my retired number collection - 47

this is the 45th 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 47 has been retired:

tom glavine (retired by the braves in 2010) 1995 topps

one doesn't see a whole lot of 1995 topps on the blogs, but this card shows glavine's number nicely so it fits in the collection. 

tom glavine began and ended his career in atlanta, sandwiched around a five-year stint with the mets towards the end of his time in the big leagues. as a brave, glavine won two cy young awards while winning 244 games and striking out 2,091 batters. each of those counting stat totals puts him fourth all-time on the franchise leader board. therefore, it is no surprise that the braves retired glavine's number after he retired.

the club officially retired 47 in glavine's honor on august 6, 2010. this was a couple of years after he last appeared in a game for the braves, and four years before he was inducted into the hall of fame. glavine had attempted to pitch in 2009 but was released by the braves instead. it was reported that there was a rift between the pitcher and the team as a result, so the number retirement was delayed. regardless, no brave wore number 47 after glavine first donned it in 1987.

jack morris (retired by the tigers in 2018) 1982 fleer

like it or not, jack morris is in the hall of fame (i personally like it). he was inducted in 2018 after being voted in by the eras committee, and on august 12 of that year, the tigers added number 47 to their list of retired numbers. even though morris had last pitched for detroit in 1990, the tigers had kept his number out of circulation (one would assume) in anticipation of morris becoming a hall of famer eventually.

while with the tigers, morris won 198 games and struck out 1,980 batters. he finished in the top 5 in the cy young voting three times, and led the tigers to the pennant and world series title in 1984. he was 2-0 in the fall classic against the padres, pitching complete games both times. among tiger pitchers all-time, morris is fifth in wins and third in strikeouts, and seeing the names on those lists makes me wonder why the tigers haven't retired mickey lolich's number.

morris' 1982 fleer card is the stuff of legend, or at least mass confusion. in a set that has so many questionable photo choices, the cropping of the image used on this card stands out. at least the number on the back of morris' jersey is clear, making this card perfect for this mini-collection.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 45 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, 47

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, 47

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

47 - 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): 158

running total of non-hall of famers: 54

my retired number collection - 25

this is the 24th 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 four people for whom number 25 has been retired:

jose cruz (retired by the astros in 1992) 1979 topps

jose cruz was one of the first nemeses that i recognized in my early fandom days. the dodgers and astros played each other a lot, and cruz was always in the lineup for houston. he spent 13 years there, earning a couple of all-star nods and two silver sluggers as an astro. he helped the club to their first postseason appearance in the history of the franchise by leading the charge against the dodgers in game 163 of the 1980 season. his fielders choice in the top of the first inning resulted in the astros' first run of the game, and they never looked back.

his 1979 topps card gives us the best view of his number of any cards i could find, thanks to the uncommon pant numbering. although it was last worn by denny walling in april of 1992, the astros retired 25 for cruz on october 3, 1992 in a ceremony fitting for the player who was not a hall of fame player, but was the franchise's all-time leader in games played and most non-power offensive categories at the time. of course, the astros were facing the dodgers that day.

barry bonds (retired by the giants in 2018) 1995 topps

like his father, barry bonds wore number 25 for the giants. he spent the last 15 years of his career with the team, slugging 586 home runs and winning five national league mvp awards during that time. the team rewarded him with a number retirement ceremony on august 11, 2018 - almost 11 years after he played in his final game. the giants kept the number out of circulation, so he was the last person to wear it.

it's only because willie mays spent his entire career with the giants that bonds doesn't dominate the all-time leader boards for the franchise, although he does lead in obp and ops. no matter what you think about bonds, he was a dominant player and the pose captured on his 1995 topps card is one that we saw literally hundreds of times during his career. while not in the hall of fame, i believe that bonds' career is certainly worthy of recognition by the eras committee in the future.

jim thome (retired by the guardians in 2018) 1994 topps

thome spent nine full seasons in cleveland, along with parts of four others (including a short return stint in 2011), and hit 337 of his 612 career home runs during his time with the indians. 336 of those were hit while wearing number 25, and he is well above albert belle on the franchise's all-time leader board for round trippers. it's no surprise that the club retired the number in thome's honor on august 18, 2018 following his induction into the baseball hall of fame.

