my retired number collection - plenty of twenty

this is the 19th 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 people for whom number 20 has been retired:

frank robinson (retired by the orioles in 1972) 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts

the orioles retired number 20 for frank robinson on march 10, 1972 when he was still an active player. of course, he had been traded to the dodgers about three months prior to that date, bringing an end to his six-year tenure with the o's. it was a pretty good run, as he won the triple crown in 1966, his first year in baltimore. that same year, he was voted the most valuable player in the american league (becoming the first player to win the award in each league) as well as the world series mvp as he led the orioles to a world series title over the dodgers.

overall for the orioles, robinson hit .300 and hit 179 homers with 545 rbi in his six seasons. the 2007 upper deck sp legendary cuts card i chose shows him during his playing days, but robinson also wore number 20 when he managed the orioles in the late 1980's and early 1990's. he was the last person - player or coach/manager to wear the number for the team. he was elected to the hall of fame in 1982 on his first ballot, and is enshrined as an oriole.

pie traynor (retired by the pirates in 1972) 1976 topps

there aren't too many card options other than this 1976 topps card for traynor, who played for the pirates from 1920-1937 and served as their manager from 1934-1939. he was the first pirate to wear number 20, but richie hebner holds the distinction of being the last to don it having done so in the 1971 season prior to its retirement on april 18, 1972. he spent his entire career with the pirates.

traynor hit .320 over his career and was considered by most to be the greatest third baseman in the game's history (as indicated by his inclusion in the 1976 topps all-time all-stars subset) up until brooks robinson and another guy we will cover a bit later in this post came along. he was elected to the hall of fame in 1948 on his ninth ballot.

lou brock (retired by the cardinals in 1979) 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game

brock's number 20 is front and center on his 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game card which shows him sliding into third base - hopefully on a successful stolen base attempt. the cardinals, brock's second franchise, retired his number on september 9, 1979 just three weeks in advance of his retirement as a player and just shy of a month after he joined the 3,000 hit club.

brock's claim to fame was the stolen base, and he led the national league in that category 8 different times. he retired as baseball's all-time stolen base leader and held the all-time season stolen base record until rickey henderson passed him in both categories. he was obviously the last cardinal to wear number 20, and was elected to cooperstown in 1985 on his first ballot.

mike schmidt (retired by the phillies in 1990) 1984 topps

michael jack schmidt is the guy i alluded to earlier as up for consideration for the greatest third baseman of all-time. i'm biased a bit because he comes from my prime fandom years, but the stats are undeniable: 548 home runs, three national league mvp awards, 12 time all-star, nine consecutive gold gloves (10 overall), and a world series championship and mvp award. that is quite a career. i appreciate his 1984 topps card for showcasing the number as well as giving us a good look at the last zipper jerseys in the big leagues.

fittingly, the phillies retired his number on may 26, 1990 - just about a year after he announced his retirement during the 1989 season. he was the last phillie to wear number 20, and he was elected to the national baseball hall of fame in his first year of eligibility in 1995 with 96.5% of the vote, which at the time was the fourth highest percentage ever achieved, behind tom seaver, ty cobb, and hank aaron.

frank white (retired by the royals in 1995) 1985 topps

it's fitting that i chose white's 1985 topps card for this collection because that is the year that white and the royals won their first world series title, but truth be told it was the first card of his that featured the number somewhat prominently. white spent his entire 18 year big league career in kansas city, retiring after the 1990 season with 2,006 hits and eight gold gloves to his name.

white was the mvp of the 1980 alcs, helping the royals secure their first pennant, and he retired as perhaps the second greatest royal behind george brett. he is not in the national baseball hall of fame, but his value to the franchise was shown during the 1995 season when he was enshrined in the team's hall of fame. while the team did not issue his number to anyone after he retired following the 1990 season, they waited to formally honor its retirement until may 2, 1995 presumably to coincide with the team's hall of fame induction. 

don sutton (retired by the dodgers in 1998) 1977 topps

there's no missing don sutton's number on his 1977 topps card - i love the dodgers' red jersey front numbers and hope that the uniform snafu currently going around the big leagues doesn't impact this iconic look. anyway, sutton waited until august 14, 1998 to have his numbered retired by the dodgers - that's almost 10 years to the day after his final appearance on the mound in a big league game - as they were honoring their (almost always adhered to) rule of waiting for a player or manager to be elected to the hall of fame. sutton got in in 1998 on his fifth ballot which was crazy to me as a fan.

