summer sortin' had me a blast

i have a bunch of cards to sort through and haven't dedicated the time to do so in recent months. or is it years? anyway, i was envious of fuji who noted that he was doing a big summer sorting project and now i have become one of the beneficiaries of his work!

i received a bubble mailer full of dodger (and selected other) goodness that ran the gamut from oddballs to parallels and even a custom pinback.

i was able to add some cards to my collection from 1986 sportflics including a tri-star card of fernando valenzuela that also features vida blue and john denny.

denny is a good outlier for me to use on the immaculate grid from time to time thanks to him being a non-steve carlton phillie cy young award winner who was featured in the 1978 topps set. i try my best each day to complete the grid using players from that set.

there were a number of fernando items, including stickers like this one from 1984 topps

that is a sears catalog worthy pose!

fuji also sent me my first 1993 topps micro dodger cards, including darryl strawberry, orel hershiser, and eric karros

i've had some of these in the past of other players, but these are the first keepers for me.

these next two items aren't new to me, but i did want to show how clayton kershaw went from a ryan reynolds lookalike on his 2012 panini triple play sticker

to a more hirsute individual on his 2013 panini triple play sticker

it's a transformation similar to what was seen for some players between early 1970's topps flagship sets - 1970 and 1971 richie/dick allen comes to mind (yes i know the photo on his 1970 card is an older photo).

these next three are all new to me - 2013 panini prizm mike piazza diamond dominance

and yasiel puig fearless

inserts, plus a 2018 panini diamond kings jackie robinson portraits insert

obviously, those cards are all lacking logos, but i think i prefer that to whatever it is that todd hollandsworth is wearing on this 1995 signature rookies card 

it kind of looks like a rec league jersey, but hey - the card is 1 of only 25,000!

there were cards with logos, including one that is just the logo

from 1987 donruss opening day.

with fuji being a padres fan, i wasn't surprised to see some steve garvey cards make the mailing. here's a 1986 donruss pop ups card

that celebrates garvey's (last) all-star game which was played at the metrodome in 1985.

my favorite item of the package was this pinback

that was constructed using his 1982 donruss diamond kings card. this is right up there with the coaster that p-town tom sent to me using a 2012 topps mini matt kemp card in terms of custom coolness.

finally, there were a handful of cards from the 2021 topps complete set (gold star edition) for my collection, including corey seager

and the championship fireworks

it's been a long time since i received a gold star from a teacher!

thanks mark! enjoy the last few days of your summer vacation!

my retired number collection - 46

this is the 44th 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.

so, without further ado, here is the one person for whom number 46 has been retired:

andy pettitte (retired by the yankees in 2015) 1999 topps

andy pettitte has yet to garner serious consideration for the hall of fame, but the yankees saw fit to retire his number on august 23, 2015 which was just a couple of years after he pitched in his final big league game. i found it interesting that they retired the number so quickly, given that they redistributed it to players in each of the seasons that petttitte was pitching in houston (2004-2006). the yankees did not, however, put the number back into circulation after pettitte retired prior to the 2011 season or after he retired for good following the 2013 campaign. i chose his 1999 topps card because it shows his number pretty well, plus he's in the home pinstripes. those qualities overrode the boring 1999 topps design.

in three stints with the yankees, pettitte pitched in 447 regular season games, winning 219 and striking out 2,020 batters in those games. he is the yankees' all-time leader in strikeouts, and he is tied with whitey ford atop the franchise leaderboard in games started by a pitcher. and, while he never won a cy young award, he did have three seasons as a yankee in which he placed in the top 5 in voting.

in the postseason with the yankees, pettitte pitched in 41 games, winning 18 and striking out 171 batters. he won five rings with the yankees and was the mvp of the 2001 alcs. time will tell whether or not he makes it to cooperstown, but regardless he and his number are represented in monument park from here on out.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 44 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44, 46

giants - 3, 4, 11, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 36, 42

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 33, 40, 42, 44

guardians - 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 42, 455

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 26, 27, 34, 42, 45

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 34, 36, 42

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 42, 45, 85

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 24, 42

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 31, 35, 41, 42, 44

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 40, 42

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31, 36, 37, 41, 42

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, 33, 42

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 32, 34, 39, 42

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 28, 34, 36, 42

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 35, 42, 72

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 34, 42, 44

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 23, 42

cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 31, 42

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 31, 35, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 34, 42. 43

angels - 11, 26, 30, 42

expos - 8, 10, 30, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 34, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 32, 42

rockies - 17, 33, 42

mariners - 11, 24, 42

nationals - 11, 42

marlins - 42

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

10 - retired by 10 teams (retired by expos for two players)

