42 for everyone

thank you jackie robinson.

stop and smell the rose

i discovered a year or so ago that i was missing a card from my final tribute binder.  this 1987 classic green pete rose card

was an add-on to a sportlots order last year. i hadn't realized that this card existed until i was searching a particular seller's inventory to fill out an order and maximize the value of shipping costs as any good sportlots buyer does.

a bit of unintended trolling there on the back with the first question.  this card has the career stat totals on the back. there is a rose card in the 1987 classic yellow travel set that says "records not available" on the stat line which is very strange. i don't plan to add that card to my collection.

i also found this 2014 panini prizm card 

of the hit king.  it now sits in my dodger stadium collection, as the field level scoreboard is visible behind rose - you can see the first two letters of "reds" which is the giveaway.

i suppose that this post is as good as any  to show the pete rose cards that represent him in "my favorite non-dodger of the year" mini collection. rose was one of my early favorites when i began following baseball in 1978. once the angels faltered in the early goings of 1980, i switched my non-dodger allegiance from don baylor to rose.  here's the card that represents my non-dodger fandom from 1980:

of all the stats, i paid the most attention to hits back then. this was because it was the category that steve garvey was usually at or near the top in from season to season. the fact that rose had 10 years with 200 hits was impressive to me (garvey, at that time, had only five), and, with this 1980 topps highlights card, rose's streak of appearing on a topps record breaker/highlight card reached three years running.

representing 1981 is this card:

ok, so with this 1981 topps record breaker card the streak is up to four years in a row. however, i was thinking that this was a bit of a stretch for a record breaker, as at bats weren't a sexy stat to me. the other record breakers in the set included most home runs by a catcher in a career (johnny bench), most strikeouts in a career by a lefthander (steve carlton), most strikeouts in a game by a rookie (bill gullickson), most stolen bases by teammates in a season (ron leflore and rodney scott), most home runs in a season by a third baseman (mike schmidt), most assists by a shortstop in a season (ozzie smith), and most at bats in a season (willie wilson). two record breaker cards about at bats? 10 year old gcrl was not impressed, except this card was of favorite non-dodger pete rose, and it had a lurking mike schmidt in the background. good enough.

1982 would turn out to be the last season in which rose was my favorite non-dodger as steve garvey became a padre in 1983. here's the rose card in my mini collection to mark his final season in that role:

yes, five straight years with a topps record breaker/highlight card for rose. this one is legit, as it notes that he became the national league's all-time hits leader in 1981.

anyway, happy 80th birthday to the hit king. yes, pete rose is 80. time waits for no man.

shoeless joe jackson is in my hall of famer collection

say it is so, joe! joe jackson is in my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that is a 2001 upper deck sp legendary cuts sp legendary debut bat card. here's the back:

this card was a huge deal when it was released, and i certainly never anticipated that i would own it. however, most of the jackson relics i have seen are unlicensed, so i went for it about a year ago and bought this card. i love it, although it is a shame that they destroyed one of his bats (if in fact they did so) to create these cards.

jackson was one of those players who, like babe ruth and ty cobb, i have no memory of not being aware of who they were. very early on in my baseball fandom, i learned about the black sox scandal and jackson's banishment from the game. there is much speculation about jackson's role in the black sox scandal - if he was in on it why did he hit .375 with a homer and six rbi and make no fielding errors in the series? - but the end result is he accepted $5,000 from a teammate and was banned from the game by kenesaw mountain landis, the new commissioner of baseball. over the years, there have been movements and appeals to the commissioner's office to reinstate jackson, but all to no avail.

my other primary thought of shoeless joe is my recollection of being perplexed by 1979 topps and their batting average all-time record holders card that correctly listed jackson as third on the all-time career list with a .356 lifetime average, but did not include him in the list of players with the highest seasonal averages even though his .408 average in 1911 was higher than many of the averages shown on the back of that card. i later came to realize that topps was only showing the highest averages that led the league(s), and since jackson had the misfortune to hit .408 in the same season that cobb hit .419 (or .420 depending on the date of the source for this information), he was left off of the list.

i have not read nor seen "eight men out", but i have watched the segment on jackson in ken burns' "baseball" many times. the story that is told regarding ty cobb's visit to jackson's south carolina liquor store in the 1930's is a sad one - jackson serves cobb with no indication that he recognizes him. finally, cobb asks "don't you know me joe?" and jackson replies "sure, i know you ty, but i wasn't sure you wanted to know me." brutal. at any rate, jackson was one of the greatest hitters to play the game. it's a shame that many people these days think he was a right-handed batter thanks to ray liotta's portrayal in "field of dreams".

