in my lifetime, the national league west champion has been the bearer of the pennant 16 times, assuming i did my analysis correctly starting with the 1971 postseason. this does not count wild card teams coming out of the west to win the pennant, nor does it count the 1981 los angeles dodgers who were winning the west at the time of the strike, but did not win the west overall.
one member of that team (which did win the pennant and the world series) was steve garvey, and i was finally able to acquire his 2005 playoff prestige national league west division champions parallel card earlier this month!
this card has been a bit of a white whale for me and my steve garvey collection for quite some time. i coveted it because it represents the division in which garvey played his entire career, and it has a print run of just 18!
as you may recall, this was a redemption card as explained in this post. finding this card posted for sale with a very low buy it now has been one of the highlights of my collecting year so far! and, with the regular season kicking off tomorrow for every team other than the two garvey played for, i am hopeful for another nl west title for the dodgers in 2024.
The NL West looks to be very competitive this year. Although your Dodgers are the clear favorites, it wouldn't shock me if the Giants or Diamondbacks found a way to win the West. I'd put the Padres in there as well... but they definitely lost way more talent than they gained this winter. But they still have an outside shot at securing a Wild Card spot.
ReplyDeleteNice. Admittedly, due to the distribution and overall scarcity, I am a potential hoarder of these. Not that they come up often or at a nice price to hoard them, but let's say I did see a bargain, i would certainly take advantage even thought I completed the set a few years back. It was not easy. What did you get it for if I may ask? Always love to hear about bargains and there are still sellers out there who either don't play games/hold rare cards hostage or really don't know the market and sell too cheaply. Bonus for the buyer!!
ReplyDeleteless than six dollars shipped as i recall
DeleteYou can't ask for a better price than that on a white whale.
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