sutton racked up 233 wins and 2,696 strikeouts in his two stints as a dodger, both best in franchise history until clayton kershaw passed him in strikeouts during the 2022 season. kershaw is only 23 wins behind sutton at this point, but has no chance in passing sutton in some other catergories in which he leads all dodger pitchers, such as starts (533), innings pitched (3,816.1), and shutouts (52). 

sutton is the reason that frank robinson didn't wear number 20 during his lone season with the dodgers (he wore 36), and even though sutton amassed the majority of those stats with the dodgers from 1966 through 1980, the club didn't hesitate to reissue his number when he left for houston following the 1980 season. candy maldonado was the first to wear it after sutton departed, although sutton later reclaimed it from phil garner in 1988 when he returned. after the dodgers released sutton late in the 1988 season, they again reissued the number to several players until darren lewis (in 1997) became the last dodger player to wear it.

frank robinson (retired by the reds in 1998) 2002 topps american pie

robinson began his career with the reds by winning the 1956 national league rookie of the year award and continued to perform at a high level through the 1965 season - his last in cincinnati. he was the 1961 national league mvp as he led the reds to the pennant that year and their first world series since 1940. the 2002 topps american pie card i chose shows him in the early 1960's with his number clearly visible.

the reds wound up trading robinson to baltimore following the 1965 season with his 324 home runs totaling the most in franchise history. he has since been passed in that category by johnny bench and joey votto, but he is still the franchise's all-time leader in slugging percentage and ops. despite his success for the franchise, the reds reissued robinson's number in 1966. it was last worn by chris stynes in 1997 before being retired on may 22, 1998.

luis gonzalez (retired by the diamondbacks in 2010) 2001 pacific private stock

it makes sense to use a 2001 card like that pacific private stock issue for gonzalez here because he cemented his place in diamondbacks lore that year. all he did was hit 57 home runs during the regular season and lead the dbacks to the national league pennant. then, in the world series, he hit a walk-off series winning single off of mariano rivera in game 7 to give the franchise their first title.

his number 20 was the first number to be retired by the franchise for one of their own players, and gonzalez was given the honor on august 7, 2010. prior to that, the diamondbacks had a "hall of fame" policy similar to the dodgers', but they relaxed that stance to honor gonzalez. jeff suppan is the only other diamondback to have worn number 20 for the team, but gonzalez was the last.

monte irvin (retired by the giants in 2010) 2004 topps all-time fan favorites

irvin's 2004 topps all-time fan favorites card gives us just a tease of his number 20, but it's the best i could find. he was 30 by the time he was brought into the major leagues by the giants in 1949 as their first black player following the sport's integration in 1947, and in 1951 he had his best season. as the giants' primary left fielder that year, he led the league in rbi with 121 and finished third in the mvp voting. he hit .458 in the world series that year, although the giants lost to the yankees. irvin helped the club return in 1954, however, and this time he and his teammates brought home the championship.

while irvin's tenure with the giants was short (he played with them from 1950 through 1955) he was a star for the newark eagles before heading to new york, and he was inducted to the hall of fame in 1973 on the merits of his full career - both in the negro leagues and the national league. and, while the giants retired his number on june 26, 2010. many giant players (and frank robinson as the team's manager) wore number 20 following irvin's time with the club, but john bowker was the last to do so, and he did so as late as a month prior to its retirement.

jorge posada (retired by the yankees in 2015) 2009 topps update & highlights

posada switched from number 20 to 22 after mike stanley was reacquired by the yankees towards the end of the 1997 season, but in 1998 he switched back and never relinquished the number again. the yankees decided to retire it in posada's honor after he retired following the 2011 season, and they kept it out of rotation until the formal retirement ceremony was held on august 22, 2015.

a member of the yankees' "core four", posada was the team's primary catcher on all four of the club's recent world series winning teams and he ranks eighth all-time among yankees in terms of games played. posada is not in the hall of fame, although if yadier molina makes it someday i would expect his candidacy to be revisited by an eras committee.