thome's number 25 is visible on his 1994 topps card which coincides with his first full season in the majors. he spent time in cleveland in each of the three previous years, but 1994 was when he took over the third base position full time. he left as a free agent after the 2002 season, and the indians reissued his number. he reclaimed it in 2011, but the team still reissued it in 2012. jason giambi was the last player to wear the number, doing so in 2014.  

andruw jones (retired by the braves in 2023) 1998 score

jones had his number retired by the braves on september 9, 2023, making alex dickerson in 2022 the last braves player to wear it on the field. regarded as one of the greatest fielding center fielders of all-time, jones spent 11 full seasons with the braves and won gold gloves in ten of those campaigns. he was an offensive threat, too, as he clobbered 368 home runs as a brave.

he's not in the hall of fame yet, but if i had a vote he would be. maybe 2025 will be his year, as he had 61.6% of the writers' this past january. 1998 score is not very fancy, but it gets the job done here with most of jones' number visible. perhaps at some point i'll find a better card to use. 

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

retired numbers by team (through the 18 posts so far):

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

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

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

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

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20

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

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

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22

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

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14

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

brewers - 1, 4, 19

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

cubs - 10, 14, 23

royals - 5, 10, 20

padres - 6, 19

athletics - 9, 24

angels - 11

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

major league baseball

rays - 12, 66

diamondbacks - 20

blue jays

rockies - 17

mariners - 11, 24

nationals - 11

marlins

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 (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024)

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

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): 110

running total of non-hall of famers: 42

certified rauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul

raul mondesi was my favorite dodger from 1994 through 1999. he was the first dodger to go 30/30 (he did it twice), and he was exciting to watch.

sometime last year i added a certified autograph of the 1994 national league rookie of the year to my collection, picking up this 1995 upper deck autograph card

i didn't scan the coa, so you'll have to trust me.

this card was part of the small set of autograph cards put out by upper deck that year. i have frank robinson and roger clemens as part of my hall of famer collection, but i doubt that i will complete the set. the other two are reggie jackson and willie mays. mondesi was coming off of his rookie of the year campaign, and so was included here over other retired greats and current stars. it's interesting to look back at checklists like this and see where the potential stars of the day wound up.

i also added his 1997 donruss signature series millennium marks certified auto

and i did scan the back of this one

comparing the two autographs, i can't say that they seem to have been signed by the same person.

as i mentioned up top, mondesi was, for several seasons, my favorite dodger player. as such, i have these cards in my "favorite dodger through the years" mini collection:

1994 upper deck sp holoview fx

1995 topps

1996 fleer e-motion xl d-fense

1997 topps finest

1998 upper deck collector's choice

1999 upper deck century legends

these days, mondesi is in jail on corruption charges stemming from his post-baseball political career. not the way anyone thought things would turn out for him. hopefully he can turn things around when he is eventually released.

350 is a magic number - 5s alive

a few weeks ago i noted that i was pondering the idea of adding a number type mini-collection to my collection. of the options i considered - 190, 272, 350, or none at all - i decided to go with 350.

i am posting cards from the same year of each decade, and so far i've shown the 8s, 7s, 6s, 3s, 2s, 1s, 4s, and 9s. this post will be all about the 5s.

1965 topps #350

mickey mantle made his final world series appearance in 1964, and although the yankees lost to the cardinals, mantle hit well with an ops of 1.258. as the card back states, he set a career all-time home run record for the fall classic as well. he passed a couple of milestones in 1964 as well, getting his 2000th hit and 450th home run. 1965 turned out to be a down year for mantle but he was immune to the whims of topps and still received card number 50 in the 1966 set. i bought this card for this mini-collection, and it remains in a psa graded case. it's only noted as "authentic-altered" because of the ink on the front. i already have a version of this card in my 1965 topps set with a better front but worse back.

