my retired number collection - 37

this is the 37th 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 is the one person for whom number 37 has been retired:

casey stengel (retired by the mets in 1965) 2001 topps tribute

stengel was the fist manager in the history of the mets, taking on the job with their inaugural season of 1962 and staying in the role until he retired on august 30, 1965. a few days later, on september 2, 1965, the team retired number 37 in his honor, making him the first met to have their number retired. under his leadership, the mets didn't finish out of the cellar, but he brought credibility to a young team (except for warren spahn and yogi berra who both suited up for the club in '65).

overall, the mets won 175 games under stengel which puts him at 11th for the franchise all-time, sandwiched between buck showalter (176 wins) and mickey callaway (163). because stengel was a met at the beginning, and they retired his number immediately after he retired, no other met has ever worn the number. 

casey stengel (retired by the yankees in 1970) 2001 topps tribute

it's fitting, i think, to have cards from the same set (2001 topps tribute) for stengel in this collection, even if neither card shows his number. stengel took number 37 when he began managing the yankees in 1949, and no yankee would ever wear the number again. the franchise retired it on august 8, 1970 - old-timers day at yankee stadium, making stengel the fifth person (after gehrig, ruth, dimaggio, and mantle) to have their number retired by the franchise.

stengel had managed the dodgers and braves (and in the minors) prior to getting the yankee job in 1949, but he had nowhere near the success at the big league level that he would have with the bronx bombers. he won the world series in each of his first five seasons at the helm of the yankees, and he won two more, along with three additional pennants, over the next seven seasons. he was fired after the yankees lost the 1960 world series to the pirates, but had amassed 1,149 regular season wins in his 12 years as their manager with a winning percentage that is only bested by joe mccarthy in the team's history.

stengel was elected to the hall of fame as a manager by the veterans' committee in 1966, becoming only the seventh manager so honored up to that time, and he was certainly the first to have managed in the expansion era.

to date, stengel is the only person to have number 37 retired in their honor, but towards the end of last season there was news that the nationals were going to retire it in honor of stephen strasburg. i was prepared, picking up the wrapper redemption refractor rookie card from 2010 topps chrome

for the collection. however, things soured between strasburg and the nationals (as i understand it) due to how his retirement would affect his contract terms, and the plans were scrapped. maybe someday the nats will follow through and if so, i will update the post. for now, i do not include strasburg in the numbers below.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 37 posts so far):

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

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

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

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, 42

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

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

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

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

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

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 9 teams (retired by expos for two players)

11 - retired by 8 teams

12 - retired by 1 team

13 - retired by 1 team

14 - retired by 10 teams (retired by mets and dodgers for same person)

15 - retired by 2 teams

16 - retired by 4 teams

17 - retired by 3 teams

18 - retired by 3 teams (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024) 

19 - retired by 5 teams

20 - retired by 11 teams (retired by orioles, reds, and guardians for same person)

21 - retired by 4 teams

22 - retired by 2 teams

23 - retired by 4 teams

24 - retired by 8 teams (retired by giants and mets for same person)

25 - retired by 4 teams

26 - retired by 4 teams

27 - retired by 3 teams

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)

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

66 - retired by 1 team

72 - retired by 1 team

85 - retired by 1 team

455 - retired by 1 team

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 146

running total of non-hall of famers: 51

my retired number collection - 33

this is the 33rd 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 four people for whom number 33 has been retired:

honus wagner (retired by the pirates in 1952) 2001 topps tribute

wagner played before there were numbers, but he coached for the pirates for 39 years, including serving as their hitting coach from 1933 through 1952 which is firmly within the jersey number timeline. the only footage i've seen of him coaching shows him wearing number 14, but he apparently switched to 33 at some point. in fact, wagner is the only pirate to have ever worn number 33 in any capacity as far as i can tell. i know that when i first saw his 2001 topps tribute card back in 2001, it was the first time i knew of a number being associated with him.

the pirates retired the number for him on february 16, 1952 coinciding with wagner's retirement announcement. in addition to his longtime service as a coach, wagner suited up for the pirates for 18 seasons, winning eight batting titles and amassing 2,967 hits. he is still the franchise's all-time leader in runs scored and plate appearances, as well as their highest ranked player of all-time in terms of war. he is, of course, one of the greatest players in the history of the game and was a member of the first class of the hall of fame elected in 1936.