frank robinson (retired by the guardians in 2017) 2008 topps sterling

robinson didn't spend a lot of time in cleveland, but he finished his playing career there and made a mark on baseball history at the same time. he joined the club near the end of the 1974 season, and when 1975 came around, his role had been expanded to include the managerial duties - making him the first black manager in the major leagues. he made his last appearance as a player on september 16, 1976 and singled in a run in his final at bat. robinson remained the manager of the indians until a few weeks into the 1977 season when he was replaced by jeff torborg.

the indians retired his number on may 27, 2017 making rajai davis the last cleveland player to wear number 20. i was happy to find the 2008 topps sterling card shown above from his playing days in cleveland - not too many of those cards out there.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 18 posts so far):

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

giants - 3, 4, 11, 20

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

guardians - 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 20, 455

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20

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

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

braves - 3, 6, 10

astros - 5, 7

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20

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

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14

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

brewers - 1, 4, 19

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

cubs - 10, 14

royals - 5, 10, 20

padres - 6, 19

athletics - 9

angels - 11

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

major league baseball

rays - 12, 66

diamondbacks - 20

blue jays

rockies - 17

mariners - 11

nationals - 11

marlins

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 (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024)

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)

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): 97

running total of non-hall of famers: 34

my retired number collection - the high numbers

this is the 18th 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 people for whom numbers greater than 59 have been retired:

66: don zimmer (retired by the rays in 2015) 2010 dav mlb

zimmer was neither a player nor a manager for the rays, but was honored by the club by having his number 66 retired on april 6, 2015 - the first opening day following his passing. zimmer joined the rays in 2004 after leaving the yankees for whom he had been a coach under joe torre and remained with the club until his death in june of 2014. 

i couldn't find a card showing the number (and was very glad to find this 2010 dav card) and that is due to zimmer's role with the rays being a special advisor rather than a coach. however, he donned the uniform during spring training to provide some on field coaching to the players before moving to an executive suite during the regular season. according to baseball reference, no rays player ever wore 66. i'm not sure if other field personnel wore it before zimmer, but we know nobody will after.

72: carlton fisk (retired by the white sox in 1997) 1985 topps

i think this is the first instance of the leg number being used to represent a retired number in this collection, but fisk's 1985 topps record breaker card gives a good shot of the number which is too often obscured by catcher's gear. fisk, who wore number 27 with the red sox (we will see that covered in a future post) turned the number around when he joined the white sox in 1981. he wound up playing in more games as a member of the white sox than he had for the red sox which doesn't seem quite right to me. 

fisk retired after he was released by the white sox during the 1993 season, just a few days after he broke bob boone's record for most games played as a catcher. his release effectively ended his career, and he  did not associate with the white sox until he returned for the first time four years later, on september 14, 1997, when they retired his number (although it hadn't been worn by anyone since fisk's departure). as the all-time home run champ among catchers should be, fisk was elected to the hall of fame in 2000. 

a couple more "high numbers" are retired, but are not included in my collection. the cardinals retired number 85 for their owner august busch, and the guardians franchise has retired number 455 in honor of their fans who achieved 455 consecutive sellouts at jacobs field during the 1990's. i am not sure how many franchises have retired a number for their fans, but i know that the nhl's minnesota wild has done it - they chose number 1.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 18 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16

giants - 3, 4, 11

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11

guardians - 3, 5, 14, 18, 19, 455

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14

phillies - 1, 14, 15

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 85

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18

braves - 3, 6, 10

astros - 5, 7

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14

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

brewers - 1, 4, 19

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

cubs - 10, 14

royals - 5, 10

padres - 6, 19

athletics - 9

angels - 11

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

major league baseball

rays - 12, 66

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies - 17

mariners - 11

nationals - 11

marlins

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 (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024)

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

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): 91

running total of non-hall of famers: 31

my retired number collection - perfect 10s

this is the 11th 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 ten people for whom the number 10 has been retired:

phil rizzuto (retired by the yankees in 1985) 2000 upper deck yankees legends

number 10 was retired by the yankees in honor of rizzuto on august 4, 1985 making him the 12th yankee to be so recognized. rizzuto played for the yankees for 13 years, 11 as their regular shortstop. he was the 1950 american league mvp and was a big part of nine pennant winning teams with seven world series titles. he missed three years due to military service so his counting stats were not as great as they might otherwise have been. as a result, rizzuto was not elected to the hall of fame until 1994 when it was up to the veteran's committee. 

