fetch...the comfy chair!

when panini lost their license from the mlbpa, my first thought was that they would not issue any more baseball products. that was a pretty naive thought, and when i saw that a donruss release was on the calendar for 2023 (with a few mock-ups), i figured it would feature a bunch of retired players and steeled myself for a boatload of steve garvey parallels to hit the market a la 2021.

when i first saw the checklist, i was surprised to see the garv not included, and when i saw that rafael furcal was getting a dodger card in the set, my reaction was "i did not expect that!". then, of course, my mind went immediately to "nobody expects the spanish inquisition!". it's not a direct parallel to the monty python sketch, but that is how my mind tends to work.

i found a cheap team break to join, and sure enough, i was sent a 2023 card featuring rafael furcal as a dodger

the best thing about this release is that, apparently, panini no longer feels the need to color the dodgers' front-of-the-jersey number blue. i was pretty happy to see the red numbers on these cards!

the other dodger to get the 1990-ish design treatment as a "retro" subset subject is duke snider

who is also subject to some shenanigans with a reverse image parallel, as two of these next three cards attest

the middle card is the independence day parallel, and the holo reds are numbered again this year. parallels of variations are dumb, but i guess they expand the checklist so more cards can be printed.

the 2023 donruss set is broken up in to diamond kings, rated prospects, retired guys, and retired guys in a retro design.  here are some of the other dodger retired guys

babe herman

this guy hit .393 for the brooklyn robins in 1930, but that happened to be the year that bill terry hit .401. stupid giants players.

great to see jim gilliam get a card in 2023 that isn't the same old diamond kings card

and i would love to see that image in color. it would have been fantastic as his 1957 topps card with that ebbets field background.

a couple of the dodgers' rated prospects are michael busch

and bobby miller

both of whom have spent time with the big club in 2023, perhaps a bit ahead of schedule.

my break netted me some parallels of these two as well - blue holo for miller

and "america" for busch

that america parallel is numbered to 50, but the icon is just the lower 48 states.

i wound up with the duke snider elite series insert, too

there's a lot going on there.

it was a pretty solid team break for me, but it failed to include one of the retired guys that i really wanted to add to my collection - don sutton.

i sought out some cheap parallels for the hurler, including his holo orange,

"red holo", 

"liberty",

"on fire",

and "voltage"

parallels.

that last one is numbered to 25 but i got it for about $2.50. not bad. plus, the guy who sold me the red holo threw in the base

for free!

i was happy to see panini use old man sutton with his perm. that's the don sutton i remember. and, as odd as it sounds, this is my favorite non-steve garvey dodger card of the year. meaning, it has made me the happiest to obtain - not the best looking card. we will see if it holds that status at year's end.

i was so pleased with my team break and sutton additions, that i actually bought a pack of this stuff at target. i didn't get any of the other dodgers i was missing, but i did add some cards for my "name/number on the back" mini-collection. 

johnny bench

mark mcgwire

and pete rose

i actually really like that rose card - i confess!

in a similar vein, i walked to my mailbox early last week and was shocked to find a sase inside. i had not sent out a direct ttm request for years, but there was a return in my hands. my initial thought was "i did not expect to see one of these ever again" and so this 1978 topps card signed by don carrithers

also qualifies for this post. all told, it took 1,041 days for this card to find its way back to me. still far shorter a time than the spanish inquisition was in place. what a surprise, which as it turns out, is the chief weapon, or at least one of the main weapons, of the inquisition, along with fear, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope.

thanks don! and "donruss"!

curt schilling is in my hall of famer collection

do i think curt schilling should be in the national baseball hall of fame? yes, i do. do i think he is a jackass? yes, i do. still, he is now in my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that's a 1998 donruss signature series autograph card. here's the back:

i went with schilling as a phillie since that was the uniform he was wearing when i first saw him pitch in person. it was opening day at dodger stadium in 1997, and i was sure to not miss it. schilling wound up stealing the show with 11 strikeouts over 8 shutout innings. he gave up only two hits and 3 walks as the phillies ruined my day with a 3-0 victory.

