my retired number collection - 44

this is the 42nd 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.

so, without further ado, here are the three people for whom number 44 has been retired:

hank aaron (retired by the brewers in 1976) 1976 topps

the brewers were quick to retire hank aaron's number 44, doing so at some point after the home run king played in his final game on october 3, 1976. some sources say that was the day it was retired, but i could find no mention of any ceremony or announcement that day. certainly it was the last day the number was worn, but from what i've read, the brewers really didn't mark aaron's final game in any notable way. topps didn't bother to include aaron in the 1977 set (not even with even a highlight card as they had done with al kaline in 1975 and would do with brooks robinson in 1978) either, but his 1976 topps card fits well within this collection as it shows his number pretty clearly.

we all know that bud selig, the owner of the brewers, was a big fan of the milwaukee braves and so bring aaron back to milwaukee for the 1975 and 1976 seasons was probably a no-brainer for the future commissioner. as a brewer, aaron hit 22 homers in 222 games. he legged out an infield single in his final at bat, but was denied the opportunity to score one more run to pass babe ruth on the all-time leader board when he was removed for a pinch runner.

hank aaron (retired by the braves in 1977) 1982 topps kmart 20th anniversary

the braves kept number 44 out of circulation in 1975 and 1976, and formally retired it for aaron on april 15, 1977 during pre-game ceremonies. at the time, aaron was the only player to have his number retired by two franchises. he spent the bulk of his career with the braves - first in milwaukee and then in atlanta - and became the all-time major league home run king at home in fulton county stadium as a brave (on a pitch from another 44 in al downing). that moment is captured on the 1982 topps kmart card i've used for this collection. it was the first hank aaron card i owned, and i treasured it.

as a brave, aaron had 3,600 hits and 733 home runs to go along with a .310 batting average. he led the milwaukee braves to back-to-back pennants in 1957 and 1958 with a world championship in '57. that same season, he was the national league mvp - just one of seven seasons in which he finished in the top 3 of mvp finalists. to this day, aaron remains one of the greatest hitters to ever play the game and was inducted into the hall of fame in 1982 on his first ballot.

willie mccovey (retired by the giants in 1980) 1978 topps

i am always happy to be able to use a 1978 topps card in any collection, and willie mccovey's record breaker card from that set does the job nicely in this one. the giants retired mccovey's number on september 21, 1980 which was a couple of months after he played in his final game, so that means that nobody on the giants wore 44 after mccovey, who was ultimately voted into the hall of fame in 1986 on his first ballot.

in two separate stints with the giants, mccovey hit 469 home runs and drove in 1,388 runs. he won the rookie of the year award in 1959 and the mvp award 10 years later. he led the league in homers three times as a giant, and helped the club to the 1962 pennant. he famously lined out to end the 1962 fall classic with the winning run on second base, breaking giants fans' hearts, including that of charles schulz who created an iconic comic strip shortly thereafter.

reggie jackson (retired by the yankees in 1993) 1993 upper deck fifth anniversary

the "straw that stirs the drink" led the yankees to american league pennants in three of his five seasons in new york and was recognized with a number retirement ceremony on august 14, 1993. that came just after he was inducted into the baseball hall of fame on his first ballot, going in as a yankee. i like that the card i chose for this collection, the 1993 upper deck fifth anniversary insert above, shows both his number 44 and one of his prodigious swings. 

while reggie wore number 9 with the a's and orioles prior to joining the yankees, he had to choose a new number in new york since number 9 belonged to graig nettles. jackson considered 42 in honor of jackie robinson, and actually wore number 20 for frank robinson during spring training before switching to 44 to honor the recently retired hank aaron.

the highlight of reggie's yankee tenure was 1977. in his first season with the club, he was the mvp of the world series, hitting five home runs against the dodgers, including three in the series clinching game 6. in all, he hit 144 homers for the yankees, leading the league in that category in 1980 with 41. in doing so, jackson was the first yankee to reach the 40 home run mark since roger maris and mickey mantle did so in 1961. when jackson left to join the angels in 1982, the yankees did not recirculate his number which i thought was a (rare) classy move by george steinbrenner.

