it's good to know a guy

i had been occasionally checking the local card collector club's website to see when the next church show was going to be held. they are typically held once in the spring and once in the fall. however, there was just a glaring "tbd" on the site for months. running into brian at the monthly club show in august had me thinking about the church show again, and thankfully i got an email from him letting me know that the church show was happening on september 21. better yet, brian and a couple friends were setting up as a vendor.

it turns out that the reason the club website wasn't being updated is that the church show was scheduled for the same day as the monthly club show and they didn't want to publicize the competition. for me, with brian selling, it was a nobrainer to eschew the club show and head to church!

brian had told me that he was going to have two 5000 count monster dime boxes, and when i approached the table, he put the first one down. there in the second row was this card in front

i told brian that having a 1982 donruss steve garvey diamond king in front was a smart move. he said it was all about knowing his customer. of course, i couldn't leave the garv behind.

the first block of cards that i looked at included a bunch of 2024 topps aqua parallels, and i told brian that i was a sucker for those sorts of parallels, too. here's a "color match" fernando tatis jr card

to represent the stack of these that i added to my pile. there were a host of other parallel types that i took, including a 2017 topps fire brooks robinson flame parallel

there were a boatload of straight up inserts, too. here's a 2022 panini prizm vladimir guerrero jr illumination insert

i suspect that the holo version is more "illuminated" than this base insert version.

here are a couple of topps heritage inserts that caught my eye - a nolan ryan card from 2015

and an ernie banks card from 2020

there were some attractive base cards, too. this 1994 upper deck ken griffey jr card

is one of my favorite base cards of all-time so i had to grab one of the two that brian had for sale. and i am not sure that i had seen this 2014 topps stadium club roberto clemente card before

so i took it, too.

i felt that it was worth a dime to acquire this 1974 topps hank aaron card

even though it is in rough shape. as brian noted, "it's 96% intact!"

as for dodgers, there were plenty even though brian has provided me with a steady stream of cards featuring the boys in blue over the years. here's a 2017 topps gypsy queen jackie robinson short print

that i needed, and here's a 2021 topps chrome max muncy all-star game refractor insert

that was also a need. these seem to be less prevalent than the 2022 counterparts, but that may not actually be the case.

back to some cards that i didn't really need but bought nonetheless, here's a 1970 topps dodger team card

and a 1987 topps bill russell card

that i chose to take with me.

one player specific card that was new to me was this 2022 panini donruss vladimir guerrero orange holo

parallel.

i found a lot of cards for my various mini-collections, too.

double play cards like a 2002 donruss originals jeff kent 

and a couple of 2022 panini donruss ryne sandberg cards

the base version is a dupe of one i already had, so it goes into my lurker collection thanks to tony gwynn showing up.

here's another one for the lurker collection - a 2016 topps stadium club manny machado card

featuring cal ripken jr.

brian was wise to have this 2012 topps gypsy queen willie mays glove stories insert in one of the boxes

because i will purchase pretty much any card showing "the catch" for my name/number on the back collection. that's where this 1992 leaf jon olerud card is headed

as is this 1998 donruss collections leaf eric davis card

and this 2019 topps stadium club mookie betts card

i have kind of shied away from adding too many tatooine cards lately, but i did choose this electric blue parallel of jazz chisholm's 2021 topps big league card

as well as this 2021 topps stadium club jose ramirez card

that photo really should have been saved for 2022 topps heritage, as it has 1973 topps written all over it. i see the first base coach's head, the first baseman's arm, the second baseman's leg, and the umpire's arm all disembodied. it's chaos!

at some point while i was digging through the boxes, brian laid out a couple of cards he had set aside for me specifically. this is a 2001 pacific private stock shawn green game gear card

and this is a 1998 topps interleague matchups mystery finest card

that hasn't been peeled. here's the back:

so, does the card front feature mike piazza, eric karros, jim edmonds, or tim salmon? i didn't peel it, but based on the comparison of the impression underneath and images online, i believe this to be jim edmonds' card.

brian also had somehow acquired duplicates of a baseball card breakdown 1975 hostess clayton kershaw custom

so he handed one over to me.

after all was said and done, i had pulled around 460 cards from the two dime boxes. after settling up, brian handed over this 2015 topps stadium club yasiel puig gold foil parallel

it is a beaut of a card.

