cards as i see them: 2023

Sunday, December 31, 2023

something about old acquaintances

we are about to enter 2024 and i suppose that means some people somewhere will be singing "auld lang syne". to quote sally albright, "it's about old friends". one old friend that returned to the fold in 2023 was kiké hernandez. he showed up as a dodger in the 2023 topps holiday set and again in 2023 topps heritage high numbers. his card is the lone dodger short print, but i picked it up for not much more than the cost of a regular base card:

the fact that hernandez played for the dodgers just a couple of years ago means that topps has a number of photos already on hand, so his inclusion in these sets is not surprising to me. in fact, topps used that same photo on a previous hernandez card, although they photoshopped him in to a red sox uniform.

they actually did a decent job, too. still, it's good to see the original photo on cardboard.

conversely, even though he too is a dodger double dipper, miguel rojas was a dodger a long time ago and there is no cardboard evidence of his first tenure in dodger blue. he did get a very nice card in high numbers, and is joined below by a very bad photoshop job on gus varland's card, plus the long awaited clayton kershaw 2024 heritage card

the varland card is interesting to me. i mean, topps obviously knew that varland was a dodger, but they didn't know what number he was wearing? he returned to the franchise in may but didn't make his dodger debut until august, so i suppose it is possible that topps created the card in between those dates and took a guess. still, he didn't wear 99 for the brewers earlier in 2023 so i am not sure where that came from

and yes, i said varland "returned" to the dodgers because he was in their system prior to being claimed by the brewers. however, he never pitched at the big league level for the dodgers prior to this season so i don't consider him a double dipper.

finally, i thought maybe we would get an homage to claude osteen's flamingo pose with kershaw's card, but instead we get a photo that should have been used on a portrait card.

there are two more landscape cards in the dodger team set - bobby miller and michael busch

of the five shown, the rojas card is the best in my opinion. not sure why topps refuses to show full feet on these cards. i wouldn't mind having doubles of the rojas and miller cards for the dodger stadium collection, too.

topps used similar photos for miguel vargas and j.d. martinez

and these cards are giving me some yin and yang vibes. one features a rookie, at night, in the home whites. the other features a seasoned veteran, in a day game, in the road grays. i am just thankful that none of these cards feature the fake backgrounds we have seen in heritage for the last few years.

the last dodger base card in high numbers is lance lynn

with lynn signing with the cardinals so early in the postseason, i didn't think we would get a dodger card of him, but here we are. he's already an old acquaintance but i was glad to see him included by topps.

not a dodger but another old acquaintance of sorts, stephen strasburg did not pitch in the major leagues in 2023. in fact, he's only appeared in eight games since he helped the nationals win the 2019 world series. despite his efforts, it appeared that his career was over when, late in the 2023 season, the nationals announced that they would hold a retirement news conference for their former ace (including news of a number retirement in 2024). but then, they cancelled and announced that they expected him to serve out his contract.

after all this transpired, it was a surprise to me to see strasburg included in 2023 topps update.

the back of the card tells the story of his career

i think it is likely that this card will be a true final tribute, as it seems he will not make it back to a major league mound in the future. i don't know enough about the contract terms to speculate on the reasons behind the nationals' reversal but it sure wouldn't surprise me if it were somehow financially motivated as it has been reported that there was no insurance policy taken out on his contract.

if strasburg's career is over, he will have unfortunately failed to live up to the ridiculous hype that surrounded his entry in to professional baseball while still compiling one of the best k/9 ratios in history. he had nearly 1,700 strikeouts through his age 30 season and was certainly on pace to pile up a lot more. i wonder what happened to the guy who spent way too much money on his bowman superfractor auto or whatever it was back in 2009 or 2010. it made national news as i recall. maybe that guy has similarly invested in jasson dominguez.

in other news, we are now 80 days away from the dodgers' season opener which will be held in south korea on march 20. here's a 2023 topps now card of emmet sheehan

to accentuate the 80 day milestone until we have regular season baseball again. it's kind of dumb, though, as spring training will continue for the dodgers and padres after they return from their two game set in south korea. still, it's the 2024 season and it is only 80 days away!