1975 topps #350 

bobby murcer's 1975 topps card is an all-time classic, and i am glad to have a reason to keep this card in my collection outside of my complete '75 set. and, to have him follow mickey mantle in this post is especially cool. murcer (who like mantle was from oklahoma) was pegged as mantle's successor in centerfield for the yankees and he had some solid seasons in that role. the yankees traded murcer after the 1974 season to the giants straight up for bobby bonds, who also received an airbrush treatment for his 1975 card although what makes murcer's card so great is the american league all-star designation.

1985 topps #350

wade boggs hit "only" .325 in 1984 which lowered his career average which had been .357 entering the season. he finished third in batting average that year behind the yankee duo of don mattingly and dave winfield - the race that was memorialized on a 1985 donruss card. boggs rebounded in 1985 to lead the league with a .368 average, which kicked off a run of four straight batting titles and five in six seasons.

1995 topps #350

barry larkin makes it three hall of famers in a row. i appreciate the name cameo for pete rose on the back of the card, too. larkin had put up solid numbers in his career to date when this card came out, but he upped his game in 1995 and was voted the national league's mvp.

2005 topps #350

albert pujols and larry walker led the cardinals to a playoff victory over the dodgers in 2004, although the dodgers were able to win their first postseason game since 1988 thanks to jose lima. pujols went on to be named the mvp of the nlcs (the cardinals beat the astros), and walker continued the mash with a couple homers of his own. still, the cardinals were beat by the red sox which was fine by me given the circumstances. i have another copy of this card in my lurker collection thanks to the dodger catcher (brent mayne) watching the flight of the pujols home run. 

2015 topps #350

yasiel puig is the third dodger to be featured in these posts, and based on his first two seasons in the big leagues he was certainly worthy of card number 350. he helped lead the dodgers back to the postseason in 2014, although the result was the same with a series loss to the cardinals. puig's 2015 season was hampered by hamstring injuries, and he put up fairly pedestrian numbers when healthy. it is crazy to me that a few years later, he is not on a roster despite being only 30 years old.

i am tracking a few things in an effort to find any consistency with number 350, although there really isn't any. still, i am keeping track of the following occurrences, now through two posts:

number of reigning rookies of the year: 1 (kris bryant)

number of reigning mvps: 4 (ernie banks, frank robinson, robin yount, dustin pedroia)

number of reigning cy young winners: 0

number of reigning world series champions: 2 (keith hernandez, joe carter)

number of reigning pennant winners: 9 (frank robinson, mickey mantle, steve garvey, robin yount, jack clark, keith hernandez, joe carter, 2004 st. louis cardinals, clayton kershaw)

number of reigning league leaders: 16 (ernie banks - home runs, rbi; ernie banks - home runs; mel stottlemyre - complete games; willie mccovey - home runs; billy williams - runs, hits; garry templeton - triples; robin yount - hits, doubles; keith hernandez - walks; andy vanslyke - triples; kenny lofton - sb; larry walker - batting average; chase utley - runs; dustin pedroia - hits, runs; david ortiz - doubles, rbi; clayton kershaw - wins, era; dj lemahieu - batting average)

subset types: 2 (all-time all-stars, postseason highlights (4))

number of repeat players: 1 (ernie banks)

number of dodgers: 3 (steve garvey, yasiel puig, clayton kershaw)

frequency of teams: cardinals (7), cubs (5), astros (4), mets (4), yankees (4), twins (3), braves (3), dodgers (3), braves (3), reds (3), red sox (3), giants (3), a's (2), brewers (2), phillies (2), rockies (2), white sox, indians, blue jays, angels, rangers, orioles, rays, padres, pirates

i will have another post with another run of cards soon - stay tuned!