rizzuto remained with the yankees as a broadcaster until 1996. several yankees wore number 10 after rizzuto retired, including dick howser (more on him in a moment) and chris chambliss, although rick cerone was the last to do so, giving up the number after the 1984 season. the 2000 upper deck yankees legends card was the best one i could find showing rizzuto's number, and it's a double play card to boot.

dick howser (retired by the royals in 1987) 1985 topps

i could not find a standard card for howser showing his number 10, so i went with his 1985 topps card which comes from the season in which he led the royals to their first world series title. howser's teams had been winless in the post season three times prior to 1985 (1980 yankees, 1981 royals, and 1984 royals) before they beat the blue jays and cardinals in the 1985 postseason, with both series going seven games.

no royal wore number 10 after howser, who stepped down from his role during the 1986 season following the all-star game due to a malignant brain tumor. while he attempted to return to managing during spring training the following year, he was unable to do so and passed away on june 17, 1987. the royals retired his number posthumously on july 3, 1987.

rusty staub (retired by the expos in 1993) 1994 ted williams

and andre dawson (retired by the expos in 1997) 1981 topps

this is the first instance of a team retiring a number for two different players at two different times. the expos retired the number of staub, an original expo, on may 15, 1993 just a couple of months before they bestowed the same honor on gary carter. it is fitting that they made staub the first in franchise history to receive the recognition as he was a fan favorite from the start of the franchise's first season, and was their first all-star representative.

nicknamed "le grand orange", staub played only three seasons in montreal, plus a late-career partial season in 1979, so he didn't accumulate a ton of stats as an expo. his ops is second only to vladimir guerrero's in expo history, however.

andre dawson came along a few years after staub was traded to the mets and promptly won the national league rookie of the year award in 1977. he won six gold gloves while with the expos and still shows up high on the franchise leader board in a number of categories, even factoring in nationals players. dawson left montreal after the 1986 season for the cubs, where he promptly won the mvp award. he was voted in to the hall of fame in 2010, although the expos retired his number on july 6, 1997 immediately following the end of his playing career.

obviously, staub was not the last expo to wear number 10, but dawson was. the nationals do not recognize the numbers retired by the expos, and so 10 has been in circulation with yan gomes wearing it most recently. while the nationals don't recognize the numbers, i do in terms of this collection if for no other reason that the expos need to be remembered. the 1994 ted williams staub card has long been a favorite of mine, and the 1981 topps dawson card is one of my favorites of the hawk. i am happy to be able to put both cards in this collection!

ron santo (retired by the cubs in 2003) 2005 topps all-time fan favorites

i continue to be thankful for teams who show uniform numbers on the front (and sleeves) as it makes it much more likely that the numbers will be visible on cards like this 2005 topps all-time fan favorites card. i am also thankful that card companies began making sets featuring retired players to increase the likelihood of a photo of guys like santo showing their number would be used as opposed to the old standard portrait images.

santo was the cubs' third baseman for 14 seasons, and he was a gold glover in five of those campaigns. being a cub in the 1960's and 70's meant that he never made the postseason, but he did turn in a number of strong offensive years and finished his cub career with 337 home runs. he was traded to the white sox after the 1973 season, which prevented him from being a lifelong cub like teammate ernie banks.

billy grabarkewitz wore number 10 immediately after santo's departure, but the team took it out of circulation in the late 1990's, making terrell lowery the last cub to wear the number before it was retired on september 28, 2003. unfortunately, santo passed away just over a year before he was elected to the hall of fame by the golden era committee in 2012.

sparky anderson (retired by the reds in 2005) 2001 topps archives

i didn't have a double of sparky's 1971 topps card, but this 2001 topps archives card does the trick just as well. anderson managed the reds from 1970 through 1978. he led them to four pennants and two world series titles - back to back championships in 1975 and 1976.

the team was stacked during those years with the "big red machine" in full display, featuring pete rose and future hall of famers johnny bench, joe morgan, and tony perez. anderson also received the call to the hall in 2000, thanks in large part to his tenure in cincinnati. even though he was a hall of famer, the reds did not immediately take sparky's number out of rotation, meaning that jason romano was the last red to wear it during the 2004 season.

tony larussa (retired by the cardinals in 2012) 2004 topps

larussa went out on top when he retired after the 2011 season. he had just led the cardinals to a world series title, his third as a manager and second in st. louis. the team responded by retiring his number on may 11, 2012. his 2004 topps card shows the number nicely, along with larussa in his managerial postgame handshake position, so it's a good fit for this collection.

