a loaf of bread, a container of milk, a stick of butter, and a rehabbing pitcher

i was reminded recently about an experience i had thirty years ago or so when i was living in orange county. a grocery run to albertson's one day resulted in a quick interaction with big league pitcher steve ontiveros. he was with the angels at that time, working back from injury, and we wound up in the checkout line at the same time.

to be honest, i don't recall exactly why i recognized him. i think it had something to do with me following mlb transactions very closely at that time as i was manually updating rosters in my ea sports tony larussa baseball pc game. it helped that he was wearing an oakland a's sweatshirt at the time. a head nod and a "good luck" later, i was on my way.

he doesn't have any cards that i know of showing him as an angel, so i've added this 1996 upper deck collector's choice card of his

to my "meaningful and just because" collection. him being an athletic on the card in my collection actually makes more sense, if you think about it. bonus point if anyone remembers what influenced the title of this post!

remembering fernando still

one year ago today fernando valenzuela passed away. the dodgers have continued to honor him with a jersey patch throughout the 2025 season, rather than just wearing it during last year's world series (like they did with jim gilliam back in 1978). i think it was a nice touch by the franchise that benefited so much from fernandomania.

this card

from 2024 topps black & white might have been my favorite dodger card of 2024 had i picked it up last year. instead, i came across it early in 2025. it's still a fantastic card showing the stages of fernando's signature windup (at least from the stretch).

that is not the only card of his that i have added this year. here he is at another stage of his windup on his 1994 donruss card

it's fun to find cards of fernando as an oriole. here's his 1994 topps stadium club 1st day issue parallel

and here's another parallel - a 1995 upper deck electric diamond card

that not only shows him as a phillie, but also at the plate! he won a couple of silver slugger awards during his career.

most of his non-dodger cards come from his time with the padres, and that is due in large part to the proliferation of card manufacturers in the latter part of the 1990s. here are some more parallels from that era - 1996 upper deck collector's choice gold signature

1997 fleer ultra gold medallion edition

1997 pinnacle museum collection

he's been showing up in more and more modern releases as well. this is a 2017 topps new era version of a 1987 all-star card

that is similar to what was included in 2017 topps series 2, but the 30th anniversary stamp is not foil and i believe this was only available with a hat purchase.

here's another card from last year - 2024 topps archives black foil

i will always appreciate more fernando dodger cards, but couldn't topps issue at least one showing him during his (very) short stint as an angel?

it's also fun to add some oddballs from his playing days, like i did with this 1985 all-star program "insert"

it's hard to believe that it has been a year.

three down, nine to go

some may be aware that i have a "most wanted" list of cards as part of my want list. it's been around since the summer of 2009, and has seen a number of cards listed and removed as my collection has grown. i haven't done a great job of celebrating the arrival of these cards in the last few years, so i decided to focus a post on some of the recently obtained cards from my "nefarious 9".

1986 sportflics decade greats #32 duke snider

number on list: 8

why was it a "most wanted" card?: this card doesn't complete a team set, but it's from a set that i should have already completed so i decided to prioritize it.

how long was it on the list?: this is the reason for this post. i initially didn't recall when i added duke to the list because i didn't document the card his replaced and when that occurred. however, i remembered that fuji had knocked three cards off of my list last fall, and the snider card was one of the ones i added. so, it was on the list for about 3 months, as duke rolled in to my collection in early december.

how was the card obtained? duke's card was part of a sportlots order in december of 2024.

what replaced it on the list? i am continuing to prioritze the completion of my team set, so i added 1986 sportflics decade greats #33 roy campanella

2012 panini golden age #41 jackie robinson

number on list: 3

why was it a "most wanted" card?: outside of the steve garvey card from this set that is in my garvey collection, i didn't own any dodgers. targeting jackie robinson's card was a good start.

how long was it on the list?: i don't know. it was high enough on the list that it preceded the cards from fuji so i really can't say.

how was the card obtained? i added jackie's card to a comc order that i placed in january of 2025. it arrived on march 1, 2025.

what replaced it on the list? i try to replace cards obtained with cards from the same timeframe, so i am looking to complete a dodger team set by adding 2013 topps finest #47 hyun jin ryu to the list.

2023 topps heritage #445 dustin may

number on list: 4

why was it a "most wanted" card?: this short print card completes my 2023 topps heritage dodger team set, including the high numbers release.

how long was it on the list?: i don't know, just like with jackie's card

how was the card obtained? i added may's card to a comc order that i placed in january of 2025. it arrived on march 1, 2025.

what replaced it on the list? i need one more card to complete my dodger team set of 2022 topps chrome refractors, so i added 2022 topps chrome refractor #84 albert pujols to the list

i also keep a list of nine non-dodger cards that i'd like to have, although i don't number them in any way. i did pick up one of those cards in a sportlots order in january:

1996 upper deck collector's choice #299 fernando valenzuela

the card arrived on january 17, 2025 and i replaced it on the list with 1984 topps tiffany #35 don sutton

can you help a blogger out? you will be rewarded!