Friday, December 29, 2023

my retired number collection - dressed to the 9s

this is the tenth post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are the six people for whom the number 9 has been retired:

ted williams (retired by the red sox in 1960) 1996 topps ted williams tunnel opening day commemorative

i bought this card directly from topps through the mail back in 1996, and now it finally has a set place in my collection thanks to its display of the splendid splinter's number. the central artery tunnel in boston that opened in late 1995 is also the ted williams tunnel. williams also has a highway named after him in san diego, for what it's worth.

the red sox retired number 9 for williams in may of 1984 (along with joe cronin's number 4), making them the first red sox players to be so honored. unlike cronin, the red sox did not issue williams' number to anyone after he retired in 1960, making him the last member of the franchise to wear the number.

as a player, few were better than williams. he is currently the last person to hit over .400 in a season and he won six batting titles and two mvp awards while accomplishing the triple crown twice. elected to the hall of fame in 1966 in his first year of eligibility, i would submit his name as a candidate for the person who had the greatest american life.

minnie minoso (retired by the white sox in 1983) 2001 topps archives

minoso had five different stints with the white sox, if you include his two "stunt" returns in 1976 and 1980. while he was not elected to the hall of fame until 2022, the white sox retired his number on may 8, 1983. the 2001 topps archives card i chose is, of course, a reprint of his 1964 topps card, and shows his number prominently on his sleeve. the white sox did not immediately retire his number, but with his final appearances in 1976 and 1980, he was officially the last player to wear the number for the team.

1964 was the final season of his "initial" major league career, and he only appeared in 30 games for chicago. however, in his previous 11 years on the southside, minoso had four top-4 mvp finishes and was the runner up to gil mcdougald in the 1951 american league rookie of the year voting. in all, he posted over 1,500 hits and had a .304 average as a member of the white sox.

roger maris (retired by the yankees in 1984) 2001 topps archives

the yankees retired number 9 for maris during their oldtimers game on july 21, 1984 (the same day the retired number 32 for elston howard - more on that in a future post). the timing for maris' number retirement is curious to me - is it because graig nettles, who had worn number 9 for the previous 11 seasons (and so became the final yankee to wear it) had left for san diego? in fact, one could argue that a dual retirement for both maris and nettles would make sense for the yankees.

anyway, i chose the 2001 topps archives card reprint of maris' 1961 topps in action card not just because it shows his number 9 clearly, but because home run number 61 was a huge thing for me as a young fan learning about the game.

maris' claim to fame is his 61 home runs in 1961, but he was a two-time mvp winner (one of two eligible players not in the hall of fame). as a yankee, maris hit just over 200 home runs in seven seasons, but helped them to five pennants and two world series titles during his tenure.

bill mazeroski (retired by the pirates in 1987) 1965 topps

bill mazeroski was largely responsible for denying maris a third world series ring, thanks to his series ending home run in game 7 of the 1960 fall classic. a heralded defender, maz may be best known for that home run. i think it certainly kept him in the baseball conversations until the veteran's committee voted him in to the hall of fame in 2001. his 1965 topps card displays his number nicely.

his reputation as an elite defender is supported by the fact that he won eight gold gloves as a second baseman and at one time held the modern day all-time assist record for the position, as well as by modern metrics such as total zone fielding runs for which he sits atop the all-time leader board for second basemen. following his playing career which was spent solely with the pirates, maz coached for the pirates in 1973 and then served mainly as a spring training instructor. he was the last pirate to wear number 9, although the club did not officially retire the number until august 7, 1987.

enos slaughter (retired by the cardinals in 1996) 2005 upper deck pastime pennants

slaughter's number 9 is mostly visible on his 2005 upper deck pastime pennants card, which was the best example i could find. i tend to think of enos slaughter as an old-timey player like tris speaker, but then i see him in the late 1950's topps sets and am reminded that he's a peer of ted williams'. speaker's career began in 1938 and ended in 1959, and although he played for four different franchises, he left his mark in st. louis cardinals history.

it was his "mad dash" in game 7 of the 1946 world series - he scored from first on harry walker's two-out double in the top of the ninth inning to give the cardinals a one-run lead - that is probably most well remembered. he never led the league in any category, but amassed some big numbers in his 13 years with st. louis - over 1,000 runs scored; more than 2,000 hits and over 1,100 rbi with a .305 batting average - that are worthy of his number being retired by the franchise.

thirteen cardinals wore number 9 after slaughter was traded to the yankees in 1954, including minnie minoso, roger maris, and terry pendleton (the last cardinal to wear the number) before the cardinals finally retired it on september 6, 1996. this was a full 11 years after the veteran's committee elected slaughter to the hall of fame, and it seems like the club was doing some catching up with retired numbers as they honored red schoendienst, slaughter, and the newly retired ozzie smith all during the '96 campaign.

