a moment for tommy john

tommy john passed away yesterday, which was not a surprise given how much attention his health had received lately. john penned a "farewell" message to his fans during the yankees' oldtimers' weekend just over a week ago, and it was picked up by nearly every media outlet that i came across. 

he obviously associated himself, or a large part of himself, with the yankees as he had two stints playing for them and won more games while in pinstripes than in any of his other stops. to me, however, he was always a dodger.

when i think of numbers, it's john who is number 25. being a member of the 1978 topps dodgers 

asserts that "privilege", with very few exceptions.

being included in that set as a dodger means that i have all of john's topps flagship cards, thanks to my "evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers" mini-collection. as i've done for some other recent passings, i've compiled the full run of his primary cards in the topps sets. in john's case, that means cards from 1964 through 1989

for others, i've tiled the cards into a single image, but there are just too many cards here to do that effectively. john was left out of the traded sets each time he switched teams - 1982, 1985, and 1986 - but he does have a sweet 1979 topps burger king yankee card that serves the purpose of a "traded" or update set. he also was featured on the yankees' 1982 team leader card as well as a 1983 super veteran card and one of the 1984 career leader cards. the latter two speak to his longevity in the game, a remarkable feat especially given the fact that he had his namesake surgery (what turned out to be) so early in his career.

he began his career in 1963 (no card) and ended it in 1989. he was left out of all major 1990 releases, although i did make a "final tribute" for him years ago

the stats on the back of that card show his 288 career wins and 760 games pitched. he is one of eight men to have started at least 700 games as a pitcher. the top 15 pitchers on that list are all in the hall of fame except for john and roger clemens. yes, he was a stat compiler due to his longevity, but i think he is worthy of the hall of fame. he's in mine.

john is the ninth member of the 1978 topps dodgers to pass away, joining davey lopes, jerry grote, vic davalillo, don sutton, tom lasorda, lance rautzhan, johnny oates, and glenn burke. i am sad to have lost another member of the team of my youth, but happy that i was able to witness the majority of his career. rest in peace 25.

my retired number collection - 32

this is the 32nd post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are the five people for whom number 32 has been retired:

jim umbricht (retired by the astros in 1965) 1964 topps

umbricht was the first non-hall of fame player to have his number retired by a franchise, as the astros (then colt .45s) retired 32 for him posthumously on april 12, 1965. umbricht had been selected by the team in the 1961 expansion draft, and he pitched well in his two seasons with the club. in 1962, he was 4-0 with a 2.01 era, and he followed that up in 1963 with a 4-3 record and 2.61 era despite battling melanoma and receiving treatment during the season. 

umbricht had been diagnosed with melanoma during spring training prior to the 1963 season, but he managed to stay with the team for the entire campaign. the club released him in december of 1963 so that he could focus on his treatment, but he passed away on april 8, 1964. even though it does not show his number, i thought that his 1964 card would be the appropriate one to use for this collection. unlike ken hubbs' card in the set, umbricht's does not reflect his passing as it occurred after the cards were printed. umbricht is the first and only member of the franchise to ever wear number 32.

sandy koufax (retired by the dodgers in 1972) 2018 topps museum collection

i love the fact that the dodgers' jersey numbers on the front are in red, and cards like koufax's 2018 topps museum collection show why. the number just pops. as for koufax's number, the dodgers retired it along with jackie robinson's 42 and roy campanella's 39 on june 4, 1972 during an old-timer's day celebration. this occurred a couple of months before koufax was inducted into the national baseball hall of fame, and i am thinking it is likely that his election by the writers on his first ballot was the impetus for the dodgers to retire numbers for the first time in their history.

koufax was a 3-time cy young award winner, 4-time world series champion, 2-time world series mvp, and he won the 1963 national league mvp award during the regular season as well. simply one of the all-time greats, and he is the last dodger, and only los angeles dodger, to ever wear number 32.

