a moment for the cobra

i can't say i was completely surprised to read that dave parker passed away on saturday given his declining health in recent years, but it was still a jolt to the system for me. and, for it to happen a month before he will be enshrined in cooperstown makes it doubly saddening. of course, he at least knew that he would be one of baseball's immortals before he died, unlike his classmate dick allen (or ron santo, for that matter).

to a fan like me, parker was always hall of fame material. i began following baseball in earnest in 1978 which was parker's mvp season. and, because he had led the national league in batting in 1977, he showed up twice in the 1978 topps set which was my statistical introduction to major league baseball. his 1978 solo card is a classic

and one that i was excited to receive back signed by the cobra

in my earliest ttm days about fifteen years ago.

parker solidified himself as a hall of famer in my eyes with that '78 season and the 1979 followup campaign wherein he helped the pirates win the world series, but more memorably to me, dominated the all-star game with his cannon from right field. his outfield assist to nail brian downing at the plate during that game was gloriously replayed in my home every saturday morning during baseball season for the next year or two as it was included in the closing credits of "this week in baseball". 

in 2013, topps reimagined parker's 1978 card with a different photo in their archives release

i like it (and have it in my 1978 topps master set), but it's not the original.

parker is the third national league player with the all-star shield in the 1978 topps set to pass away (joe morgan and don sutton are the others) and it hits close to home when these players that i studied for hours on end leave this mortal coil.

i wrote more about my thoughts on dave parker when i added him to my hall of famer collection back in 2021. i am glad the eras committee corrected the mistake of the baseball writers' association and voted him in to cooperstown. he was a decade great

and an all-time great.

rest in peace, hall of famer.

hey now, did i miss something?

i have mentioned many times that i really look forward to april 15 each year. yes, i am happy to pay my taxes because i enjoy living in a society, but the real reason is that april 15 is jackie robinson day. i am always glad to be reminded of the trailblazer jackie was and of his legacy that continues today. i also like seeing number 42 on all of the players. and on baseball cards.

this year, however, when i went to topps' website on the 16th, only this card was available

now, that is a great example of a jackie robinson day card, and i was happy to purchase it. however, this was the first year that topps didn't produce a "now" card specifically centered on the day. unless i missed something?

in other topps now news, i received my francisco lindor/john mayer card recently

the delivery was delayed (i know this because topps actually sent me an email about it) and i was sort of hoping that meant that i was going to get one of the dual auto cards that were produced. not the case.  here's the back:

i bought this card because i was at the game featured. in fact, i was looking at my pictures again recently and noticed that i took a photo of the jumbotron around the same time the photographer took the photo that was used on the card.

amazin!

i am waiting on another topps now order at the moment - clayton kershaw's card

that marked his ascension into the top 20 on the all-time career strikeout list. of course, you knew he did that because you've been following my "k is for kershaw kountdown" posts.

the other (and first) topps now purchase i've made in 2025 was this mookie betts card

it celebrates his walk-off home run on march 28 against the tigers. the "he's back" part refers to the fact that betts missed the tokyo series and had played in just one game prior to this one. here's the back:

just mookie flyin'.

i wanted the betts card because i wanted to have a card featuring the 2024 world series champions in their golden jerseys. i wouldn't mind seeing them on more cards in the future, by the way.

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - rocky mountain high edition!

clayton kershaw made his eighth appearance of the 2025 season thursday afternoon against the rockies at coors field, 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 continues to post solid outings after a couple of shakier starts to begin his season. agains the rockies, he went six innings and gave up just two hits and one walk. one of those hits was a solo home run, but that was the only run he allowed. as for strikeouts, kershaw k'd five batters, and those 5 k's he recorded bring his season strikeout total to 29, and his career total to 2,997.

in honor of his performance, here are five cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,993 through 2,997.

2,993 - 2017 topps rainbow foil parallel

2,994 - 2021 topps 1986 35th anniversary all-star insert blue parallel

2,995 - 2022 topps update rainbow gold parallel

2,996 - 2023 topps chrome platinum anniversary prism refractor parallel

2,997 - 2024 topps 1989 35th anniversary all-star insert

i gave serious consideration to heading out to colorado for this game. i think if kershaw had been within five strikeouts of 3,000 going in, i would have done it.

kershaw won his fourth decision in a row, as the dodgers beat the rockies 3-1. he is now 4-0 on the season, and he lowered his era to 3.03 on the season.as well. the outing was better than usual for kershaw at coors field, although he did throw a shutout there once. overall, his colorado era is well over 4 in a not so small sample size (28 games pitched). still, the rockies are one of the six teams that passed on kershaw (as well as max scherzer and tim lincecum) in the 2006 draft, and i am sure they would have been ok with how he turned out had they known at the time.

here is a non-kershaw card - it's a 2022 topps 582 montgomery (set 2) mookie betts card

betts had two hits - an rbi single and a double - and scored the dodgers' second run of the game. i am hopeful that he gets on a streak over the next couple of weeks as he hasn't been quite the mookie we are used to this year after starting the season out with a pretty serious illness.

kershaw is still in 20th place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there unless he passes john smoltz (or is himself passed). smoltz has a career strikeout total of 3,084 and so kershaw is now 87 k's behind smoltz, but just 3 away from the 3,000 milestone. for what it's worth, he now has 216 career wins, which puts him in a tie for 87th place overall with curt schilling, wilbur cooper, and old friends max scherzer and charlie hough.

kershaw should be back on the mound next week against the white sox at dodger stadium. the ravine will be packed, no doubt, but i won't be there. i don't think it's a stretch to say that he will get to 3k during that start as the white sox batters strike out about 27% of the time, and only six teams have more strikeouts as hitters than the southsiders. regardless, know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned! 

that's the holiday spirit!

