some favorites on card autos

i decided at some point in 2024 to seek out autographed cards of my favorite non-dodgers of the year. i have a card for each player representing the season in which they were my favorite, and i already have autograph cards of my favorite dodgers scattered throughout my dodger and steve garvey collections, and some of my non-dodger favorites were already in my hall of famer collection with autographed cards or in a couple of cases, other parts of my collection. still, there were a couple of non-dodger favorites that i was missing and in the end, i decided to add a new autograph for each member of this group to keep with my year-to-year favorites card collection.

i've finally finished this effort, so without further ado, here are the cards that i added for all of my yearly non-dodger favorites, from don baylor to byron buxton.

don baylor (1978-1979): 2000 fleer greats of the game autograph

baylor had a monster year in 1979 and led the angels to the postseason for the first time. however, i was already a big fan of pete rose, and i switched my favoritism to him starting with the 1980 season.

pete rose (1980-1982): 2016 panini pantheon milestone scripts /25

rose was the first of my favorite players - dodger or non-dodger - to win the world series as a favorite of mine. i definitely wanted this card to be from rose's philly days, and i was happy to find it for a pretty decent price (this was before rose passed away). i can remember a lot about the phillies' win over the royals to this day. once my favorite dodger left los angeles, however, i dropped pete like a hot potato.

steve garvey (1983-1987): 1999 fleer sports illustrated autograph

i now have three of these particular autograph cards in my collection - one in this one, one in my garvey collection, and one in my collection of cards featuring games that i've attended in person. garvey took the padres to their first, and his last, fall classic during this stretch where he was my favorite non-dodger. i held out hope that he would return in 1988, but he went unsigned (collusion? he thought so) and accepted the padres' offer to retire his number early in the season. with rose also retired, i moved on to another longtime favorite, and elevated him to the top spot.

paul molitor (1988-1994): 2025 topps chrome world series champion autograph /100

like rose, molitor won a world series while he was my favorite non-dodger, and i was happy to be able to land this card celebrating his title with the blue jays in 1993. i followed molitor closely until he retired, but after the strike, i did a bit of a reset, and switched my favorite to a different blue jay.

shawn green (1995-1999): 1999 topps autograph

when green joined the dodgers, i turned to my favorite of the american league shortstop triumvirate.

nomar garciaparra (2000-2005): 2023 topps finest autograph

nomar joined the dodgers which was fun for me but meant i needed a new favorite non-dodger. vladimir guerrero (my son was becoming an angels fan at this time) answered the call.

vladimir guerrero (2006-2007): 2025 topps finest creators autograph

the hometown team won out in terms of my son's fandom, so i switched my non-dodger favoritism to local hero joe mauer.

joe mauer (2008-2018): 2022 topps museum collection archival autograph /50

with mauer retiring, a former favorite dodger took over.

matt kemp (2019-2020): 2019 topps heritage real one autograph

kemp retired after the 2020 season, and i decided to go younger with my favorite for 2021.

fernando tatis jr (2021-2022): 2020 topps tribute iconic perspectives autograph /99

i stuck with tatis through his suspension before i realized that i was really paying more attention to the twins' center fielder.

byron buxton (2023-present): 2021 topps five star autograph blue parallel /25

that buxton card is pretty cool - 25/25 and all that. plus he raised his name to the 25th power!

i don't see anyone unseating buxton in the near future unless he retires. when healthy, he is a beast and he is always fun to watch.

i'll note that i also picked up another dodger autograph of nomar garciaparra - a 2016 topps archives signature series /6

this 2006 topps updates & highlights card was nomar's first and last topps flagship card as a dodger. he was included in most other 2006 topps releases (plus 2007 topps cosigners), but i was eagerly anticipating his update card. it turned out to only be an all-star card which i thought was weird at the time - not giving him a base card as a dodger. anyway, here's the back:

nomar was my favorite dodger that year, but was supplanted by matt kemp in 2007. 