seeing that dominant performance, along with the fact that schilling has 3,116 career strikeouts, is what compelled me to add him to this collection. just as i had done with the 3,000 hit club members i had overlooked (like craig biggio) when putting my initial hall of famer collection together, i recently did the same for the 3,000 k club. schilling sits in 17th place, and of the 19 who have eclipsed that milestone, only four have done so while issuing fewer than 1,000 walks. schilling is one of them.

to me, 3,000 strikeouts is an automatic ticket to the hall of fame and i am left to believe that schilling was excluded by the writers because of his (in my opinion) ignorant and dumb takes on pretty much everything since he retired. they are certainly not worth rehashing here. still, i respect the talent and success that he had on the field and would expect that one day he gets enshrined in cooperstown.

you can see schilling and the other players in my hall of famer collection here! 

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - setting your guardians down edition

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he took the mound against the guardians this past wednesday night in cleveland. he struck out 4 batters to give him 115 strikeouts on the season. those 4 guardians that he k'd increased his career total to 2,922.

in honor of his performance, here are 4 cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,919 through 2,922.

2,919 - 2019 bowman heritage veterans/rookies

2,920 - 2020 topps gallery heritage

2.921 - 2021 topps allen & ginter silver portrait

2,922 - 2022 topps allen & ginter pitching a gem

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who struck out 5 in his return from the il on tuesday, has a career strikeout total of 2,960. kershaw is now 38 k's behind greinke and 78 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw pitched only two innings against the guardians, as the grounds crew rolled out the tarp right after kershaw recorded his fourth strikeout of the night. there was no rain, however, until 28 minutes later. curious.

it looks like kershaw's next start will come against the diamondbacks in los angeles early next week, meaning he won't start on short rest in boston this weekend. regardless of when he makes his next start or how many k's he posts, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

seeing double

with no vintage set to chase currently, i really haven't paid a lot of attention to older cards over the past year or so. the one card i did decide to seek out finally made it in to my hands a couple of months ago. it's a 1955 topps doubleheader jim gilliam card

that he also shares with red sox hurler ellis kinder

as you can probably gather, the card folds and unfolds, with kinder (with gilliam's lower left leg)

being the primary image. gilliam is revealed when you unfold the card. i thought it was pretty neat and liked the idea of adding another gilliam card to the collection.

there are other, less interesting ways to get more than one player on a card, too. for example, there are some modern team cards, like this 2011 topps dodgers cognac parallel

that replaces the team leaders concept from the 1980's.

more common are "combo cards", like this 2011 topps heritage chrome parallel

matt kemp and andre ethier were a dynamic duo in topps' eyes back in 2011 i guess.

topps has maintained the combo cards in heritage in recent years, adding them as an insert set to the high numbers release. here's the 2020 heritage high number combo card 

that i am most interested in.

last year, panini included "historical duals" in their absolute release. the dodgers were represented by teammates roy campanella and gil hodges

not to be outdone, topps issued an online only set called dynamic duals. i've shown one of these dusty baker/steve garvey cards before, but i've added the dual autograph card

and the blue parallel card

to my collection since then.

topps issued the set again this year, with don sutton and clayton kershaw

being featured on the "cooperstown calling" insert.

i really wish that topps would bring bunt back to the real world and issue some of their digital cards as real, tangible cards. here is one that i would love to own and be able to slide into a 9 pocket page

of course, topps does include then and now cards in heritage. the dodgers have been well represented through the years, thanks to the dominance of sandy koufax and others. here are a couple cards from 2013 topps heritage

and 2015 topps heritage

respectively.

i didn't bother to scan any league leader cards or all-star cards which have historically been used to get two guys on one card, but i did scan a few rookie cards that fit the bill.  these three cards are from 2000 pacific omega

they are short printed cards that are considered part of the team set and i just recently tracked them down.