finally, i had added an unopened pack of 2003 topps opening day to my pile

of course, i opened it when i got home. the mini insert was mike piazza

and the cards were your standard early 2000's variety of guys -todd helton, carlos lee, cliff floyd, and mike sweeney. the floyd card offered a nice view of the ted williams memorial that the red sox wore. i thought it appropriate that the last card in the pack was this one

a sweet minky card from a fellow twin cities card collector. thanks brian!

and, if anyone out there is looking for a pair of john candy's pants, i know a guy who knows a guy.

perfect sells

with the 1975 baseball season on our minds this year thanks to topps heritage, i thought it would be fun to revisit a meaningless yet meaningful game from september of that year. it involves pitcher dave sells, who i think only has this 1974 topps card

to mark his time as an active player in the big leagues, although he pitched in parts of four seasons. he also has a 1990 target dodgers card, as he was the player to be named later in the trade between the angels and dodgers that saw jim brewer head to anaheim. he wasn't anyone i was aware of growing up, as his career ended with the 1975 season, but i took note of him when i first saw his card from the 1974 set because his name, like rick waits or davey lopes, forms a complete sentence.

according to baseball reference, sells appeared in his penultimate big league appearance 49 years ago today. it was a day after his 29th birthday (he turned 78 yesterday - happy birthday!), and he was called in to relieve charlie hough at the start of the bottom of the 9th inning against the astros at the astrodome., replacing willie crawford in the batting order. the game was tied 4-4 as hough had surrendered a solo home run to cesar cedeno in the bottom of the 8th after lee lacy had scored on a wild pitch in the top of the inning to give the dodgers a lead. sells set down the side in order, and the game went into extra innings.

neither team scored in the 10th, with sells striking out dodger nemesis jose cruz en route to another perfect inning. in the 11th, the dodgers make two quick outs before lacy, batting ahead of what was now the pitcher's slot in the order, draws a walk. now, to this point, only doug rau, hough, and sells have pitched, so you would think there would be some arms in the bullpen and the dodgers would send up a pinch hitter, especially with the expanded rosters that they had in september back then. however, manager walter alston has already used a fair number of position players in the game, and with the reds running away with the division, the game didn't really matter too much. whatever the reason, sells is allowed to hit.

the next thing you know, lacy is on second after a wild pitch. the dodgers have steve garvey on deck, and there is no need for a force out with two outs, so the astros continue to pitch to sells. he is a pitcher, after all, and this is his first major league at bat. well, what do you know - sells goes and promptly bangs a hit to left, driving in lacy and the go ahead run. garvey grounds into a force out, and we go to the bottom of the 11th.

now, let me inject myself into this story for a moment and share an experience i had in little league. in the second game of my 12-year old season, i was the starting pitcher for our team and pitched the top of the first inning with no problem. in the bottom of the inning, i hit a home run to center. i was so amped on adrenaline that i couldn't get anybody out in the second inning and had to be replaced by my coach. i wasn't a professional like sells, but i would think that getting your first big league hit to drive in the goahead run in a game in which you are in line for your first win with your new team might have you pumped up a bit. 

whether it was adrenaline or not, sells gave up a home run to the first batter he faced in the 11th - cesar cedeno. after that, he retired the next five astros he faced on groundouts before he walked milt may and gave up back-to-back singles to wilbur howard and ken boswell in the bottom of the 12th resulting in a 5-4 astro victory. not the ending sells was hoping for, but still a pretty memorable game for him. i decided i would create a 2024 topps heritage baseball flashbacks card for him to mark the occasion:

in his next outing, sells did not get an at bat, so he ended his big league career 1 for 1 at the plate with an rbi to boot. the only other dodger i know of off the top of my head with a career 1.000 batting average is roy gleason. it's worth noting (at least for me) that one of sells' teammates who appeared in this game was tom paciorek, whose brother john also hit 1.000 for his career, although he was 3 for 3. baseball is a crazy game.

my retired number collection - 27

this is the 27th 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 three people for whom number 27 has been retired:

juan marichal (retired by the giants in 1983) 1974 topps

the giants retired marichal's number on july 10, 1983 in advance of his enshrinement in cooperstown later that summer. marichal spent the first 14 seasons of his 16 year career with the giants, winning 243 games and striking out 2,281 batters while pitching 244 complete games for them. he twice led the league in wins and once in era, but was among the league leaders in most of the seasons during the 1960's.