elston howard (retired by the yankees in 1984) 1964 topps

the yankees retired number 32 for howard, who had passed away in 1980, on july 21, 1984. he had spent 12-plus seasons with the franchise from 1955 through the middle of the 1967 season, serving primarily as their catcher during most of the 1960's. his 1964 card shows most of his number on the home pinstripes beneath the yankee stadium facade that appears on so many cards from those early topps sets. 

howard won the mvp award in 1963, and finished third in the voting the following year. he was a part of four yankee world championship teams during his playing days, and when he returned to the club as a coach in the 1970's, he won two more rings when they beat the dodgers in 1977 and 1978. the yankees had not recirculated his number they dealt him to the red sox in 1967, so he would have been the last yankee to wear the number even if he hadn't returned to coach first base for the club.

steve carlton (retired by the phillies in 1989) 1983 fleer

steve carlton retired in may of 1988, and on july 29, 1989 the phillies recognized him by retiring his number as they added him to their wall of fame. a few years later, in 1994, carlton was voted into the national baseball hall of fame. carlton pitched for a few different franchises in his career, but had his greatest success as a phillie.

he was a four-time cy young award winner in philly, and had two other seasons where he finished in the top 4 in the voting. he won the pitching triple crown in 1972, and was 2-0 in the 1980 world series, helping the phillies to their first world series title. 3,031 of his 4,136 career strikeouts came while wearing number 32 for the phillies, and he recorded many of those while wearing the baby blue zip up jersey shown on his 1983 fleer card. 

he remains the all-time franchise leader in starts, wins, and strikeouts, and even though the phillies released carlton during the 1986 season, they did not reissue his number, ensuring that no other phillie would ever take the field with 32 on their back.

roy halladay (retired by the blue jays in 2018) 2009 topps tribute

like umbricht and howard, roy halladay's number retirement by the blue jays was made posthumously. halladay passed away in a plane accident in november of 2017, and the blue jays retired his number on march 29, 2018. canadian scott diamond then became the last blue jay to wear the number, having done so in his lone appearance as a blue jay that occurred during the 2016 season. halladay's 2009 topps tribute card is a great one for this collection, showing his number 32 prominently. with the blue jays rescinding roberto alomar's number from retirement, halladay is currently the only blue jay player to be so honored.

halladay won 148 games for the blue jays in what was really 11 seasons (plus a start in a 12th season). he was a modern day workhorse, leading the league in complete games six times with the blue jays, including in 2003 when he won the american league cy young award. halladay, who had a different number retired by the phillies (more on that in a couple of weeks) was elected to the hall of fame on his first ballot in 2019.

i am tracking a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.

retired numbers by team (through the 32 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 42

giants - 3, 4, 11, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 42

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 42

guardians - 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 42, 455

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 26, 27, 42

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 42

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 42, 85

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 24, 42

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 31, 42

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 42

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31, 42

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, 42

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 32, 42

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 28, 42

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 42, 72

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 42

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11, 16, 23, 42

cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 31, 42

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 31, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 42

angels - 11, 26, 30, 42

expos - 8, 10, 30, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 32, 42

rockies - 17, 42

mariners - 11, 24, 42

nationals - 11, 42

marlins - 42

retired number frequency:

1 - retired by 9 teams

2 - retired by 5 teams

3 - retired by 7 teams

4 - retired by 8 teams

5 - retired by 7 teams

6 - retired by 7 teams

7 - retired by 4 teams

8 - retired by 6 teams (retired by yankees for two players)

9 - retired by 6 teams

10 - retired by 9 teams (retired by expos for two players)

11 - retired by 8 teams

12 - retired by 1 team

13 - retired by 1 team

14 - retired by 10 teams (retired by mets and dodgers for same person)

15 - retired by 2 teams

16 - retired by 4 teams

17 - retired by 3 teams

18 - retired by 3 teams (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024) 

19 - retired by 5 teams

20 - retired by 11 teams (retired by orioles, reds, and guardians for same person)

21 - retired by 4 teams

22 - retired by 2 teams

23 - retired by 4 teams

24 - retired by 8 teams (retired by giants and mets for same person)