similarly, this 2002 fleer platinum card

finished up my team set, and is also a short print.

this 2004 topps rookie card of eventual journeyman edwin jackson (and greg miller)

is numbered like the omega cards, but that's because it's the gold parallel. not because it's a "base" short print.

there was a time - around 2007 and 2008 - when i felt that topps was using combo cards as filler and really forcing the issue. some of those cards back then were pretty bad, but for the most part i like the idea of multi-player cards when there is a valid connection between the two.

of course, there are other sorts of "double" cards in my collection - those showing the double play turn at second base. here are a couple i haven't shared before:

1998 pacific invincible tripp cromer gems of the diamond

2020 topps dansby swanson gold parallel

and 2022 topps stadium club chrome fernando tatis jr

you can't tell in the scan, but that is the dodgers' will smith sliding in under tatis.

i like double play cards, too - just don't call them combo cards!

jeff bagwell is in my hall of famer collection

jeff bagwell was voted in to the hall of fame in 2017 on his seventh ballot. it's taken a while for me to add him to my hall of famer collection as well, but he's there now with this card as his entry:

that's a 2017 topps five star heart of a champion autograph, numbered 18/35. here's the back:

bagwell deserves to be in the hall of fame, and one can only assume that the reason it took him so long to get there was due to suspicions (never proven) of ped use during his career. i don't have an opinion one way or the other, but i do know he was a dominant force in the national league during his peak years.

i sort of lost track of bagwell once the astros moved to the central division and out of direct divisional competition with the dodgers. i did, however, reacquaint myself with his exploits each year as i continued to collect cards and add him to my extensive list of player collections. then in 2001, when i returned to fantasy baseball, i made bagwell my first round pick (i picked third, i believe), passing on randy johnson. as a result, i followed bagwell pretty closely that season, and while he had a subpar year by his own standards, he still slashed .288/.397/.568. still, the big unit would have been a better pick.

i continued to follow bagwell after that, and was sort of pleased that he made it to the world series in 2005. due to the stupidity of mlb having different rules for each league, there was only a dh in the games played in the white sox' home park, so bagwell, who couldn't play the field due to his shoulder injury, only pinch hit in the astros' home games. that's better than his birthday buddy frank thomas, who missed the series altogether due to injury.

bagwell did not return to the majors after the 2005 world series, and officially announced his retirement in december of 2006. his counting stats include over 2300 hits and over 1500 rbi, along with 449 home runs and 202 stolen bases. he is one of only 13 players to hit 400 home runs and steal 200 bases and would probably be the last member you would think of (the others are alfonso soriano, carlos beltran, andre dawson, jose canseco, gary sheffield, reggie jackson, frank robinson, sammy sosa, willie mays, alex rodriguez, hank aaron, and barry bonds).

you can see bagwell and the other players in my hall of famer collection here! 

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - two brew crew edition

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he took the mound against the brewers this past wednesday night at home in dodger stadium. he struck out 2 batters to give him 111 strikeouts on the season. those 2 brewers that he k'd increased his career total to 2,918.

in honor of his performance, here are 2 cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,917 through 2,918.

2,917 - 2017 bowman's best

2,918 - 2018 bowman's best refractor

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who is currently on the il, has a career strikeout total of 2,955. kershaw is now 37 k's behind greinke and 82 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw again pitched only five innings, allowing just a solo home run among the three hits he gave up (he also walked two batters). it sure appears he will be limited in terms of pitches/innings leading up to the postseason, and even though he may have as many as eight starts remaining, we will most likely have to wait until 2024 to see him reach the 3k mark. that assumes he decides to return and pitch another season.