as a young fan in the late 1970's, i considered 44 to be a slugger's number, and you can see why with these three guys. i was a little confused when mickey hatcher took the number for the dodgers, but felt a little bit better when darryl strawberry arrived and claimed it for his own. i don't know if we will see another 44 retired anytime soon, although i could see the diamondbacks doing it for paul goldschmidt at some point in the future just because.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 42 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44

giants - 3, 4, 11, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 36, 42

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 33, 40, 42, 44

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

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 26, 27, 34, 42

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 34, 36, 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, 35, 41, 42, 44

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 40, 42

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31, 36, 37, 41, 42

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, 33, 42

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 32, 34, 39, 42

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 28, 34, 36, 42

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 35, 42, 72

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 34, 42, 44

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 23, 42

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

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 31, 35, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 34, 42. 43

angels - 11, 26, 30, 42

expos - 8, 10, 30, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 34, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 32, 42

rockies - 17, 33, 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 10 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

33 - retired by 4 teams

34 - retired by 8 teams (retired by astros and rangers for same person; retired by brewers and a's for same person; retired by a's for two players)

35 - retired by 3 teams

36 - retired by 4 teams

37 - retired by 2 teams (retired by mets and yankees for same person)

39 - retired by 1 team

40 - retired by 2 teams

41 - retired by 2 teams

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

43 - retired by 1 team

44 - retired by 4 teams (retired by brewers and braves 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): 154

running total of non-hall of famers: 53

say hey

for some reason, a couple of months ago, i suddenly decided to pick up another certified willie mays autograph. i have one in my hall of famer collection, but wound up adding this one

that's a 2001 topps team topps legends autograph card that uses his classic 1952 topps card to great effect. here's the back:

fast forward a couple of days ago when i read the announcement that mays would not travel to his home state of alabama for the game at rickwood field, home of the birmingham black barons that he once took the field for. i figured things must be serious for mays if he was missing that trip. the next day, we learned that he had passed away.

is he the greatest all-around ballplayer of all-time? he just may be.

over the last year, i added a couple of his cards to my name/number on the back collection, including this 1993 upper deck baseball heroes insert

and this 2004 topps heritage flashback insert

i will always associate mays with my dad, who is, almost to the day, five years younger than the say hey kid. he was and is a dodger fan, and would talk about seeing koufax and drysdale at dodger stadium in the early to mid-1960's, but he also told us that he would often make sure the dodgers were playing the giants when he headed to chavez ravine so that he could see willie mays. and, he would, on occasion, drive north to candlestick to see mays play there, too. 

at some point in my early fandom, i became enamored of "the catch" and to this day i will add any card showing that play to my collection. i once compared a catch i made at little league practice to mays' catch, and me and my friends all messed around with his basket catch, too. i am thankful, by the way, for derrel thomas, who helped bring it to our attention in the early 1980's.

i never saw mays play in person, and if i had i wouldn't remember it anyway - i was only two when he played in his final game. however, i have read enough and seen enough during my lifetime to know that he was a blessing to the sport. 

hey.

an embarrassment of opportunity

there were three card shows in the twin cities metropolitan area last saturday. the regular monthly club show, a semi-annual regional show at a local church, and a mall show. this would be the south metro, west metro, and east metro. i made it to two of them and could have hit the third but i haven't been too impressed with the mall shows over the last couple of years.

i started off with the church show, just because it usually features some different sellers than the club show (which is a given when they are on the same day), but it was a bit underwhelming in terms of the number of tables. it wasn't too crowded, however, so i was able to belly up to a few tables pretty easily.

first stop was an older couple who i have purchased cards from before. they have a good variety of stuff in their bargain boxes, although they don't have dime boxes. i started with the 6/$1 boxes, and my favorite find was this 2004 fleer greats of the game announcing greats card of kirk gibson and ernie harwell

but a close second was this 1993 upper deck robin yount and george brett insert

celebrating their 3,000 hits. i used to have a 3k collection and i still have a hard time passing up any cards that are based on that milestone for hitters or pitchers.

i had some good luck with the few dodgers i pulled as i didn't check want lists. thankfully, these were all needs