mike scott (retired by the astros in 1992) 1986 topps

scott pitched for the astros for nine seasons, including his extraordinary 1986 campaign in which he won the cy young award and fell just three wins shy of claiming the pitching triple crown. his no-hitter against the giants in september of that year clinched the national league west title for the astros, who went on to almost beat the mets in the nlcs, with scott still winning the series mvp award even though his team did not advance.

the astros retired his number on october 3, 1992 - the same day they retired jose cruz's number. the ceremony took place about 18 months after scott last pitched in a game and about a year after he formally announced his retirement. he was the last astro to wear 33, which is mostly visible on his 1986 topps card.

eddie murray (retired by the orioles in 1998) 2002 donruss originals what if? '80

i've been looking for a way to keep this 2002 donruss originals what if? '80 insert card in my collection for the past 22 years, and with this mini-collection i've found it! murray spent the bulk of his career with the orioles (split between two stints) totaling 13 years in baltimore. he hit 383 homers as an oriole, including his 500th career jack, and amassed 2,080 hits and a .294 average. because of guys like cal ripken jr and brooks robinson, murray isn't the franchise's all-time leader in any offensive category other than intentional walks, but he does sit atop the list in some newer stat categories such as adjusted batting wins and wpa.

murray had five straight seasons with the orioles in which he placed in the top 5 of mvp voting, but the only voting award he ever won was the 1977 rookie of the year plus some gold gloves and silver sluggers. he did help the orioles to two pennants - 1979 and 1983 - and hit a pair of homers in the 1983 fall classic to help the team to the world series title. murray was the last oriole to wear number 33, which the orioles kept out of circulation in between his runs as a player. they retired the number on june 7, 1998 while murray was in his first season post-retirement. he was voted into the hall of fame in 1993, on his first ballot.

larry walker (retired by the rockies in 2021) 2002 fleer premium

number 33 was retired by the rockies for walker on september 25, 2021. he was elected to the hall of fame in 2020, but the pandemic pushed his induction to 2021, and the rockies held off on the number retirement until after the ceremony in cooperstown. as a rockie, walker won three national league batting titles and was the 1997 mvp. in 1995, his first year with the club, he led them to their first postseason appearance in franchise history, and over his nine-plus seasons in colorado, he totaled over 1300 hits and more than 250 homers.

walker is the franchise's all-time leader in batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage (and therefore ops), and his hall of fame plaque was the first to feature the rockies' interlocking "cr". the team did not recirculate his number until fellow british columbian justin morneau joined the team in 2014. with walker's permission, morneau wore the number and became the last rockie to wear 33 on the field. i think walker's 2002 fleer premium card shows the number pretty well, along with a nice throwing image of the gold glove right fielder.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 33 posts so far):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31, 42

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

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

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

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

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 42

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

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

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 31, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 42

angels - 11, 26, 30, 42

expos - 8, 10, 30, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 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 9 teams (retired by expos for two players)

11 - retired by 8 teams

12 - retired by 1 team

13 - retired by 1 team

14 - retired by 10 teams (retired by mets and dodgers for same person)

15 - retired by 2 teams

16 - retired by 4 teams

17 - retired by 3 teams

18 - retired by 3 teams (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024) 

19 - retired by 5 teams

20 - retired by 11 teams (retired by orioles, reds, and guardians for same person)

21 - retired by 4 teams

22 - retired by 2 teams

23 - retired by 4 teams

24 - retired by 8 teams (retired by giants and mets for same person)

25 - retired by 4 teams

26 - retired by 4 teams

27 - retired by 3 teams

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

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

66 - retired by 1 team

72 - retired by 1 team

85 - retired by 1 team

455 - retired by 1 team

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 135

running total of non-hall of famers: 47

taking my turn in the blog bat around with my five best pack pulled hits

i am always happy to engage in a blog bat around, and this one initiated by diamond jesters is no exception. matt asked us to share our five best pack pulled hits, and i knew right where to go. i had previously hinted at my list in a post from a few years ago, and had included some of the cards on that list in a post even further back as part of a blog bat around that i initiated.