as far as 2023 goes, it looks like kershaw's next start will come against the guardians in cleveland on tuesday. if my quick research is correct, kershaw last pitched in cleveland in 2017, and he beat the indians that day but struck out only 4. regardless of when he makes his next start or how many k's he posts, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

king for a day

sometimes it seems like it is easier to find scarce parallels than ones with a larger print run. case in point, i had not seen this card

available for purchase for 15 years or so. it's a 2005 donruss diamond kings framed blue parallel of steve garvey, and it is numbered to 100

it was a bit of an outlier in that i had the other /100 and even the /50 parallels from this release, but not this one. anyway, i have it now and it is catalogued in tcdb. i mentioned recently that my dodger collection (as it stands as of last thursday) is entered into tcdb now. i have also entered my player collections which are comprised mainly of dodgers from the 1978 topps set that went on to play for other teams.

i plan to start entering my mini collections so figured that now is a good time to take a snapshot of my collection.

from a team standpoint, here's where things sit:

no real surprises there. the padres are mostly due to steve garvey cards, and the expos and angels are largely vladimir guerrero (my one non-dodger pc). don sutton also contributes to the angels, with ron cey, davey lopes, and dusty baker helping populate the cubs.

those los angeles dodger cards, including this 1992 leaf mike scioscia black gold parallel,

put me in the top spot 

but i recognize my hold there is tenuous at best.  for the brooklyn dodgers, i am in the 2nd spot

and will never get any higher than that even as i add cards like this 1993 upper deck all-time heroes card featuring joe black

there just won't be enough jackie robinson cards to get me to first place, and that's ok. a dodger collection totaling over 27,500 unique cards is pretty good!

as for the players, i decided to look at my top 25

i know, that's 26 people, but with vladimir guerrero not being a dodger, i went this route to get the top 25 dodgers. plus, it allows me to show where the penguin sits in my collection! 

1. steve garvey - i rank 1st overall on tcdb in terms of garvey cards. 

obviously, this is my main pc. my collection includes dodger and non-dodger cards, which are just padres cards plus a few michigan state cards. i keep my garvey cards separated from my dodger collection, with duplicates going to the team binders. of course, tcdb makes no distinction between the two.

2. clayton kershaw - i rank 4th

and i would expect night owl to pass me at some point. these cards are all dodgers except for a couple team usa cards - assuming tcdb catalogs them as such - and all of my kershaws are in my dodger team binders.

3. mike piazza - my piazza cards only get me to 21st on tcdb. here's one of my piazza cards

a 1995 upper deck sp special edition card. there are some cards in my collection that i consider to be dodger piazza cards that tcdb lists as marlin or met cards, but my take governs! all of these piazza cards are part of my team collection.

4. vladimir guerrero - i have fallen to 9th place among tcdb collectors when it comes to vladdy cards.

that's a 2022 topps throwback thursday card i picked up earlier this year. it's nice to see vladdy appearing in current card sets, but my ambition to seek them out is pretty low.

5. shawn green - i am 3rd on tcdb, and my collection only includes dodger cards, like this 2000 topps tek card

green has been both my favorite non-dodger and my favorite dodger. however, i limit my pc to his dodger cards which are actually part of my team binders.

6. matt kemp - i was surprised to see that i ranked first in matt kemp cards on tcdb

even though it's not by much. again, these are all dodger cards that are part of my dodger collection.

7. hideo nomo - i come in 2nd on tcdb in terms of nomo cards, right behind night owl.

i would love to add more cards if they looked like that 1997 pacific crown collection gold crown die-cut card. easily my favorite nomo card that i have added in the last few years. i am a bit surprised he hasn't shown up in any recent card releases, but i am sure there are reasons.

8. eric karros - my dodger karros cards get me to 3rd place on tcdb

karros is the guy who shows up high on my list solely because he had a ton of cards made. i don't know that i have ever actively sought out a karros card other than to complete a team set. although i guess i did add that 2000 topps chrome allegiance insert to a card order earlier this year out of convenience.

9. cody bellinger - as with karros, i am 3rd on tcdb with bellinger cards. that will likely change, assuming others continue to add his cards even though he is no longer a dodger. i have decided not to take that route. here's his 2017 topps holiday card:

i will always remember his 2017 and 2019 seasons fondly.

