have done before, but in both of those pitchers’ cases there’s an iconic early baseball card to chase. For Clemens, his 1984 Fleer Update card is the one to own. For Wood, it’s his 1997 Bowman Chrome.

For Scherzer?

We live in a world where the first Bowman Chrome auto is king — but Scherzer doesn’t have one. His Rookie Cards in 2008 Bowman Chrome Draft have a full rainbow of Refractors but not a single one is found signed. He didn’t have any Bowman Chrome prospect cards before this one, either.

His earliest autographs can be found in the 2005-06 Upper Deck USA Baseball boxed set when he was a member of the National Team while in college at Missouri. He has a number of cards in that release — 17 cards between autographs and autographed jerseys — but none are, of course, in an MLB uniform, so they are not the same for many collectors.

The closest thing to his first MLB auto is in 2007 Donruss Elite Extra Edition. There, he has just six different autographs and they’re all rarer than 250 copies signed. They show him in his college colors, so, again, not quite MLB material for collectors of a guy with two no-hitters and a big, big game against his previous team.

Which one would you collect? Or is there another Scherzer card that you’d nab? Tell Buzz on Twitter or in the comments.

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