25 - retired by 4 teams

26 - retired by 4 teams

27 - retired by 3 teams

28 - retired by 1 team

29 - retired by 4 teams (retired by twins and angels for same person)

30 - retired by 3 teams

31 - retired by 4 teams (retired by cubs and braves for same person; retired by cubs for two players)

32 - retired by 5 teams

42 - retired by 30 teams (retired by cardinals and yankees for individuals in addition to jackie robinson)

66 - retired by 1 team

72 - retired by 1 team

85 - retired by 1 team

455 - retired by 1 team

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 132

running total of non-hall of famers: 46

a moment for jerry grote

i want to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of jerry grote.  because he was a member of the 1978 topps dodgers, i was automatically a fan of his.

as i did with vic davalillo a few months ago, here's a look at grote's career in topps cards thanks to my evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers collection:

grote was famously left on the cutting room floor by topps in 1977, and he didn't receive a card when he returned to the majors in 1981. i, of course, made customs for him to fill in the blanks as i did for other members of the 1978 topps dodgers. the 1977 topps test card showed grote as a met, but i showed him as a dodger in 1977

as a royal in a 1981 topps traded style card

and back as a dodger in 1982 for a final tribute

however, my favorite custom i made featuring the veteran catcher was this 1979 topps 1978 nlcs card

grote was on deck when bill russell singled to drive home ron cey and secure the pennant for the dodgers in game 4 of the 1978 nlcs, and so he was there to greet the penguin as he scored. pure joy.

grote will be best remembered as a met, as he helped the mets to two pennants and the 1969 world series title in addition to being a part of the dodgers' back-to-back pennant winning teams in the late 70's. to me, he is number 9. when i go through numbers, i associate 9 with grote because i was a dodger fan in 1978 and because gordie howe didn't play baseball.

with grote's death yesterday, seven members of the 1978 topps dodgers have now passed away, and it is a reminder that time waits for no man. rest in peace number 9!

a moment for vic davalillo, players from my youth, and the new dodger dh

i read last wednesday that vic davalillo passed away, and it made me pause.

thanks to his incredible, rally starting, two-out bunt in the 9th inning of game 3 of the 1977 nlcs and his inclusion in the 1978 topps set as a dodger, i got to know davalillo at the very beginning of my fandom and collecting days. he didn't play a lot, but he was a dodger and there was cardboard evidence of that fact, so he was respected and celebrated in my collection.

i have all of davalillo's major manufacturer cards (issued in the us, anyway), as his entire topps flagship run 

is encapsulated in my "evolution of the 1978 topps dodgers" mini-collection, and his 1981 fleer offering

is in my dodger collection. there are one or two venezuelan releases that i wouldn't mind adding to the collection, but i haven't ever made it a priority.

davalillo is the sixth member of the 1978 topps dodgers to pass away. preceding him were glenn burke (1995), johnny oates (2004), lance rautzhan (2016), tom lasorda (2021), and don sutton (2021). time marches on, but it is still a bit of a thing to see these players whose cardboard i coveted back then pass away.

shifting to another way of looking at the 1978 topps set, i get excited when i can complete the immaculate grid using only players who appeared in that set. it is always my goal to use as many as i can, and there was a two day stretch last week where i was able to do so:

with davalillo getting center square in saturday's grid! as of now, that second one has a score of 8, which would be my second lowest ever.

finally, i would be remiss if i didn't mention the 700 million dollar man, shohei ohtani. i feel for angel fans who will now see ohtani suit up for the dodgers, but not enough to not be excited about ohtani joining the dodgers. here are some 2018 topps update cards i have of ohtani

with the last one being the most valuable, i guess, since it's a rainbow foil parallel. the dodgers still need pitching for the 2024 season (ohtani can't help them there), but it's a good start to a longer term benefit. i suppose my team break costs for 2024 just went up. way up.

my retired number collection - they're number 1!

this is the third post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are eight of the nine people for whom the number 1 has been retired:

1 billy meyer (retired by the pirates in 1954) - 1983 topps '52 reprint

i was not familiar with meyer, but when i found out his number had been retired i figured he must have led the pirates to a world series title, but he did not. he had a successful minor league managerial career before getting the pirates' job for the 1948 season. he was named the manager of the year for his efforts during that campaign. leading the pirates to a 21-win improvement over their 1947 season, although that was only good enough for a fourth place finish. that was as good as it got for meyer, and he resigned after a very bad 1952 season. he stayed with the club as a scout and "troubleshooter", and the team retired his number in 1954, a year before his death. there is not a lot of information surrounding the number retirement, but it is a huge display of respect, so he must have served the club in a meaningful way. 

