the almost daily dodger - jose offerman

before dave roberts and after maury wills, jose offerman wore number 30 for the dodgers. of course, there were lots of other guys between wills and roberts, like derrel thomas and wilton guerrero. thomas, in fact, was the first dodger player to wear the number after wills, which leads me to think maybe the dodgers were thinking that wills had a shot at the hall of fame. anyway, i am getting way off topic.

i've added a couple of offerman parallels to my collection, and they've sat in my scanned folder just waiting for one of these "almost daily dodger posts" so here we go.

1994 upper deck collector's choice silver signature parallel

this is one of the craziest baseball cards out there in terms of three stooges scenarios. offerman, jody reed, and a met meet at second base. chaos ensues. nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

1992 leaf black gold parallel

this was the second to last card i needed for my team set, and i think i added ramon martinez to one of the orders sitting in my sportlots box at the moment. i like that offerman is shown bunting for a hit, as he was supposed to always be trying to put the ball on the ground. it was quite possibly a disservice to him and his career when he hit a home run off of dennis martinez in his first big league at bat, although he did put together some pretty decent offensive seasons in terms of batting average.

both cards give a glimpse of the number 30, which may well wind up retired by the franchise if roberts keeps his job and the dodgers win at least one more championship. maybe then they will pull a dual retirement and include wills, just like the cubs did with greg maddux and fergie jenkins.

color me back

when i posted the 2023 panini donruss duke snider cards the other day, i was reminded about another recent case where i had a parallel in hand well before i landed the base card. the card i am referring to is eric gagne's 2006 topps bazooka card, which i had in gold chunk parallel form

months before i picked up the base version. i actually added the base to my most wanted list, and wound up with two copies so i could put one in my names/numbers on the back collection. i was a fan of the no names on the backs of jerseys in the early 2000's, by the way.

putting this card away with the others, i noticed that topps took the time to color match the backs. here's derek lowe's gold chunk card

and the back

definitely a gold parallel all around.

here's hong-chih kuo's blue parallel

which is also blue all over the back

now here's gagne's base card with white borders

but a gray back

so close!

send in the crowd

space is at a premium on gary sheffield's 1998 upper deck ud3 card

which is actually the third of three different sheffield cards in the base set.

the photo used comes from camera day, which featured a pregame opportunity to get on the field at dodger stadium and take photos of players as they wandered by. i've been to this event a couple of times, although i don't believe it is still a thing.

it's nice to see matt luke, the kttv microphone, and the handheld tv camera in addition to the pavilion roof and the throngs of dodger fans. and speaking of throngs of people, i have found myself in texas this weekend and will be hitting up a card show. i am hoping to find lots of dodger cards in the bargain bins!

my retired number collection - 29

this is the 29th 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 three people for whom number 29 has been retired:

rod carew (retired by the angels in 1986) 1983 topps

following the 1978 season, reigning back-to-back american league batting champ rod carew was dealt to the angels for, among others, future dodgers ken landreaux and brad havens. he spent seven seasons with the club, hitting .314 during that time and remaining a popular and high performing player, as his six all-star nods as an angel attest. he had three top-five finishes in the american league batting title race while playing in anaheim, and hit as high as .331 in 1980. even though carew was the american league's starter at first base in the 1983 and 1984 all-star games, his 1983 topps all-star subset card which serves as carew's angel card in this collection was the last one he received, with eddie murray getting the cardboard in both 1984 and 1985.

while with the angels, carew passed the 3,000 hit milestone and cemented his place in cooperstown and, i think, effectively ending his time with the angels. with that milestone out of the way near the end of the 1985 season, the angels were able to enjoy the attention that comes with a chase for 3,000 hits and still let him walk as a free agent at the end of the season, which they did. even though carew last played in 1985, he had hoped to continue playing but had no takers after becoming a free agent and so ultimately formally retired during the 1986 season.  as an aside, i recall hoping the dodgers would sign him, but they were committed to greg brock at the time.

just like in minnesota, carew was the last angel to wear number 29, and the angels formally retired the number on august 12, 1986 (per this upi article) shortly after his formal retirement announcement. this was largely seen as a pr move by the angels, but carew did have a good relationship with the owner, gene autry. autry at the time was the only other person for whom the angels had retired a number, making carew the first player to be so honored.

rod carew (retired by the twins in 1987) 1979 topps

carew was a twin for the first 12 years of his career, and he was an all-star in each of those seasons. he was the 1967 american league rookie of the year, and a seven time league batting champion. he hit .388 for the twins in 1977, which was the highest average among eligible batters since ted williams hit .406 in 1941. as a result of his performance that season, carew was named the league's most valuable player.