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relic

nap lajoie - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

tris speaker - 2011 topps tribute dual relic green parallel 53/75

eddie collins - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

george sisler - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

rogers hornsby - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

jimmie foxx - 2013 topps tribute retired remnants relic 91/99

mel ott - 2011 topps tribute quad relic 15/99

dizzy dean - 2001 topps tribute relic

hank greenberg - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

bob feller - 2001 topps archives certified autograph

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relic

ted williams - 1992 upper deck baseball heroes autograph 1067/2000

roy campanella - 2001 topps tribute relic

stan musial - 2002 topps team topps legends autograph

yogi berra - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1640/2000

sandy koufax - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1707/2000

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

ernie banks - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

eddie mathews - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints certified autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

bob gibson - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

frank robinson - 1995 upper deck autograph

brooks robinson - 2001 topps golden anniversary great autograph

don drysdale - 1993 nabisco all-star autographs

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

pee wee reese - 2001 topps tribute relic

lou brock - 2018 topps archives signature series 1989 buyback 53/61

willie mccovey - 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary sigs 46/50

ray dandridge - 2006 upper deck sp legendary cuts a place in history cut autograph 31/43

jim hunter - 1998 donruss signature series significant signatures 0736/2000

willie stargell - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures 

johnny bench - 2019 topps definitive collection legendary autograph 09/25

red schoendienst - 2012 panini cooperstown signatures 038/549

carl yastrzemski - 2000 fleer greats of the game autograph

joe morgan - 2001 upper deck hall of famers cooperstown collection signature jersey

jim palmer - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

rod carew - 2004 topps retired signature autograph

fergie jenkins - 2013 topps five star baseball autograph 154/333

gaylord perry - 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

hal newhouser - 1993 front row premium all-time greats autograph

tom seaver - 2013 topps five star baseball autograph 44/50

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autograph 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autograph 43/45

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback 048/147

phil niekro - 2017 panini donruss recollection collection 1983 donruss buyback autograph 13/33

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

george brett - 2001 topps finest finest moments autograph

robin yount - 2001 upper deck ultimate collection ultimate signatures 112/150

carlton fisk - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

tony perez - 2004 fleer national pastime 2002 fleer greats authentic autograph buyback 30/59

kirby puckett - 1998 upper deck retro sign of the times autograph

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

ozzie smith - 2019 topps finest finest origins autograph

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

eddie murray - 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary sigs 45/50 

dennis eckersley - 2017 topps archives signature series 1984 topps buyback 47/99

paul molitor - 2016 topps museum collection archival autographs 021/125

wade boggs - 2005 upper deck baseball heroes autograph red parallel 30/49

ryne sandberg - 2016 topps five star autographs gold parallel 17/50

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites certified autograph

tony gwynn - 1997 donruss signature series millennium marks autograph 0702/1000

cal ripken jr - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 32/75

goose gossage - 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph

rickey henderson - 2016 topps tribute certified foundations of greatness autograph 49/50

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants past time signatures

andre dawson - 2000 fleer greats of the game autograph

roberto alomar - 2015 topps high tek pattern 1 grass/waves gold rainbow autograph 50/50

bert blyleven - 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams autograph

ron santo - 2004 topps retired signature autograph

tom glavine - 2019 topps tribute autograph 18/90

greg maddux - 2018 topps luminaries masters of the mound autograph 13/15

frank thomas - 2019 topps tier one autographs 42/70

pedro martinez - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 09/60

ken griffey jr - 2003 upper deck game face autograph

mike piazza - 2014 topps five star autograph 35/50

tim raines - 2018 topps tribute tribute autograph green parallel 26/95

vladimir guerrero - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

jim thome - 2020 topps archives signature series 2012 topps mini 1/1

jack morris - 2004 donruss timelines recollection collection 1986 buyback autograph 23/45

alan trammell - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

roy halladay - 2017 topps archives signature series 2004 topps buyback 15/23

larry walker - 1997 donruss signature series authentic signature

joe jackson* - 2001 upper deck sp legendary cuts sp legendary debut bat card

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

roger clemens* - 1995 upper deck autograph

 

alex rodriguez* - 1998 upper deck sp authentic chirography autograph

*not currently in the national baseball hall of fame

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.