dwight evans is in my hall of famer collection

here's the first of a couple new additions to my hall of famer collection that have occurred this year. this one is for dwight evans, the red sox outfielder who made reggie smith disposable, i suppose.

here's the card i picked up to represent evans in the collection:

that's a 2003 topps team topps legends autograph card. one reason i chose this card out of the (relatively few) certified autos that evan has is because the photo background is similar to that of his 1978 topps card. some time ago, i wrote about how that structure in the background confused me as a young collector, and i am thankful for brian letting me know that the structure was the florida citrus showcase dome.

here's the back:

aside from a career capping season in baltimore, evans spent the entirety of his career with the red sox. he became the club's regular right fielder as a 21-year old in 1973, with reggie smith moving to center and then being traded to the cardinals after the season.

overall, evans hit .272 with 385 home runs, 1,384 rbi, and 2,446 hits. he easily passes my hof sniff test of being on base more than 3,000 times thanks to his .370 career obp. as the card back says, he was a fantastic fielder and won eight gold gloves. he also won a couple of silver sluggers and received upper ballot mvp votes in multiple years.

i only saw him play in person once. it was in 1989 when the red sox were playing the angels in anaheim. roger clemens was on the mound, but the angels tagged him for five runs in the first inning. jim abbott struck evans out in the top of the second, and then dewey was replaced in the game by randy kutcher. abbott went on to record his first career shutout that evening. i did see him at fenway during my most recent visit, but there was no celebration for him - just a video tribute and then he waved to the crowd. perhaps someday his number 24 will be added to the right field facade at fenway with the other red sox retired numbers.

as for the national baseball hall of fame, evans never came close to being elected by the writers. he maxed out at 10.4% in his second and penultimate appearance on the ballot. he has since appeared on one committe ballot, but failed to get the required support. hopefully the next time his era is up for consideration, he will be chosen. 

as a reminder, you can see evans and the others enshrined in my hall of famer collection here.

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! 

the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - more mets edition!

clayton kershaw made his fourth appearance of the 2025 season tuesday night against the mets at dodger stadium. 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 saw the mets in his second start of the year, but wound up only facing six batters due to an extended rain delay. this time against apu nahasapeemapetilon's favorite squadron, kershaw faced 23 batters over 4 and two-thirds innings, with his pitch count reaching 92 (a season high). he allowed five runs (three earned) on six hits, while walking three and stricking out 2. on the season, he now has 8 strikeouts, and that pair of mets he k'd raised his career strikeout total to 2,976. 

in honor of his performance, here are three cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,975 and 2,976.

2,975 - 2021 topps gold foil parallel

2,976 - 2021 topps chrome sapphire edition

i went after as many of these card parallels as i could find cheaply back in 2021. kershaw had two solid starts in the 2020 world series, let's not forget!

kershaw should have made it through five innings, but max muncy's two out error extended the frame and after two rbi hits, kershaw exited with the dodgers behind. muncy redeemed himself with a game tying 9th inning home run, and freddie freeman sent the mets walking off the field in the 10th. 

after four appearances (even though one was truncated by weather), it seems kershaw is still finding his footing. he threw only 60 strikes on wednesday, and now has walked as many people this season as he did in twice as many innings last year. his starts are turning into a bit of a slog as he battles and grinds through each at bat. hopefully, things fall into place and more batters start chasing.

here's a non-kershaw card - it's a 2023 topps heritage max muncy clubhouse collection relic card

muncy has been hitting fairly well since the end of april, likely due in part to some new specs. he is a classic dh candidate, but that's off limits for the dodgers - unless they don't have ohtani hit when he pitches.

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 3 k's behind greinke and 24 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw should be back on the mound sunday in st. louis to close out the series against the cardinals. know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned! 

dime box hero

i've been sitting on this post for a long time. months. that is no way to celebrate receiving cards from one of my longest tenured trading partners. although his blog is now dormant, nick from dime boxes and i struck a trade back in february, and the cards he sent me were as varied and wonderful as ever.

probably my favorite card that nick sent was this 1983 topps 1952 reprint series joe black card

i am pretty sure i will never own an original 1952 topps joe black card (it's a high number), so an officially sanctioned reprint is the best substitute for my collection.

another card using the same design actually finished a team set for me. this 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary keibert ruiz card

arrived just after an order i had placed that included a couple of other needs from the set.

and, although i have long since completed the 1995 topps archives brooklyn dodgers set, i get a kick out of seeing the cards from time to time

that 1953 topps gil hodges card that should have been is miles better than what topps produced for the reprint and extended set a few years earlier. they used the same image, but this card would fit right in with the other cards from 1953.

jumping ahead a decade, here's a 1963 post maury wills card

"expertly" cut by hopefully a kid using scissors for the first time.

i have a strange fascination with buybacks, and so this 2016 topps heritage buyback of ron fairly's 1967 topps card

was exciting to see in the team bag.

from 2003 bowman heritage, here's a duke snider variation

there are three versions of duke's card in the set - the base, the dual image variation, and this knothole variation. this one is actually a variation of a variation in that it is the knothole design with a facsimile signature. nonsense! but getting a card like this is gold for a team collector.

2009 topps sterling carl erskine

i can count on one finger the number of times i have received a 2009 topps sterling card in a trade package.