reggie jackson (retired by the athletics in 2004) 1973 topps

this particular 1973 topps reggie jackson card of mine is not in the best shape, but i've had it for about 40 years. the one in my 1973 complete set is much nicer, so this one was available to represent reggie in this collection thanks to the prominence of his number on the front of the colorful a's vest jerseys.

while the a's didn't retire reggie's number until may 22, 2004 (making olmedo saenz the last oakland player to wear the number), he was elected to the hall of fame in 1993 based on a stellar career that began with the franchise in kansas city. chosen second in the 1966 draft after the mets did mets things and took steven chilcott first overall, reggie joined the a's in 1967 and was an all-star earning mvp votes two years later. he won his lone mvp award in 1973, and twice led the american league in home runs, runs scored, and ops as a member of the a's.

he helped them to five straight postseason appearances, including three consecutive american league pennants and world series titles from 1972 through 1974, although he was injured in the 1972 alcs and did not appear in that year's fall classic. when he left the a's for baltimore after the 1975 season, reggie was the franchise's modern era leader in home runs and rbi. of course, the notoriety that he brought to his career following his time with the a's contributed to his status as a hall of famer, and i'll cover some of that later on, as graig nettles did not relinquish number 9 to jackson when he joined the yankees in 1977, and reggie settled for his third choice - 44. and, while jackson wore number 44 during his final season which came as a member of the a's, only number 9 is retired for mr. october in oakland.

i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.

retired numbers by team (through the ten posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9

guardians - 3, 5

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9

reds - 1, 5, 8

braves - 3, 6

astros - 5, 7

mets

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3, 6, 7

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

cubs

royals - 5

padres - 6

athletics - 9

angels

expos - 8

rangers - 7

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

retired number frequency:

1 - retired by 9 teams

2 - retired by 5 teams

3 - retired by 7 teams

4 - retired by 8 teams

5 - retired by 7 teams

6 - retired by 7 teams

7 - retired by 4 teams

8 - retired by 6 teams (retired by yankees for two players)

9 - retired by 6 teams

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 64

running total of non-hall of famers: 8

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

closing out the annual collections with favorites and more

no point in burying the lede - you had better bet i was excited to see this card

show up as part of the 2023 topps heritage high numbers release! more on that beauty later...

every year i get excited to see new baseball cards. while i am still a team collector (with less fervor than in years past) and a player collector (is it possible that i am starting to think maybe there are too many steve garvey cards these days?), i have a lot of other collecting interests that makes seeing a wide variety of cards something that i enjoy.

when 2023 topps heritage first came out, i saw this byron buxton card

and was enthralled. spoiler alert - buxton was poised to replace fernando tatis jr as my favorite non-dodger, and this shot of him at the plate in target field had me setting the card aside as a potential representative for my 2023 entry to the favorite non-dodger of the year mini-collection. as it turned out, this card made it only so far as my "names and numbers on the back" mini-collection.

let's move on with the annual collection categories, shall we?

topps flagship representation - aaron judge

each year, i select a card to represent topps flagship. usually the selection is reactionary to the previous season, and that is certainly the case with the judge card here.

topps flagship #350 collection - alex bregman

here's the back with the number 350 shown

this mini-collection was begat from steve garvey's 1978 topps card holding that number on the checklist, so i decided to track down all of the flagship 350s from 1957 on. this is the second year in a row that an astro has held 350.

favorite dodger - clayton kershaw

i chose kershaw's 2023 topps all aces insert to represent him in this mini-collection. it's the ninth year in a row that kershaw has held the title of my favorite dodger, and it may be the last. his return is up in the air, and wouldn't happen until the summer of 2024 according to reports (if it happens at all). my guess is there will be a new player in this spot next year, unless kershaw confirms his return early in the new year.

favorite non-dodger - byron buxton

as mentioned up above, i replaced tatis with buxton for 2023, and i picked up his 2023 topps chrome lids mitchell & ness card for this collection. i found that i just wasn't keeping up with tatis like i did earlier in his career, prior to his suspension. and, with the balanced schedule, the dodgers weren't playing the padres 18 times or whatever, so i had less exposure to him that way. as for buxton, he was hurt a lot but i can't say that i paid attention to anyone else to any great degree.

i considered adley rutschman at some point during the season. he was the catcher on my fantasy team so i was following him pretty closely. i've got his 2023 topps allen & ginter card

and a 2023 topps chrome future stars insert

standing by but in the end i stuck with buxton. next year, i may be ready to fully turn my attention to royce lewis. we will see.

as for my favorite cards of the year, it's a davey lopes celebration in 2023.