marichal's 1974 topps card is one of my favorite base cards of all-time, and it found its way into my collection very early on in my youth. even though i knew of him initially because of the incident with johnny roseboro and was sworn to dislike him as a dodger fan, i liked the card. later i realized that if roseboro was able to forgive marichal, then i had no business holding a grudge. 

the giants held number 27 out of rotation after marichal's contract was purchased by the red sox prior to the 1974 season, and they never reissued it, making marichal the last giant to wear the number. in his one year with boston and two starts a year later with the dodgers, he did not wear 27 because of carlton fisk (more on him in a moment) and willie crawford, respectively.

jim hunter (retired by the a's in 1991) 2002 fleer fall classic

jim "catfish" hunter had his number retired by the a's on june 9, 1991. he was already a hall of famer at that point, having been inducted in 1987, but the a's had never retired a number in the franchise history until they gave hunter the honor four years later so it's not as if his accomplishments had been ignored. with the a's, hunter won 161 games and the 1974 american league cy young award. more importantly, he led them to three straight world series titles from 1972-1974, posting a 4-0 record in six starts across those series.

he began his career at the age of 19, and pitched a perfect game in 1968 when he was just 22. he was probably my favorite a's player of all-time when i caught billyball fever and began collecting a's cards back to 1965 because it was his rookie year. even though he had been a yankee who beat the dodgers in the first two world series i followed as a fan, i was a fan of his. i like the 2002 fleer fall classic card because it showcases one of the cool uniforms the a's wore during hunter's time with the club. because the a's had never retired a number, they didn't keep 27 out of circulation when hunter joined the yankees in 1975. as a result, several players wore it in the ensuing years (including don sutton) until ron hassey became the last athletic to do so in 1990.

carlton fisk (retired by the red sox in 2000) 2023 topps stadium club

carlton fisk wore number 27 for the red sox from 1971 through 1980, which is why marichal wore a different number in boston in 1974. fisk was the 1972 american league rookie of the year and a seven time all-star for the red sox. he helped them win their first pennant in the division era in 1975, and then delivered one of the most iconic home runs in baseball history to force a seventh game in the world series. the photo used on the 2023 topps stadium club card above is from that at bat and gives a great view of his number. just like "the catch", i will pick up pretty much any card that shows fisk as he waves that home run fair.

fisk did not leave the red sox on good terms, and the team did not keep his number out of rotation after he joined the white sox. in 1999, kip gross became the last red sox player to wear the number as the franchise decided to retire the number in fisk's honor on september 4, 2000 following his induction into the baseball hall of fame.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 27 posts so far):

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

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

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 42

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

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

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

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

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 42

angels - 11, 26, 42

expos - 8, 10, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 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

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): 118

running total of non-hall of famers: 44

collecting box tops

does your elementary school participate in collecting box tops for education? for many of us, the program came after our time in school, but i was and am aware of it as a consumer of general mills products. in the 1970's and early 80's, my elementary school participated in the now defunct campbell's soup label collecting, and there were times when we had unlabeled cans in our pantry as a result of my eagerness to help my classroom ranking. this resulted in a sort of game of chance when we decided on a meal that included soup.

anyway, when 2023 topps heritage high numbers was released, i was interested mainly in finding one particular box topper. i had already acquired the ron cey and davey lopes heritage buybacks, along with the steve garvey heritage mvp buyback autograph card, from the initial heritage release, but bill russell's 1974 topps card in stamped buyback form had eluded me.

thankfully, one popped up on ebay pretty quickly - and for a low price, too.

i also added the dodger team card to my collection

even though topps no longer rotates the stamps. all four dodger infielders are on the card, in the middle row. garvey is the fourth player from the left, between lee lacy and joe ferguson. lopes is to ferguson's left, and cey is to his left. russell is two players over from cey, in front of tommy john.  we are getting to the point where i should hopefully be able to obtain all four of these guys' heritage buybacks in regular stamped form for the first time thanks to the lack of high numbers and rookie cards and mvp years. we will see what 2024 brings.