good golly mr. molly

this is a story that begins with junk wax but ends with a case hit. actually, i will go ahead and show the case hit in question first. it's a 2002 donruss originals paul molitor what if? 78 card

this is a key card - one of two molitor cards - i need(ed) for my insert set build, and i had forgotten that i was its owner since 2002. how i came to be reminded of that fact is what began with junk wax.

my sister in law has a good friend who i knew had a card collection. she is a yankee fan and i understood that she had some decent yankee cards from the 1960's. a few years ago, i was asked about the collection and how best to sell it. i suggested she contact one of the local card shops that i would take my cards to if i were looking to sell. fast forward a few years and i was contacted again about the collection. this time, i was asked if i wanted it.

it turns out that the collection i was being asked about was the junk wax part - not the vintage yankees part. i am guessing that she sold those but wasn't offered anything for these other cards. my sister in law sent me photos of 1989 donruss and fleer in sheets and i really wasn't too interested. she persisted, however, and i said i would take the cards. 

well, there weren't any bill ripken cards in the 1989 fleer that she had, but i did find a few cards that i needed from the rest of the junk - this 1990 fleer sticker insert

and these 1991 fleer sticker inserts

were all welcome variants that i would not have chased otherwise.

there were a few random cards from 1997 pacific crown collection mixed in, and this eddie perez card

fits within my lurker collection thanks to the appearance of rauuuuuuuul mondesi.

some other sets that were represented were classic junk wax era - 1989 score, 1989 topps, 1990 donruss, etc. there were also two boxes that touted complete sets, one of them being 1996 topps. upon closer inspection, the set was missing one card - glenn dishman of all people - but that was easy enough to remedy

his is card number 410 and there were two 418s so i am guessing that poor eyesight/small card numbers led to the omission of the padre lefty.

the other set was 1999 topps series 1. it was missing one card as well - the mark mcgwire #220. that's the card that has 70 different versions, one for each home run he hit in 1998. i thought that i might have one of these cards with my mothballed player collections, so i headed to the basement to check.

some may recall that i've mentioned having had a large number of player collections at one time. after the 2002 season, i curtailed most of them and put the cards in monster boxes. mcgwire was one of the players, but when i looked through the cards of his i had, the 1999 card was not among them. for fun, i kept digging in the row of the box that big mac was in and pulled some of my molitor cards. there, lo and behold, was the what if? card.

it makes sense to me that i had picked up that card back then, even though i don't recall doing so. molitor was my favorite non-dodger for several years, and one of my favorite players period. i just wish i had picked up his other card from the set back then. who knows how long i would have gone without moving the molitor card to my set build if it hadn't been for junk wax?!

i did pick up a version of the mcgwire card to complete the set. it's home run number 38

hit off of hall of famer billy wagner. i already had the 1999 topps set completed (both series) but couldn't let this one sit one card shy.

in other what if? news, i've made a bit more progress on the 1978 set, adding dave winfield's card

earlier this year. i also picked up a what if? 1984 rated rookie card of eric davis

how fantastic (and highly sought after) would this have been back then? i ultimately decided to purchase the card because pete rose is there in the background, making it another great addition to my lurker collection!

i suppose the lesson here is to not turn your back on junk wax.

my retired number collection - 51

this is the 48th 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 51 has been retired:

trevor hoffman (retired by the padres in 2011) 2000 topps

hoffman retired after the 2010 season with 601 career saves. he earned 552 of them as a padre, filling the closer role in san diego from 1993 through 2008. interesting to me is the fact that hoffman first wore 34 with the padres (that was rollie fingers' number) after joining them during the 1993 season, but switched to 51 for the 1994 campaign. that number shows up nicely on his 2000 topps card above, as does the easily identifiable orange on the jack murphy stadium outfield wall.

the padres officially retired number 51 for hoffman on august 21, 2011. they had not issued the number since he left the club after the 2008 season, so he was the last to wear it for the pads. he is the franchise leader in games pitched, saves, era, k/9, and a host of other metrics. one of the greatest closers in history, hoffman was elected to the baseball hall of fame in 2018 on his third ballot.