before i get to the top five, i will note that i am going to discount anything i found in packs of topps tribute. i opened a box or two of 2001 topps tribute, as well as boxes from 2002 and both retired player releases from 2003. there was a guaranteed hit in every pack, so it's a bit like cheating. i did find some nice cards, including babe ruth bat cards from the 2003 perennial all-star edition

and the 2003 world series edition

my best pull from the inaugural 2001 release was this eddie mathews patch 

which has a print run of 30. i still have both ruth bat cards and the mathews patch card, by the way.

so, on to non-guaranteed hits. here's an honorable mention:

that's a mickey mantle magenta printing plate 1/1 from 2006 topps chrome. it was an exciting pull, but it seemed gimmicky to me at the time, and i sold it. even though it was the first 1/1 i ever pulled, i have it just outside of my top 5 pack pulls. 

number 5 is this 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams platinum auto 1/1 of bake mcbride

pulling a 1/1 from a pack of cards of one of my favorite upper deck era sets is a very good thing.

number 4: 2003 ud sp legendary cuts bill dickey cut auto #/25

to this day it is the only hof cut auto i have ever pulled. oddly, i've pulled cut autos of living guys like mark prior (back when he was still pitching) from a pack. anyway, i bought a box of this product online for $60 and sold this card for $200 back in 2004. it's the only box of legendary cuts i ever bought.

number 3: 2016 topps chrome update clayton kershaw auto/relic /25

it's a lot of padres for a dodgers card, but pulling this card from a target blaster was a huge surprise. the autograph is way more visible in hand - the scan brings out the bubbles.

number 2: 2000 upper deck legends mickey mantle legendary game jerseys relic

a coworker and i went to a card and comic store over lunch one day and i bought a box of this product back in 2000. i was stoked to find this card in one of my packs as relic cards were fairly new to the hobby. i immediately tried selling it, but set a high reserve that was just barely not met. that coworker asked me why i would sell it, because "isn't a card like that why you collect?"  he was right, and the card is still in my collection today.

number 1: 2013 topps allen & ginter nick saban autograph

this card came from a target blaster back in 2013, and it is one that i did sell. it's number 1 on the list today because of what it is worth today - my baseball focused brain didn't really think this one through, although i did get a nice sum for it 11 years ago. still, who knew that alabama would go on to win three championships in the ensuing years after this card was issued.

thanks for the inspiration matt!

my retired number collection - 3 is a magic number

this is the fifth post in a series that shares the cards i have in my retired number mini-collection. you can find the links to the previous posts down at the bottom of this post. if you're eager to learn more right now, you can check out the full list of retired numbers along with what this collection will entail over at my want list site.

without further ado, here are the seven people for whom the number 3 has been retired:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4

guardians - 3

red sox - 1, 4

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2

reds - 1

braves - 3

astros

mets

orioles - 4

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3

white sox - 2, 3, 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3

cubs

royals

padres

athletics

angels

expos

rangers

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

retired number frequency:

1 - retired by 9 teams

2 - retired by 5 teams

3 - retired by 7 teams

4 - retired by 8 teams

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 36

running total of non-hall of famers: 5

my retired number collection - they're number 1!

this is the third 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 eight of the nine people for whom the number 1 has been retired:

1 billy meyer (retired by the pirates in 1954) - 1983 topps '52 reprint

i was not familiar with meyer, but when i found out his number had been retired i figured he must have led the pirates to a world series title, but he did not. he had a successful minor league managerial career before getting the pirates' job for the 1948 season. he was named the manager of the year for his efforts during that campaign. leading the pirates to a 21-win improvement over their 1947 season, although that was only good enough for a fourth place finish. that was as good as it got for meyer, and he resigned after a very bad 1952 season. he stayed with the club as a scout and "troubleshooter", and the team retired his number in 1954, a year before his death. there is not a lot of information surrounding the number retirement, but it is a huge display of respect, so he must have served the club in a meaningful way. 