11 - retired by 8 teams

12 - retired by 1 team

13 - retired by 1 team

14 - retired by 10 teams (retired by mets and dodgers for same person)

15 - retired by 2 teams

16 - retired by 4 teams

17 - retired by 3 teams

18 - retired by 3 teams (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024) 

19 - retired by 5 teams

20 - retired by 11 teams (retired by orioles, reds, and guardians for same person)

21 - retired by 4 teams

22 - retired by 2 teams

23 - retired by 4 teams

24 - retired by 8 teams (retired by giants and mets for same person)

25 - retired by 4 teams

26 - retired by 4 teams

27 - retired by 3 teams

28 - retired by 1 team

29 - retired by 4 teams (retired by twins and angels for same person)

30 - retired by 3 teams

31 - retired by 4 teams (retired by cubs and braves for same person; retired by cubs for two players)

32 - retired by 5 teams

33 - retired by 4 teams

34 - retired by 8 teams (retired by astros and rangers for same person; retired by brewers and a's for same person; retired by a's for two players)

35 - retired by 3 teams

36 - retired by 4 teams

37 - retired by 2 teams (retired by mets and yankees for same person)

39 - retired by 1 team

40 - retired by 2 teams

41 - retired by 2 teams

42 - retired by 30 teams (retired by cardinals and yankees for individuals in addition to jackie robinson)

43 - retired by 1 team

44 - retired by 4 teams (retired by brewers and braves for same person)

45 - retired by 2 teams

46 - retired by 1 team

66 - retired by 1 team

72 - retired by 1 team

85 - retired by 1 team

455 - retired by 1 team

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 156

running total of non-hall of famers: 54

the almost daily dodger - keibert ruiz

with will smith firmly in place as the dodgers' catcher of the future, i was not disappointed in 2021 when keibert ruiz was traded to the nationals in the max scherzer/trea turner trade. sure, as a top dodger prospect, keibert ruiz was featured in a lot of sets and so was a big part of my 2021 card pickups, but getting scherzer and turner was a good return for ruiz and josiah gray.

ruiz literally burst on the major league scene with a home run in his first big league at bat, and in the end two of his three dodger hits were round trippers. with the nationals, he obviously hasn't kept up that pace, but he hit 18 homers in 2023. i looked up his current stats earlier this week, and ruiz has regressed offensively in 2024. he does have 12 homers so far this season, but his obp is around 0.255 due in large part to his low walk rate. he just turned 26 so he has some time to pick his production up, and i hope that he does. 

anyway, i've had a number of ruiz cards languishing in my scanned folder since the trade, and i figured it was time to post them.

this first one is a 2020 bowman platinum purple parallel of the "walmart top prospects" insert card

it's numbered to 250 in the top left.

here's a 2021 panini absolute rookie class insert

and a 2021 panini mosaic mosaic prizm parallel

and finally, a 2021 topps gypsy queen indigo parallel

which is also numbered to 250, just like the other purple hued parallel that kicked off this post.

the dodgers might be in another catcher quandary soon with 23-year old dalton rushing and 22-year old diego cartaya coming up the pipeline. rushing has recently been playing some outfield which makes me think he may be up sooner rather than later.

more like mr. monopoly or mr. peanut?

does mr. monopoly wear a monocle? does mr. peanut? does junior caminnero? these are the questions of our time, and future generations may argue that caminero, in fact, did at one time wear a monocle and use this card

as evidence.

caminero's 2024 topps stars of mlb insert was one that caught my eye when i found it in a pack a while back. i know that he isn't really wearing a monocle, but the timing of the photo of his numerous necklaces flying about made me think of the answer to the mandela effect question that i most strenuously objected to. i was certain that like mr. peanut, mr. monopoly (aka uncle pennybags) wears a monocle but i guess he does not. i've been too lazy to check my monopoly game in the game cupboard.

now if i could only find one of my old fruit of the loom shirts that i am certain had a cornucopia...

the almost daily dodger - tommy john

today's effort to thin out the scanned folder results in a post featuring tommy john and his 2005 donruss champions card

john's name is still relevant in the game today, thanks to the revolutionary surgery performed in 1974 that saved his career. john sat out the 1975 season, but returned in 1976 and put up four of the best seasons of his career (pre or post-surgery) from 1977-1980.

unfortunately, hearing his name these days is typically associated with bad news, as in "river ryan will undergo tommy john surgery". i am hopeful that john's name returns to the game at some point with "hall of famer" preceding it, rather than "surgery" following it.

what difference does seven years make?

