the almost daily dodger - a.j. ellis

here's a 2015 topps rainbow foil parallel card of former dodger catcher a.j. ellis

you can't see it, but under that chest protector, ellis is wearing number 17.

i've mentioned many times that i associate numbers with players to remember things like lock combinations or license plates. for most of my adult life, number 17 has been len matuszek. at this point i'm not sure why it wasn't carl erskine, but there's no going back now. even as ellis claimed the number for seven seasons, i never strayed from matuszek. 

these days, there is a new guy on the club wearing 17

and he did something in his first year with the club that had never been done before (yes, i own one of the 653,757 copies of his topps now 50/50 card. and yes, that is the actual print run number).

i think matuszek's days are finally numbered.