randy johnson (retired by the diamondbacks in 2015) 1999 topps

johnson spent a total of eight seasons in two separate stints with the diamondbacks. his first run, from 1999 through 2004, is the stuff of legend. in those six seasons, johnson won the cy young award four times and finished second in one of the other two years. he won 103 games in those six seasons, and 118 as a dback overall. he won the pitching triple crown in 2002 and led the league in strikeouts four other times and era twice while pitching in arizona. he sits atop the team's all-time leader board in many pitching categories, including strikeouts and era. most notably, perhaps, he was a co-mvp of the 2001 world series wherein he was 3-0 in two starts and a memorable relief appearance in game 7 against the yankees.

his 1999 topps card features his number 51 thanks to the numbers on the front of the diamondback jerseys, and i had it in my long discarded pc box so it makes its way into the collection. when johnson left arizona for the yankees prior to the 2005 season, the team did not reissue his number. he wore it when he returned for the 2007 and 2008 seasons and it was formally retired without anyone else wearing it on august 8, 2015. that coincided with johnson's election to the baseball hall of fame on his first ballot.

bernie williams (retired by the yankees in 2015) 2002 topps

randy johnson wore number 41 when he pitched for the yankees because 51 belonged to bernie williams. i think his 2002 topps card is a great one and would have fit in my "name/number on the back" collection if i hadn't pegged it for this one early on.

williams spent his entire career with the yankees, spanning from 1991 through 2006. he wasn't officially part of the "core four", but he did contribute to four of the yankees' world series titles won during the era of jeter, pettitte, rivera, and posada. he was the 1996 alcs mvp and finished his career with 22 postseason home runs.

while not a hall of famer, the yankees held out his number following the 2006 season and formally retired it on may 24, 2015. it makes sense for the yankees to have retired the number given the fact that williams is squarely within the top 10 in many offensive categories on the franchise's all-time leader board.

i fully expect the mariners to retire number 51 next year in honor of both randy johnson and ichiro, as ichiro should be inducted into the hall of fame in the summer of 2025. i already have cards in my collection to fit the honor, just as i have with stephen strasburg should the nationals decide to follow through on their earlier intent to retire number 37. for ichiro, i have his 2012 topps chrome orange refractor parallel

and for the big unit, i have his 2022 topps stadium club xfractor parallel

now it's up to the mariners to not let me down!

[edit - the mariners retired number 51 for ichiro in 2025 (and will honor randy johnson in 2026). this retirement is not reflected in the tracking below]

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

retired numbers by team (through the 48 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44, 46, 49, 51

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, 45

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 34, 36, 42

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 42, 45, 85

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

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 31, 35, 41, 42, 44, 47

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 40, 42, 49

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, 47

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

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 31, 35, 42, 51

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

angels - 11, 26, 30, 42, 50

expos - 8, 10, 30, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 34, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42, 51

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)

45 - retired by 2 teams

46 - retired by 1 team

47 - retired by 2 teams

49 - retired by 2 teams

50 - retired by 1 team

51 - retired by 3 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): 160

running total of non-hall of famers: 58

my retired number collection - 46

this is the 44th 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 is the one person for whom number 46 has been retired:

andy pettitte (retired by the yankees in 2015) 1999 topps

andy pettitte has yet to garner serious consideration for the hall of fame, but the yankees saw fit to retire his number on august 23, 2015 which was just a couple of years after he pitched in his final big league game. i found it interesting that they retired the number so quickly, given that they redistributed it to players in each of the seasons that petttitte was pitching in houston (2004-2006). the yankees did not, however, put the number back into circulation after pettitte retired prior to the 2011 season or after he retired for good following the 2013 campaign. i chose his 1999 topps card because it shows his number pretty well, plus he's in the home pinstripes. those qualities overrode the boring 1999 topps design.

