350 is a magic number - dressed to the 9s

a few weeks ago i noted that i was pondering the idea of adding a number type mini-collection to my collection. of the options i considered - 190, 272, 350, or none at all - i decided to go with 350.

i am posting cards from the same year of each decade, and so far i've shown the 8s, 7s, 6s, 3s, 2s, 1s, and 4s. this post will be all about the 9s.

1959 topps #350

ernie banks makes his second appearance at number 350 in these posts, but his first chronologically. as the back of his card states, he was the national league's mvp in 1958 as he led the league in home runs and rbi (and slugging percentage). he would repeat as mvp in 1959, but was featured on card number 10 in the 1960 set.

1969 topps #350

richie allen had a strong season in 1968 and put up nearly identical numbers in 1969. the phillies weren't winning and traded allen to the cardinals in what became known as the curt flood trade. he eventually won the mvp award with the white sox in 1972 before returning to the phillies in 1975,

1979 topps #350 

garry templeton led the national league in triples in 1977 as his card back states, but he also led the league in that category in 1978. weird that the card doesn't mention that. he went on to lead the league in triples for the third year in a row in 1979, and also led the league with 211 hits that year. he may be best remembered as basically the guy the cardinals traded away to get ozzie smith, but he was a solid player in his own right. 

1989 topps #350

andy van slyke led the league in triples in 1988, just like templeton a decade before him. we know this thanks to the italicized text that topps started using to denote things like this. and, like templeton, van slyke was traded by the cardinals. he had a down year in 1989 but rebounded to help lead the pirates to back-to-back-to-back nlcs losses from 1990 - 1992.

1999 topps #350

larry walker followed up his 1997 mvp year with a batting title in 1998 as seen with red italicized text on the back of his 1999 card. walker led the league in batting again in '99, posting a career high .379 average.

2009 topps #350

dustin pedroia was the american league mvp in 2008, giving us two reigning mvp's on card number 350 in this post. he finished second in the league in batting average to joe mauer by just a couple of thousandths, but did lead the league in runs, hits, and doubles. he hit .346 in the alcs as well, but the red sox fell to the devil rays.

2019 topps #350

nick markakis had a solid career, and i wondered if this numbering was somewhat of a lifetime achievement award. he went on to play through the 2020 season, however, so i think this was a result of the very strong start he had to the 2018 campaign. he was batting around .330 well in to the summer and was a big part of the braves' national league championship that year.

i am tracking a few things in an effort to find any consistency with number 350, although there really isn't any. still, i am keeping track of the following occurrences, now through two posts:

number of reigning rookies of the year: 1 (kris bryant)

number of reigning mvps: 4 (ernie banks, frank robinson, robin yount, dustin pedroia)

number of reigning cy young winners: 0

number of reigning world series champions: 2 (keith hernandez, joe carter)

number of reigning pennant winners: 7 (frank robinson, steve garvey, robin yount, jack clark, keith hernandez, joe carter, clayton kershaw)

number of reigning league leaders: 16 (ernie banks - home runs, rbi; ernie banks - home runs; mel stottlemyre - complete games; willie mccovey - home runs; billy williams - runs, hits; garry templeton - triples; robin yount - hits, doubles; keith hernandez - walks; andy vanslyke - triples; kenny lofton - sb; larry walker - batting average; chase utley - runs; dustin pedroia - hits, runs; david ortiz - doubles, rbi; clayton kershaw - wins, era; dj lemahieu - batting average)

subset types: 2 (all-time all-stars, postseason highlights (3))

number of repeat players: 1 (ernie banks)

number of dodgers: 2 (steve garvey, clayton kershaw)

frequency of teams: cardinals (6), cubs (5), astros (4), mets (4), twins (3), yankees (3), braves (3), dodgers (2), a's (2), reds (2), brewers (2), giants (2), phillies (2), rockies (2), red sox (2), white sox, indians, blue jays, angels, rangers, orioles, rays, padres, pirates

i will have another post with another run of cards soon - stay tuned!