1 fred hutchinson (retired by the reds in 1964) - 1964 topps

hutchinson was a fairly successful pitcher for the tigers before becoming a manager - first in detroit and then in st. louis with the cardinals. he took over the reds during the 1959 season and led them to the world series in 1961. it was their first pennant since 1940, but they lost the fall classic to the yankees. hutchinson stayed on as manager for the next three years even though he was diagnosed with cancer after the 1963 season. he was ultimately unable to complete the 1964 season, taking leave in august and resigning his post in october, just a few weeks before he passed away. 

he is the inspiration and namesake for the annual hutch award, given to the active player who best exemplifies his fighting spirit. the award has been dormant for a couple of seasons, but will hopefully be resurrected this year. my understanding is that his number was officially retired by the team in 1965, although nobody wore it after his resignation from the club the year prior. i will have more to say about the reds' retired number history in a few posts, but hutchinson's number is officially recognized as the first to be retired by the reds.

1 richie ashburn (retired by the phillies in 1979) - 2001 topps tribute

here we have the first appearance by 2001 topps tribute in the collection. i love this set as it focuses on retired numbers, and it was the first tribute set issued by topps. i eventually completed it a few years ago, and i wish topps would put out a follow up set to cover the players and managers that they missed the first time around.

as for ashburn, he was voted in to the hall of fame by the veteran's committee in 1995 following a 15 year career (12 with the phillies) that resulted in over 2500 hits, two national league batting titles and a .308 lifetime batting average. after his retirement, he spent 35 years as a broadcaster with the club. his number was retired on august 24, 1979 as part of his enshrinement in the team's hall of fame. jose cardenal was the last phillie to wear number 1, having worn it until he was sent to the mets three weeks before it was retired.

1 pee wee reese (retired by the dodgers in 1984) - 2001 topps archives

here's the first card in this post where you can see the uniform number that is the subject of the post, and you can see it twice! the dodgers retired reese's number on july 1, 1984 following his election to the hall of fame. reese spent his entire career with the dodgers and was a 10-time all-star who lost three years of his career to military service during world war ii. he finished his career with 2,170 hits, over 1,300 runs scored and 1,210 walks. reese received mvp votes in 13 of his 16 seasons, although he only finished in the top 5 once.

i associate reese with number 1, although i remember derrel thomas and gary weiss both wearing it for the dodgers during my youth. weiss, who wore it in 1980 and 1981, is the last dodger to don the number.

1 billy martin (retired by the yankees in 1986) - 2021 topps x sports illustrated

the yankees retired martin's number 1 on august 10, 1986 after he had completed his fourth stint as the team's manager. while he also played for the yankees in the 1950's, he is best remembered as their on-again off-again manager during george steinbrenner's early reign. martin took over managerial duties during the 1975 season, and in his first full season, guided the team to their first pennant in 11 years. he repeated that feat the next year in 1977, and this time led them to their first world series title since 1962.

martin was fired during the 1978 season, and his replacement (bob lemon) led the team to the world series title. lemon was out partway through the 1979 season, however, and martin was brought back, but the team finished in fourth place in the nl east. after four seasons managing the oakland a's, martin returned to the yankees for the 1983 season. he was fired at the end of the year but then brought back early in the 1985 campaign. after being fired once again, the team retired his number, although they later brought him back to manage once again to start the 1988 season. he made it through 68 games before being fired again.

as far as yankee managers go, he has fewer pennants and world series championships to his name than ralph houk and the same number as bob lemon, neither of whom have their numbers retired. then again, they didn't have martin's personality.

i was really happy to find that card, by the way, as it shows the number which is only worn on the backs of yankee uniforms. obviously, martin was the last to wear the number for the team, but bobby murcer was the last to wear it as a player. 