1990's represent!

sometime around the year 2000, i began putting together "sampler" sets of topps sets from 1952 through 1969. i had no intention of ever completing any of those sets, and i figured it would be a fun idea to pick up a card from each team and each subset for those older sets.

i finished the task in a few years (it was a low priority), but then decided to scrap the collection as i began putting together the 1965 and 1957 sets.  now, i've decided to put together a "representative card" mini collection that will make it easier for me to see a great card from each topps flagship set from 1952 on.

i'll show off the cards occasionally, along with a reason for choosing that particular card. i won't use a card that is in my dodger collection, or any other collection for that matter, so i should wind up with a good variety.  here are the cards that represent the 1990's in this mini collection:

1990 - bob welch

the 1990 set has grown on me over the last 30 years. when it was the current set, i couldn't stand it and i purchased very little of it - a box maybe. i eventually collected the full dodger team set and bought a complete set just to appease my inner collector. it has since grown on me, and this bob welch card is actually pretty nice.  1990 was a big year for old friend bob welch, who won 27 games for the american league champion a's while losing 6 - he only had 2 no decisions! he also took home the cy young award which perhaps offered him some consolation for being swept by the reds in the world series.

1991 - ken griffey jr

as much as i disliked the 1990 topps design, i loved 1991. ken griffey jr's card is a decent one to represent the set (i already have the carlton fisk card in my 'favorite cards of the year' mini-collection). jr was just 21 during the 1991 season, but he hit 22 homers, drove in 100 runs, and had a batting average of .327, all while making for must see tv on sportscenter.

1992 - barry bonds

i didn't mind the 1992 topps design, and it had some great looking photos in the set. tommy lasorda's card was a standout for me, but with the initial release of the gold parallels, barry bonds' card was the one i was looking for. one of the local card shops had asked me if i had pulled that particular card, as they were on the lookout and promised a decent sum for it. i never did find one, but bonds' regular card is worthy of representing the set here. he won his second mvp award that year, which was his last in a pirate uniform.

1993 - tony gwynn

i was out of college by the time the 1993 season began, and working full-time in my chosen field which wasn't a guarantee back then. i didn't make it to many games that season, but it began to dawn on me that i could get to padres games almost as easily as i could get to dodger games. i began testing that theory in 1994. meanwhile, gwynn was doing gwynn things - hitting over .300 for the 11th year in a row - and he posted the third highest batting average of his career up to that point. unfortunately for him, his .358 mark wasn't enough to win his fifth batting crown - baseball had come to colorado, and andres galarraga hit .370  (.402 at mile high stadium) on the season.

1994 - frank thomas

the strike year. many things come to mind when i recall 1994 - tony gwynn (would he have hit .400?), matt williams (would he have hit 62 homers?), the expos (would they have won the world series?), jody reed (did he regret turning down the dodgers' offer which put the wheels in motion for the pedro martinez trade as much as dodger fans came to regret it?), and so on and so forth. one of the other players who comes to mind is frank thomas. the big hurt had a big 1994 season with a 1.217 ops fueled by an obscene .487 on base percentage. it was his second straight mvp award, and his 1994 numbers weren't too far off from his 1993 stats even though he had played in 40 fewer games.

1995 - dave winfield

one of the things that gave me hope that the 1994 season would be salvaged was the indians' purchase of dave winfield's ontract from the twins in august of 1994. i figured that the move wouldn't have been made if the season weren't going to resume, given that winfield's contract was up at the end of the season. unfortunately, the season was cancelled. however, i was happy that winfield signed with the indians for the 1995 season and so got to be a part of the team that brought a pennant back to cleveland for the first time since 1954! i don't think winfield was on the postseason roster, but i was definitely rooting for his teammates, including orel hershiser, that fall.

1996 - cal ripken jr

aside from the dodgers winning the nl west for the first time since 1988 and the indians returning to the fall classic for the first time in my lifetime, the highlight of the 1995 season was cal ripken and consecutive game number 2,131. as a steve garvey fan, i learned all about lou gehrig early on, and paid close attention to ripken's streak. 1996 topps has a highlight card that focuses on that event specifically, but i keep that in my "meaningful and just because" mini-collection so i chose this card to represent 1996 instead. ripken reaching game 2,131 was a feat that really had me paying attention to baseball after the strike and loss of the 1994 postseason. i never thought about giving up on the sport, but i don't think it was hyperbole for many to believe that ripken and his streak saved baseball for a lot of people.