1994 upper deck mike piazza electric diamond parallel

1995 donruss studio mike piazza

1996 upper deck collector's choice raul mondesi silver signature parallel

and 2022 topps pro debut pee wee reese milb legends insert

technically, that reese card would be a red sox card as he was a member of their organization while playing in louisville, but i am making an exception because it's the champ.

i also added a 2022 topps chrome update purple refractor double play card to my collection

courtesy of jonathan villar. in all i wound up with 42 cards for $7, and then i took a look through their 3/$1 boxes. i came away with these 45 cards 

for $15, although the seller at first just asked for $3. i told her that my california math told me it was $15, but i was happy to pay her price. after that, she would call out to me as "california" when i walked by.

i poked around at a few other tables, but didn't bite on anything. then, on my last round of the church gymnasium i spotted a table with a small box that was maybe half full, but the cards in it were being offered for a dime apiece. i saw some inserts from 2023 topps archives and dug in, taking several home with me including these 9

plus freddie freeman's 1969 single player foil insert

as well as a few others from the set.

the box was mostly base cards, but there were a lot of 2023 panini donruss parallels and inserts, too.

i grabbed a couple of dodger parallels - jim gilliam's purple holo

and michael busch's carolina blue holo

those carolina blues are pretty sharp, in my opinion. the tim raines one is really nice.

i suppose this is a parallel, too

even though it is an insert. it's a rapture parallel of the elite series card for duke snider, to be exact.

i did grab a couple of base cards from the box, including a 1995 sportflix tony gwynn card

for the name/number on the back collection. in all, i wound up with 30 cards for $3 from this seller.

it was still somewhat early, so i decided to head to the club show. i will save that haul for a separate post. stay tuned!

if you've got a sombrero, throw it to the sky

friday night in los angeles kicks off a weekend celebrating fernandomania and its subject - fernando valenzuela. that same night - august 11 - the dodgers will retire number 34 in his honor.

i wrote earlier this year about the fact that fernando is already a member of the "legends of dodger baseball", and i will be interested to see how the team handles the transition from that group to the retired numbers faction. will they just move his monument from one spot to the other? that would be my guess.

anyway, here are some cards of fernando that i've added over the last year or so, starting with a 2017 topps rediscover topps buyback of his 1990 topps card

it's the silver stamp version, not that you can tell.

when it comes to adding cards of fernando to my dodger collection, i am down mainly to oddballs, wo here are a few of those that are new-ish to me

1981 all-star game program insert

1982 topps album stickers

1989 topps super star stickers (with rob deer)

1985 topps rub downs (with tony pena and robin yount)

i also finally added his 1987 star company set to my collection:

i bought the set as single cards on beckett since it was cheaper than what i saw for complete sets, however, one of the cards was missing so i had to pick up a single on ebay

back when the dodgers announced that they were going to retire fernando's number, i made the announcement that i was adding him to my post-dodger player collections. so, i've been adding non-dodger cards of fernando to my collection ever since. some i already had among my non-dodger duplicates and monster boxes, but some i've tracked down online.

i had a reader point out (thanks benjamin!) that fernando's two cards from the 1993-94 line up venezuelan winter league set were on ebay for cheap, but i was too slow to snag his solo card. i did get this card

showing him with urbano lugo. it's a great oddball and i am happy to have a card showing fernando in team mexico gear in my collection.

i've made some great progress in filling out the post-dodger collection (here's my have/want list) so i figured i would share with you. 

1993

you may recall that fernando pitched for the angels in 1991 after he was released by the dodgers just prior to the start of the season. there are sadly no cards of him in his angel uniform, so we jump to 1993. the orioles signed him to a contract and i was pretty happy that he was back in the majors.

those cards include flair, fleer, fleer ultra, leaf, o-pee-chee premier, and topps stadium club.  i have to show the back of the stadium club card

because it features his 1981 topps multi-player rookie (hello jack perconte and mike scioscia!). let's keep going with 1993-1994

i am a big fan of fernando's 1993 upper deck card (it was my favorite non-dodger card that year), and i was confused to find that topps included him in stadium club but not flagship (or traded). after finishing the 1993 season with the orioles, fernando was unsigned until well in to the 1994 campaign. so, it was nice that he was added to some card checklists that year as a phillie.  the cards above are his 1993 topps stadium club member's only parallel, 1993 upper deck, 1994 fleer, 1994 flair, 1994 fleer update, and 1994 pacific.