carew's tenure with the twins ended after the 1978 season (when he hit .333 to claim his sixth batting title) due to a rift in his relationship with club owner calvin griffith who had given an offensive and bigoted speech during the offseason which in turn prompted carew's request for a trade. even though carew was not a twin for as long as players like harmon killebrew (who was the only twin to have his number retired before carew) or joe mauer, he is the top position player on the franchise's all-time war leader board.  he also ranks highly in most offensive categories among non-washington senator players.

the twins retired carew's number on july 19, 1987, although they had kept it out of circulation since his departure after the 1978 season meaning he was fittingly the last twin to wear the number. his 1979 topps card is one of my favorite carew cards (behind only the 1978 topps and 1978 o-pee-chee cards), so i am happy to include it in this collection to represent carew's greatness with the twins.

john smoltz (retired by the braves in 2012) 1993 upper deck sp

smoltz spent all but one year (the last) of his 21 year career with the braves, piling up 210 wins, 154 saves, and 3011 strikeouts for atlanta. he won the 1996 national league cy young award as a starter, and later finished third in the cy young voting in 2002 in his first full year as a closer. smoltz spent two more years as the braves' closer before returning to starting, and wound up leading the league in wins and starts in 2006.

smoltz was the 1992 nlcs mvp, and pitched well in the 1992, 1996 and 1991 world series fot the braves. he was a member of the 1995 world championship team, although his pitching line in that series was not the best. overall, smoltz is the franchise's all-time leader in strikeouts. he is fourth in wins, second in saves, and fourth in war for pitchers (behind hall of famers kid nichols, warren spahn, and phil niekro).

the braves retired smoltz's number on june 8, 2012 as part of his induction into the franchise's hall of fame. three years later, in 2015, smoltz was voted into the national baseball hall of fame. he was the last brave to wear the number, which is shown almost in its entirety on his 1993 upper deck sp card.

adrian beltre (retired by the rangers in 2019) 2012 topps

beltre spent the last 8 years of his career with the rangers, earning three gold gloves and three silver sluggers in that time. he retired as the franchise's third best player in terms of war, which is an indication of his overall value on the field for a club that has had some solid long term players during the course of its history.

beltre retired following the 2018 season, and the rangers retired his number on june 8, 2019 so as to be able to hold the ceremony in globe life stadium where beltre spent his time with the club. he was the last ranger to wear 29, and i think the 2012 topps card above is a good one for this collection. beltre will be inducted into the hall of fame this summer as a first ballot inductee.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 29 posts so far):

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

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

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 42

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

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

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 42

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

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

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 42

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 42

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 42

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

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 42

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

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

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 42

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

cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 42

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 42

angels - 11, 26, 42

expos - 8, 10, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 42

rockies - 17, 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 9 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)

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

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): 122

running total of non-hall of famers: 44

the almost daily dodger - todd hollandsworth

i recently added a 1995 select certified todd hollandsworth card to a sportlots order. it was the last card i needed to complete my dodger team set, and it looks like this:

that is actually the second 1995 select certified todd hollandsworth that the seller sent to me, because the first one looked like this:

i am not sure how you even put that one in the envelope. for 20 cents maybe i didn't need to ask for a refund (i didn't realize that the guy had another card, which makes me wonder even more why he pulled and sent the messed up card instead of the good one in the first place), but what i got at first wasn't close to acceptable filler material, even for a mid 1990's throwaway team set.

to the seller's credit, he spent more making it right than he needed to, as he could have just refunded me rather than slap another stamp on an envelope and send a second card out. 

trevor hoffman is in my hall of famer collection

i failed to get a post up this past weekend about the semi-annual show i went to recently at the st. paul rivercentre, but i will share today that i picked up an autograph card of trevor hofffman at the show to add him to my hall of famer collection:

that is a 2024 topps chrome black base autograph card. here is the back:

no bells or whistles on this puppy, that's for sure.

i had looked at hoffman autos in the past, but never pulled the trigger. i got this one from a seller who had it in a dollar (unless marked) box. the sticker on the back said $5 but i wound up with $40 worth of cards that he charged me $35 for, so you might say this was a freebee.

at the time of hoffman's retirement following the 2010 season, he was baseball's all-time leader in saves with 601 to his credit. mariano rivera passed him the following year, but he is still number 2 on the all-time list with kenley jansen the closest active pitcher to him, and he is 176 saves as of may 1, 2024 behind.

hoffman spent the vast majority of his career with the padres, and that is how i wanted him to be represented in this collection. he also pitched for the marlins to start his career and the brewers to end it, and for a while it seemed like the new hoffman autos hitting the secondary market were late career brewers cards. 

