42 for 4/15

jackie robinson day is truly celebrated every day of the baseball season, but today is the official day to remember and reflect on the breaking of the color barrier and what that meant and means to our society today.

earlier this year, i added the dodgers' team card golden mirror parallel from 2024 topps

because of that photo of  the players all wearing jackie's number 42. here's the back:

a reminder, the tigers' team card in 2024 topps also featured a player wearing 42, but that was the base card, not the golden mirror parallel. it stinks when more interesting photos are "saved" for short printing but business is business.

sometime last year, i also moved a duplicate of this 1997 upper deck jackie robinson card

in to my "name/number on the back" collection.

today, it's 42 for everyone. thank you, jackie robinson.

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.

card shop battle!

i was out on the west coast a couple of weeks ago, and before i went i stopped at one of the card shops in the twin cities where i wound up picking up a few cards from the various bins. once i got to the west coast, i visited a couple of shops - a couple in the bay area and one further down the coast. i figured i'd share some of the cards i picked up via a card shop battle!

starting in the twin cities, i spent some time digging through the shop's nickel cards and found a few that interested me enough to take them home, including a 2022 panini donruss independence day adolis garcia card

i was disappointed to see garcia not able to play in the full world series, as he was on a tear.

here's a 2018 topps stadium club ichiro card

that fits in to my name/number on the back mini-collection.

i was surprised to find a bunch of cards from one of the 2022 topps 582 montgomery sets (set 5 to be precise)

and i spent sixty cents to bring these cards home with me. i'm not 100% sure why i did - probably just because they were different from all the other base cards in the boxes.

i moved on to the quarter and fifty cent cards which are conveniently sorted by team. somehow there was a 2022 topps now clayton kershaw card

for the taking, and i also grabbed several numbered dodger parallels. the two that surprised me the most were these two 2021 topps gallery gavin lux parallels

which are the orange and blue pattern parallels, numbered /25 and /50, respectively. they were a quarter apiece.

this shop also has a 50% off bin filled with autos and relics, and so i came away with a $1.50 auto of former dodger andre jackson

from 2022 topps stadium club.

in addition to all the singles i took, i bought a pack of 2023 topps chrome and found a base shohei ohtani card

that i may well be bringing back to the shop for a credit should he win the american league mvp.

all in all, it was a productive time spent at the local card shop!

once i got to california, i had some time to kill before getting down to the business that i was there for, so i went to a shop in san jose.  this shop had a very small box of dollar cards on a counter, and i grabbed a couple to purchase - a 2015 topps chrome corey seager perspectives insert

and a 2017 bowman walker buehler prospects yellow parallel

turns out i didn't need either.

i also bought a blaster of 2023 topps allen & ginter, and when i got the register there was a small pile of loose ginter cards. the guy said i could have them - some box breaker left them behind. i grabbed a few that interested me, like these two "only in..." minis from chicago

and kansas city

along with this ice cream sundae

dessert mini, and a new vladdy for my pc from the spotless spans insert set

the blaster wasn't too exciting, even though it did include this relic

of some guy from some thing.

i made my way down the coast, and a few days later stopped in at another card shop. this one had a couple of two-row boxes on the counter that included dollar cards. i dug through and found a few to purchase, including an infinitely better ginter relic

that joc pederson plain white swatch is from 2016 topps allen & ginter. i couldn't resist owning mitch white's crappy autograph for a buck, picking up this 2017 bowman's best best of '17 auto

brutal, but i wish him well in toronto or wherever he winds up in the future.

i probably overpaid for this yellow 2021 topps cody bellinger

and this 1994 upper deck sp bo jackson die cut

but what the heck. i was on vacation. the bo fits in to my lurker collection because rodney cline carew is in the background, even if it doesn't look that way in the scan.

of all places to find a signed 1978 topps card of the late adrian devine

i would not have picked a west coast card shop, but here we are. i am not sure if it is legit but it matches ok with some other examples i've seen. i still don't have any illusions about completing my 1978 topps autographed set, but this (and the recent long lost ttm i received) had me motivated to pick up a few more cards (future post coming).