1 fred hutchinson (retired by the reds in 1964) - 1964 topps

hutchinson was a fairly successful pitcher for the tigers before becoming a manager - first in detroit and then in st. louis with the cardinals. he took over the reds during the 1959 season and led them to the world series in 1961. it was their first pennant since 1940, but they lost the fall classic to the yankees. hutchinson stayed on as manager for the next three years even though he was diagnosed with cancer after the 1963 season. he was ultimately unable to complete the 1964 season, taking leave in august and resigning his post in october, just a few weeks before he passed away. 

he is the inspiration and namesake for the annual hutch award, given to the active player who best exemplifies his fighting spirit. the award has been dormant for a couple of seasons, but will hopefully be resurrected this year. my understanding is that his number was officially retired by the team in 1965, although nobody wore it after his resignation from the club the year prior. i will have more to say about the reds' retired number history in a few posts, but hutchinson's number is officially recognized as the first to be retired by the reds.

1 richie ashburn (retired by the phillies in 1979) - 2001 topps tribute

here we have the first appearance by 2001 topps tribute in the collection. i love this set as it focuses on retired numbers, and it was the first tribute set issued by topps. i eventually completed it a few years ago, and i wish topps would put out a follow up set to cover the players and managers that they missed the first time around.

as for ashburn, he was voted in to the hall of fame by the veteran's committee in 1995 following a 15 year career (12 with the phillies) that resulted in over 2500 hits, two national league batting titles and a .308 lifetime batting average. after his retirement, he spent 35 years as a broadcaster with the club. his number was retired on august 24, 1979 as part of his enshrinement in the team's hall of fame. jose cardenal was the last phillie to wear number 1, having worn it until he was sent to the mets three weeks before it was retired.

1 pee wee reese (retired by the dodgers in 1984) - 2001 topps archives

here's the first card in this post where you can see the uniform number that is the subject of the post, and you can see it twice! the dodgers retired reese's number on july 1, 1984 following his election to the hall of fame. reese spent his entire career with the dodgers and was a 10-time all-star who lost three years of his career to military service during world war ii. he finished his career with 2,170 hits, over 1,300 runs scored and 1,210 walks. reese received mvp votes in 13 of his 16 seasons, although he only finished in the top 5 once.

i associate reese with number 1, although i remember derrel thomas and gary weiss both wearing it for the dodgers during my youth. weiss, who wore it in 1980 and 1981, is the last dodger to don the number.

1 billy martin (retired by the yankees in 1986) - 2021 topps x sports illustrated

the yankees retired martin's number 1 on august 10, 1986 after he had completed his fourth stint as the team's manager. while he also played for the yankees in the 1950's, he is best remembered as their on-again off-again manager during george steinbrenner's early reign. martin took over managerial duties during the 1975 season, and in his first full season, guided the team to their first pennant in 11 years. he repeated that feat the next year in 1977, and this time led them to their first world series title since 1962.

martin was fired during the 1978 season, and his replacement (bob lemon) led the team to the world series title. lemon was out partway through the 1979 season, however, and martin was brought back, but the team finished in fourth place in the nl east. after four seasons managing the oakland a's, martin returned to the yankees for the 1983 season. he was fired at the end of the year but then brought back early in the 1985 campaign. after being fired once again, the team retired his number, although they later brought him back to manage once again to start the 1988 season. he made it through 68 games before being fired again.

as far as yankee managers go, he has fewer pennants and world series championships to his name than ralph houk and the same number as bob lemon, neither of whom have their numbers retired. then again, they didn't have martin's personality.

i was really happy to find that card, by the way, as it shows the number which is only worn on the backs of yankee uniforms. obviously, martin was the last to wear the number for the team, but bobby murcer was the last to wear it as a player. 

1 bobby doer (retired by the red sox in 1988) - 2003 topps retired signature

doerr was elected to the hall of fame in 1986, but the red sox didn't retire his number until may 21, 1988. it was last worn by chico walker who saw limited action with the club in the early 1980s. doerr spent the entirety of his 14 season career with the red sox, which ended perhaps a bit prematurely due to a back injury. he was a nine-time all-star, hit over .400 in the 1946 world series, and amassed just over 2,000 hits and 1,200 rbi.

the 2003 topps retired signature card i chose shows just a bit of his number 1 on the back.