the main reason i was only going to go with a padres card is that i saw trevor hoffman pitch in person just twice. the first time was september 16, 1998 and the dodgers were playing the padres in san diego. heading into the 9th, the padres had a seven run lead, so it was definitely not a spot where i expected to hear hell's bells and see hoffman. the dodgers rallied, however, to close the gap to four runs, and with two on and two out, hoffman was summoned from the bullpen. he struck out jim eisenreich to end the game and earn career save number 156. i also saw him pick up a more traditional save on may 27, 2002 against the rockies (and their trio of todds - helton, zeile, and hollandsworth) in san diego when he set down terry shumpert, juan pierre, and juan uribe in order in the top of the 9th to complete the pads' 8-5 victory.  

hoffman made it into the hall of fame in 2018, his third year on the ballot. as a reminder, you can see hoffman and the other members of my hall of famer collection here!

disconnected

i am curious to see the changes (or is it a complete overhaul) that the dodgers are making to their city connect uniforms. they've already made tweaks over the years since they first debuted in 2021. max scherzer's 2022 topps card (this is the gold parallel)

shows the original uniform with the full blue outfit and the "los dodgers" script on the hat. 

at some point in 2022, the dodgers ditched the "los dodgers" hat and just wore their standard interlocking la hats as seen on freddie freeman's 2023 topps stadium club (red foil version)

they kept the full blue unis, which i actually didn't mind.

last year, as jason heyward's 2023 topps card (gold parallel) shows

the dodgers ditched the blue pants and went with white pants, but with piping along the sides to differentiate from their normal home whites.

obviously i have no idea what is in store this year with the city connect uniforms, but i hope they are not anything like the padres'.

buehler?

walker buehler is back on the bump for the dodgers tonight (assuming the game is played starting about 2.5 hours from when this post goes live). if the dodgers don't have a ben stein video on diamondvision before the game, what are they even doing?

here are some cards to mark the end of walker buehler's days off:

2020 topps chrome blue parallel

2021 bowman platinum ice foil parallel

2021 topps 1986 all-star relic

2021 topps chrome pink refractor parallel

2022 topps stars of mlb insert

2022 topps gypsy queen blue parallel

and here's his 2014 topps big league base card

that last card came from cards on cards, along with several more dodgers that hit my want lists on the nose.

this is a 2018 bowman alex verdugo chrome rookie of the year favorites insert

mojo box edition! verdugo did not rate in the roy voting in 2018 as he saw only limited playing time. in fact, he was still a rookie in 2019 when he hit .294 for the dodgers in just over 100 games, but didn't place in the roy voting that year either.

2021 topps uk edition luke raley

raley is playing in seattle now after two seasons in tampa following his 2021 season spent with the dodgers.

2023 topps stadium club mookie betts

and will smith

with these two cards in hand, my 2023 stadium club team set is missing only miguel vargas and jd martinez. 

2024 topps big league shohei ohtani

this might be the first ohtani dodger card i've received in trade. pretty sure it is, in fact, yes, it is.

2024 topps big league emmet sheehan

and emmet sheehan electric orange parallel

the borders of big league make the parallels look dirty and less electric, but i am happy to have an example of the orange parallels.

thanks kerry!

with buehler back in action, all eyes turn to the progression of clayton kershaw, whose 2024 topps big league card i recently picked up

it sounds like he threw off a mound the other day, and hopefully will be back in time to make a run at his 3,000th strikeout. the "k is for kershaw kountdown" will return!

the almost daily dodger - mike piazza

the last one of these posts featured eric karros, so it only makes sense to follow up with mike piazza. piazza followed in karros' footsteps, winning the national league rookie of the year award in 1993 after karros took home the hardware in 1992.

this is piazza's 1996 panini sticker

his 1996 topps classic confrontations insert

his 1997 upper deck memorable moments die-cut insert

and his 1996 fleer update soaring star insert

things are looking up!

all of these cards were languishing in my scanned folder, which was the impetus for this "almost daily dodger" series. piazza remains the player in third place in my tcdb collection, behind steve garvey and clayton kershaw with 722 cards in the collection (710 unique). that's just outside the top 20 of all collectors on the site. looks like i have some work to do, and there seems to be no end to the piazza dodger cards from the 90's.

where's the puzzle?

i recently picked up one of my "most wanted" cards - a 2023 panini donruss duke snider card

from the diamond kings subset. it was on my nefarious nine list because it was a card that i had a parallel of (holo purple)

but not the base which is an annoyance to me.

the card reminds me of the first time donruss included snider in a set, way back in 1984

when he was the subject of their puzzle insert as well. no puzzle this time, and no logo on the hat, either.