as the cardinals' manager, larussa led the team to three pennants in 16 seasons, along with seven division titles. he was the last cardinal to wear number 10, and he was inducted in to the hall of fame as a manager in 2014.

tom kelly (retired by the twins in 2012) 1989 donruss all-stars

kelly led the twins to a world series title in 1987, his first full year as their manager. as a result, he got to manage the american league in the 1988 all-star game which is how he ended up on this 1989 donruss all-stars card. i am thankful for that, as it shows his number better than any other card i could find. i should note that while kelly wore 16 for the twins as a player, he chose 10 as 16 was being worn by frank viola in the 1980's. it turns out that kelly was the last to wear the number for the twins.

kelly also led the twins to the world series championship in 1991, and he was named the league's manager of the year that season as well. his other twin teams did not fare so well, never finishing atop the division or making the postseason, and after the 2001 campaign he was replaced by ron gardenhire. still, the twins inducted him in to their hall of fame and retired his number on september 12, 2012.

chipper jones (retired by the braves in 2013) 2004 donruss team heroes glossy

i like chipper in the throwback uniform on that 2004 donruss team heroes card, enough so that the chip on the bottom of the card doesn't bother me. jones played for the braves for the entirety of his career, hitting 468 home runs and amassing 2,726 hits. he was the 1999 nl mvp and was part of the dominant braves teams of the 1990's. 

jones was the last brave to wear number 10, as the team retired the number on june 8, 2013 - the year after he retired. he was elected to the hall of fame on his first ballot in 2018. 

michael young (retired by the rangers in 2019) 2004 donruss throwback threads

i don't believe that i've shown any cards from this set on this site before. this was one of the many donruss sets that flooded the market in the early 2000's, but it had some decent inserts that i chased down for my steve garvey collection. as for young, he finished his career as a dodger (and also spent time with the phillies that same season) but spent the rest of his career in texas.

in 13 years with the rangers, young put up 2,230 hits and a .301 batting average. he was a key component of their pennant winning teams in 2010 and 2011, and is the franchise's all-time leader in games, runs, hits, doubles, triples, and times on base. in recognition of his time with the franchise, the rangers retired his number on august 31, 2019, although no ranger had worn the number since young left the team after the 2012 season.

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

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

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9

guardians - 3, 5

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10

braves - 3, 6, 10

astros - 5, 7

mets

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

cubs - 10

royals - 5, 10

padres - 6

athletics - 9

angels

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

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

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)

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 70

running total of non-hall of famers: 12

lee smith is in my hall of famer collection

when i first put my list of players together that would make up my hall of famer collection, i had the idea of limiting myself to a certain number of entrants. that made no sense to an older version of myself, especially since some of the players i chose aren't in cooperstown. lee smith was one of the guys that i overlooked the first time around, but he's in the collection now with this card as his entry:

that's a 2023 topps archives signature series 1985 topps buyback autograph numbered 14/18

here's the back:

smith was the first pitcher to reach 400 saves for his career, and he was the all-time saves leader when he retired with 478. i think that when you retire atop an all-time leader board of one of, if not the most, significant statistics for your player category, you should be in the hall of fame. maybe there's a ray guy allegory to be made here, and, now that i think about it, i am sure that correlation was made in many debates about smith's worthiness of the hall.

i didn't get to see smith pitch in person during his prime, but i did see him a couple of times in his later years.  first time was on april 2, 1996 which was opening night at angel stadium. smith pitched the 9th inning for the halos, but they were down by nine so it didn't matter that smith gave up a hit and no runs, striking out one. he wasn't in line for the save.

i next saw him pitch in his final season, as an expo, against the dodgers on may 11, 1997. with the expos down a run, he pitched a flawless 8th inning, striking out eric karros to end the frame.

of course, my main recollection of smith is seeing him as a cub surrender a walk-off home run to steve garvey in the 1984 nlcs. even though garvey was still my guy, i had caught cubs fever and was going to be happy with a cubbie win. things just didn't work out that way, but that home run doesn't diminish smith's achievements, or his worthiness as a hall of famer.

you can see smith with the rest of my hall of famer collection here!