i later found out that there was another boxtopper to entice me. steve garvey was included on the oversized checklist

i was glad to see that it wasn't just an enlarged reprint of his 1974 card, as awesome as that card is. here's the back

plenty of room on an oversized card for the full career stats! there is also an autographed version of this card, but i've only seen one or two and i am not as zealous as i once was in chasing such things.

seeing bill russell up at the top of the post reminds me - only 18 days until the dodgers open the 2024 season against the padres in seoul!

my retired number collection - check their 6

this is the seventh 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 seven people for whom the number 6 has been retired:

stan musial (retired by the cardinals in 1963) 2013 topps tribute

the cardinals retired musial's number 6 on september 29, 1963 as he finished his playing career and so he became the last cardinal to ever wear the number. it was also the first time that the organization had retired a number. musial had announced his intention to retire about a month earlier, and the cardinals responded with plans to retire his number and move him in to the executive suite. i like the brightness of the 2013 topps tribute card which happens to be one of the best cards as far as showing his number. it beats the 1988 pacific legends card i had originally pulled.

musial went 2 for 3 in his final game, finishing with 3,630 hits and a .331 lifetime average. a three-time mvp and world series champ, musial also won seven batting titles and is fourth all-time in hits and third in total bases. in 1969, he was voted in to the hall of fame on the first ballot.

al kaline (retired by the tigers in 1980) 1969 topps

like musial, kaline's was the first number retired by the tigers franchise. they bestowed the honor on "mr. tiger" on august 17, 1980 after he was inducted in to the hall of fame on his first ballot. the tigers did not reissue number 6 following kaline's retirement at the end of the 1974 season, so they obviously had an inkling that they would be retiring it once he was headed to cooperstown.

kaline had 3,007 hits and 399 home runs during his 22-year career. he won 10 gold gloves for his work in the outfield, but never won the mvp although he did have four top five finishes across a 12 year span. i appreciate the tiger uniforms of the era with the numbers on the shoulders - it made finding a card for kaline a lot easier. 

steve garvey (retired by the padres in 1988) 2003 carl's jr padres

like musial and kaline, garvey's number 6 was the first number retired by the padre franchise. the retirement ceremony took place on april 16, 1988 at jack murphy stadium on steve garvey night. attendees received a nice trifold program and there were some commemorative pins distributed as well. garvey hurt his shoulder in may of 1987 and never returned to the playing field, retiring after he did not receive a contract for the 1988 season. i believe it was at one point determined that he had been a victim of collusion but that decision was later reversed in court. garvey was included in this regional set along with other notable padre players from their first 35 seasons. the 6 is visible enough, i think.

anyway, one has to wonder if the padres were quick to retire the number of a player who had been with them for just four seasons for reasons other than his play on the field. he did help to propel them to their first pennant with a dramatic home run in the 1984 nlcs, and he did bring them some legitimacy as a high profile free agent signing, but even for a big fan like me the gesture was a surprise. still, the number is retired and keith moreland (who wore it for a couple of weeks in 1988 prior to the ceremony) had to give it up. i even created a card that should have been for the event. if only topps now was around back then, although even they don't make cards for every number retirement event.

tony oliva (retired by the twins in 1991) 1974 topps

breaking the streak here - tony o's number was not the first to be retired by the twins. he followed fellow hall of famers harmon killebrew and rod carew in terms of number retirements, getting the treatment from the club on july 14, 1991. it turns out that was just in time for his number to be featured prominently during game 6 of the world series as kirby puckett's game saving catch occurred right above the placard displaying oliva's number 6. coincidentally, killebrew's 1974 topps card is in this collection as his representative, too.

oliva was a hitter. he won the american league rookie of the year award in 1964 as the league leader in batting average. he led the league in batting average again the following year as the twins won their first american league pennant. he later won a third batting title in 1971. oliva also led the league in hits five times and doubles four times, and who knows how things would have turned out had his knees held up in to his late thirties. because oliva had remained with the club as a coach following his playing days, no other twin wore the number between tony o and its retirement. oliva was inducted in to the hall of fame in 2022 through the golden era committee.

johnny pesky (retired by the red sox in 2008) 2003 fleer flair greats

the red sox retired pesky's number on september 28, 2008. i couldn't find a card of his showing the number, so this one will have to do. at the time the number was retired, pesky had been a member of the red sox organization for some 57 years - first as a player and then as a manger, broadcaster, coach and finally an advisor. the club didn't take the number out of circulation, however, and so in 2000, gary gaetti became the last player to wear number 6 for the bosox.