my retired numbers collection - 28

this is the 28th 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 is the one person for whom number 28 has been retired:

bert blyleven (retired by the twins in 2011) 1986 o-pee-chee

i was confused when it took bert blyleven 14 years to be voted into the hall of fame. he retired as the pitcher with the third most strikeouts in the history of the game, and yet he languished on the ballot until he received 79.7% of the vote in 2011. i was of the mind that 3,000 strikeouts for a pitcher was a no-brainer hall of fame threshold, and blyleven racked up 3,701 strikeouts over the course of his career. with the twins, he recorded 2,035 of them over ten-plus seasons in two separate stints with the club.

the knock on blyleven, i guess, was that he played for a lot of different teams and didn't reach 300 wins (he had 287, of which 149 came as a twin). it's not his fault that he played for some not-so-good teams, although he did help the 1987 twins (and the 1979 pirates) win a world series title. at any rate, the baseball writers voted him in, and the twins retired his number on july 16, 2011 as a result. jesse crain, who had been wearing the number from 2004 through 2010 became the last twin to do so.

he remains the all-time top minnesota twin (walter johnson is technically the all-time franchise leader) in terms of strikeouts, and the 1986 o-pee-chee card gives us a glimpse of blyleven's number on the front of the baby blue uniforms that the twins would retire after the '86 season due to a complete overhaul of their branding. given the success that blyleven and the twins had in 1987, i would say the rebranding paid off!

while blyleven is the only person to have number 28 retired in their honor, it is a safe bet that buster posey will join him at some point. the giants have kept posey's number out of circulation since he retired a couple of years ago, and are probably just waiting to see what happens his first year on the hall of fame ballot.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 28 posts so far):

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

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

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 42

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

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

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 42

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

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

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 42

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 42

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 42

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

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 42

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

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

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 42

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

cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 42

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 42

angels - 11, 26, 42

expos - 8, 10, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 42

rockies - 17, 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 9 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

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

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): 119

running total of non-hall of famers: 44

what are you selling?

the sets released so far in 2024 are really giving collectors our best look at the advertising patches that some teams began wearing in 2023. more teams have added them this year, and for some franchises i am left to wonder what they are trying to sell.

the dodgers this year began sporting an ad on their jerseys, and it is for the guggenheim group which owns the dodgers but is an investment and advisory firm at its core. they serve insurance companies, corporate and public pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments and foundations, wealth managers, and high-net worth investors. not your average baseball tv viewer.

i am not sure how it all works, but it seems weird that the dodgers would add a patch of the company that owns the team as it is not completely clear how the team makes money off of the deal, or at least how it is a benefit to the advertiser. anyway, the dodgers aren't alone.

when i saw this 2024 topps heritage patrick bailey card

with the cruise advertising patch, i was curious enough to finally look them up. they are a self-driving technology firm that eventually (they hope) will be offering driverless rides and deliveries in cities all over the country. they had some safety issues late last year which i assume has delayed their deployment. still, they were a ways away from being "open" for business, so i wonder why they chose to advertise in this way last year. it's worth noting that this year, the giants are sporting chevrolet ad patches. in truth, perhaps general motors is the company buying the patches, as they own both cruise and chevy.

most teams seem to have more mainstream advertisers that baseball fans might actually use like motorola, adt, meijer, marathon oil, quik trip, and quikrete. i will say that the heritage card design and coloring of bailey's card in particular complements the cruise patch really well, and at least we don't have to see ftx patches all over the umpires anymore.

1955 bowman complete through 32!

a month ago i announced my intent to complete the 1955 bowman set. since then, i've added a couple of cards, including one that was the final piece needed to have the first 32 cards of the set in hand. that card was al kaline's

which is number 23 in the set. since i want to show the set in order through these posts (here's the first one), even though i had a complete sheet of cards 25-32, i wanted to wait until kaline filled his spot on the 17-24 sheet. and here's that sheet now!

and the backs

not sure what is up with the coloring of bobby avila's card. in addition to kaline, that sheet features another hall of famer in roy campanella, and his brooklyn dodger buddy is don hoak. hoak's card, to me, is one of the most iconic cards i have in my collection (and i have three of them) because it was the first card from the 1950's that i owned and it came to me by way of a trade with a man who lived adjacent to my neighborhood. i've told the story before, but one of my friends told us that a guy down the street from him collected cards, and so we knocked on his door one day in 1979 and asked if he wanted to trade. he said he didn't have any new cards and so took some 1979 topps giants from me and gave me the hoak in return. good times for an eight year old.

here's the next page:

love the minnie minoso card. it features an unorthodox bunting approach in contrast to what johnny temple is displaying. here's the backs

red schoendienst means there are two hall of famers on that page, too.

i hope it won't be too long before i am back with the next page in the set, although i am missing three cards between 33 and 40 right now.

stay tuned!