good day, eh?

saturday is canada day, and if all goes according to plan, i will be in the great white north for the celebration for the first time in about 28 years.

i will take this opportunity to show this card

that i acquired back in march. 

it's a 2007 topps allen & ginter national pride boxloader card celebrating some native canucks - jason bay, justin morneau, russell martin, and rich harden. it also features an image of niagara falls from the canadian side, which happens to be the only side i have ever seen them from.

i had targeted this card back in 2008 or 2009 when i first became aware of it, but never did pull the trigger. i finally added it after stumbling upon a seller on sportlots selling it for cheap while looking for a different russell martin card.

the last time i was in canada on july 1, i was passing through martin's neck of the woods, but this time i will be in morneau's old stomping grounds. i may just have a nanaimo bar in his honor, given that he and i discussed them at a twins event many years ago.

here's another russell martin card to show off.

that's a 2007 topps 2006 all-star rookie team card of the dodger catcher that i picked up recently. it's pretty hard to find these hanger pack inserts from back then nowadays and i am keeping my eye out for the andre ethier card from the same set. even though ethier ain't canadian.

happy canada day!

inspired by baseball cards at dodger stadium

during one of the many dodger broadcasts i've watched in the last two to three years, i saw a photo from dodger stadium that was used as a bumper or a promo background that showed steve garvey's legends of dodger baseball monument. on that monument, his 2005 topps pristine card was shown.  during my recent trip to dodger stadium, i wanted to be sure to find the monument and see what cards represent the other members of this fairly new dodger tribute group.

i had a heckuva time finding them, however. i wandered all around the stadium, looking at a bunch of other displays including gold gloves and murals and photos but couldn't find those specific items. i saw an information booth tucked under the right field pavilion just off center field and walked over to inquire. on my way there, i spotted some glass cases with a bunch of baseball cards in them. one of those cards was steve garvey's 1976 topps card

these cards (they are high-res reprints) dangle from either end of a player's bat, and the display honors los angeles dodger all-stars.

no players have been added since 2017 which is too bad, but i still had fun looking through the cases. they aren't in any particular order (juan samuel is hanging above garvey) and there is a wide variety of cardboard representation.  here are photos of the cases (sorry for the glare)

there were a few mother's cookies cards in there along with a couple tcma/renata galasso cards, plus an unlicensed panini donruss card for dee gordon, and even a topps now card for cody bellinger. i was happy to see some 1978 topps for rick monday and don sutton. for the record, the infield was represented with 1976 topps (garvey and davey lopes), 1983 topps (bill russell), and 1975 topps (ron cey).

the person at the booth was able to direct me to the legends display (it's under the drip line of the left field pavilion just off the center field plaza) and so i headed over. each player has a metal display with a card and text displayed. here's a sideways view of all six members:

the first three members were inducted in 2019 - they were don newcombe, steve garvey, and fernando valenzuela

so there's the pristine card i mentioned up top. newcombe has a 1991 topps archives ultimate 1953 card, and fernando's card comes from 1986 topps and shows an alternate take on his 1981 topps traded card. none of these cards are iconic for the player, and i have to admit i was a bit disappointed with the card selection.

here are the other three members - maury wills, kirk gibson, and manny mota

wills and gibson went in during the 2022 season, and mota was just added in april of this year. those are obviously 1972, 1990, and 1970 topps cards, respectively. orel hershiser will be inducted later this year - not too long after the dodgers retire fernando's number 34.

speaking of which, here are the retired numbers on display in the left field corner:

this was my first time to the stadium since they added the microphones for vin scully and jaime jarrin, and number 14 for gil hodges.  i will have to come back sometime after number 34 is added.

i was actually surprised to see that the dodgers also had a display for the retired numbers behind the right field pavilion at the back of the center field plaza. each of the numbers and microphones have the same sort of display as the legends of dodger baseball, complete with baseball card images for the field personnel.

 

1 - pee wee reese

that's reese's 1953 topps card, but the borders tell me it's actually from the 1991 topps archives ultimate 1953 set.