i decided to try to fill in the blanks of my annual comparison posts between the topps flagship dodgers and their cards that are in the factory team set releases. those are the cards that are sold in blister packs and are numbered differently from the flagship sets. sometimes, there are photo (or other) variations, too.

as noted in the 2024 post, for some reason i did not purchase the 2017 team set back when it was released, but i have it now so here we go. remember, it's flagship on the left, team set on the right

lad-1 clayton kershaw

the only difference is the placement of the topps logo. as you will see, the factory set has the logo placed with equal side and top margins. flagship has the logo situated such that it is further from the top of the card than the side. i prefer the factory set format.

and here are the backs - flagship:

and team set:

topps eliminated the personalized twitter handles in favor of their hashtag on the factory set cards.

lad-2 andre ethier

same

lad-3 alex wood

same

lad-4 joc pederson

same

lad-5 scott van slyke

same. it's odd to me that scott van slyke was featured in the set but yasiel puig was not.

lad-6 yasmani grandal

same

lad-7 enrique hernandez

i could have rotated the landscape cards, but why bother? there's no difference between flagship and the factory set here.

lad-8 kenta maeda

same

lad-9 chase utley

same

lad-10 julio urias

same

lad-11 kenley jansen

same

lad-12 trayce thompson

same

lad-13 corey seager

no more rookie cup for seager, who was the 2016 national league rookie of the year. this is going to wind up being the only real difference in the whole set.

lad-14 justin turner

same

lad-15 andrew toles

same

lad-16 rich hill

same

lad-17 adrian gonzalez

same

i think i remember why i didn't bother with this set in 2017.

if you are interested, here's the running list of these posts. 2016 and 2018 are still partial set posts, and i have yet to find the team set from 2019. remember that there was no team set issued in 2021. otherwise, click and enjoy!

2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2018

2020

2022

2023

2024

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues

clayton kershaw was on the mound for the dodgers last night in los angeles against the tampa bay rays, and so the k is for kershaw kountdown is back.

kershaw pitched five innings and struck out 5 batters to give him 24 strikeouts for the 2024 season. those 5 rays that he k'd increased his career total to 2,968.

in honor of his performance, here are 5 not seen on this blog before cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,964 through 2,968.

2,964 - 2017 topps walmart exclusive electricity

2,965 - 2019 panini donruss holo blue parallel

2,966 - 2020 panini donruss optic

2,967 - 2021 panini donruss red/white parallel #/2021

2,968 - 2022 topps cosmic chrome refractor

kershaw allowed five straight batters to reach base in the first inning, allowing four runs in the process. however, he regained control and held the rays to just one run in the four innings following. kershaw struck out two batters in both the third and fouth innings, and was in line for the win until the dodger bullpen surrendered the lead in the late innings.

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who hasn't formally retired but hasn't joined a team so far in 2024, has a career strikeout total of 2,979. kershaw is now 11 k's behind greinke and 32 away from the 3,000 milestone. kershaw could have as many as six starts remaining in the regular season, but he will need to average just over five k's per inning to get to 3,000 this year.

kershaw should be back on the mound this weekend against the diamondbacks which should be interesting given how disastrous his last outing against them was. know that when kershaw makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

bang the drum

it was a year ago today when the guardians wore their memorial patch that honored longtime fan john adams. they had also worn the patch on opening day. i was happy to see the patch show up on some cards this year, including gavin williams on his 2024 topps big league card

the significance of wearing the patch on august 24 was that it was the 50th anniversary of the first game at which adams beat his bass drum in the stands at an indians game. he went on to continue that tradition through the 2019 season, missing only a small number of games. 

the only other memorial i am aware of that honors a fan was the black ribbon that the a's and rangers wore for shannon stone, a fan that died after falling from the stands trying to catch a ball. i appreciate cards that document the game, including the different uniforms and patches, and having this card means that i can update this post and my collection.

my retired number collection - 45

this is the 43rd 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.

so, without further ado, here are the two people for whom number 45 has been retired:

bob gibson (retired by the cardinals in 1975) 1999 upper deck century legends

the cardinals retired number 45 for their longtime ace bob gibson on "bob gibson" day, which was celebrated on september 1, 1975, two days before gibson would take the mound for the final time in his big league career. not quite six years later, gibson was enshrined in cooperstown, having been voted into the hall of fame on his first ballot.

gibson spent his entire career with the cardinals, and was the mvp of both the 1964 and 1967 world series. he led the cardinals to the pennant in 1968 as well (and also won both the cy young and the mvp award that year) but the cardinals fell to the tigers in the fall classic. 