my take on the warhol rose infinite parallel project

it's been about five months since gavin posted about the "warhol rose infinite parallel project" and i am just now getting around to posting my contribution.

for those of you not familiar - click on the link above to catch up. i'll wait.

so, here is the "base" card design that gavin provided

it's a different take on rose's 1985 topps card, with plenty of blank space to play with.

my parallel was inspired by hit number 4192 which came against eric show and the padres 38 years ago tomorrow. this was such a big deal, for those of you who don't recall or weren't around, that the major tv networks cut in to show rose's at bats live.

anyway, there are a couple of cards in my collection that show the aftermath of that historic hit, including this 1991 the shanks collection broder

and this 1994 upper deck the american epic card

i even whipped up a custom of my own a long time ago to create one of the "missing" cards from the 1999 upper deck century legends set

each of those cards are in my collection because they show steve garvey in the background. so, i had to do something similar for gavin's project - behold:

sure, i left some of it unfinished, but for me the background is the focus.

there are two things that i think about every time i see the photo of rose pointing to the sky with garvey in the background:

1. how cool is it that garvey was on the field to see both babe ruth's career home run record and ty cobb's career hits record fall?
2. garvey smiling makes me think that he was happy for rose's success. i try to be that way with others, too.

i wish there were more cards that featured that particular photo, but i am thankful for the few that do - including broders and customs.

thanks for the inspiration and template gavin!

what's in the box?

it wasn't really bidding under the influence, but a few weeks ago, i threw a $1 bid on a lot of dodger stuff that was supposedly from an estate sale. i saw a few things in the photos that made me feel comfortable with spending $21 on the stuff, as shipping was $19.99.

nobody else bid, and a few days later, a large flat rate priority mail box showed up on my doorstep.

i thought i knew what to expect, but there was a fair amount of dodger ephemera that wasn't visible in the photos. let's have a look.

probably the most interesting item to me was this 1988 world series pinback button:

i did not see this button in the photos, so it was a surprise. there was a lot of stuff like this for sale at dodger stadium during the 1988 world series - stuff that says "national league champions" - which is now less desirable (i assume) because the dodgers went on to win the series. for example, my dad bought a national league champions sweatshirt at the stadium during game 1 of the series. he still has it, but never bothered to buy a world champions sweatshirt to supersede it.

the oldest item was this "quick" magazine

from april of 1951 featuring don newcombe on the cover. it was interesting to flip through the magazine which appears to be a sort of reader's digest of the weekly news. the baseball stories were short, including the one regarding newk.

there were seven loose 5x7 black and white dodger player pictures. interestingly, the more recent players - gary thomasson, bob welch, doug rau, reggie smith, bobby castillo, and manny mota - were all in worse condition than this duke snider

i am working on a separate post that deals with these pictures that the dodgers sold at the stadium and through the mail - stay tuned for that!

back in 1982, you could pick up some dodger ephemera at unocal/union 76 gas stations as well as builder's emporium, which was a home improvement store. there were a bunch of these items included - from the union 76 volpe portrait set, there were four mike marshalls, one pedro guerrero, six steve garveys, two dusty bakers, three mike scioscias, and twelve (!) mark belangers.

as for the builder emporium sheets, there was a steve garvey

two steve sax sheets (in rough condition), four dusty baker, two jerry reuss, and two tom lasordas - both 

of which appear to have been signed.

there was a 1983 dodger program/scorecard (unscored)

from a series later in the season, with pedro guerrero on the cover and a nod to 1981 topps there on the front. there was a page inside dedicated to the ceremony that the team held for ron cey when the cubs came to town earlier in the year:

looks like the penguin received a few plaques.

one of the largest volume items in the box were commemorative sheets from 1984. these were available at union 76 gas stations just as the volpe portraits had been in 1982. they marked great moments in los angeles dodger history. i think i fell just short of a complete set (missing the four 30-homer dodgers, and the "tenth" man sheets), but there were eight willie davis hitting streak sheets, two jerry reuss/bill singer no-hitter sheets, four 1981 world series champions sheets, two record setting infield (yay!) sheets, four 1959 world series champions sheets, nine don drysdale scoreless streak sheets, three manny mota pinch hit sheets, three maury wills 104 stolen bases sheets, two 1977 nlcs sheets, three 1965 world champions sheets, seven fernando mania sheets, one bob welch strikes out reggie jackson sheet, and four roy campanella night at the coliseum sheets. that's 52 sheets! here's the 1959 world series champions sheet

since it has some imagined baseball cards on it.