pesky began his career with three straight 200-plus hit seasons, although he missed three years to military service between his rookie year and his sophomore season. he wound up hitting .307 over a 10 year career that included time in detroit and washington dc. pesky is not in the hall of fame, so he may be best recognized for having the right field foul pole at fenway park named after him, although there is not a lot of evidence that he ever hit or came close to the "pesky pole" with his seven career homers at the stadium.

bobby cox (retired by the braves in 2011) 1981 donruss

bobby cox managed the braves in two different stints - first from 1978 through 1981 and second from 1990 through 2010. in between he managed the blue jays. i chose his 1981 donruss card for this collection because it shows the number 6 loud and clear, and i also like the fact that it features a glimpse of the black armband that the braves wore for executive bill lucas.

as a manager, cox won five pennants in nine years with the 1990's braves, and claimed the world series title in 1995. overall, he won 2,504 games as a big league skipper, and was elected to the hall of fame in 2014. he was the last brave to wear number 6, as the club retired the number on august 12, 2011.

joe torre (retired by the yankees in 2014) 2004 topps

so the 2004 topps card i chose doesn't show torre wearing number 6, but the number does appear in the outline inset. it's a nice touch on the part of the card design that has some 1973 or 1976 vibes - just less generic than those two. while torre had a decent playing career, he was voted in to the hall of fame alongside cox in 2014 as a manager. he posted 2,326 career wins as a manager, mostly as the yankee skipper. he also managed the mets, braves (he was cox's successor in 1982), cardinals, and dodgers. 

he won six pennants and four world series championships with the yankees after succeeding buck showalter who had guided the club to a postseason return in 1995. he managed the yankees through the 2007 season, but no yankee ever wore number 6 again, even though the club didn't retired his number until august 23, 2014 following his induction in to the hall of fame.

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

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

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4

guardians - 3, 5

red sox - 1, 4, 6

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2, 6

reds - 1, 5

braves - 3, 6

astros - 5

mets

orioles - 4, 5

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3, 6

white sox - 2, 3, 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

cubs

royals - 5

padres - 6

athletics

angels

expos

rangers

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

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

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 48

running total of non-hall of famers: 7

my retired number collection - 3 is a magic number

this is the fifth 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 seven people for whom the number 3 has been retired:

3 babe ruth (retired by the yankees in 1948) 2009 topps legends variation

the babe's number 3 was the second number retired by the yankees after lou gehrig's number 4. it was retired on june 13, 1948 during the babe's final visit to yankee stadium. there is a famous image from that day that has shown up on cardboard before that would have worked here as well, but i have one already in my name/number on the back mini-collection. i've had that legend variation rattling around in a monster box since 2009 so it's nice to be able to place it in a meaningful spot in my collection.

ruth retired as baseball's all-time home run leader and was one of the hall of fame's inaugural class voted in by the writers in 1936. he was a seven-time world series champion, and led the american league in key offensive categories numerous times. he is still atop or near the top of the all-time leader board in most meaningful offensive categories today. strangely enough, the yankees put ruth's number 3 back in circulation in 1935 following his departure from the club, and kept it in use even after they created the idea of retired numbers in 1939. the last yankee to wear number 3 was cliff mapes, who switched to number 7 (another iconic yankee number) after ruth was honored.

3 harmon killebrew (retired by the twins in 1975) 1974 topps

the twins retired number 3 for killebrew on may 4, 1975 prior to a game against killebrew's royals. it sounds like the event was fairly poorly executed, but killebrew, who had played for the senators/twins for the first 21 years of his career, hit a home run in front of his former hometown fans. killebrew retired following the 1975 season with 573 home runs, good for fifth all-time, and he was inducted in to the hall of fame in 1984. because he was with the team when they were still the senators, and the twins did not reissue his number after he signed with the royals, killebrew is the only twin to ever wear number 3.

that 1974 topps card is one that i have owned since 1979 or so. it has been with me through countless moves, but it was in too poor condition for me to use it in my 1974 set build. i think it looks great here in this collection.