2 - tommy lasorda

1989 topps

4 - duke snider

1959 topps

14 - gil hodges

1991 topps archives ultimate 1953

19 - jim gilliam

1964 topps

20 - don sutton

1978 topps

24 - walter alston

1965 topps

32 - sandy koufax

1964 topps

39 - roy campanella

1991 topps archives ultimate 1953

42 - jackie robinson

2012 topps archives

53 - don drysdale

1961 topps

vin scully

jaime jarrin

some interesting choices there, and it's a shame that there aren't even dodger team issue cards for scully or jarrin to be used. it would have been easy enough, i think, to include them in the lapd/dare sets at some point.  it will be in august that fernando valenzuela joins this group, and i wonder if they will just move his marker from the legends side, or add a new marker. he is obviously the first (and will probably be the only) legend of dodger baseball to later have his number retired so there are no set rules for how to handle the "promotion".

seeing all these cards got me thinking.

i thought about pulling together the cards that represent the dodger all-stars in to a mini-collection, but the fact that the post-2017 all-stars aren't recognized killed that idea. then i thought about a mini-collection for the legends of dodger baseball, but the card selection didn't thrill me. same for the retired numbers, even though the use of the 1991 archives set would make chasing down cards for campy and the others a lot less expensive.

after returning from my trip and looking through all my photos - it hit me. i have decided to put together a mini-collection featuring cards of all field personnel to have their number retired by a major league team. so, not just the 11 (soon to be 12) dodgers, but the dozens of yankees (i exaggerate only slightly) and people from the other 28 (plus the expos) teams as well. my goal will be to find cards that show the player/coach/manager's number but i know that will be impossible thanks to honus wagner whose 33 was retired by the pirates even though i don't know that he ever wore 33. plus i don't think there is a card of don zimmer showing him wearing 66 for the rays. focusing only on field staff means i don't need (or want, frankly) a card of bud selig wearing number 1 for the brewers or august busch jr wearing 85 for the cardinals. gene autry actually wore an angel uniform with 26 on it, but there are no cards showing it.

there are over 200 retired numbers in major league baseball, and i've already begun culling cards from my duplicates and monster boxes that have been sitting around without a purpose. i'll post some cards from time to time and i'll have a "have" list up at my want list site.

some teams don't display uniform numbers anywhere but the back, so one or two of you may be wondering how i will differentiate these cards from my "name/number on the back" mini-collection. well, i knew from the get go that there would be at least one card in both collections, but for the most part i will try to avoid duplication across collections. for example, this 2002 topps stadium club bernie williams card

meets the criteria for both collections, but is only going to be in the "name/number of the back" binder. i've got a different card that isn't quite full back for the retired numbers collection. and yes, the yankees retired bernie williams' number. stay tuned!

belated greetings from los angeles

here is a very appropriate card from 2022 topps archives

as i recently spent a couple of days in los angeles myself. of course, the postcard insert would have made more sense had i posted this while i was in la, but oh well.

here's another postcard, by the way, featuring hall of very good pitcher tommy john

it's from john's first year with the club - 1972 - and features the three sisters palm trees out near the left field pavilion. i added this postcard to my collection a few months back.

anyway, i went out west with a buddy who wanted to see dodger stadium. we wound up taking in the game on mother's day against the padres

and the game the next night against the twins

it had been almost 11 years since i had been to dodger stadium, and there have been a bunch of changes in that time. so, i made sure we got to the park as soon as the gates opened on sunday so we would have plenty of time to look around. 

i had a special shirt to wear that day

and i got a few comments on it as i walked around the stadium. they have done a great job of enhancing pretty much every entrance to the stadium and connecting the outfield and pavilion areas to the rest of the park.  i've got another post in the works that will expand on some of the elements on display, so stay tuned.

you may have noticed that the monday night game ticket included access to the stadium club. this was my first time in the semi-exclusive area down the right field line. there were plenty of displays to admire in this area, including some original volpe artwork from the 1960's, various trophies and murals, and some framed blowups of yearbooks. i took a shot of the 1995 yearbook

because this is a baseball card blog and the yearbook features the rookie of the year set that was distributed to season ticket holders. i finally picked up a set of my own a few years ago and shared it on this blog last year. i did not see the 1980 yearbook on display, which is another one that prominently features baseball cards on the cover, in that case it was 1980 topps.