favorite non-dodger card - topps heritage hank aaron baseball flashbacks

huge props to topps for using a different photo of hank aaron's 715th home run - one that included lopes (and the black armband for ken mcmullen's wife). i can't think of another non-dodger card that i coveted nearly as much as this one over the past 12 months.

favorite dodger card - topps heritage high numbers davey lopes 1974 highlights

even though the card clearly shows lopes in 1980, seeing him on the highlights checklist made this selection a no-brainer. there weren't a lot of stellar dodger cards this year, to be honest, but even if there were some, they would have fallen to lopes.

in fact, up until the heritage high numbers cards were released, the card i was slotting in here was don sutton's panini donruss card

it's ok for a logoless card, and it shows old man sutton with his perm rather than his straight hair look from earlier in his career. plus, the number on the front of his jersey is red, not blue. panini definitely fixed some of my issues with other sutton cards of late, and i went and picked up a bunch of parallels of this card as a result, including the color holos (here are four i have not shown before)

and emoji/pattern parallels, like the "america" numbered to 50

and "presidents" numbered to 46

and the "independence day" which isn't numbered at all

it's the kind of nonsense i hope to avoid in 2024. no promises, though.

one last card that i will show, and it is one that i really like a lot. it's clayton kershaw's 2023 topps chrome lids mitchell & ness card

kershaw on the 2008 topps design is always a good idea, and the chrome treatment makes it that much better. once i saw this card, i realized that the sutton card couldn't really be my favorite dodger card of the year, but i didn't necessarily think that the lids kershaw was it, either. thankfully, davey lopes came to the rescue!

Sunday, December 24, 2023

it's the holidays

good ol' saint nick should be out and about by now, and hopefully you are on his list of stops tonight. i usually get a pack or two of cards in my stocking, but with the dearth of product at our targets these days, i am not holding out any hope.

i did pick up a few cards from 2023 topps holiday recently, as i know the chances of my personal santa claus stopping at walmart is almost nil. so, as a result, i have some cards to show that are in line with the season.

here's a james outman relic card

the plain white swatch actually works with the theme of the card, although it doesn't really look like a baseball card to me. maybe because it is borderless?

outman's card from the base set is, by definition, more like a baseball card

i think topps did well with the holiday design this year. the small snowflakes, the red and green shading, and the candy cane and holly border elements all combine for a distinctive but not overpowering design.

i picked up the other rookies - miguel vargas

bobby miller

and michael busch

along with freddie freeman

the seller mistakenly sent me a brett wisely card

instead of the mookie betts card i ordered, but they were quick to remedy that

here are a couple more cards that have me in a holiday mood - matt kemp's emerald and red parallels from 2008 upper deck baseball heroes

the circular design has me thinking of christmas tree ornaments, but i don't have any of those from 2023 topps holiday to show. i previously showed the kiké hernandez card from this year's holiday set, but i am still missing the clayton kershaw and will smith base cards. i am hoping that maybe i can find them in a dime box at an upcoming show.

merry christmas to all and to all a good night!

Friday, December 22, 2023

it's not a partridge in a pear tree

no, it's not a partridge in a pear tree, nor did my true love give it to me, but it is a 1 of 1 appropriate for the season (or today, at least)

that is a 2022 leaf metal wave parallel autograph card of steve garvey. it is the "giraffe" pattern version, to be exact.

there are a number of versions of this card - each a 1 of 1 due to different patterns employed. forced and false scarcity, but i did want to have an example for my collection so i can't complain about the tactics too much.

garvey turns 75 today, and seems to be poised for an eventful year with a senatorial bid in 2024. a republican, perhaps next year we will see an elephant themed background on a card. happy birthday to the garv and happy holidays to all!

Sunday, December 17, 2023

e3 or e9?

when i was looking for a larry walker card to include in my retired numbers mini-collection (his number 33 is retired by the rockies), i came across this 1995 topps bazooka card of his

i quickly pulled it for the dodger stadium collection (the blue paneled railing is a dead giveaway) and then noticed that the card has walker out of position. the '95 bazooka design is great (the positions on the right remind me of the price is right wheel) but it also accentuates the position and, in this case, highlights the fact that walker is a right fielder even though he is shown playing first base.

the other card that immediately came to my mind with this same issue is gary carter's 1992 donruss card

on which the hall of fame catcher is not catching even though that is the position listed. i think there may be a similar johnny bench card. davey lopes is shown in the outfield on his 2004 topps fan favorites card

while being identified as a second baseman.

these aren't errors, obviously, and i'm not suggesting that the card companies screwed up. it's just an interesting thing to notice, don't you think?