10, jackie robinson - rounding out my top 10 is jackie, whose cards are exclusively brooklyn dodger cards, like this one

from 2022 topps allen & ginter x. my jackie cards are good enough to slot in at 3rd overall on tcdb.

11. raul mondesi - from one roy to another, i will assume that my mondesi dodger card total will eventually top the 400 mark. 

that 1999 topps gold label class 2 card is gorgeous, and got me one card closer to 400 a few months ago.  right now, i am 2nd on tcdb in terms of mondesi-ness (behind night owl).

12. fernando valenzuela - my valenzuela collection, which includes his non-dodger cards, ranks 2nd on tcdb. i recently showed off the bulk of my post-dodger fernando collection here.

13. duke snider - i rank 2nd on tcdb with my snider cards, which are only dodger cards. here's his 2022 topps pristine card

which was once one of my nefarious 9 most wanted cards as it was all that was standing between me and the complete team set.

14. adrian beltre - my collection of beltre dodger cards, including this 1998 bowman's best card

are good for 9th overall on tcdb. considering how many ranger cards he has, that surprised me a bit although maybe there aren't too many ranger team collectors.

15. orel hershiser - the bulldog is a popular player with a number of cards from his time between dodger tenures. my dodger only collection of hershiser cards is good enough for 6th on the site. i haven't added a new hershiser card for a long time, so here's an oldie but a goodie

from 1998 fleer sports illustrated world series fever

16. don sutton - my sutton collection spans his entire career, since he started it as a dodger, and it lands me at 1st place overall on tcdb

i proudly add cards of sutton to my collection showing him from his dodger days, like this 2013 panini cooperstown colgan chips card

as well as his foray in to enemy territory as an astro

brewer

athletic and angel

those cards are his 1981 all-star game program insert, 1984 topps nestle, and 1988 panini stickers issues. sutton has been keeping up appearances in current sets, so i will continue adding to my total in the future.

17. sandy koufax - my koufax cards, which are all dodger cards except for one card that is a cincinnati bearcat card, put me in 2nd place on tcdb. here's one of my newest koufax additions

that's his 2016 topps archives short print card. he had a regular card in the base set, but topps decided to short print him, too.

18. kevin brown - brown played for a lot of teams, and even though my cards are almost all dodgers (there are a few that tcdb considers to be yankee cards), i still rank 4th among collectors on the site.

there is no mistaking that 2003 topps chrome gold refractor parallel - it is a dodger card through and through - and it helped me get brown over the 300 threshold at some point.

19. corey seager - seager will be next to cross the 300 card mark. i was surprised to find that i am in 1st place in terms of seager cards, with this 2017 topps update photo variation card

being one of my fairly recent acquisitions, but i expect my rank to fall now that seager is getting a bunch of non-dodger cards as a ranger. my affinity for his cards stopped once he signed with texas.

20. andre ethier - i am in 2nd place behind night owl for ethier cards. even though he was a longtime dodger (and only appeared in the majors as a dodger), he probably won't get any attention in future card sets. there are still plenty to chase, however, and this 2012 topps heritage chrome card

just arrived in my collection a couple of weeks ago.

21. ramon martinez - i sit in 4th place on tcdb with my cards of pedro's older brother, and my newest addition just showed up the other day from night owl!

it's a 1992 classic update blue/red travel card, with a nicely cropped photo to boot!

22. davey lopes - it took a while to get to the next member of the infield, but that has a lot to do with the era in which lopes played and had cards produced bearing his likeness. i am ranked 1st overall

due to the fact that i collect his athletics, cubs, astros, and coach cards!

those three are phillies photocards from 2008 and 2010 (two versions). only two are listed on tcdb, however.  of course, my first choice for lopes cards are dodger cards, but those are few and far between these days.