3 earl averill (retired by cleveland in 1975) 2001 topps tribute

averill played from 1929 to 1941, spending most of his career in cleveland. he was a six time all-star and finished in the top five of the mvp voting three times. he amassed some pretty good stats - a .318 lifetime batting average, 2,000 hits, 1,200 runs scored, and 1,100 runs driven in - but his first ten seasons were quite strong as he now shows to have finished in the top ten of the american league in offensive war eight of those ten years, 

averill's number was retired on june 8, 1975, a few months after he was voted in to the hall of fame by the veteran's committee and a couple of months before he was inducted. averill used his speech at the induction ceremony to call for the hall to induct joe sewell, another top player of his era that had been overlooked for many years. two years later, sewell joined averill in the hall. as for the number 3, woodie held was the last active player to wear the number for cleveland, back in 1962 even though his 1964 topps card still shows the number on his sleeve.

3 bill terry (retired by the giants in 1983) 2001 upper deck sp legendary cuts

former giant player, player/manager, and manager bill terry had his numbered retired by the team on april 6, 1983 in a ceremony at candlestick park. as a player, terry could hit. he had a .401 batting average in 1930 to lead the league, and his career average was .341. he became the club's player/manager in 1932 and promptly led them to a world series championship the following year. he won another pennant in 1936 which was his final season as a player, and then led the giants to the world series the following year as a full-time manager.

even though terry stayed on as the team's manager following his retirement as a player, the number was redistributed starting in 1937. it remained in use pretty much through the 1940's and then didn't show up again until 1969 when ozzie virgil wore it. in between there, in 1954 in fact, terry was elected to the hall of fame by the baseball writers. mike sadek took the number over from virgil and wore it until 1981. john rabb and jeff ransom both wore the number for the giants in 1982, with rabb having the distinction of being the last giants' player to do so. 

3 harold baines (retired by the white sox in 1989) 1997 upper deck

baines is considered by many to be at or near the low bar of the hall of fame. elected by the today's game committee in 2019, his counting stats are pretty good. he compares closest to tony perez which makes some sense to me. still, baines has many wondering (myself included) about some other "hall of very good" players who may yet have a shot at cooperstown.

the white sox retired baines' number 3 on august 20, 1989 while baines was very much still an active player. they had traded him to the rangers a few weeks prior, and in his first return to comiskey they held a surprise ceremony to honor him. of course, he made two more stops in chicago before his career was over, so he (like billy martin and earl weaver) got to wear the number after it had been retired as he is doing on the 1997 upper deck card above. however, even before his two return stops with the chisox, he was the last white sox player to wear the number.

3 dale murphy (retired by the braves in 1994) 1979 topps

murphy is one of those "hall of very good" players that could benefit from baines' induction. he won two mvp awards and to this young fan who followed his career in real time, was a shoo-in for the hall. he transitioned from catcher to first base early in his career (as shown on that 1979 topps card above) and hit his stride offensively at the same time that he moved to the outfield. he was a seven time all-star and won five gold gloves as a centerfielder in the 80's, but his production tailed off at the end of the decade and he finished out his career with some forgettable stints with the phillies and rockies.

the braves retired murphy's number on june 13, 1994 - about a year after he had played his final big league game. at that time, he was atop the leaderboard in many offensive categories for the atlanta iteration of the braves, including home runs, rbi, runs scored, and games played. he was the last brave to wear number 3.

3 alan trammell (retired by the tigers in 2018) 1995 pinnacle

trammell entered the hall of fame in 2018 after being voted in by the modern baseball era committee, and on august 26 of that same year, the tigers retired his number making ian kinsler the last tiger player to wear the number.

trammell was a four time gold glove winner at shortstop, was the 1984 world series mvp, and finished as high as 2nd in the 1987 mvp voting. trammell compares pretty closely to barry larkin in terms of stats, which is probably a pretty good comp in my opinion. measuring his value using modern metrics such as war, trammell sits ahead of larkin (just barely) and other hall of fame shortstops, and is even higher on the list when peak war is considered.

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

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

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4

guardians - 3

red sox - 1, 4

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2

reds - 1

braves - 3

astros

mets

orioles - 4

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3

white sox - 2, 3, 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3

cubs

royals

padres

athletics

angels

expos

rangers

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

retired number frequency:

1 - retired by 9 teams

2 - retired by 5 teams

3 - retired by 7 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): 36

running total of non-hall of famers: 5