batting around with some fun facts

i am always happy to participate in a good ol' blog bat around! in diamond jesters original post yesterday, matt wrote about a series of fun statistical facts that were not intuitive based on our primary conception of certain players, even bringing it back to madison bumgarner to match the original version of the concept. i decided pretty quickly after reading matt's post to give it a try! 

i will start with mookie betts

who has more regular season 3 home run games (6) than reggie jackson (2)

who has as many championship series home runs (6) as kiké hernandez (6)

who has finished more regular season games as a pitcher (6) than walker buehler (5)

who has more career home runs (1) than don sutton (0)

who hit fewer batters with a pitch (82) than madison bumgarner (89)

for reference, don sutton had 1,559 plate appearances to walker buehler's 195, and sutton faced 21,631 batters while bumgarner only pitched to 9,098 batters.

this was pretty fun. the only stat i was aware of before i started was that betts had more 3 homer games than mr. october - the other facts i discovered along the way. baseball reference truly is the greatest website.

thanks for the inspiration matt!

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - cleveland matinee edition!

clayton kershaw made his third appearance of the 2025 season wednesday aftternoon against the guardians at the jake progressive field. kershaw was coming off a rain shortened appearance against the mets, but there was no delay for this start. so, i am pleased to be able to post another edition of the k is for kershaw kountdown as we track his progress to the 3,000 strikeout milestone.

kershaw pitched five innings and threw 74 pitches, allowing just 1 run on 6 hits. he walked 2 and struck out 3, bringing his season total to six strikeouts. those three guardians he k'd raised his career strikeout total to 2,974. 

in honor of his performance, here are three cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,972 though 2,974.

2,972 - 2017 topps stadium club gold foil

2,973 - 2019 topps stadium club red foil

2,974 - 2023 topps black & white

kershaw's third strikeout came against jose ramirez to close out the fifth inning and it put him in line for his first win of the season. unfortunately, tanner scott blew the lead in the 8th inning and so kershaw will need to wait to notch that first w of the year.

here's a non-kershaw card - it's a 2021 topps stadium club chrome alex vesia card

vesia relieved tanner scott in the 8th inning of the game with the score tied and two guardians on base. he promptly gave up a 3-run home run.

from the same set, here's zach mckinstry

mckinstry is currently playing for the detroit tigers - the owners of the best record in baseball at the time i penned this post. now, back to kershaw.

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke has a career strikeout total of 2,979, and so kershaw is now 5 k's behind greinke and 26 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw should be back on the mound next week to get another crack at the mets (he will miss the yankee series coming up this weekend). know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned! 

for the love of all that is holy, avert your eyes

it has been a long time since i've looked for - let alone added - a tristar signa cuts card. for whatever reason, i took a peek at available inventory around the start of the year and wound up purchasing this 2008 brutalization of steve howe's 1984 topps card

i will never have certified autographs of all of the dodger rookies of the year, but with this howe card in hand, i have examples of each dodger roy from 1980 on except for 1995 winner hideo nomo. that would mean i have auto cards of these guys:

cody bellinger (2017)

corey seager (2016)

todd hollandsworth (1996)

raul mondesi (1994)

mike piazza (1993)

eric karros (1992)

steve sax (1982)

fernando valenzuela (1981)

steve howe (1980)

i also have certified autos of joe black (1952), don newcombe (1949), and frank howard (1960). howard is my newest addition, thanks to this 2001 topps archives autograph card

that i added not too long ago. this all means i am missing jackie robinson (1947), jim gilliam (1953), jim lefebvre (1965), ted sizemore (1969), rick sutcliffe (1979) and the aforementioned nomo.

of those, i only know of a certified cut robinson dodger autograph. the nomos that i have seen feature him in non-dodger uniforms - same with the sutcliffes. i don't think the other two modern players (lefebvre and sizemore) have any certified autos regardless of team.

and so, i will likely continue to periodically check the airwaves for signa cuts, even though they are destroyers of cards.