more from 1994

those are his pacific prism (circles), score, score gold rush, topps, topps gold, and topps stadium club cards from '94. that year marked the end of his run with topps until a few years after his retirement.

here's one more from '94 and some '95 cards

those are the 1994 topps stadium club rainbow foil, 1995 fleer, 1995 fleer update, 1995 mother's cookies padres, 1995 upper deck, and 1995 upper deck series 2 cards. as you can see, fernando left the phillies and joined the padres for the 1995 season.

more '95 cards

there we have his upper deck series 2 electric diamond parallel, his upper deck collector's choice cards (i have them out of order), the upper deck collector's choice trade card redemption, and 1995 upper deck collector's choice se - base and silver signature versions. those last two are nice because he's back in dodger stadium.

on to 1996

it's all padres here, as fernando spent 1996 with them, too. those cards are emotion-xl, flair, fleer tiffany, fleer ultra, mother's cookies padres, and pacific crown collection. i like the back of the emotion-xl card

as it shows fernando peeking to the sky during his wind up.

more from 1996, plus one from '97

pacific prisms, circa, upper deck (young at heart subset), upper deck collector's choice (international flavor subset), upper deck collector's choice silver signature are the '96 cards, and the last card is from 1997 donruss.  there was no regular card for fernando in 1997 upper deck (as was the case with some, but not all, of the other 'young at heart' subjects), but his young at heart card has his full stats on the back, along with a nice photo of him as a dodger

here are the rest of the 1997 cards that i own

donruss press proof, fleer, fleer metal, fleer ultra, mother's cookies padres, pacific crown collection, pacific prism invincibles, pinnacle, score, score premium stock, score showcase series, and upper deck. the back of the upper deck card notes that he was the winning pitcher in the first mlb game held in mexico.

i guess i have a couple more from 1997 - upper deck special report subset, and collector's choice

and those last two are his 1998 final tributes from upper deck and upper deck collector's choice. fernando pitched for the cards in 5 games after being traded by the pads in the middle of the 1997 season. the cardinals released him in july of 1997, so i was surprised (but super happy) to see him in 1998 releases.

as you can see, i am missing a few base cards so feel free to help me out with my post-dodger fernando collection. and don't forget to salute him this weekend as he becomes only the second non-hall of famer to have his numbered retired by the dodgers. fernandomania forever!

not all lurkers are in the background

my lurker collection was borne out of a desire to find a place in my collection for cards like the 1975 topps world series cards that covered a's victories but featured ron cey and steve yeager in the photo used. or, the 1976 topps steve ontiveros card that featured mike schmidt - a card that i featured in my very first lurker mini-collection post . those were the first cards i remember seeing that fit the "lurker" bill for me (you could argue that the cey and yeager examples are not lurkers at all), although there are other, better known examples.

one of the best known features a foreground lurker - here's nolan ryan on bud harrelson's 1971 topps card

plus, that's either joe morgan or jimmy wynn sliding in to second base. i know i have shown the harrelson card before, but it's a great example of a foreground lurker.

over the last couple of years, i've gone through a bunch of cards that were sitting in monster boxes and found some specimens to extract and add to this mini-collection of mine.  take a look:

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee alfonso soriano

i went looking for the play shown on the card, and if i recall correctly, it's from a game in 2007. dodger andy laroche is there in the foreground, and that's jeff kent in the background.

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee ryan sweeney (derek jeter)

plays at second base - whether they be double play turns or not - and plays at the plate are good for lurkers in front of the card's main subject.  case in point:

2014 topps jose altuve (mike trout)

2012 topps chrome jordany valdespin (giancarlo stanton)

more double plays to follow.