a few more dollar cards that i settled on included a 2021 topps heritage joey votto target exclusive red border variation

a 2022 topps heritage 1973 buyback

and a 2014 topps supreme die-cut autograph of garin cecchini

i had assumed at the time of purchase that it was his brother gavin who signed, making this a nice pickup for baseball card breakdown, but alas, it is a card of the other cecchini.  still, it's the first supreme card i've seen in person and it only set me back a buck.

the last thing i took out of the dollar box was this pack of 30 cards

that is, of course, a sealed pack of the 1997 upper deck "trade" cards that were available through a wrapper redemption. eddie murray as an angel on the front, and hideki irabu

on the back. i sent away for these cards back in 1997 and busted it open to get at the todd zeile dodger card. good times.

the last purchase i made at this shop was a jumbo pack of 2023 topps series 2. not much in there other than this sticker autograph of the "other" yankee rookie, oswald peraza

at least it's the black parallel.

i actually returned to this shop a couple of days later and bought a hobby box of 2023 topps update, but i'll save that for a future post.

eventually i made my way back to the bay area and stopped at another shop not too far from the airport. like the first shop i visited in cali, this one had a small box of dollar cards on the counter and i bought this 2015 topps archives clayton kershaw 1990 #1 draft pick insert

along with a 2023 topps silver pack jose altuve

double play card, and a 2002 topps chrome ralph houk 1952 world series refractor parallel

you don't see those in refractor form too frequently.

i also bought a box of update from this shop, and will post about it later.

i should mention that i also bought a 2023 bowman mega box at a target somewhere in california, and netted this hao yu lee mojo auto

lee is the player that the phillies sent to detroit for michael lorenzen last season. he seems to have done ok in the arizona fall league over the past month.

i guess i should declare a winner in the card shop battle, but they all had their moments. i just wish those west coast shops would set up some dime boxes instead of focusing so intently on boxes and hits. but, as i realized while driving past the location of my childhood lcs that is now a parking lot for a mostly empty larger retail mall, such is progress.

my retired number collection - 3 is a magic number

this is the fifth 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 seven people for whom the number 3 has been retired:

3 babe ruth (retired by the yankees in 1948) 2009 topps legends variation

the babe's number 3 was the second number retired by the yankees after lou gehrig's number 4. it was retired on june 13, 1948 during the babe's final visit to yankee stadium. there is a famous image from that day that has shown up on cardboard before that would have worked here as well, but i have one already in my name/number on the back mini-collection. i've had that legend variation rattling around in a monster box since 2009 so it's nice to be able to place it in a meaningful spot in my collection.

ruth retired as baseball's all-time home run leader and was one of the hall of fame's inaugural class voted in by the writers in 1936. he was a seven-time world series champion, and led the american league in key offensive categories numerous times. he is still atop or near the top of the all-time leader board in most meaningful offensive categories today. strangely enough, the yankees put ruth's number 3 back in circulation in 1935 following his departure from the club, and kept it in use even after they created the idea of retired numbers in 1939. the last yankee to wear number 3 was cliff mapes, who switched to number 7 (another iconic yankee number) after ruth was honored.

3 harmon killebrew (retired by the twins in 1975) 1974 topps

the twins retired number 3 for killebrew on may 4, 1975 prior to a game against killebrew's royals. it sounds like the event was fairly poorly executed, but killebrew, who had played for the senators/twins for the first 21 years of his career, hit a home run in front of his former hometown fans. killebrew retired following the 1975 season with 573 home runs, good for fifth all-time, and he was inducted in to the hall of fame in 1984. because he was with the team when they were still the senators, and the twins did not reissue his number after he signed with the royals, killebrew is the only twin to ever wear number 3.

that 1974 topps card is one that i have owned since 1979 or so. it has been with me through countless moves, but it was in too poor condition for me to use it in my 1974 set build. i think it looks great here in this collection.

