the k is for kershaw kountdown returns!

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw is back as he returned from the il to pitch against the rockies on thursday night at home in dodger stadium. he struck out 4 batters to give him 109 strikeouts on the season. those 4 rockies that he k'd increased his career total to 2,916.

in honor of his performance, here are 4 cards to represent strikeouts 2,913 through 2,916.

2,913 - 2013 bowman platinum cutting edge stars

2,914 - 2014 topps gypsy queen

2,915 - 2015 topps high tek pattern 2 spiral dots

2,916 - 2016 topps museum collection

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who is currently on the il, struck out 12 batters while kershaw was out to increase his career strikeout total to 2,955. kershaw is now 39 k's behind greinke and 84 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw finished five innings in his return, allowing one run and three hits. i watched the first three innings, and he looked pretty sharp. the dodgers, who have been playing pretty well since the trade deadline, can afford to take it slow with kershaw, so i would imagine we won't see him go deep in to games any time soon.

it looks like kershaw's next start will come against the brewers next week. i am going to be in milwaukee, but the brew crew and dodgers will be playing on the west coast, unfortunately.  regardless of when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

a trade full of the blue

a few months back, i received an email from a reader named oren who was interested in trading. yes please! he quickly packaged up some very nice dodger cards and sent them my way. take a look!

2015 topps five star joc pederson

on-card, rookie card, joc pederson scribbles! awesome!

2022 topps andre jackson 1987 auto

i haven't heard too much about jackson and how he might fit in to the 2023 pitching plans for the dodgers, but he and noah syndergaard would be a terrific one-two punch in terms of hair volume.

2005 bowman's best andy laroche

the autograph is the base version of laroche's card. as with all dodger third baseman prospects, i had hoped that laroche would stabilize the position in the post-adrian beltre era. he did not.

2014 topps gold chad billingsley

and 2018 topps gold enrique hernandez

i've also been spending a fair amount of time adding various parallels to the collection (foreshadowing a future post) so these are appreciated!

2014 topps gypsy queen sandy koufax

the koufax is not a short print, but i still needed it for some reason. of course, it is a short print (hyun jin ryu) that is keeping my team set from completion.

here are some topps heritage chrome (and a retail chrome) parallels

i've been paying a lot of attention over the last few months to heritage chrome (another future post foreshadowing moment!), so these were great cards to receive!

this 2021 topps stadium club chrome mookie betts refractor

is just the regular refractor and not the "wave" refractor. i think. it looks wavy in the scan, but i didn't catalog it that way. i may have to take another look...

here are a couple more cards to round out the initial trade - a 2017 panini father's day clayton kershaw

and a 2008 upper deck timeline clayton kershaw legends timeless teams design rookie card

these don't show up in trade packages too often.

the next trade we completed resulted in a small but heavy package coming my way:

2019 topps clayton kershaw commemorative patch

2020 topps sandy koufax rookie card commemorative medallion

2020 topps gavin lux player commemorative coin

i could use that lux card as a paperweight

oren later followed that up with some more cards, including another lux

that's the generation now insert from 2022 topps update as opposed to the one lux received in series 1.

this 2022 topps stadium club trea turner black foil parallel

was the first stadium club card i owned from the set, and oren also sent a freddie freeman insert 

from the set.

similarly, the first card from 2022 topps heritage high numbers i owned was this clayton kershaw chrome parallel

from oren. i was very pleased to see this card in the envelope!

oren sent some older stuff too - gold parallels from 2004 topps traded & rookies of tom farmer

and steve finley

finley is on the list of dodger walk-off home run hitters that sealed their advancement to or in the postseason, along with charlie culberson and chris taylor. it was a big deal when finley hit that home run in 2004.

oren also sent along some of the puzzle checklists from 2004 topps traded & rookies.

i kept the three above thanks to the appearances of jose hernandez, david ross, and the dodger team on them. 

thanks for reaching out oren! i hope there are more trades to be made!

matt kemp held on, but topps didn't

matt kemp is my current favorite non-dodger, and i was looking forward to adding a 2020 topps update card to my "favorite non-dodger" year by year mini collection. kemp spent the entire 2020 season with the rockies, but topps left him out of the update set.  they did include him in the topps now summer camp set, so i bought one of those cards instead.

oddly enough, kemp wasn't in series 1 or 2, but he was included in 2020 topps gallery and 2020 topps fire - both as a marlin.  i only have the fire card

which i bought on sportlots sight unseen thinking it would be a rockies kemp card. i've since sent it to nick as a "short-term stop".

for the record, here is the other kemp card in my "favorite non-dodger" collection, a 2019 topps big league gold parallel of kemp with the reds

i actually saw kemp play in person as a red - it was the game in which he hit his only home run with the team.  

previously, kemp had been my favorite dodger from 2007 through 2014, and he is represented in my "favorite dodger" year by year mini collection by these cards:

2007 topps finest rookie finest moments

2008 upper deck timeline 2004 legends timeless teams

2009 upper deck sp authentic

2010 topps chrome

2011 bowman blue parallel

2012 topps museum collection

2013 topps chrome chrome connections die-cut

2014 topps archives

the collection is a good use of some of my dodger doubles. of course, i pick up other kemp dodger cards for my dodger collection as well. here are a couple that i added to my collection a few months ago:

2014 topps gypsy queen blue framed parallel 

2011 topps allen & ginter mini framed silk #/10

2018 topps update photo variation

i hope kemp is able to continue playing in 2021, and i will continue to follow his exploits, but i think i might find a new favorite non-dodger who plays a bit more regularly. any suggestions?

a penny sleeve is a card earned

ben franklin was a wise man, but even he could not foretell the simple joy of trading baseball cards with a fellow collector.  jon at a penny sleeve for your thoughts and i have traded a few times now, and the latest package he sent was something special. however, before i get too deep into this post, head over to jon's blog and enter his (premature) 200th post contest!

on to the cards!  jon was kind enough to find three 1957 topps cards for my slow-going set build

the color on these is fantastic - especially the stone card.  and, is it just me or do others feel like the kansas city a's cards in this set are the most readily available? kind of like rays cards today, i suppose.

jon also sent over some yasiel puig inserts, like this 2014 topps gypsy queen n174 card

this 2015 panini prizm fireworks card

and this 2015 topps heritage chrome card

jon also found and sent this 2016 topps stadium club zach lee gold parallel auto card

which is awesome (au-some?).  unfortunately, topps has had a penchant in recent years for choosing the prospect(s) that the dodgers trade away for inclusion in their sets. lee is now with the padres after the dodgers traded him to the mariners last season, and based on that correlation between cards and trades, i don't expect ross stripling to be a dodger for much longer.

thanks jon, and congrats on approaching 200 posts!