1997 fleer ultra rickey henderson (mike piazza)

yes, that's piazza's arms and leg waiting for rickey

mike piazza also gets the foreground lurker treatment on kerry wood's 2003 topps stadium club card

here's a good one - albert pujols' 2007 upper deck card

features justin verlander in the foreground and ivan rodriguez in the background.

staying with the background, my lurker collection allows me to keep a 1984 fleer glenn hubbard card

thanks to barney rubble and the phillie phanatic. of course, i would have had this card in my "meaningful and just because" mini-collection - there's no way my collection would be complete without it.

here's another good example of background lurking - 1990 fleer baseball all-stars robin yount (paul molitor)

sometimes the lurker is as prominent on the card as the subject, like this 1995 upper deck michael jordan card 

featuring harry caray, for example. and this 2001 upper deck joe dimaggio pinstripes exclusives card

featuring dimaggio and mickey mantle.

i guess what i am getting at is that there are a bunch of lurker cards out there that i've formally moved to my mini-collection. i may have shown some of these before, but oh well.  enjoy.

2016 topps update edwin encarnacion (mike trout)

2015 topps update paul goldschmidt (mike trout)

2000 fleer ultra sandy alomar jr (roberto alomar)

2012 topps opening day joe mauer (david ortiz)

2002 upper deck magglio ordonez (derek jeter)

2002 fleer ultra tino martinez (mike piazza)

2002 fleer ultra jeff kent (mike piazza)

i promised more double plays...

1990 upper deck bill doran (tony gwynn)

1992 donruss delino deshields (tom glavine)

1992 upper deck jose oquendo (ryne sandberg)

1993 leaf lance blankenship (robin yount)

1993 topps mickey morandini (andre dawson)

1993 upper deck jeff huson (back - rickey henderson)

1994 topps felix fermin (rickey henderson)

1994 upper deck collector's choice bret boone (rickey henderson)

1999 ud choice damion easley (rickey henderson)

1995 topps jose lind (cal ripken jr)

1995 upper deck denny hocking (frank thomas)

1998 pinnacle carlos baerga (ryne sandberg)

1998 topps joey cora (roberto alomar)

1998 topps kevin plawecki (larry walker)

1996 upper deck royce clayton (back - henry rodriguez)

2000 upper deck jay bell (dodger player)

2001 topps stadium club jose offerman (derek jeter)

2005 topps all-time fan favorites rod carew (brooks robinson)

2012 topps chrome orange refractor/2012 topps chrome/2012 topps opening day dee gordon (chipper jones)

2003 upper deck jerry hairston jr (dave roberts)

yes, he's hard to see, but that's dave roberts sliding in during his dodger playing days.

how about some catcher cameos?

1997 upper deck fred mcgriff (back - tom prince)

1993 upper deck kirt manwaring (gary carter)

1989 topps padres leaders (gary carter)

1978 topps roy white (carlton fisk)

2011 topps brian duensing (joe mauer)

2012 topps javy guerra (dioner navarro)

time for some coaches/managers!

1993 topps donovan osborne (joe amalfitano)

1975 topps mike marshall '74 highlights (walt alston, bill russell, steve yeager)

1995 score gold rush brian anderson (rod carew)

2008 topps john mclaren (ichiro)

here are even more lurker cards - background and foreground and equal ground!

1981 topps carl yastrzemski (carlton fisk)

1998 fleer si world series fever jim thome (cal ripken jr)

1995 upper deck collector's choice se juan gonzalez base and silver signature (reggie jackson)

1994 upper deck collector's choice frank thomas up close & personal (rickey henderson)

1994 upper deck harold baines (cal ripken jr)

1995 upper deck ozzie guillen (eddie murray)

1999 upper deck ray durham (rickey henderson)

1993 upper deck kelly gruber (jack morris - and pat borders)

1993 upper deck fred mcgriff (back - tony gwynn)

1993 upper deck ramon martinez (brett butler)

1999 topps sammy sosa (eric young - and (i think) todd hollandsworth)

2014 topps update chone figgins (clayton kershaw and don mattingly)

2015 topps stadium club carlton fisk (tom seaver)

2015 topps stadium club ernie banks (barack obama)

2007 upper deck masterpieces cal ripken jr (lou gehrig monument plaque)

yes, i know this one is a stretch.

just a couple more...

1994 upper deck all-time heroes johnny podres (roy campanella and don hoak)

and one of my favorite finds from the last couple of years:

1994 upper deck all-time heroes marv throneberry (bob gibson)

such a mets card. one of the best cards to show an error this side of dick green's 1973 topps card, and the fact that bob gibson is on the basepath makes it even better.