3 earl averill (retired by cleveland in 1975) 2001 topps tribute

averill played from 1929 to 1941, spending most of his career in cleveland. he was a six time all-star and finished in the top five of the mvp voting three times. he amassed some pretty good stats - a .318 lifetime batting average, 2,000 hits, 1,200 runs scored, and 1,100 runs driven in - but his first ten seasons were quite strong as he now shows to have finished in the top ten of the american league in offensive war eight of those ten years, 

averill's number was retired on june 8, 1975, a few months after he was voted in to the hall of fame by the veteran's committee and a couple of months before he was inducted. averill used his speech at the induction ceremony to call for the hall to induct joe sewell, another top player of his era that had been overlooked for many years. two years later, sewell joined averill in the hall. as for the number 3, woodie held was the last active player to wear the number for cleveland, back in 1962 even though his 1964 topps card still shows the number on his sleeve.

3 bill terry (retired by the giants in 1983) 2001 upper deck sp legendary cuts

former giant player, player/manager, and manager bill terry had his numbered retired by the team on april 6, 1983 in a ceremony at candlestick park. as a player, terry could hit. he had a .401 batting average in 1930 to lead the league, and his career average was .341. he became the club's player/manager in 1932 and promptly led them to a world series championship the following year. he won another pennant in 1936 which was his final season as a player, and then led the giants to the world series the following year as a full-time manager.

even though terry stayed on as the team's manager following his retirement as a player, the number was redistributed starting in 1937. it remained in use pretty much through the 1940's and then didn't show up again until 1969 when ozzie virgil wore it. in between there, in 1954 in fact, terry was elected to the hall of fame by the baseball writers. mike sadek took the number over from virgil and wore it until 1981. john rabb and jeff ransom both wore the number for the giants in 1982, with rabb having the distinction of being the last giants' player to do so. 

3 harold baines (retired by the white sox in 1989) 1997 upper deck

baines is considered by many to be at or near the low bar of the hall of fame. elected by the today's game committee in 2019, his counting stats are pretty good. he compares closest to tony perez which makes some sense to me. still, baines has many wondering (myself included) about some other "hall of very good" players who may yet have a shot at cooperstown.

the white sox retired baines' number 3 on august 20, 1989 while baines was very much still an active player. they had traded him to the rangers a few weeks prior, and in his first return to comiskey they held a surprise ceremony to honor him. of course, he made two more stops in chicago before his career was over, so he (like billy martin and earl weaver) got to wear the number after it had been retired as he is doing on the 1997 upper deck card above. however, even before his two return stops with the chisox, he was the last white sox player to wear the number.

3 dale murphy (retired by the braves in 1994) 1979 topps

murphy is one of those "hall of very good" players that could benefit from baines' induction. he won two mvp awards and to this young fan who followed his career in real time, was a shoo-in for the hall. he transitioned from catcher to first base early in his career (as shown on that 1979 topps card above) and hit his stride offensively at the same time that he moved to the outfield. he was a seven time all-star and won five gold gloves as a centerfielder in the 80's, but his production tailed off at the end of the decade and he finished out his career with some forgettable stints with the phillies and rockies.

the braves retired murphy's number on june 13, 1994 - about a year after he had played his final big league game. at that time, he was atop the leaderboard in many offensive categories for the atlanta iteration of the braves, including home runs, rbi, runs scored, and games played. he was the last brave to wear number 3.

3 alan trammell (retired by the tigers in 2018) 1995 pinnacle

trammell entered the hall of fame in 2018 after being voted in by the modern baseball era committee, and on august 26 of that same year, the tigers retired his number making ian kinsler the last tiger player to wear the number.

trammell was a four time gold glove winner at shortstop, was the 1984 world series mvp, and finished as high as 2nd in the 1987 mvp voting. trammell compares pretty closely to barry larkin in terms of stats, which is probably a pretty good comp in my opinion. measuring his value using modern metrics such as war, trammell sits ahead of larkin (just barely) and other hall of fame shortstops, and is even higher on the list when peak war is considered.

