grab bag - brag or drag?

i bought two team bag semi-mystery bags at the fall church show (as mentioned in this post), and i promised i would go through the contents in a subsequent post which, as you have guessed, is this one.  these were marked at $4 each which means i got them for $2 each. it turned out that there were 10 cards in each bag. i didn't bother to try to move the cards around to count or peek before i bought, by the way.

the first one had this card on the front - 2021 panini elite extra edition troy glaus all-time first round materials

and this one on the back - 2019 panini prizm manny machado blue hyper prizm parallel

neither of these cards really fit in my collection, but i was intrigued enough to add the bag to my stack. i assumed the other cards were parallels or inserts, but didn't know for sure. here's what was between those two cards

2019 panini prizm carlos correa blue hyper prizm parallel

2022 topps pristine josh donaldson purple refractor parallel (numbered to 99)

2024 topps chrome adley rutschman ray wave refractor parallel

2021 panini elite extra edition calvin ziegler optic auto (numbered to 99)

2021 topps stadium club chrome max scherzer virtual reality insert

2021 topps stadium club chrome jacob degrom 1991 design variation refractor parallel

2023 topps chrome spencer strider future stars insert

2021 panini prizm robin yount carolina blue prizm parallel

so, not a bad lot of cards. the new york referenced on ziegler's card is the mets, by the way. he missed all of 2025 due to tommy john surgery so will see if he bounces back. the scherzer was a need for my dodger collection, so that was a happy surprise. 

there were, i think, four of these bags in the box, but i only bought one more. the other bag i bought had this card on the front - 2022 topps pro debut elijah tatis autograph

and this one on the back - 2024 topps chrome will smith raywave refractor parallel

so i knew i was adding a dodger card to my collection. i'll note that tatis is wearing number 23 on that card - that's a big deal in chicago given their history with number 23 on the bulls and cubs, and robin ventura was no slouch, either. doesn't matter, though as i don't think the younger tatis is active any longer.

just as before, here are the cards that were sandwiched between those two:

2023 topps chrome miguel cabrera sepia refractor parallel

2019 topps heritage minors tim tebow

2020 topps inception kris bryant purple parallel #/150

2019 panini father's day brandon lowe #/199

2022 panini usa baseball stars & stripes sean mclain jumbo relics #/150

2022 panini prizm yordan alvarez blue mojo prizm #/199

2019 panini chronicles blake snell obsidian prizm

2019 panini chronicles whit merrifield phoenix holo prizm

the sean mclain card presents a bit of a quandary for me. it could fit in my collection a couple of different ways - mclain was the dodgers' 5th round pick in 2022 (i've used this tactic once before with a team usa relic), and he also hails from tustin, california.

i have a mini-collection in the works that includes tustin (foreshadowing another future post). not sure what i'll do with this card as of now.

it had been decades since i had bought a grab bag at a show, but i am happy with these. not sure i am happy enough to try my luck again, but never say never!

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - cleveland matinee edition!

clayton kershaw made his third appearance of the 2025 season wednesday aftternoon against the guardians at the jake progressive field. kershaw was coming off a rain shortened appearance against the mets, but there was no delay for this start. 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.

kershaw pitched five innings and threw 74 pitches, allowing just 1 run on 6 hits. he walked 2 and struck out 3, bringing his season total to six strikeouts. those three guardians he k'd raised his career strikeout total to 2,974. 

in honor of his performance, here are three cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,972 though 2,974.

2,972 - 2017 topps stadium club gold foil

2,973 - 2019 topps stadium club red foil

2,974 - 2023 topps black & white

kershaw's third strikeout came against jose ramirez to close out the fifth inning and it put him in line for his first win of the season. unfortunately, tanner scott blew the lead in the 8th inning and so kershaw will need to wait to notch that first w of the year.

here's a non-kershaw card - it's a 2021 topps stadium club chrome alex vesia card

vesia relieved tanner scott in the 8th inning of the game with the score tied and two guardians on base. he promptly gave up a 3-run home run.

from the same set, here's zach mckinstry

mckinstry is currently playing for the detroit tigers - the owners of the best record in baseball at the time i penned this post. now, back to kershaw.

