i can't believe it's been five years ethier

yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of andre ethier's final appearance as a major league baseball player. he pinch hit for clayton kershaw and went 1 for 1 in game seven of the 2017 world series, driving in the dodgers' only run in the game that i had a hard time watching after the astros scored five runs in the first two innings. was yu darvish tipping his pitches? maybe? should kershaw have started? i don't really think so, but maybe? it's been five years and 2020 certainly helped me get over it.

anyway, i recently picked up some gold bookends for ethier's career. first up is his 2006 topps updates & highlights rookie card

and then there is his 2018 topps card

both in golden parallel, serial numbered glory.

ethier debuted in may of 2006 after being acquired from the a's for milton bradley and antonio perez in late 2005. he has been fairly present with the dodgers since his retirement, appearing at a few games and on broadcasts and most recently participating in the all-star game's celebrity softball event.  seems like a good guy, and i'm glad he played for the dodgers for so long.

still, i'm not sure we consider him a one-team guy as he has cards from his time in the a's organization  even though the only uniform he wore in the big leagues was the dodger kit. i think this set him apart from his peers from 2006 like russell martin, matt kemp, and chad billingsley. he wasn't quite the homegrown talent that they were, but he turned out to be a longer tenured dodger nonetheless.

i would be interested to know if you consider ethier and others like him - i guess roberto clemente would be one - to be single team players like guys such as jim gantner or cal ripken jr? mike scioscia could be another example as he has some cards showing him as a padre even though he never appeared in a regular season game as a friar.