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - rain delay interruptus edition!

clayton kershaw made his second appearance of the 2025 season last friday night at citi field against the mets. he was coming off a rusty debut performance against the angels, and i was looking forward to seeing him make this start, presumably without any jitters that he might have been feeling in his debut. there was a significant rain delay early on, but the game resumed and was completed so i am pleased to be able to post another edition of the k is for kershaw kountdown as we track his progress to the 3,000 strikeout milestone.

kershaw pitched just two innings before the rain came, striking out one for his third k of the season. that strikeout raised his career strikeout total to 2,971. 

in honor of his performance, here is a card (technically) not seen on this blog before cards from my collection to represent strikeout number 2,971.

2,971 - 2009 upper deck spectrum red #/250

i said that this card has technically not been seen on this blog before because this particular card is actually an upgrade for me. i received the card initially from sluggo, but it was damaged by the post office during delivery. i wound up sending that card to fuji because of his affinity for leftys and his damaged card pc after i acquired this version.

kershaw's strikeout came against brandon nimmo, who was caught looking for the second out of the second inning. in his two innings of work, kershaw gave up no runs while facing the minimum six batters, with a walk erased by a double play. 

here's a non-kershaw card - it's manny ramirez's red parallel from 2009 ud spectrum

i may have purchased these two cards together. i am still missing the russell martin and greg maddux red parallels from my team set, however.

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke has a career strikeout total of 2,979, and so kershaw is now 8 k's behind greinke and 29 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw should be back on the mound to close out the road trip in cleveland next wednesday. know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

a memorial patch for orlando cepeda

the san francisco giants wore two memorial patches during the latter part of the 2024 season. i already wrote about the willie mays patch that they wore on their left chest, so today's post will focus on the sleeve patch they added for orlando cepeda. both patches are visible on matt chapman's 2025 topps stars of mlb card

cepeda passed away on june 18, 2024, just ten days after mays died. the giants added their recent standard black patch with cepeda's last name (they used vida blue's first name a couple of years ago) and number 30 to their jerseys soon thereafter.

cepeda made his big league debut and won the rookie of the year award in 1958 and so was immediately connected with the new fans of the san francisco giants. he stayed in san fran for 7 more full seasons, leaving the franchise with 226 home runs which is still good for sixth on the franchise's all-time leaderboard. a couple of years ago, i added cepeda to my hall of famer collection, and you can read some of my other thoughts on the baby bull here.

in other news, i understand that the giants have a new city connect uniform this season that references the summer of love and the concert art that was prevalent at that time. i'll have to see it, but i will assume it is an improvement over these. i do admit, however, that i sort of liked seeing the golden gate bridge on the sleeves.

judge not lester ye be judged

for almost three years, i've had a saved ebay search for a certain cubs card. the search was created after reading a post at wrigley wax that featured a jon lester card using the 1978 topps design. this was before 2022 topps archives, and so the 1978 design was rarely seen as a platform for new cards and i desperately wanted the lester card.

just over two and a half years later, someone sent the card to comc and now it's in my possession

the back isn't much to write home about, but that's ok.

tcdb calls this a 2021 set, and i suppose any 2020 set that was to be given away might have been postponed because of the pandemic. at any rate, i applaud that season ticket holder who gave up their set so that i could own this card.

collecting is a crazy thing for sure, and i am happy to retire one more saved search.

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues!

clayton kershaw made his 2025 season debut (to start his 18th big league campaign overall) last night at dodger stadium against the angels. i was very happy to see him back on the bump, and also pleased to be able to post another edition of the k is for kershaw kountdown as we track his progress to the 3,000 strikeout milestone.

kershaw pitched four innings and struck out two batters to give him 2 strikeouts for the 2025 season. those 2 halos that he k'd increased his career total to 2,970.

in honor of his performance, here are 2 not seen on this blog before cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,969 through 2,970.

2,969 - 2024 topps chrome lids mitchell & ness

seeing kershaw on the 1996 topps design made this a must get card for me last year

2,970 - 2024 topps chrome cosmic

i am really not sure how this set is distributed as i have only seen singles of it in bargain boxes at card shows. i will grab some of the cards every time, though.

kershaw struck out the first batter he faced, but then allowed a hit followed by a couple of walks and soon thereafter, the angels had a 3-0 lead. he threw a 1-2-3 inning in the second, however, and wound up giving up five runs and throwing 83 pitches overall. there were three walks, and a few more three ball counts. the angels seemed to be swinging out of their shoes at times as kershaw's velocity and location were a bit off which is certainly understandable.

here's a non-kershaw card - it's andy pages' 2023 panini donruss bomb squad insert (rapture parallel)

pages hit a three run homer in the bottom of the first to tie the game and then later made a fantastic catch in right field to limit the angel scoring in the top of the fourth. he is really solidifying his spot as one of the dodgers' everyday outfielders.