Friday, December 15, 2023

my retired number collection - crazy 8s

this is the ninth post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are the seven people for whom the number 8 has been retired:

yogi berra (retired by the yankees in 1972) 2021 topps stadium club chrome

and bill dickey (retired by the yankees in 1972) 2001 upper deck sp legendary cuts

the yankees retired number 8 on july 22, 1972, and honored both berra and dickey at the same time. this is the first, but not last, instance of a franchise retiring a number for two players. dickey was the second yankee to wear the number, and berra was the last, and if it weren't for dickey's two years of military service in 1945 and 1946, there would have only been three yankees total to ever wear the number.

i was happy to find the card for berra showing the number as i could not find any dickey cards showing his back. both players are in the hall of fame, with dickey being voted in in 1954, and berra joining him in 1972 - his induction was a couple of weeks after the number retirement ceremony. yogi, of course, was managing the mets at the time.

dickey was a lifelong yankee and catcher - he never moved to a different position - and had three seasons where he was in the top-five for mvp votes to go along with his eight world series rings. berra on the other hand played one season for the mets after 18 with the yankees, and he played a bit of left field towards the end of his career. he had three mvp awards and ten world series rings as a player.

willie stargell (retired by the pirates in 1982) 1982 topps

here we have some sleeve number representation thanks to pops' 1982 topps card! stargell had his number retired by the pirates on september 6, 1982 which was about a month before his career came to an end. he was obviously the last pirate to wear the number as a result.

stargell's career accomplishments included an mvp award, two world series titles, 475 home runs and 1,540 rbi. he was voted in to the hall of fame in 1988 on his first ballot.

carl yastrzemski (retired by the red sox in 1989) 2009 topps tribute

the red sox retired number 8 for yaz on august 6, 1989; a couple of weeks after he was inducted in to the hall of fame. yaz was the last person to wear the number for boston, and it was the only number he wore over the course of his 23 year career.

yaz was the 1967 american league mvp thanks to his triple crown win, but he had two other batting titles to boot. he finished his career with 3,419 hits and 452 home runs. only pete rose played in more major league baseball games than yaz, who made 3,308 appearances for the red sox.

gary carter (retired by the expos in 1993) 1984 fleer

i really liked the expos uniform with the rare right side front number! carter's number 8 was the first number to be retired by the expo franchise. it was retired on july 31, 1993, the summer after carter retired as a player. he began and finished his career in montreal, where he was a 7-time all-star in his 11-plus seasons with the club. carter led the expos to their first and only postseason berth in 1981, and hit well over .400 in both the nlds against the phillies and the nlcs against the dodgers.

carter, who went in to the hall of fame in 2003, was the last expo to wear the number 8, but the washington nationals put it in to circulation in their second season. since then, seven players have worn the number (most recently carter kieboom). i am keeping carter (and the other expo retired numbers) in this collection even though the nationals don't recognize them as being retired. this is a different case than, say, the marlins retiring number 5 for executive carl barger and then putting it in to circulation a few years later.

joe morgan (retired by the reds in 1998) 2003 fleer flair

sporting the more traditional left side front number, joe morgan's 2003 fleer flair card gives us a good look at his number 8 which was retired by the reds on june 6, 1998. i am not sure why it took the club so long to retire the number, as morgan entered the hall of fame in 1990. maybe because morgan left the reds and played his last few seasons elsewhere had something to do with it? the reds did redistribute his number, and it was last worn by damon berryhill in 1995.

as a player, morgan led the reds to back-to-back titles in 1975 and 1976 as one of the key cogs in the big red machine. he won the national league mvp award both of those seasons as well. between his 2,517 hits and 1,865 walks, morgan was on base over 4,200 times in his career. he scored 1,650 runs and also stole 689 bases. these days, he may be best remembered as a broadcaster whose takes inspired the great website "fire joe morgan". one of the guys behind that website went on to work on "the office" and co-create "parks and recreation". i believe he was "ken tremendous", and somewhere i have an email from him about a comment i made on the site. good times.

cal ripken jr. (retired by the orioles in 2001) 1984 topps

one more front jersey number! the iron man had his number retired by the orioles on october 6, 2001 which was also the final day of ripken's playing career. it was fitting that the lifelong oriole be the last to wear the number, and that the retirement not be delayed.

ripken's career was remarkable for his durability, but he was also a rookie of the year and two-time american league mvp. he led the orioles to the 1983 pennant and won his only ring as they beat the phillies that year. he tallied 3,184 hits and 431 home runs during his career, and was one of the most popular players of his era as evidenced by his 19 all-star game appearances.