1 ozzie smith (retired by the cardinals in 1996) - 1996 donruss press proof

smith's number 1, clearly visible in this parallel that was languishing in one of my monster boxes, was retired by the cardinals on september 28, 1996 - the day before smith played in the final game of his career. while he is best known for his glove (he won 13 gold gloves - 11 with st. louis) he also recorded over 2,400 hits and 580 stolen bases during his career. he also hit a big home run in the 1985 nlcs.

he was the last cardinal to wear number 1, and was elected in to the hall of fame in 2002 on his first ballot.

1 lou whitaker (retired by the tigers in 2022) - 1990 score

it may be a bit weird to have a junk wax era base card in this collection, but this card shows off whitaker's number 1 pretty well so here we are. while not (yet) in the hall of fame, whitaker had his number retired by the tigers on august 6, 2022. he played 19 seasons for the tigers and was a five-time all-star who won four gold gloves and three silver slugger awards.

he was the 1978 american league rookie of the year, so i've always had a soft spot for whitaker as that was the first full season that i followed baseball. he is considered by many to be a borderline hall of fame candidate, and i fall on the "in" side of that line.

i mentioned up top that there was a ninth person for whom this number has been retired. that would be bud selig who had a number retired by the brewers in 2015 following his run as the baseball commissioner which began after he abdicated his role as the brewers' owner. no conflict of interest there, because the commissioner has always been more aligned with ownership than the players. anyway, selig didn't wear a uniform, so i don't have him in this collection although i will include him in the tally below as a hall of famer (which is a shame in my opinion).

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

retired numbers by team (shown in chronological order of their first number retirement):

yankees - 1, 4

giants - 4

pirates - 1, 4

guardians 

red sox - 1, 4

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1

reds - 1

braves

astros

mets

orioles - 4

dodgers - 1, 4

twins

white sox - 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1

cubs

royals

padres

athletics

angels

expos

rangers

major league baseball

rays

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners

retired number frequency:

1 - retired by 9 teams

4 - retired by 8 teams

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 25

running total of non-hall of famers (including those without numbers): 4

updating my hall of famer collection already

last week i finally completed the weekly posts related to my hall of famer relic/autograph collection. however, in the two and a half years that those posts had been running, i swapped out a few of the cards for some players. these updates were made mostly because of my preference for topps tribute relics over other types, as well as certified autographs over relics. plus there were a couple of just straight upgrades that became available after i began my collection.

first up, this card now represents jackie robinson in the collection:

that is a 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic. here's the back:

similarly, i now have this card representing roberto clemente in the collection:

that is a 2001 topps tribute relic. here's the back:

these two cards are examples of my two favorite tribute relics. the first uses the players' year of inauguration in to the hall of fame (which is very appropriate for this collection), and the second is based on the players' retired number (which is something i find very cool about baseball and other sports).

i had a 2001 topps tribute relic in the collection for pee wee reese, but have since replaced it with this card:

that is a 1994 front row all-time greats autograph card. here's the back:

and here's the coa that accompanies the card (and set)

as much as i like(d) the tribute relic, i am happy to have a certified auto of pee wee in the collection.

the last two cards i've swapped out are really just autograph upgrades (in my opinion).  first, i now have this 2020 topps archives signature edition 1978 topps tony perez card in my collection

rather than an autograph featuring him as a red.  it's numbered 60/65. here's the back:

perez's 1978 topps card was my first introduction to him, and it's the first card i think of when i think of perez. i mentioned in my original post that have perez represented in the collection as an expo was my preference, and now it is a reality.

finally, this 2021 topps tier one larry walker autograph card

numbered 039/150 was a no-brainer upgrade over the previous card. this is primarily due to the fact that walker signed this card horizontally rather than sideways.  here's the back:

at some point i may go back and update the weekly posts to reflect these new cards, but for now just the have list post will reflect these updates.

i am sure there will be more updates as we hear of new players elected to the hall of fame, so stay tuned!

comc eta? omg!

i had a comc order of just a few cards that i decided to have shipped to me. this was in march of 2020, and i was not planning to place any further orders in the foreseeable future. so, on march 14, i requested shipment. two days later, i was working from home amid the measures taken to flatten the curve of the covid-19 infection rate. the initial estimated ship date for that order was march 30, but it didn't ship until april 23. 

later in the spring, i got a hankering for a few different items that were only readily available at comc. so, i deposited more funds and bought more cards. at the end of june, i was ready to bring the cards home, and i most certainly was not going to put in another order, so i requested shipment. that was june 30, and the estimated ship date for that order was listed as september 30. three months! it turned out that it took longer than that, as the cards weren't shipped until november 7!