here's another card photo - i remembered to take a photo of my wallet card on monday night

the card is definitely more credit card shaped these days.

the dodgers shut out the padres on sunday, and the monday night game went in to extras, with the dodgers winning on a walk-off walk. and yes, we stayed until the end.  i wasn't quite ready to be done, however, so i stayed an extra day to go to the tuesday night game

this was in large part due to the fact that clayton kershaw was making the start. unfortunately, the dodgers dropped that game to the twins.

one of the things i was most interested in seeing at the stadium were the statues of sandy koufax

and jackie robinson

they are both situated beyond centerfield where there was a lot of action taking place before the sunday game.

unfortunately, nothing significant enough happened to warrant a topps now card from any of the games i attended (even including a game i went to at target field a few days before heading to la). had trayce thompson got a hit in the bottom of the 12th inning instead of a walk to drive in the winning run, i bet there would have been a card. i am still able to tie a topps now card to this post, however, as the back of the annual jackie robinson day card this year featured the statue of the trailblazer

dave roberts took the team out to the plaza to see the statue on april 15, and that's jason heyward in the foreground speaking to his teammates. this is a great addition to my dodger stadium collection.  of course, i picked up two copies so i would also have one for the 42 collection. here's the front of the card:

that's aaron judge, brayan bello, and ke'bryan hayes for those of you keeping score at home.

the dodgers did warrant a topps now card for their game on jackie robinson day courtesy of david peralta

who drove in james outman and miguel vargas

with a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the ninth to beat the cubs 2-1.

this next card has nothing to do with dodger stadium or jackie robinson day, but it's another topps now card that i picked up, so it seems appropriate to tack it on to this post

yes, topps made a card of mookie betts playing shortstop and turning a double play in wrigley field. here's the back:

and, because i bought five of these directly from topps, i came away with a blue parallel numbered to 49

the parallel thing isn't guaranteed, but i like to think topps looks out for the small orders when so many of these cards are purchased in bulk by resellers.

anyway, it was great to be back at chavez ravine for a few games. can't believe i had been away for so long!

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - house of the mouse edition

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he pitched against the angels on tuesday night in anaheim, not too far from disneyland. he struck out 5 batters to give him 103 strikeouts on the season. those 5 halos that he k'd increased his career total to 2,910.

in honor of his performance, here are 5 cards to represent strikeouts 2,906 through 2,910.

2,906 - 2018 bowman sky blue

2,907 - 2019 topps big league gold

2,908 - 2020 topps utz

2,909 - 2021 topps finest flashbacks

2,910 - 2022 topps cosmic chrome

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and will remain there until he passes zack greinke, who struck out 4 on sunday against these same angels to increase his strikeout total to 2,940. kershaw is now 30 k's behind greinke (although greinke is slated to pitch today) and 90 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

with the game taking place in anaheim - a city that i spent a lot of time in back in the 1990's - i figured this was a good time to show off an oddball card that i added to my dodger collection a few months back:

that's a dodger card - even though it says "mickey mouse all-stars" - from the 2010 all-star game that was held in anaheim. it was a fanfest giveaway that came in packs of five cards. i believe there were ten cards in all - three non-franchise cards (national league, american league, and all-star game) and seven franchise cards (dodgers, angels, braves, cubs, mets, yankees, giants). here is the back of the dodger card:

there's a bit of weirdness on the back as i don't know anyone who refers to 1932 as the first season for the dodger franchise. otherwise, the card presents a nice snapshot in time in terms of franchise leaders. today, kershaw would replace chad billingsley in each of the active leader pitching categories, plus sandy koufax as the all-time whip leader and don sutton in all-time strikeouts with 2,910 and counting. see? this card ties in to the k is for kershaw kountdown quite well!

it would seem that kershaw's next start will come against the rockies next tuesday in colorado. regardless of when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!