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke has a career strikeout total of 2,979, and so kershaw is now 9 k's behind greinke and 30 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw should be back on the mound next weekend against the mets at citi field. know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

hiura honors hammerin' hank

it's not often that memorial patches span seasons. but it does happen. the dodgers are doing it now with their fernando valenzuela patch, and i can think of a couple of other instances when the yankees did it. usually it's because the person being honored passed away late in the previous season, and the franchise wants to give them their due.

back in 2021, the braves and brewers wore memorials for hank aaron, who had passed away that january. aaron, of course, began his career with the milwaukee braves, and then finished it with the milwaukee brewers in 1976. the braves added his number (along with phil niekro's) to the backs of their hats. their sleeves were dedicated to other patches, although once the all-star game was removed from their stadium, they stopped wearing that patch and could have shifted gears. the brewers, on the other hand, wore a more traditional patch with aaron's number 44 on their sleeves for the entire season.

in may of 2022, the two teams squared off in a series in milwaukee, and the brewers decided to wear the patches again. in one of those games (the game played three years ago tomorrow, actually), keston hiura (zot!) hit an extra innings walk-off home run, and so the patch was captured on a 2022 topps now card

i picked up the blue parallel version a few months ago for very cheap. here's the back 

more 44!

as far as i can tell, the braves did not revisit their aaron memorial for this series.

dodger for life!

there was a lot of excitement at the parade the dodgers had to celebrate their 2024 world series victory last fall. one of the most memorable moments came when clayton kershaw addressed the crowd at dodger stadium and proclaimed himself a "dodger for life!"

topps captured that moment on cardboard, although they made it his golden mirror parallel. once i saw it, i knew i would eventually own the card

i've been saving it for a post closer to his 2025 season debut, which is scheduled for tomorrow and so here we are. here's the back which is the easiest way to identify the golden mirror parallels

you can see there that kershaw is sitting on 2,968 career strikeouts. with his return to the mound, i will be bringing back the "k is for kershaw kountdown" as he heads towards 3,000 strikeouts and another level of baseball immortality.

i am really looking forward to the game tomorrow and watching kershaw accomplish what no other dodger pitcher has ever done - amass 3,000 strikeouts entirely in a dodger uniform. dodger fan for life!

here it is - heritage!

i mentioned last week that i bought a hobby box of 2025 topps heritage while i was on the west coast recently. i wound up opening it in my hotel room one night and then scanning some of the cards when i returned home. it was a pretty good box for this dodger collector, even if topps got rid of the box toppers (i was hoping to strike gold with a nice buyback).  here's what i found

pack 1

the lone insert is the royal blue joc pederson parallel, but i did also get a double play card. yes, i am collecting all of the second basemen in the set for my double play collection just as i have done for the original 1976 cards thanks to the player position icon design. welcome to the collection brooks baldwin!

from here on out, i will just show highlights (to me) from each pack.

pack 2:

yordan alvarez

which is also a short print

this is my first look at the all-star cards, and i like it very much. the star works really well with the design, and alvarez's card is just a flat-out winner.

otto lopez

another second baseman, and it's worth noting that this is a deviation from the color scheme used for the marlins in 2015 archives.

pack 3:

jhoan duran chrome parallel

these are unnumbered for what i believe is the first time in heritage's history. i've seen these referred to as "white border" chrome which is understandable.

ty madden chrome light blue sparkle parallel

also unnumbered

roki sasaki rookie card!

which is surprisingly not a short print.

pack 4:

marcus semien

topps is squeezing in the "second" text in the all-star star. back in my day, they called it "2nd" and we liked it.

cody bellinger

decent photoshop job to get belly into a yankee uniform.

cade smith dark blue parallel

this turned out to be a decent box for guardians collectors.

stan musial

i am collecting this subset, just as i collected the all-time leaders in 2022 heritage and the mvp subset (even though it was highly disappointing) in 2024 heritage. enough has been said about how topps did some strange things with these all-time all-stars, but i'm mostly ok with what they did.