1 bobby doer (retired by the red sox in 1988) - 2003 topps retired signature

doerr was elected to the hall of fame in 1986, but the red sox didn't retire his number until may 21, 1988. it was last worn by chico walker who saw limited action with the club in the early 1980s. doerr spent the entirety of his 14 season career with the red sox, which ended perhaps a bit prematurely due to a back injury. he was a nine-time all-star, hit over .400 in the 1946 world series, and amassed just over 2,000 hits and 1,200 rbi.

the 2003 topps retired signature card i chose shows just a bit of his number 1 on the back.

1 ozzie smith (retired by the cardinals in 1996) - 1996 donruss press proof

smith's number 1, clearly visible in this parallel that was languishing in one of my monster boxes, was retired by the cardinals on september 28, 1996 - the day before smith played in the final game of his career. while he is best known for his glove (he won 13 gold gloves - 11 with st. louis) he also recorded over 2,400 hits and 580 stolen bases during his career. he also hit a big home run in the 1985 nlcs.

he was the last cardinal to wear number 1, and was elected in to the hall of fame in 2002 on his first ballot.

1 lou whitaker (retired by the tigers in 2022) - 1990 score

it may be a bit weird to have a junk wax era base card in this collection, but this card shows off whitaker's number 1 pretty well so here we are. while not (yet) in the hall of fame, whitaker had his number retired by the tigers on august 6, 2022. he played 19 seasons for the tigers and was a five-time all-star who won four gold gloves and three silver slugger awards.

he was the 1978 american league rookie of the year, so i've always had a soft spot for whitaker as that was the first full season that i followed baseball. he is considered by many to be a borderline hall of fame candidate, and i fall on the "in" side of that line.

i mentioned up top that there was a ninth person for whom this number has been retired. that would be bud selig who had a number retired by the brewers in 2015 following his run as the baseball commissioner which began after he abdicated his role as the brewers' owner. no conflict of interest there, because the commissioner has always been more aligned with ownership than the players. anyway, selig didn't wear a uniform, so i don't have him in this collection although i will include him in the tally below as a hall of famer (which is a shame in my opinion).

i am going to track a few things as we go, even though the information is already available elsewhere.

retired numbers by team (shown in chronological order of their first number retirement):

yankees - 1, 4

giants - 4

pirates - 1, 4

guardians 

red sox - 1, 4

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1

reds - 1

braves

astros

mets

orioles - 4

dodgers - 1, 4

twins

white sox - 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1

cubs

royals

padres

athletics

angels

expos

rangers

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

retired number frequency:

1 - retired by 9 teams

4 - retired by 8 teams

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 25

running total of non-hall of famers (including those without numbers): 4

not so random grab bag

jay from card hemorrhage recently posted about 25-card grab bags that he was selling as a way of paring down his collection. one of the cards shown in his post was this 1977 topps ed goodson card signed by goodson himself!

being the collector that i am, i asked how likely it would be that my grab bag included the goodson, and jay said he would make it so. following on the heels of my recent post regarding goodson signing a 1978 topps card for me, i was very happy to add this card to my collection. i also have a signed 1976 topps card, so i have the full topps run of goodson dodger cards signed by the man himself.

the pack was fun to open and wade through, and came with vintage as advertised:

even some dodgers/orioles who would become dodgers or were previously dodgers

powell would have been a teammate of ed goodson back in 1977. the tommy davis comes from the 1976 sspc set (copyright 1975). i have called it 1975 in the past but i think someone corrected me.  jay guaranteed cards from that set, and in addition to tommy davis, i received cards of art howe and ross grimsley

i recognized grimsley but not howe.

here's a 1981 donruss paul householder card

that reminded me of my dad. he collected householder cards from 1981 through 1984 or so. someone had told him that householder was the next mickey mantle i think.