the card i chose - from one of my favorite sets (1999 upper deck century legends) - shows gibson during the 1967 world series against the red sox. gibson won three games during that series, throwing complete games in each of his starts. he remains to this day the franchise's all-time leader in wins, shutouts, strikeouts, and complete games, among other categories. it's no wonder that the cardinals made darn sure no other person would wear number 45 after him.

pedro martinez (retired by the red sox in 2015) 2001 upper deck ovation

pedro martinez spent seven seasons in boston, and finished in the top four in the cy young voting in six of those years. he won two cy young awards for the red sox, including in 1999 when he won the pitching triple crown and had more first place mvp votes than the winner, ivan rodriguez. overall, he was 117-37 with 1,683 strikeouts during his tenure with the red sox, but is probably best remembered for his postseason performances, particularly in 2003 when grady little left him in game 7 a bit too long, and in 2004 when he helped the red sox break the curse of the bambino and claim the world series title.

pedro left the red sox after the 2004 postseason and continued to pitch into 2009. no red sox personnel wore number 45 after his departure, however, and the team retired it on july 28, 2015 - a couple of days after pedro was inducted into the hall of fame. i chose his 2001 upper deck ovation card because it shows his number better than any other card i could find of his (that was also in my old player collection box) from his red sox days.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 43 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44

giants - 3, 4, 11, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 36, 42

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 33, 40, 42, 44

guardians - 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 42, 455

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 26, 27, 34, 42, 45

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 34, 36, 42

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 42, 45, 85

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 24, 42

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 31, 35, 41, 42, 44

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 40, 42

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31, 36, 37, 41, 42

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, 33, 42

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 32, 34, 39, 42

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 28, 34, 36, 42

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 35, 42, 72

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 34, 42, 44

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 23, 42

cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 31, 42

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 31, 35, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 34, 42. 43

angels - 11, 26, 30, 42

expos - 8, 10, 30, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 34, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 32, 42

rockies - 17, 33, 42

mariners - 11, 24, 42

nationals - 11, 42

marlins - 42

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

10 - retired by 10 teams (retired by expos for two players)

11 - retired by 8 teams

12 - retired by 1 team

13 - retired by 1 team

14 - retired by 10 teams (retired by mets and dodgers for same person)

15 - retired by 2 teams

16 - retired by 4 teams

17 - retired by 3 teams

18 - retired by 3 teams (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024) 

19 - retired by 5 teams

20 - retired by 11 teams (retired by orioles, reds, and guardians for same person)

21 - retired by 4 teams

22 - retired by 2 teams

23 - retired by 4 teams

24 - retired by 8 teams (retired by giants and mets for same person)

25 - retired by 4 teams

26 - retired by 4 teams

27 - retired by 3 teams

28 - retired by 1 team

29 - retired by 4 teams (retired by twins and angels for same person)

30 - retired by 3 teams

31 - retired by 4 teams (retired by cubs and braves for same person; retired by cubs for two players)

32 - retired by 5 teams

33 - retired by 4 teams

34 - retired by 8 teams (retired by astros and rangers for same person; retired by brewers and a's for same person; retired by a's for two players)

35 - retired by 3 teams

36 - retired by 4 teams

37 - retired by 2 teams (retired by mets and yankees for same person)

39 - retired by 1 team

40 - retired by 2 teams

41 - retired by 2 teams

42 - retired by 30 teams (retired by cardinals and yankees for individuals in addition to jackie robinson)

43 - retired by 1 team

44 - retired by 4 teams (retired by brewers and braves for same person)

45 - retired by 2 teams

66 - retired by 1 team

72 - retired by 1 team

85 - retired by 1 team

455 - retired by 1 team

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 156

running total of non-hall of famers: 53

the almost daily dodger - gavin lux

can a player ever live up to the hype? gavin lux was the dodgers' first round draft pick in the 2016 draft and in 2018 he was the franchise's minor league player of the year. late in the following season, he was in the big leagues and was one of the top three prospects in the game going into the 2020 season.

i dare say he has not lived up to that hype.

because of his top prospect status, i have a lot of gavin lux cards. here are some that have been languishing in my scanned folder - a 2022 topps archives card

and three rookie card inserts - 2020 panini donruss optic stained glass

2020 topps finest finest firsts

and 2020 topps finest the man

lux missed the entire 2023 season due to injury, and had a slow start to 2024. he has really come around after this year's all-star break, however, hitting .366 with a 1.101 ops in the 31 days following the midsummer classic. he was the national league player of the week right after the break, and i am hopeful that he is hitting his stride as he approaches the magical age of 27.