pack 5:

yoshinobu yamamoto

dodger #1 of the pack

shohei ohtani (record breaker) chrome refractor parallel

not a bad card to get a refractor parallel of.

tyler glasnow

three dodgers in this pack, and glasnow's card is a short print.

gunnar henderson

i briefly considered collecting the all-star subset. they are really hitting the mark for me.

pack 6:

justin wrobleski

doing more damage to my dodger want list

curtis mead chrome parallel

this one goes into the dp collection. i won't chase the chrome parallels of second basemen, but i will keep them if i pull them.

brandon nimmo dark blue parallel

the color works pretty well with the mets cards.

pack 7:

corbin carroll 1976 redefined insert

this design looks like what a vintage 1976 design might look like if topps treated heritage like the flagship release. i'm not sure if the player icon is an improvement as i could convince myself that it is a first baseman stretching and receiving a high throw.

gavin stone

he's got some of the most piercing eyes on cardboard since gil hodges. this one is a short print, too.

orelvis martinez

contributing to the dp collection. nice to see topps give the blue jays the same color scheme that the expos had in 1976. they used a different color scheme for toronto in 2015 archives.

shohei ohtani record breaker

another good dodger pack. here's the back:

gcrl favorites matt kemp and vladimir guerrero are noted on the back, both of them so close to 40/40 immortality.

pack 8:

this was a pretty decent pack, so i scanned the whole thing

the mays and altuve (second baseman) cards are keepers. the jake mccarthy card in the middle is the '76 border parallel that is numbered to 76, and the yordan alvarez next to it is the foil parallel of a regular player icon insert.

pack 9:

nl stolen base leaders

it's good to see a dodger on this card, even if ohtani isn't in the top spot as davey lopes was back in 1976. here's the back:

the list goes back far enough to give lopes his due. i see dodgers dee strange-gordon and trea turner also listed.

w.e.b. du bois notable americans

du bois lived to be 95 and he filled his lifetime with work related to social advocacy. he died the day before the march on washington, although he was out of the country and not planning to attend.

yariel rodriguez chrome light blue sparkle parallel

pack 10:

daniel harris dark blue parallel

adael amador

i believe the rockies have three second basemen in the set, and i like the color scheme. not sure why topps didn't figure it out for the 1976 design in 2015 archives though.

pack 11:

aaron judge (record breaker)

i like the record breakers this year, too. 

luis garcia jr

there are a few cards that look like they may have the fake heritage backgrounds of a few years ago, and this might be one of them. topps let the nationals keep the expos' color scheme from 1976 which is a good move on their part.

gustavo campero chrome parallel

campero was just called up and is now injured. not sure which team goes through players at a higher rate - the dodgers or the angels.

pete crow-armstrong

this one is a short print. here's the back:

interesting that he and masyn winn were in little league (i assume) together and now are in the nl central together.

pack 12:

andy ibanez

nick yorke

back to back second basemen

adley rutschman chrome light blue sparkle parallel

this one might be the closest in terms of photos between the all-stars in this set and the all-stars in the 1976 set. thurman munson was also turned this way, but he was looking at the camera. where are people like pat neshek who are willing to recreate some of those poses from yesteryear?

pack 13:

teoscar hernandez

nice to see a dodger card with the all-star star. in the 1976 set, there were three dodgers (steve garvey, ron cey, and andy messersmith) so honored, plus jim wynn who was shown as a brave on his card. there were only two nl all-star outfielder cards in 1976 (wynn and lou brock) as both ron cey and pete rose (who started in the outfield for the national league) were listed as "3rd base"

andrew walters chrome parallel

max scherzer dark blue parallel

that may be a true background behind scherzer but i don't trust topps at this point.

pack 14:

nl home run leaders

it's not often we see a dodger on top of this leaderboard

jhonkensy noel 1776-1976 bicentennial parallel #/200

more guardians goodness

mookie betts

yes, three dodger short prints in my box!

pack 15:

richie palacios

this is a good color scheme for the rays, but it's different from what topps used in 2015 archives.

john d. rockefeller notable americans insert

noted as the founder of standard oil, he spent most of his later years as a philanthropist supporting medical advancement and the arts. standard oil had such a large monopoly at its peak that it was broken up into 34 different companies to comply with anit-trust laws. he was a rich dude.