in the meantime, of course there was a card listed for sale on the site that i decided i wanted/needed, and so i deposited more funds and pulled the trigger on just that one card. that was on october 28, and that order shipped on november 3, nine days ahead of the estimated ship date of november 12, and before my previous order.

i applaud comc for taking necessary precautions to protect their staff during the pandemic - that is my understanding for the reason behind the delays in order fulfillment. however, i also bought an item on ebay through their consignment division, and that card showed up with no delay whatsoever. i am guessing that comc likely had to make choices between their uploading of new inventory, consignment selling on ebay, and fulfillment of "regular" orders due to staff limitations, and it was the latter that suffered. what the heck - they already had my money.

still, i received my cards. here are some of them.

this 2001 topps tribute walter alston patch

was the card i purchased on october 28. some of you may recall a blog bat around that i initiated regarding cards that got away. the primary card that i wrote about was another 2001 topps tribute alston patch that i purchased back in 2001 at a local card shop off of their "markdown wall" and immediately flipped on ebay for about 4-times what i paid for it. i bought the card with the sole intention of selling it for profit, but soon regretted it. since then, i've looked off and on for another, and when i saw this one on comc, i pounced.

the rest of the cards i'll show are from my shipment request that was made on june 30.

2008 upper deck timeline ramon troncoso (1995 sp)

troncoso was one of the last two cards from this set that i needed for my dodger team collection (i've already completed the full set). the last card i need is the clayton kershaw card from this same subset, unfortunately.

i am still sort of a sucker for dodger buybacks, especially when they feature players from the team of my youth and dodger stadium, like this 2014 topps 75th anniversary 1975 topps manny mota buyback

2015 was my favorite year for buybacks, and this 2015 topps original 1967 topps bruce brubaker buyback 

is a new one to my collection.

my favorite inserts from 2019 were the greatest moments/players/seasons cards, and i used comc to complete my dodger set of those cards. sort of.

i needed four cards of jackie robinson

two of duke snider

and one each of sandy koufax

clayton kershaw

and adrian beltre

the kershaw is from topps chrome update, and the beltre is from regular topps update. there is also a don sutton card out there that i don't have, but it is only available in autograph form and was part of the clearly authentic release. topps redeemed themselves in 2020 for leaving kirk gibson's home run out of the 'greatest moment's set by including an image from that night in their 'decades' best' insert set.

now we get in to the sort of random part of my order. some of these cards complete team sets or get me down to just one card, like these next two.

1996 topps mike piazza star power

this is the insert, not the base card that looks similar but not as glittery. insert set complete!

2011 topps platinum diamond anniversary chad billingsley

i am now down to needing the kershaw and the retired dodger sp's to complete my team set of these parallel cards.

i'm always looking for matt kemp cards that i need, so i picked up this 2013 topps chrome refractor matt kemp

i still need a few refractors from this set, but not kemp's!

i also decided i needed more brian dozier dodger cards, so i added a 2018 bowman's best atomic refractor

and a 2018 topps holiday

card of the short-time dodger and 2019 world champ.  while i was waiting for these cards to show up, someone out there sent me this very card, so now i have one in my dodger stadium mini-collection, too!

here's a 2016 topps update adrian gonzalez 500 hr futures club gold card

there are three non-relic/manu-relic versions of this card. i had joc pederson's card in the base and silver versions, but didn't have any of gonzalez' cards. so i went with the gold parallel. a-gon did not get to 500 home runs, by the way - he finished with 317.

i discovered i didn't have a copy of this 2015 topps heritage sandy koufax/david price then and now card in my dodger stadium mini-collection

but now i do! you can understand how i could have been confused, as topps used the same photo of koufax on another then and now card that same year.

here's a new-to-me double play card - 1996 leaf preferred derek jeter

that i saw on the blogs while i was putting together this order.

finally, here is a 2002 topps 206 lou brock card

that i needed for my set build. around the time that this card arrived, i completed the set. i'll give that achievement its own post.  similarly, many of the other cards i included in my comc order(s) will be part of more focused posts. stay tuned!