the dodgers gave out baseball cards at games starting in 1981. they were sponsored by the los angeles police department, and were oddly sized. this box included a couple of loose 1982 cards of mark belanger and ron roenicke

as well as 15 loose cards from the 1986 set. there were three tom lasordas and two ken landreaux cards, and single cards of the coaching staff, steve sax, franklin stubbs, pedro guerrero, alex trevino, jerry reuss, bob welch, ken howell, reggie williams, and orel hershiser.

that wasn't all, however, as there were 10 complete sets of the 1986 issue. 

eight were still sealed, and two were loose.

there were a bunch of dodger postcards, including three sealed packages. this fact lends credence to the idea that you could buy bundles of loose postcards from the dodgers (the first postcard sets sold at dodger stadium, i believe, were offered in a booklet form). i opened the packages up and found the players to be identical in each group:

dusty baker

greg brock

pedro guerrero
burt hooton

mike marshall
jerry reuss
bill russell

derrel thomas

fernando valenzuela

bob welch

however, one of the three packages had different postcards for baker, hooton, reuss, and russell than the other two. all three packages featured a mix of postcard years. i think this has been suggested before - that the dodgers, while they printed new postcards most years in the 1970's and early 1980's, would combine various years when putting together groups for sale. at any rate, this is a batch that was put together in 1983 at the earliest given the presence of brock and marshall.

there were also six other postcards included loose in the box - two brocks and a guerrero to match the ones in the sealed packages, plus two manny mota and one each of tom lasorda and davey lopes. those six were also from a mix of years.

of the seventeen different postcards (out of 36 total), the only one i needed was this dusty baker

which i would catalog as a 1982 issue based on the research that i presented in this post.  in fact, baker is the m-13 card 

which i was unsure even existed! this all reminds me that mrmopar provided me with some checklist information for dodger postcards after that post ran, and i need to go through and apply that information to my theories. 

there was a lot of other dodger ephemera, including:

8x10 team issue color photo john roseboro

8x10 photographs of kirk gibson - one in home uniform and one in away grays

1985 dodger media guide (with bill russell on the cover)

2 issues of dodgers magazine, both from 1990 - vol 3 #1 and vol 3 #3. both unscored

2 1988 nlcs programs, both unscored

1990 dodgers yearbook - their centennial season with cover art by leroy nieman

and, of course, there were cards, including an intact, non-separated sheet of 1994 dodgers police cards. it's not in the best shape, however.

as for "normal" cards, i counted 228 of them, including a few fleer stickers. the oldest cards were from 1968, and there were two of the jack billingham/jim fairey rookie card

the other '68 was willie davis.

by far, the newest item in the box was a random 2013 topps juan uribe gold parallel

i knew it was in there based on the auction photos, and i knew it was a need for my collection. however, i didn't expect to find any other dodger cards that i needed. i was pleasantly surprised.

these 1985 fleer star stickers of orel hershiser and alejandro pena

completed my team set. always nice to get a hershiser rookie of any variety!

there were a bunch of 1986 fleer mini dodgers, but only one set of the mini stickers

which i needed (they weren't even on my want list). i also needed these 1987 and 1988 fleer sticker inserts,

(or are they 1988 and 1987?) and i decided to add this 1983 fleer bob welch card

to my lurker collection - hello ron cey!

these 1986 topps and topps traded cards were needs

because they are the tiffany versions. just need alex trevino to complete the traded tiffany set.

there were a few oddball sized cards:

2 1985 donruss 3x5 all-stars pedro guerrero

1 1984 topps super pedro guerrero

2 1984 topps super fernando valenzuela

of those, i needed one of the 1984 topps super valenzuela

cards for my dodger collection

here's a signed 1987 topps reggie williams card

that was included

there were more non-dodger steve garvey cards than dodgers:

and there were a few other random cards that didn't really belong at all

although i guess i could sort of understand a mattingly card

in amongst the dodger stuff - just not a 1990 leaf.

finally, there were some 1985 topps r.j. reynolds cards

and by "some" i mean 88 of them. it's his rookie card - i wonder if he'll pan out.

i had a lot of fun going through this box. if anyone needs an '85 topps rj - you know where to find me!