The 2005 Home Run Hitting Contest champ chases down a ball with his Gold Glove The reason Bobby Abreu finally gets his first action figure in MLB Series 14 is because he won the home run hitting contest at the All-Star game last year. Comerica Park was supposed to be a pitcher's park, but set records with 24 home runs in a single round and a grand total of 41, shattering the records set by Miguel Tejada the previous year when he hit 15 in one round and 27 overall. 2005 was a pretty good year for Abr?u, who was National League Player of the Month for May, when he hit .396 and slammed 11 home runs, becoming the first player in major league history to hit nine homers in a 10-game stretch. Abreu was not really known as a slugger: in ten seasons he has 190 home runs, but those go with 241 stolen bases. He has never hit more than 31 home runs in a season, but he has had a pair of 30-30 seasons and driven in over 100 runs four of the last five years. The nice thing is that even before he won the home run hitting contest Abreu was finally getting his props. In 2004 he made the All-Star team as the "32nd-man" is on-line voting for the final spot, and then in 2005 he was named a starting, finishing second to Jim Edmonds of the Cardinals in the NL voting.
Since most fans remember him for his home run hitting display at the All-Star game on July 12th, 2005, it might seem strange that this McFarlane Toys figure has hit chasing down a ball in right field for the Philadelphia Phillies. But at the end of 2005, Abreu won a Gold Glove for his defensive play. As always the attention to the detail of his Phillies uniform is impressive, and the sculpt of Abreu's face is pretty good (that always seems to be the weak point of these figures). There is some limited articulation of the figure (neck and elbows), so you can pose this one to its best effect in your estimation; there is a lot more flexibility with this figure than most. Also available in the MLB Series 14 are Mark Mulder of the St. Louis Cardinals, Jeff Kent of the L.A. Dodgers, Aramis Ramirez of the Chicago Cubs, the 2nd figure of Jason Varitek of the Boston Red Sox, and the 4th figure for Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.
It used to be that we were talking about one of the best players that nobody knew was one of the best players, but those days are clearly over with Abreu. Now we are talking about one of the premier all-around players in the game today. He has a career batting average of .303 and is one of only three players in history to have seven or more consecutive seasons with 20 home run and 20 stolen bases. Abreu currently has seven (1999-2005), which ties him with Bobby Bonds (1969-75) and puts him behind only Barry Bonds (1990-98). Unless he gets injured, I would not bet against the guy getting the streak to double figures. Phillies fans do not get too many of these action figures, so at least they have the star of their team covered this year (and hopefully they will not let him get away).
Update Note: In early 2007 McFarlane came out with an updated version of this Abreu figure with him dressed in New York Yankees pinstrips wearing #53. This was part of MLB 3-Pack that also included the Derek Jeter figure from 2004 2-Pack with Normar Garciaparra and the Jason Giambi figure, both now wearing pinstripes instead of the team's road uniform.
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