1997 - paul molitor

1997 was the year that i moved to minnesota. too late to see kirby puckett play, but in time to catch my one-time favorite non-dodger paul molitor. molitor had signed with his hometown twins for the 1996 season, and he had a fantastic year. in addition to batting .341, he recorded his 3,000th hit towards the end of the season. while his 1997 season was not quite as eventful, he did hit over .300 and drove in 89 runs as a 40/41 year-old. i made sure to catch some games at dodger stadium and the big a before i made my move, but only managed to catch the twins on tv over the last month or so of the season. still, 1997 will always mean minnesota to me.

1998 - mark mcgwire

who else but mark mcgwire would be best to represent 1998? sammy sosa, maybe, but it was big mac who set the season record for home runs that year. as luck would have it, the cardinals returned to minnesota in late june for the first time since the 1987 world series, and i was there for one of the games. we were sitting in left field hoping for a mcgwire home run, but the closest he came was a warning track fly ball off of bob tewksbury. i recorded the game in which mcgwire hit 62 and also the game in which he hit number 70 - i was fully on board the home run train at the time. the next year, some friends and i roadtripped to st. louis to see the dodgers play the cardinals for a weekend series, and big mac failed to homer in those games, too. just my luck, i guess.

1999 - nomar garciaparra

here's another former favorite non-dodger in the collection. the american league shortstop triumvirate of nomar, derek jeter, and alex rodriguez was dominating in the late 90's, and nomar was my favorite of the group. he won his first batting title in 1999 and helped the red sox advance to the alcs for the first time since 1990, although they lost (for the first, but not the last time) to the yankees in a postseason series.  i found myself in boston the weekend before the all-star game somewhat by chance. the red sox weren't in town, so going to a game was not an option, but i did walk past fenway for the first time and bought an all-star game t-shirt. i didn't suggest going to fanfest (we were there to visit extended family), but i was disappointed later to learn that steve garvey had been there. another opportunity lost!

 

up next, the 2000's represent! stay tuned...

card show flip or flop?

as luck would have it, i was out of town for a work meeting one friday morning earlier in the fall, and that meeting locale was just down the road from the location of a mall card show that was running from friday through sunday. i headed out after my meeting ended, even though my experience has shown that friday mall shows are not the best. unfortunately, this one didn't do anything to change that opinion. 

between dealers setting up and the relatively large number of tables only carrying jerseys or photos, there weren't too many card boxes to look through.  i did find one dealer who had a 4/$1 box, and i started digging without much hope. i had thrown 10 or so cards aside before the dealer approached me with an empty 550-count box and told me that i could fill the box for $40. now that the bargain box was a 7-cent/card box, i started pulling cards with a bit more fervor.

i knew that i would not be able to fill the box with just cards for my collection, so i kept an eye out for cards that i could add to the few trade packages i was (and still am) putting together. i also tried to identify cards that i thought i could flip. i mentioned in a recent post that i have a bad habit of doing this when going through bargain boxes. sometimes it works out and i make some of my money back, and sometimes i misjudge the marketplace and wind up with cards in my collection that don't really fit.

anyway, i wound up filling the box and gave the guy $40.  when i got home, i went through the cards that i had selected and found that i needed 43 of them.  here are the keepers:  

a 1971 topps don sutton coin was probably the highlight here, and i am always amazed at how many mike piazza cards i don't already have.

in addition to the 22 dodgers, i can put the 1997 upper deck collector's choice all-star connection mike piazza card in my dodger stadium mini-collection thanks to the camera day photo on the back.  i found five new double play cards, and two new tatooine cards, including another piazza dupe. i also found one card for a set i am working on (that would be the 2000 pacific kings of the diamond set), plus 12 cards to add to my vladimir guerrero collection.

i also found about four dozen cards that were for trade packages.  that would mean that i had over 400 cards to try to sell. long story short, i've already made back that $40 payment after selling only 14 cards (with more in the pipeline), thanks mainly to a couple of pacific gold crown and leaf clean up crew cards.  sure, it's taken a fair amount of time to scan and list and mail the cards, but i've been selling cards for a long time now, and it's time i would have spent doing that anyway.

of course, i've already reinvested the proceeds in other cardboard, so i'm not really coming out ahead. still, for me, looking for cards for others and/or bargains to flip is part of the fun of the card show experience.