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!

bonds. barry bonds.

i haven't seen the latest james bond movie. i guess i've become used to new movies being available for streaming right away and haven't made the effort to get out to an actual movie theater. i hear good things, but am not sure that i will see it on the big screen.

i have, however, added a few cards of another bonds - barry - to some of my mini-collections over the last several months. let's start with this 2001 topps fusion card

that features bonds in front of a dodger stadium wall mural. i believe the mural says "dodgers shock yanks" in reference to the 1963 world series. remember, 2000 was the year that the murals celebrated the greatest moments in dodger stadium history.

this 1994 upper deck collector's choice card

goes in the tatooine mini-collection, while this 1993 upper deck card

featuring bonds and teammates matt williams and will clark goes in my "names/numbers on the back" mini-collection. 

i also added this 1996 upper deck sp card

and this 1999 topps stars card

to that collection. i have another post with a bunch more of these cards that will feature a better explanation of it, including the origins of the mini-collection. i've mentioned it a bunch of times on the blogs but haven't really given it its due. stay tuned.

bonds also showed up on other players' cards a few times, and i've added some of those cards to my lurkers collection. cases in point - 1991 score rookies and traded tim teufel

with teufel's arm looking almost as awkward as joel youngblood's on a card of another tim.

1993 score mickey morandini highlight

where bonds was the third out in moranidini's unassisted triple play

1996 ud collector's choice cal ripken jr collection

showing off his popularity in the all-star voting which was second only to ripken in 1995

2000 topps barry larkin

a card that is only barry, barry good, as the giant player sliding in is not, in fact, barry bonds (thanks laurens)!

and last but not least, 1999 upper deck mo vaughn

my what large pectoral muscles you have, mr. bonds!

my favorite cards of the year - 1996 edition

i recently introduced my mini collection focusing on my favorite cards from each year that i've been a collector. the basic gist is that i wanted to create a space for the cards that i most appreciated having in my collection in the year that they were released. these were cards that i acquired in the year that they were issued, and that i considered to be my favorites at the time. i have disallowed (most) cards that are already in other mini collections in order to avoid having a mini collection consisting of more steve garvey, double plays, and dodger stadium cards.

i went to the national in 1996. it was held in anaheim and was the second national that i attended (my dad took me to the first one in 1980, although i don't think it was advertised as the national back then). i had not been paying attention in 1991 when it was also in anaheim, but i was full bore back in to collecting this time around. i don't recall anything specific from the convention, however. i am sure i was looking for some 1970 topps cards for my set build and some steve garvey cards, too.

favorite non-dodger card: collector's choice babe ruth

i showed this card back in june as it is part of the subset that i collected in addition to completing the full collector's choice set when it was released. i was all-in for collector's choice starting in 1994, and some of my favorite cards from each year are from the brand (see 1994 and 1995). the card features an iconic photo of the bambino, and one that i had seen many times, although not on a baseball card, and so i was happy to have it with the babe's complete career stats on the back. 

back in the early 1980's, one of my best friend's brothers had a poster of babe ruth on his wall, and it was a poster with this image. i remember asking my friend why his brother had a poster of ruth (the posters on my wall were of steve garvey, ron cey, and don sutton), and his brother overheard my question. his answer was "because it's f*cking babe ruth". i can respect that.

favorite dodger card: pinnacle raul mondesi

there weren't a lot of centerfield shots on baseball cards back when this card was issued, and there still aren't many today. most of the games we watch are on tv, with this being the dominant view of the action, but it is underrepresented on cardboard. i liked this card right away for the vantage point, as well as the fact that pinnacle used the image even though it's kind of fuzzy, and they didn't bother to level it out, either. it's reminiscent of 1970's topps cards where it looked like a lot of the stadiums were built on a slope.

up next, 2017. stay tuned!

first class collecting

here's another subset i've kept together for a while. i completed the 1994 upper deck collector's choice set - it was so different and fun - but i don't recall completing any other cc sets, even though i bought a lot of packs in 1995 and 1996 in particular.

my favorite thing about the 1996 set was the "first class" subset

what are you grinning at, you ghost?

for those who have been following (or have seen even just one of) my hall of famer collection posts, you know that i hold the first class of inductees in to the hall in high regard. that first class is not to be confused with the players that attended the opening of the hall, as that took place in 1939 while the first players elected to the hall were chosen in 1936. the class was small, and included babe ruth

ty cobb

walter johnson

christy mathewson

and honus wagner

cobb led the field with 98.2% of the baseball writer's vote, with ruth and wagner behind him at 95.1%. mathewson garnered 90.7% and johnson came in with 83.6%. the next closest to the required 75% was nap lajoie, who earned 64.6% of the vote. the rest of the players in the top ten were tris speaker (58.8%), cy young (49.1%), rogers hornsby (46.5%), and mickey cochrane (35.4%). 

the fact that young was not included in the first class boggled my mind as a young fan, and it wasn't until much later that i learned he was likely excluded due to confusion over the voting. for the first class, there was a veteran's committee set up to vote for players from the 19th century, while the writers considered 20th century players. cy young played in both centuries, and garnered about half the vote from each committee. because of the fact that even then the writers were limited to 10 players on their ballots, my guess would be that many writers left young off of their ballot thinking that he would be given greater consideration by the veteran's committe, and vice versa.

the other thing i find interesting about that first year of voting is that active players, such as hornsby and cochrane, received votes. they were at the end of their careers, but even guys like lou gehrig and jimmie foxx, who didn't finish his playing career until 1945 received votes. it seems that there was better guidance given in subsequent years, and so all of those players waited until their careers were over to be inducted. gehrig, of course, was elected through a special election following his retirement during the 1939 season so that he could be inducted in the classes enshrined at the opening of the hall that same year.

i really appreciated seeing these cards at the 60th anniversary of these players being voted in as the first hall of fame class, and it remains one of my favorite subsets that i've completed outside of the full set.