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke has a career strikeout total of 2,979, and so kershaw is now 5 k's behind greinke and 26 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw should be back on the mound next week to get another crack at the mets (he will miss the yankee series coming up this weekend). know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned! 

the almost daily dodger - roy campanella

it might surprise you to know that i am going to show four different roy campanella cards in this post, and each of the cards features a different photo! yes, in recent years we've seen some variety thanks to the willingness of topps to use black & white images on cards, colorized or not.

this first one is from 2021 topps update, and features campy on the 2020 topps design

it was part of the 70 years of topps insert set that spanned several different releases. we've seen that image before, on 2009 topps triple threads among other releases.

this next one is from 2021 topps stadium club chrome

and features a black & white image of campanella that matches the image on his 1951 bowman card as well as some more modern releases.

his 2022 topps stadium club chrome card (this is the refractor parallel)

features one of the less common images of the dodger hall of famer, although it was used for his 2011 topps legends variations and his 2023 topps chrome platinum anniversary cards.

the fourth card comes from 2022 topps museum collection, and it features a pretty common image

on this card, topps has his number 39 shown correctly in red. however, as i pointed out in last night's post, that is not always the case. topps also used this image for this year's museum collection release, and showed the number in blue. in fact, from what i can tell, topps is about 50/50 as to whether or not they show the number in the correct color across the multiple releases that this image has been used in. i don't know what happens during production, but this seems like it should be an easy thing to get right.

the almost daily dodger - victor gonzalez

i figured today is a good day to share this 2021 topps stadium club chrome card that i sought out a couple of years ago.

victor gonzalez got a pretty nice card after not being in the flagship stadium club release. 

gonzalez was a key bullpen piece for the dodgers in their 2020 world series champion season, but was dealt to the yankees before the 2024 season began. the yankees released him a couple of weeks ago and i am not sure if he has resurfaced anywhere. it sounded like there was concern about his k/9 ratio which is about half this year than it had been during his tenure with the dodgers.

hopefully he gets another look by a team, but if not, at least we have this card to remember him by.

my retired number collection - crazy 8s

this is the ninth 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 8 has been retired:

yogi berra (retired by the yankees in 1972) 2021 topps stadium club chrome

and bill dickey (retired by the yankees in 1972) 2001 upper deck sp legendary cuts

the yankees retired number 8 on july 22, 1972, and honored both berra and dickey at the same time. this is the first, but not last, instance of a franchise retiring a number for two players.  dickey was the second yankee to wear the number, and berra was the last, and if it weren't for dickey's two years of military service in 1945 and 1946, there would have only been three yankees total to ever wear the number.

i was happy to find the card for berra showing the number as i could not find any dickey cards showing his back. both players are in the hall of fame, with dickey being voted in in 1954, and berra joining him in 1972 - his induction was a couple of weeks after the number retirement ceremony. yogi, of course, was managing the mets at the time.

dickey was a lifelong yankee and catcher - he never moved to a different position - and had three seasons where he was in the top-five for mvp votes to go along with his eight world series rings. berra on the other hand played one season for the mets after 18 with the yankees, and he played a bit of left field towards the end of his career. he had three mvp awards and ten world series rings as a player.

willie stargell (retired by the pirates in 1982) 1982 topps

here we have some sleeve number representation thanks to pops' 1982 topps card! stargell had his number retired by the pirates on september 6, 1982 which was about a month before his career came to an end. he was obviously the last pirate to wear the number as a result.

stargell's career accomplishments included an mvp award, two world series titles, 475 home runs and 1,540 rbi. he was voted in to the hall of fame in 1988 on his first ballot.

carl yastrzemski (retired by the red sox in 1989) 2009 topps tribute

the red sox retired number 8 for yaz on august 6, 1989; a couple of weeks after he was inducted in to the hall of fame. yaz was the last person to wear the number for boston, and it was the only number he wore over the course of his 23 year career.

yaz was the 1967 american league mvp thanks to his triple crown win, but he had two other batting titles to boot. he finished his career with 3,419 hits and 452 home runs. only pete rose played in more major league baseball games than yaz, who made 3,308 appearances for the red sox.

