the k is for kershaw countdown continues - top 20 edition!

clayton kershaw made his fifth appearance of the 2025 season sunday afternoon against the cardinals at busch stadium number 3. 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.

this start turned out to be a big one, as kershaw not only notched his first win of the season, he registered seven strikeouts to bring his career total to 2,983 and move into 20th place all-time! here's the updated top 24 all-time strikeout leader tile from baseball reference:

no one in baseball history has ever accumulated as many strikeouts as clayton kershaw and not reached the 3,000 milestone!

in honor of his performance, here are seven cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,977 through 2,983.

2,977 - 2022 topps steve aoki's baseball party

2,978 - 2019 topps finest

2,979 - 2018 topps big league wins league leaders gold parallel

2,980 - 2019 topps fire en fuego insert

2,981 - 2020 topps fire smoke and mirrors insert

2,982 - 2021 topps chrome ben baller icy

2,983 - 2021 topps gold label

i made sure to use that big league card for strikeout 2,979 as the card features both kershaw and zack greinke. for a brief moment in time (half of an inning), they were tied with each other at 2,979 career strikeouts, but strikeout 2,980 put kershaw in 20th place by himself.

against the cardinals, kershaw filled the role of stopper as the dodgers won the last game of the series after dropping the first two. he pitched five innings and walked no batters, and at one point k'd three consecutive batters. he did give up six hits and one run, but escaped a fifth inning jam featuring a run in and runners on second and third by striking out brendan donovan to end the inning. 

seven strikeouts over five innings was great to see after kershaw's first four starts resulted in fewer than 1 k/ip. it's worth noting that kershaw is one of only five pitchers among the top 20 in career strikeouts who has averaged more than 1 strikeout per inning pitched. his ratio is fourth among them, and the pitchers (in order from highest k/ip to lowest) are: max scherzer, randy johnson, pedro martinez, kershaw, and nolan ryan.

here's a non-kershaw card - it's a 2025 bowman hyeseong kim card

kim tripled in the top of the second to drive in two runs and deliver a somewhat rare (for the dodgers lately) hit with runners in scoring position. it's a small sample size, but kim is hitting over .400 so far as a major leaguer, and his speed has paid dividends on the bases and in the field - the latter evidenced by his great running catch of a masyn winn drive into the left-center field gap.

kershaw is now in 20th place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there unless he passes john smoltz (or is himself passed - looking at you, chris sale). smoltz has a career strikeout total of 3,084 and so kershaw is now 101 k's behind smoltz, but just 17 away from the 3,000 milestone. for what it's worth, he is also now tied with smoltz on the all-time wins leaderboard with 213.

kershaw should be back on the mound later this week against the giants. know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned! 

quick stop at the card shop

i was hoping to find some 2024 topps inserts and parallels when i stopped at one of the local card shops earlier this month. i missed the february card show, and at last year's first show following the release of series 1, i cleaned up on inserts and parallels. it looks like i was late to the party as 2024 singles were few and far between in the team and nickel boxes.

i came away with six new to me dodger cards from the boxes

2021 panini select dustin may, 2021 topps mitch white royal blue parallel, 2021 topps chrome update keibert ruiz purple refractor, 2022 panini father's day mookie betts, 2022 panini mosaic max muncy, and 2023 topps austin barnes rainbow foil.  the betts and muncy cards were in the nickel boxes, and the other four were a quarter apiece.

i also added a 2024 topps superstar blueprint card of freddie freeman

but that came from a blaster i bought.

i did look through some of the other team quarter boxes and extracted a 2019 topps chance sisco gold parallel

for the tatooine collection, and a 2020 topps opening day orlando arcia red foil parallel

for the double play collection.

some teams, like the dodgers and braves, are underrepresented in the team boxes. others, like the rays and a's, have a ton of cards. it looked like someone took a handful of cards from the a's selection and downgraded them to the nickel boxes. i took a 2020 topps fire matt chapman arms ablaze insert

just because i had not seen one of them before.

also surprisingly in the nickel boxes were some other cards from the 2022 panini father's day set, including shohei ohtani

and a trio of bobby witt jr rookies

i was pleased to find a 2023 panini chronicles tim wakefield titan card

for a nickel because it's good to see new cards of his being made. i saw an announcement late last month that the red sox will be wearing a memorial patch for wakefield this season, which is a nice tribute for a fan favorite.

there were a few blue jays cards from 2023 topps finest flashbacks and i chose a vladimir guerrero jr card

for some reason. i don't really collect vladdy jr but for a nickel i am going to take his cards.

finally, there were some 2024 topps mixed about, including my first look at the fanatics pack (whatever those are) exclusive aqua parallels

the aqua borders really work with the neon design, and i bet they are the only border variant that makes the padres city connect uniforms not look out of place. 

until next time, local card shop!

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - slightly delayed editon

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he took the mound against the mariners on saturday night in seattle. he struck out 4 batters to give him 127 strikeouts on the season. those 4 mariners that he k'd increased his career total to 2,934.

in honor of his performance, here are 4 cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,931 through 2,934.

2,931 - 2017 topps fire flame parallel

2,932 - 2018 topps fire flame parallel

2,933 - 2020 topps fire gold minted parallel

2,934 - 2021 topps fire flame parallel

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who struck out 4 blue jays and 1 astro in his appearances since the last countdown post, has a career strikeout total of 2,967. kershaw is now 33 k's behind greinke and 66 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw's start was delayed, not due to injury (according to dave roberts), but rather as a way of lining things up for him as the dodgers approach the postseason (again, according to roberts). he went only four innings, and again didn't have his best stuff - at least in the first couple of innings. with the rag tag starting rotation that the dodgers have in place right now, it seems like a healthy kershaw would get the game 1 nlds start although he is following bobby miller in the rotation so it could be the rookie. time is marching on...

it looks like kershaw's next start will come at home later in the week against the giants. regardless of when he makes his next start or how many k's he posts, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

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?

you're fired

here are some 2020 topps fire cards that i picked up on sportlots a couple of months ago. now seemed like the perfect time to post them.

it's not a complete team set, but i did buy cards of world champions cody bellinger

tony gonsolin

brusdar graterol

clayton kershaw

and max muncy

very much an 80s/90s vibe to the designs.

bring on 46!