matt olson chrome light blue sparkle parallel

pack 16:

nicky lopez

bryce harper

looks like a phanatic bat

jurickson profar

i forgot what a great season profar had last year. and now he's suspended.

ketel marte dark blue parallel

there's the national league's all-star at second base. i should note that topps changed up the color scheme for the dbacks from what they used in 2015 archives.

michael kopech

this was definitely a box made for me

pack 17:

adley rutschman

angel martinez chrome parallel

like the curtis mead above, this one goes to the dp collection

bryan woo short print

here's the back:

he is off to a pretty decent start this year.

pack 18:

paul skenes

there is some synchronicity here, as pirate jerry reuss was one of the all-star pitchers in the 1976 set

ichiro through the years insert

i am not sure what to make of these. i would much rather have had topps continue with the 'now & then' and baseball flashback inserts then produce these generic looking cards.

bailey ober chrome light blue sparkle parallel

i assure you that there is no second "bailey" on the back of this card

yogi berra

one of the few non-outfielders in this subset

pack 19:

mel ott

one of the many outfielders in this subset

luis peralta dark blue parallel

i liked the rockies' city connect uniforms. i guess they weren't selling enough so it was time for a rebrand.

vaughn grissom

grissom is in the minors at the moment. looks like the braves were the winners in the trade, although grissom is only 24.

pack 20:

river ryan

ryan will still be a rookie next year when he returns (hopefully) from tommy john surgery.

bob gibson

oh so close to a final tribute. it is gibson in a 1976 design, but it's not the base design with stats on the back, unfortunately.

zack gelof

yilber diaz chrome parallel

dylan cease chrome light blue sparkle parallel

pack 21:

al stolen base leaders

jazz chisholm shouldn't be on this card. he had 40 stolen bases, sure, but only 18 were with the yankees. the other 22 were from his time in the national league with the marlins. by topps' reasoning here, eddie murray should have won the national league batting title in 1991.

jose iglesias

aaron judge 25th anniversary insert

a couple things here - we are getting deep into the box and i had not yet seen my "hit". when i first saw this card, i thought that it might be an auto, but it's not. instead, it's a card celebrating the 25th anniversary of topps heritage. however, it should be celebrating the 25th year of topps heritage. the 25th anniversary comes next year.

edwin diaz dark blue parallel

another mets color match

nl batting leaders

i didn't find the rbi leader card in this box, but this card reminds me of just how close ohtani was to a triple crown.

pack 22:

this pack was chock full of good stuff, so here's all eight cards

the dusty/darren baker father & son card was my most wanted base card in this set and there it is. of course, i already had the card at home but didn't know it yet thanks to a mailer from rod (thanks rod!). the brayan bello and jesse winker cards would be great for the memorials collection, but i will stick with my previous choices for the tim wakefield, bud harrelson, and jerry grote patches. winker's card is a short print, by the way.

three dodgers in this pack, plus a double play is nothing to sneeze at, and then there was that upside down card. here's the front:

it's a photo variation of tyler fitzgerald. for the record, here's the regular photo

that i found in a mega box that i opened a few days ago.

pack 23:

mike trout

corey seager chrome refractor parallel

chris bassitt short print

nico hoerner

pack 24:

francisco lindor clubhouse collection single relic

my "hit" was in the last pack. could be worse.

nl home run leaders chrome light blue sparkle parallel

another nice dodger parallel featuring ohtani

freddie freeman

this was the last card of the box, so i went out in style.

i really do like this set. a lot. however, seeing the 1976 design and the bicentennial themed inserts makes me, once again, feel some regret on topps' behalf that they didn't either start the heritage series with the 1951 design in 2001 or wait until 2002 to debut this series. had they done so, 2026 heritage would feature this design, and we could have some semiquincentennial themed inserts numbered to 250 and the 50th anniversary buybacks would truly make sense.

speaking of which, i've been diligent (but not diligent enough) in my annual pursuit of buybacks featuring the infield of my youth. a ron cey buyback was snapped up on ebay before i saw it, but i have claimed bill russell's card

as well as one of three cards featuring davey lopes

who is a little beat up.

i would love to find the lopes record breaker in buyback form, and i hope to share that card and some of the others i find in the near future. stay tuned!