gary carter (retired by the expos in 1993) 1984 fleer

i really liked the expos uniform with the rare right side front number! carter's number 8 was the first number to be retired by the expo franchise. it was retired on july 31, 1993, the summer after carter retired as a player. he began and finished his career in montreal, where he was a 7-time all-star in his 11-plus seasons with the club. carter led the expos to their first and only postseason berth in 1981, and hit well over .400 in both the nlds against the phillies and the nlcs against the dodgers.

carter, who went in to the hall of fame in 2003, was the last expo to wear the number 8, but the washington nationals put it in to circulation in their second season. since then, seven players have worn the number (most recently carter kieboom). i am keeping carter (and the other expo retired numbers) in this collection even though the nationals don't recognize them as being retired. this is a different case than, say, the marlins retiring number 5 for executive carl barger and then putting it in to circulation a few years later.

joe morgan (retired by the reds in 1998) 2003 fleer flair

sporting the more traditional left side front number, joe morgan's 2003 fleer flair card gives us a good look at his number 8 which was retired by the reds on june 6, 1998. i am not sure why it took the club so long to retire the number, as morgan entered the hall of fame in 1990. maybe because morgan left the reds and played his last few seasons elsewhere had something to do with it? the reds did redistribute his number, and it was last worn by damon berryhill in 1995.

as a player, morgan led the reds to back-to-back titles in 1975 and 1976 as one of the key cogs in the big red machine. he won the national league mvp award both of those seasons as well. between his 2,517 hits and 1,865 walks, morgan was on base over 4,200 times in his career. he scored 1,650 runs and also stole 689 bases. these days, he may be best remembered as a broadcaster whose takes inspired the great website "fire joe morgan". one of the guys behind that website went on to work on "the office" and co-create "parks and recreation". i believe he was "ken tremendous", and somewhere i have an email from him about a comment i made on the site. good times.

cal ripken jr. (retired by the orioles in 2001) 1984 topps

one more front jersey number! the iron man had his number retired by the orioles on october 6, 2001 which was also the final day of ripken's playing career. it was fitting that the lifelong oriole be the last to wear the number, and that the retirement not be delayed.

ripken's career was remarkable for his durability, but he was also a rookie of the year and two-time american league mvp. he led the orioles to the 1983 pennant and won his only ring as they beat the phillies that year. he tallied 3,184 hits and 431 home runs during his career, and was one of the most popular players of his era as evidenced by his 19 all-star game appearances. 

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, 5, 6, 7, 8

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4, 8

guardians - 3, 5

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2, 6

reds - 1, 5, 8

braves - 3, 6

astros - 5, 7

mets

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3, 6, 7

white sox - 2, 3, 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

cubs

royals - 5

padres - 6

athletics

angels

expos - 8

rangers - 7

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

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)

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 59

running total of non-hall of famers: 7

does it mean a thing if it ain't got that ring?

"it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game."

even if you believe that old adage, attributed to grantland rice, to be true, i believe that most dodger fans were disappointed with the outcome of the 2022 season. 111 wins in the regular season but an early exit (at the hands of the padres, no less) in the postseason was not the outcome hoped for or even expected.

in my lifetime, the dodgers have won eight pennants and three world series championships. in 1990, panini gave me stickers to commemorate the first two titles - 1981

and 1988

in 2021, there were a couple of cards that used this photo of clayton kershaw showing off his 2020 ring

this card is from 2021 stadium club chrome.

i had hoped to see some 2023 cards celebrating the dodgers as world champions, and i will hope to see some 2024 cards doing the same. it's a hope i have every year - a hope and not an expectation. i do think the dodgers, thanks to the departures of some key 2022 contributors, are primed for a down year by their standards, but we know that their front office will make a move at the trade deadline to enhance their chances of playing in the postseason. 

i hope it happens, but please, with the new season kicking off tomorrow, at least beat the padres. and the giants. and the rockies. and the diamondbacks. so yeah, win the division and then bring the ring.

seeing the season end with your team's catcher heading out to the mound to celebrate with the pitcher

is the best. and yes, i know that julio urias card features a photo taken just after the last out of the 2020 nlcs, but you get the idea.

play ball!

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!