1988 topps tiffany tito landrum

there were actually a bunch of topps tiffany cards from this set, but landrum's fantastically bad airbrushing job stood out. it's even more in glossy form.

there were also a handful of 2003 keebler dodgers cards, including mike kinkade's card

this is one set that i do not own, so the handful of cards were all new to me. i chose to show kinkade because i don't believe i have ever posted a dodger card of his previously. he spent two seasons with the dodgers, but just has 3 or 4 cards to show for it.

i already have this next card, but seeing it again made me do a double take

that's a 1989 smokey bear a century of dodger greats david bancroft card. what made me look twice was his left arm. it looks like he could be wearing a black armband, although i think it is just part of an undershirt sticking out or maybe a shadow. he was only with the dodgers for two seasons (1928 and 1929) and as far as i am aware, they did not wear a black armband during either of those campaigns.

more oddballs abound, like this chan ho park card

from 1994 fleer pro cards minor league and this 2009 konami baseball heroes wbc card of kenley jansen

i saw a stat earlier this year that said jansen has stilled logged more professional innings as a catcher than he has as a pitcher.

nick tripled the number of cards i have from the 2003 american jewish historical society jewish major leaguers set with these two brothers

i should track down steve yeager's card from the set.

back when nick sent these cards, 2025 topps was a brand new product. he included a base and diamante parallel of chris taylor

which was my first look at the parallel.

it wouldn't be a package from nick without some new to me vladimir guerrero cards

and a high number (not short print) card from 2002 ud 40 man

is always appreciated. for the record, that card is number 1109 in the set.

double play turns are also a hallmark of a dime box trade package, and this time nick sent a 1992 detroit tigers schedule

i believe that is travis fryman jumping over harold reynolds to turn two.

here are a couple more

that's a 1995 score hall of gold carlos garcia card and this is a 2022 panini donruss brandon crawford dominators diamond parallel card

fun stuff!

it's great to know that nick is still around and putting together fantastic trade packages. campy, give him a fist bump!

thanks nick!

1955 bowman complete through 208!

it's time for the next installment of my 1955 bowman set build.

sheet 24, cards 185-192

we are off to a good start with teammate pairings featuring cardinals, tigers, reds, and indians. bob lemon in the lone hall of famer on this sheet. here are the backs:

vic raschi counts joe dimaggio as the greatest hitter he has seen on the back of his card. it's pretty cool to have a card that features a guy who was a teammate of dimaggio's for several seasons. fred baczewski counters with a more typical response for the set with stan musial as the greatest hitter he's seen. lemon's back is the only other non-biographical back, and he says that the 155th game of the 1948 season is the most exciting contest he's witnessed. the indians beat the red sox to claim the pennant in that winner take all game.

sheet 25, cards 193-200

more teammate pairings featuring reds, dodgers, indians, and pirates. ralph kiner (in a cleveland uniform) is the lone hall of famer here - that's indian hall of famers on consecutive sheets. here are the backs:

both dodger card backs are worth mentioning here. russ meyer hits on a bunch of topics as he names musial as the best hitter he's seen and robin roberts the best pitcher while also giving advice to kids and sharing his biggest thrill, most exciting game, and funniest thing that has happened to him. the other dodger, erv palica, has a variant back. the regular version which is in the sheet above, end with the text "had a 13-8 record in 1950". the variant back

adds the sentence "sent to baltimore when preacher roe retired". i have this variant along with the other errors in a sheet at the back of my set binder. and, because palica is still listed as a dodger, i have two of each of his cards in my collection - one of each for the team set and one of each for the set build. here's the front of the variant

which is the same as the base version. 

i would be remiss if i didn't mention vern law's advice to youngsters which starts with "live clean lives".

sheet 26, cards 201-208

yes, there is a missing card and i will get to that in a moment. i assure you, however, that these are teammate pairs. here are the backs:

some familiar names to me, including allie reynolds (because he was a yankee who pitched against the dodgers in multiple world series), eddy fitzgerald (he's from the 805, like me), and rip repulski (who went on to play for the dodgers and i later learned is from sauk rapids which is not too far from where i currently reside, and is perhaps best known for its hot air balloon water tower).

as far as the cards go, fitzgerald identifies ted williams as the greatest hitter he's seen (with a reference to the williams shift), but repulski hits things out of the park with his advice to youngsters: "my advice is never give up".

back to the missing card - yes, there is a blank space in the sheet, but that's because i have card #202 in a psa holder. it's none other than mickey mantle!

it's not a bad psa 1.5 specimen. the detractors are the creases in the lower left and just off of mantle himself. it's a kick to have a early career mantle card in hand - the earliest one i had previously was his 1957 topps card. here's the back:

"he is a highly regarded young player". spot on. i left the card in the ebay authentication bag but will likely remove it at some point.

finally, the frank bolling card has an error thanks to his brother milt being in the set as well. the error uses frank's photo

but has milt's back

we saw the reverse of this error when i shared the sheet that featured milt's card. 

stay tuned for the next installment of the set build. just 112 cards left in the set!

batting around with some fun facts

i am always happy to participate in a good ol' blog bat around! in diamond jesters original post yesterday, matt wrote about a series of fun statistical facts that were not intuitive based on our primary conception of certain players, even bringing it back to madison bumgarner to match the original version of the concept. i decided pretty quickly after reading matt's post to give it a try! 

i will start with mookie betts

who has more regular season 3 home run games (6) than reggie jackson (2)

who has as many championship series home runs (6) as kiké hernandez (6)

who has finished more regular season games as a pitcher (6) than walker buehler (5)

who has more career home runs (1) than don sutton (0)

who hit fewer batters with a pitch (82) than madison bumgarner (89)

for reference, don sutton had 1,559 plate appearances to walker buehler's 195, and sutton faced 21,631 batters while bumgarner only pitched to 9,098 batters.

this was pretty fun. the only stat i was aware of before i started was that betts had more 3 homer games than mr. october - the other facts i discovered along the way. baseball reference truly is the greatest website.

thanks for the inspiration matt!