we are currently six months out from christmas, and i am finally getting around to posting some cards that came my way shortly after santa wrapped up his 2024 tour and baby new year ushered in 2025. this is an oversized shohei ohtani ornament

from 2024 topps holiday, and this is a yoshinobu yamamoto christmas light necklace short print variation

from the same set.

the yamamoto came from brian at highly subjective and completely arbitrary at the january club show. he handed over some other yamamoto rookies, including a 2024 topps update duo of foil parallels

plus a "let him cook" insert

which is actually a blue parallel of the insert. i am not familiar with the turn of phrase, but i can guess as to what it means. i also didn't know what "drip" was until big league included some inserts a few years ago. i am old and not hip to these terms.

here's a gold foil parallel of landon knack

and a purple holo foil kyle hurt parallel

which are also from topps update last year.

i was happy to see this 2024 topps rip night mookie betts card

in the stack as i didn't have any of these and really didn't know of any local rip nights. not that i would have participated, but i do like to get oddballs like these. 

to top things off, brian exorcised some of my 2024 topps stadium club demons by giving me six pink parallels!

some big names there, too.

a week or so later, i was inspired by brian's luck to try my hand again at a hanger pack of stadium club, now located on an endcap in the toy section of my target. finally, i found a dodger pack with three needed pink foils!

yay for my collection.

as for the ohtani up top, that was sent by madding of cards on cards around the same time as i was meeting brian at the card show. kerry also sent some 2024 topps archives needs

they were needs and new back then, but old hat now.

here's a 2021 panini contenders zack mckinstry rookie of the year contenders insert

and a 2023 topps chrome platinum anniversary bobby miller refractor

that were needs as well.

i generally steer away from buying bowman product, and i didn't buy any in 2023, so this mairoshendrick martinus green pattern border parallel

was new to me. hailing from curacao, martinus is currently playing third base for the dodgers in a-ball. i suppose his name may bring to mind key & peele college football bits, but in baseball players don't introduce themselves that way.

to bring this post full circle, i ran into brian at the june club show last weekend. rather, he found me at what has become my traditional first stop, the bargain boxes set out by one of the regular sellers at these shows. this time, we had the presence of mind to document the meetup with a photo of our wallet cards

that's twins world champion junior ortiz for brian, and one-time twins draft pick steve garvey for me (he didn't sign). brian told me that he's been running an instagram account in lieu of blogging - check out tradingcardoftheday on insta if you are so inclined - and that his dodger luck in opening packs is still strong. to prove his point, he handed over more cards, including a host of 2025 topps dodger parallels.

austin barnes rainbow foil

will smith confetti

chris taylor holofoil

yoshinobu yamamoto fanatics topps logo foil

teoscar hernandez diamante foil

james outman holiday (sun)

not to mention a freddie freeman ops leaders insert

and a clayton kershaw 1990 35th anniversary insert

that is some good dodger luck, indeed.

brian also gave me a 1997 leaf todd hollandsworth banner seasons insert

a 2023 topps trea turner major league material relic card

a 2024 topps brusdar graterol blue holofoil parallel

and my first look at 2024 topps japan edition with a freddie freeman base

and a yoshinobu yamamoto strikezone heroes insert

brian even hit my tatooine minicollection with a 2019 bowman draft conner capel

and a brand spanking new 2025 topps barry larkin 1990 35th anniversary insert

i gave brian a small team bag of twins that i had been stockpiling and we went about our card show business. i stayed at those bargain boxes for a while but ran into brian again near the exit. i gave him a couple of cards i had found in a dime box and pulled for him, and he handed over another card that he found for me at the show (a 2004 topps brady clark gold parallel)

and then mentioned that he had an oversized card that he had forgotten to give me earlier - it was a 2024 topps holiday mookie betts ornament!

i love it when a post comes together!

thanks brian and kerry! and, only about 182 shopping days until christmas!

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - nattys iced edition!

clayton kershaw made his seventh appearance of the 2025 season friday night against the nationals at dodger stadium, 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.

coming off his best start of the season, kershaw went five innings, allowing two runs and striking out four nats in the process. those 4 k's he recorded bring his season strikeout total to 24, and his career total to 2,992.

in honor of his performance, here are four cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,989 through 2,992.

2,989 - 2023 topps chrome refractor

2,990 - 2023 topps chrome pink refractor

2,991 - 2023 topps chrome prism refractor

2,992 - 2023 topps chrome sepia refractor

yes, i was waiting for a four-strikeout game so i could show these four refractor parallels in the same post.

kershaw's night included allowing two solo homers to account for the nationals' runs against him, and he allowed three other hits and walked a pair to go with his four strikeouts. one of the home runs was hit by old friend (two-time old freind) amed rosario who is hitting .385 when facing kershaw. regardless, the dodger bullpen was able to hold on to the lead, and kershaw was credited with his third win of the season, and third in his last three starts.

here is a non-kershaw cards - it's a 2023 topps miguel rojas royal blue parallel

rojas and kershaw have history - rojas made a nice defensive play during his first stint as a dodger to preserve kershaw's only career no-hitter back in 2014. on friday, rojas doubled and homered behind kershaw, with his home run accounting for the game winning rbi as the nationals were able to give the dodgers a scare before falling 6-5.

kershaw is still in 20th place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there unless he passes john smoltz (or is himself passed). smoltz has a career strikeout total of 3,084 and so kershaw is now 92 k's behind smoltz, but just 8 away from the 3,000 milestone. for what it's worth, he now has 215 career wins, which puts him in a tie for 91st place overall with jim perry and stan coveleski.

kershaw should be back on the mound next week against the royals, assuming the dodgers stay with a six man rotation now that ohtani is back. otherwise, it's possible that kershaw will close out the series against the rockies before the dodgers head to kc. know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!