23. russell martin - i almost feel like i should add martin to my list of players for whom i collection post-dodger cards because he has so many great looking cards as a pirate, yankee, and blue jay. as it is, i've limited myself to dodger cards (plus the occasional team canada cards), and that puts me in 2nd place on tcdb.

his 2006 bowman originals card, with the huge rookie card logo, reminds me that if it hadn't been for nomar joining the dodgers, martin may well have been my favorite dodger that year.

24. mookie betts - my 242 betts cards (all dodgers) are good enough for 24th place on tcdb. this is his 2022 topps international trading card day card

betts will continue to climb on this list as he will be a dodger for a long time yet, and will keep getting cards produced. i am a-ok with that!

24. gary sheffield - sheffield and betts are tied at 242 cards each, but i only rank 52nd among others with sheffield in their collections. i recently sought out his 2000 skybox card

as it has the 1999 jackie robinson heroes patch fairly visible. and i wanted to get closer to completing the team set, too.

26. ron cey - the third baseman from the team of my youth is represented in my collection by all of his cards regardless of team. this approach gets me to 1st on the site

ahead of night owl. i know that night owl doesn't have the fervor that i do for cey's post-dodger cards so it is very likely that he owns more dodger cards of the penguin than i do.

so, most of my player collections don't crack the top 26 - only garvey, vlad, sutton, lopes, and cey made it. as a reminder, these player collections are primarily of dodgers from the 1977/78 squad who went on to play for other teams after leaving the dodgers. i did want to see where the others fall, and here's a summary:

34. dusty baker - i have 173 unique baker cards logged in tcdb, and that puts me at 1st place on the site!

those 173 cards include his coaching and managerial career which has been getting some attention lately. here's a 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary aqua wave refractor parallel

his coaching career is a sneaky way for the giants to infiltrate my collection as this 1988 mothers cookies card

attests. the only baker cards i don't collect are braves cards, since he was with them prior to being a dodger.

39. tommy lasorda - lasorda is not too far behind baker, and my 168 cards have me in 1st place somewhat comfortably

the only non-dodger cards lasorda has are team usa cards, and i include those in my collection. here's one of the newest lasorda cards in my collection

it's a 2004 upper deck sp authentic all-star memories insert. the card references the 1982 all-star game which was played in montreal, but the photo comes from the midsummer classic played in seattle in 2001. that was the game that lasorda (who was retired by then) coached third base and got knocked over by vladimir guerrero's wayward bat.

41. bill russell - russell is not too far behind lasorda, and i am also 1st on the site for his cards

these are almost all dodger cards - there are a couple of tampa bay devil ray minor league cards - and the next one i want to find is a 2023 topps heritage buyback.

63. steve yeager - i am just shy of 100 unique yeager cards but still in 1st place on tcdb

my yeagers include his mariner cards plus a couple of oddballs from the movie "major league". it's been a while since i've found a new yeager card for my collection, but i keep my eye out.

78. reggie smith - i don't collect smith's red sox or cardinal cards, but my dodger and giant (both san francisco and yomiuri) and team usa cards of him are good enough to fall in 1st place on tcdb

which is a huge surprise to me. i would love to see some new reggie cards!

115. rick monday - the last of my baseball player collections is not really much of one. all of my rick monday cards are in my dodger collection except for one, and that one is not listed on tcdb. the 55 cards i have marked on the site rank me 3rd overall which is not too bad for someone who doesn't collect his athletics or cub cards.  the one non-dodger card of his that i have in my pc is a padres magazine card from his short stint as a padres announcer.

so, next up for me is to enter my mini-collections and then my "keeper" sets, which are my complete topps sets from 1957, 1965, and sets from 1970 through 1979, plus some random (mostly "legends" sets from fleer, upper deck, and topps) sets from the late 1990s and early 2000s. i am undecided about keeping my topps, fleer, donruss, and upper deck sets from 1980 through 2009 as of right now. and then there are my non-baseball player collections of wayne gretzky, luc robitaille, and mark brunell. i've still got a lot of cataloging to do, but it's fun to see where things stack up - at least for a moment in time!