here's a 1981 topps dave bristol/giants team card.

i was not a fan of the combo manager/team cards that topps used from 1979 through 1981. my opinion was based on the 1978 set which had them separated. it wasn't until later that i realized the '78 set was the anomaly from 1975 - 1981.

greg minton hot pack! here's a 1981 topps sticker and 1989 topps card of the righthander:

sadly no 1978 topps card, although jay does use that as his avatar.

there were some more modern cards in the package, but i'll show just a couple of them. here's a 1994 topps gold parallel of tim bogar

with a joe oliver sighting.

and here's another parallel - a 2020 topps update brock holt walgreens yellow card

lots of fun cards for sure! check out jay's post and pick one up for yourself!

i had a field day on camera day

upper deck used photos from "camera day" at dodger stadium on cards a few times, including jim eisenreich's awesome 1999 card

(when's the last time you saw a calculator watch on a baseball card?), and ismael valdes' 1997 card:

which features a lot of people on one piece of cardboard. there's a couple of mike piazza inserts in 1997 collector's choice that feature photos from the same day as valdes' card, and the back of gary sheffield's 1998 series 2 card uses an image from 1998's camera day festivities. 

i have been to at least two or three camera days at dodger stadium, including the 1997 game against the expos. there are no obvious cards featuring photos from that year that i have seen, although i have always suspected that vladimir guerrero's 1998 card

features a photo from that day. there's just no way to tell.

now, camera day is a bit misleading. it's not a giveaway like "dodger helmet weekend" or "batting glove day", but rather a day for fans to bring their cameras and get on the field to see players sort of up close.  the first one i recall attending was on july 30, 1978.

one of the things i remember most about that day was how big the numbers on the outfield wall were up close and in person. as you might recall, the distance measurements on the dodger stadium outfield wall were large, blocky numbers as seen on this 1990 upper deck tom foley card

we were ushered on to the field and allowed to walk along the outfield grass and warning track as i recall. i walked past the spot where ron fairly caught the final out of game 3 of the 1963 world series, as immortalized on this 1964 topps card

and stood under the 360 marker to the left of the visitor's bullpen, a spot seen on this 1975 dodgers postcard of don sutton

in fact, here's a photo

this obviously occurred prior to the addition of the windows in the wall that allowed the bullpen folks to hang out in shade and still see the goings on out on the field. the window is visible on this 1989 fleer chris sabo box bottom card

and it has been modified a few times since then.

we didn't really have any photos of players because it was pretty near impossible to get to the front. i was ok with that as it was cool to be on the field.  here's a polaroid photo that we took which gives you some idea of the mass of humanity that was there vying for space

i think we took that photo as we approached our seats in the right field corner and prior to going on the field.

later on, after the field was cleared of fans, the pirates came out to warm up and i took a photo of jerry reuss

i assure you that is reuss. i later learned through an email with him that he would do his work in between starts on the right field side of the field, a practice he continued even when he was a dodger.

reuss eventually made his way closer to the stands, and my dad took a much better photo of him

i later found it interesting that the player we got closest to on camera day wasn't a dodger...yet.  

[actually, i found some more photos from that day featuring dodgers!

terry forster

denny lewallyn

johnny oates

bill russell

and steve yeager

good stuff!]

bonus info!:  i didn't make it down to the dodger stadium field again for many years. our high school team would have played there had we advanced further in the playoffs than we did, so i waited until an eric clapton/elton john concert in august of 1992 before i set foot on the field again. this time, i was able to walk around the infield and even collect a bit of dirt from where davey lopes and steve sax positioned themselves. i had even brought an empty film cannister with me

to collect some of the infield clay. i keep it next to a similar cannister that has a chip from the berlin wall that my brother had collected for me shortly after its fall in late 1989. 

it's been almost 30 years since i was on the field at dodger stadium, but maybe someday i'll get back for the father's day catch. i have been down on the field of the metrodome and target field before a game, as well as the superdome in louisiana and most recently us bank stadium in minneapolis, but those are stories for another day.