3rd and 10

surprise - even thought it's sunday, and the post is titled "3rd and 10", this is not a football post. instead, it's about dodger third basemen and the number 10.

ron cey was the first los angeles dodger to wear number 10 who wasn't a catcher. rube walker brought the number with him from brooklyn and wore until his release during the 1958 season. in 1964, jeff torborg came along and claimed the number until he was traded to the angels following the 1970 season. that's when cey was called up and began to wear the number. he wore it until he left the dodgers after the 1982 season.

the number is only partially visible on cey's 2003 topps tribute world series edition card

but that's the one in the scanned folder, so it will have to do.

since cey was dealt to the cubs after the 1982 season, 15 dodger players have worn the number, with 5 of the last 7 being primarily third basemen. one of those players was jose valentin, seen here on a 2005 topps chrome traded card

valentin's tenure with the dodgers, which lasted just that one season, was forgettable. probably the most memorable or recognizable dodger to wear number 10 since cey was justin turner. i have a few cards of turner sitting in the scanned folder - 2019 topps opening day blue foil parallel

2021 topps blue star parallel

2019 bowman chrome

2021 panini donruss stat line parallel

2022 panini mosaic green mosaic prizm parallel

2021 topps big league electric blue parallel

turner was the dodgers' regular third baseman from 2015 through 2021, a tenure that is second only to cey. no dodger has worn number 10 since turner left the club a couple of years ago as a free agent.

the dodgers' current third baseman, max muncy, wears number 13, but looking through my scanned folder i noticed on this will smith 2019 bowman chrome prospects purple refractor card

that the current dodger catcher is shown wearing number 10, and the card lists him as a "c/3b" to boot!

finally, here's a 2018 topps gold parallel showing turner along with cody bellinger and clayton kershaw

during a happy time in the 2017 postseason.

we may not see number 10 on a dodger this year, but there are only 10 days until regular season baseball begins!

angels of death (stare cards)

thorzul at death stare cards recently hosted a group break of an insert collection he had obtained. by the time i saw the post, the dodgers were already claimed, so i went with the angels, hoping to find some cards for my vladimir guerrero collection while hoping against hope to see some shohei ohtani or mike trout cards mixed in as well.

it turned out that there were no ohtani cards in the lot, but i did find some keepers, one of which featured the aforementioned trout:

that is a 2013 topps opening day superstar celebrations card that only names albert pujols. as a result, i put this card in my "lurker" collection. the only other card to feature trout was this card from 2019 topps opening day:

fire and (brim)stone seems to support the angels of death title i gave this post.

as for vladdy sr, there were a couple cards i needed - from 2010 topps and 2009 topps ticket to stardom:

as well as 2009 topps update, 2018 topps, and 2010 topps:

among the fifty or so other cards, there was this 2011 topps reggie jackson 60 years of topps insert celebrating the franchise's single season home run leaders:

as you can see on the back, reggie took over the title in 1982 after leon wagner had claimed it in 1962.

nice to see names like don baylor and bobby bonds there. i believe that troy glaus still holds the record, but a couple of guys named pujols, trout, and ohtani would be listed on the back today.

thanks thorzul for another fun break!

could it be my favorite card of 2019?

i know p-town tom is not hosting the 'favorite card of the year' bat around this year, but i still wanted to show a card that would be on my short list for that title:

it's a short print 'rally time' card from 2019 topps opening day. it's technically a clayton kershaw card, but it features just as much manny machado, matt kemp, and chase utley as it does kershaw. plus, there's most of alex verdugo and a bit of a blurry camera man.

these guys are waiting for chris taylor to reach home plate after a walk-off home run hit on september 18, 2018.  i think the card would be a little bit better if taylor were in the frame, but it's still a card i sought out due to the photo and the fact that old-man utley made an appearance. i was disappointed that he didn't get any final tribute cards this year, along with joe mauer.  i'm hoping ichiro isn't forgotten in the 2020 sets. in fact, an ichiro final tribute has the potential to be my favorite card of next year.

i traded something

thorzul has lived to tell the tale of how defunct email addresses can doom an otherwise healthy blog.  he's back at death stare cards, and continued the 'trade me anything' tradition which is one of my favorite annual blog events.

this year, i only chose one card from the update series, which is typically the only source of cards offered up.  i requested and received this cody bellinger greatest players insert:

thorzul also offered up some inserts from 2019 topps opening day, though, and so i also selected a red foil parallel of corey seager:

as well as a blue foil parallel of max muncy:

the blue parallels are sharp. i just may seek more of these out.

as for what i gave up for these cards, my "anything" was just a straightforward team bag of brewers and set needs. maybe next year i will get back to a more interesting package of "anything".  thanks thorzul!