in three stints with the yankees, pettitte pitched in 447 regular season games, winning 219 and striking out 2,020 batters in those games. he is the yankees' all-time leader in strikeouts, and he is tied with whitey ford atop the franchise leaderboard in games started by a pitcher. and, while he never won a cy young award, he did have three seasons as a yankee in which he placed in the top 5 in voting.

in the postseason with the yankees, pettitte pitched in 41 games, winning 18 and striking out 171 batters. he won five rings with the yankees and was the mvp of the 2001 alcs. time will tell whether or not he makes it to cooperstown, but regardless he and his number are represented in monument park from here on out.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 44 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44, 46

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, 45

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 34, 36, 42

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 42, 45, 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)

45 - retired by 2 teams

46 - retired by 1 team

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): 156

running total of non-hall of famers: 54

the second show successes

last saturday, i wrote about the choices i had in card shows the previous weekend. i ended the post with a note that i was heading to the second show of the day - the monthly club show. i didn't bother going to the third show option i had (the mall show), but did find some cards to take home at the club show. take a look...

i had mentioned that the church show wasn't too crowded, and the attendance in terms of both sellers and buyers was down at this show as well., and there were some regular sellers that i didn't see at either show. one guy who was at this one was the guy who always has a couple of dime boxes under his super disorganized table. he's the guy who also sells a dime box for a friend, so you have to keep the cards separate, but he doesn't tell you this until the end. anyway, this time his friend's box was a quarter box so i guess it was at least distinguishable from the dime boxes. i wound up with 17 cards for $2.

the dime box focus was rookies, and i found a 2018 panini donruss optic walker buehler holo prizm parallel

for the dodger collection plus a variety of other rookie cards, including these nine

the quarter box had a hall of famer theme, and i took a burleigh grimes card and this cal ripken jr oddball

home with me. this card is from a 1996 classic cal ripken jr baseball's all-time ironman set. it's the certifcate of limited edition card, to be exact, and it certifies that "only" 21,310 sets were made

and i am just learning that the "king of collectibles" was the chairman and ceo of the score board.

i continued around the room and stopped at a table that had a few dollar boxes out. the seller was chatty, in a good way, so i went through the boxes and wound up with 53 cards for $45. only nine cards were dodgers, but they were all needs

ranging from a rainbow foil parallel of joc pederson's 2015 topps rookie card to a 2023 topps black & white james outman rookie card. as you can tell, there was a lot of online product in these boxes. i wound up with more than dodgers

and of course there is a color background parallel in a black & white set. the outlier there is the topps tribute sixto sanchez green parallel, and it represents a number of numbered parallels that were available. one of the first i came across was this 2020 topps uk nick castellanos purple parallel

which is numbered to 50. the lowest number i saw in the boxes was 25 which is not bad for a dollar box. i also grabbed some sort of george brett oddball

i believe spot-bilt is now saucony, but i could be wrong. it's shoes, anyway.

the next stop i made was at a table that was staffed by a younger seller who i recognized from years of attending these shows. he has gone from a collector at the shows to having tables of his own, which is something. anyway, he had dollar boxes or 10 for $8 and i decided to take a look. then i saw buybacks.

topps heritage buybacks

topps 75th anniversary buybacks

topps originals buybacks

topps 65th anniversary buybacks

and rediscover topps buybacks

i had actually hoped to find some 2024 topps heritage buybacks at the show, but i really didn't see any new heritage product. however, with this array of buybacks, i was so certain i was going to stumble across a 2015 topps originals 1978 elias sosa or terry forster or tommy lasorda buyback that i couldn't get through the boxes fast enough. i didn't find any of those most wanted buybacks, but i did find a bunch of others that i liked.

for some reason, i dig stamped buybacks. in all, i took 54 cards from this seller for $45. 43 were buybacks, and the other 11 included a variety of stuff like 2014 topps future stars short print variations.

good stuff.

the last purchase at the club show was a lot of six 1955 bowman cards for $13. one of the cards was earl torgeson

who is trying to figure out how to get out of tv land.

what a fun way to spend a saturday morning! i think next weekend i'll tell you about the huge show i went to last weekend. stay tuned!