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

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

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4

guardians - 3

red sox - 1, 4

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2

reds - 1

braves - 3

astros

mets

orioles - 4

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3

white sox - 2, 3, 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3

cubs

royals

padres

athletics

angels

expos

rangers

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

retired number frequency:

1 - retired by 9 teams

2 - retired by 5 teams

3 - retired by 7 teams

4 - retired by 8 teams

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 36

running total of non-hall of famers: 5

i had a field day on camera day

upper deck used photos from "camera day" at dodger stadium on cards a few times, including jim eisenreich's awesome 1999 card

(when's the last time you saw a calculator watch on a baseball card?), and ismael valdes' 1997 card:

which features a lot of people on one piece of cardboard. there's a couple of mike piazza inserts in 1997 collector's choice that feature photos from the same day as valdes' card, and the back of gary sheffield's 1998 series 2 card uses an image from 1998's camera day festivities. 

i have been to at least two or three camera days at dodger stadium, including the 1997 game against the expos. there are no obvious cards featuring photos from that year that i have seen, although i have always suspected that vladimir guerrero's 1998 card

features a photo from that day. there's just no way to tell.

now, camera day is a bit misleading. it's not a giveaway like "dodger helmet weekend" or "batting glove day", but rather a day for fans to bring their cameras and get on the field to see players sort of up close.  the first one i recall attending was on july 30, 1978.

one of the things i remember most about that day was how big the numbers on the outfield wall were up close and in person. as you might recall, the distance measurements on the dodger stadium outfield wall were large, blocky numbers as seen on this 1990 upper deck tom foley card

we were ushered on to the field and allowed to walk along the outfield grass and warning track as i recall. i walked past the spot where ron fairly caught the final out of game 3 of the 1963 world series, as immortalized on this 1964 topps card

and stood under the 360 marker to the left of the visitor's bullpen, a spot seen on this 1975 dodgers postcard of don sutton

in fact, here's a photo

this obviously occurred prior to the addition of the windows in the wall that allowed the bullpen folks to hang out in shade and still see the goings on out on the field. the window is visible on this 1989 fleer chris sabo box bottom card

and it has been modified a few times since then.

we didn't really have any photos of players because it was pretty near impossible to get to the front. i was ok with that as it was cool to be on the field.  here's a polaroid photo that we took which gives you some idea of the mass of humanity that was there vying for space

i think we took that photo as we approached our seats in the right field corner and prior to going on the field.

later on, after the field was cleared of fans, the pirates came out to warm up and i took a photo of jerry reuss

i assure you that is reuss. i later learned through an email with him that he would do his work in between starts on the right field side of the field, a practice he continued even when he was a dodger.

reuss eventually made his way closer to the stands, and my dad took a much better photo of him

i later found it interesting that the player we got closest to on camera day wasn't a dodger...yet.  

[actually, i found some more photos from that day featuring dodgers!

terry forster

denny lewallyn

johnny oates

bill russell

and steve yeager

good stuff!]

bonus info!:  i didn't make it down to the dodger stadium field again for many years. our high school team would have played there had we advanced further in the playoffs than we did, so i waited until an eric clapton/elton john concert in august of 1992 before i set foot on the field again. this time, i was able to walk around the infield and even collect a bit of dirt from where davey lopes and steve sax positioned themselves. i had even brought an empty film cannister with me

to collect some of the infield clay. i keep it next to a similar cannister that has a chip from the berlin wall that my brother had collected for me shortly after its fall in late 1989. 

it's been almost 30 years since i was on the field at dodger stadium, but maybe someday i'll get back for the father's day catch. i have been down on the field of the metrodome and target field before a game, as well as the superdome in louisiana and most recently us bank stadium in minneapolis, but those are stories for another day.