bobby grich is in my hall of famer collection

with dave parker and dick allen being elected to the hall of fame by the classic era committee, there should be some room on the ballot when that committee reconvenes in three years. i would expect to see tommy john, luis tiant, ken boyer, and steve garvey on the ballot again, and i am hopeful that bobby grich is added to that list. i've added him to my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that's a 2004 topps retired signature autograph. here's the back:

adding grich to this collection is not something that i considered until a year or so ago when looking at second baseman stats at baseball reference. i had been a fan of grich from my days of growing up in southern california, and i followed his career pretty closely until he called it quits after the 1986 postseason. i have a grich model rawlings glove, and have an affinity towards second basemen and those who wore number 4.

grich was a four-time gold glove winner and a six-time all-star whose lack of counting stats (only 1,800 hits and fewer than 3,000 times on base) is counteracted by his defensive prowess. and, defensive prowess as a deciding factor can't be overlooked when bill mazeroski is a hall of famer. if you trust war, grich has a higher overall war (bwar) than ryne sandberg, roberto alomar, or craig biggio, and his peak war is higher than alomar or biggio as well. among his peers, only joe morgan and rod carew (who moved to first base halfway through his career) are in the hall of fame, and they are no-doubters. by "traditional" means, grich seems like a stretch for the hall, but we are in a new world now.

i saw grich play in person a couple of times, including august 19, 1979 when he went 3 for 4 with a homer and three rbi against the blue jays. i also saw him at the big a once after his retirement. i assume he was working with the team in some capacity, but i didn't ask. we walked out of the stadium at the same time and i could tell he was in a hurry so i didn't say anything to him.

i recently added some of his final tribute cards to my collection - 1987 topps

and 1987 donruss

i'll keep my eye out for an extra 1987 fleer card as well.

i also bought an oddball single to add to my "master" 1978 topps set

that card comes from a sga on bobby grich night at the big a in 1987. cards from his career were printed on a sheet, hence the perforations. the back is a different color than regular '78s

otherwise, it's the same. as the card mentions, grich played shortstop for the halos in 1977 but moved back to second base in 1978 after they traded jerry remy to the red sox.

a hall of fame claim for grich is definitely a "big hall" opinion, and it would add a few more names to the "if he's in then so and so should be in" discussion, but i think he has a solid case. we will see if the era committee agrees in three years time.

nefarious needs, some dirt cheap

after noting that the longtime most wanted card from my "nefarious nine" list was off the board (not because i had acquired it, but rather because i doubt its existence), i figured i should post some of the most recent acquisitions i have made based on cards that have been on that list at one time or another.

i'll show two "nefarious nine" worth's of dodger cards in roughly the order that i added them. unfortunately, i no longer have a record of where they sat on the list at the time of their entry into my collection. i don't have pricing handy either, although there were only a few that would have been more than a couple of bucks.

1. 1984 renata galasso baseball collector series sandy koufax

this is a pretty nondescript oddball, but i added it to the list after picking up the jackie robinson card from the same set and decided that i should go ahead and complete the two card dodger team set.

2. 2011 topps gypsy queen jon garland sp

garland seems like an odd choice for topps to short print, but they did with this gq card that completed my team set. garland rejoined the dodgers for the 2011 season (double dipper post here) but topps apparently chose to photoshop an image of garland pitching for the padres (note the lack of a red jersey number) rather than use a photo of him from 2009 in dodger duds.

3. 1998 topps chrome adrian beltre

not beltre's most sought after chrome rookie card, but this one helped me complete my dodger team set of '98 chrome. i had added this shortly after i picked up his 1997 bowman chrome rookie, which is the one most collectors covet.

4. 2003 topps heritage duke snider/alex rodriguez then and now

for a long time i resisted putting inserts on the most wanted list, but i have a thing for heritage then and now cards, and this one was the only one i was missing that featured a dodger in the "then" spot. i'm hopeful that we start to see some dodgers from the team of my youth in the "then" spot in the next couple of years, meaning i hope topps uses hits and stolen bases as statistical categories for these cards.

5. 2004 topps retired signature duke snider

another team set completer after i mistakenly ignored it thinking that duke was featured as a met as he had been in the 2003 set.

6. 2015 topps opening day yasiel puig opening day stars

this one eluded me for some reason. it's not as tough to find as these cards from 2014 opening day, but puig was pretty hot back then so maybe that's why.

7. 2014 topps update zack greinke red hot foil

i wanted to complete the 2014 red hot foil dodger parallel team set, and greinke was the last one i needed to do so. i see he is throwing in arizona, and i hope he signs with someone to get to 3,000 strikeouts sometime this year.

8. 1994 panini album stickers mike piazza

needed to complete the team set

9. 1998 topps tek gary sheffield

i just wanted one of sheffield's card to complete the team set. i have one of each of the four dodgers - i don't care about the background design - and i consider the team set complete.

10. 2005 upper deck flyball giovanni carrara

i thought this one would be on the list for a long time, but it really wasn't. it completed the team set, and someone actually listed it on ebay for a buck or so. i figured it would wind up being a comc find but that's part of the fun of collecting - you don't know where the card you are looking for will pop up.

11. 2010 topps 206 matt kemp sp

this is the kemp card that has a different photo and different back

than his base card, but is not considered a variation because there is no card number. it completed the team set.

12. 2017 topps chrome joc pederson green refractor

i went for a refractor rainbow of joc's 2017 topps chrome card, and this is the last card i picked up to that end.

13. 2001 upper deck decade 1970s manny mota game used bat

i had finally completed the dodger team set as far as bat cards from the 2001 upper deck vintage set was concerned, so figured i would do the same for this set. with the manny, i now only need maury wills' card to finish the four card dodger set (steve garvey and bill russell are the others included).

14. 1990 baseball wit manny mota

i already had a mota card from this set, but i needed the one that was numbered on the back

to complete the team set in that regard. to this day, the first mota i owned is the only dodger card i have that is the unnumbered version.

15. 2010 upper deck manny ramirez pure heat

it's been long enough that i miss upper deck baseball products. this was from their final release, and their lack of care regarding logos (even though it's barely visible) means it outshines panini product with ease.

16. 2023 topps mookie betts stars of mlb chrome

i needed mookie to complete the dodger team set of chrome parallels of the overproduced insert

17. 1989 pacific baseball legends joe black

another card for team set completion.

18. 1994 topps gold roger mcdowell

this card completed my dodger team set of the 1994 gold parallels, and is the most recent card to be struck from the nefarious nine.

and now, just like the list itself, here are some bonus non-dodger cards. these all fit into a mini-collection or player collection, just like the nine bonus non-dodger cards that currently sit on the list.

1. 1998 upper deck fernando valenzuela national pride

i actually owned this card at one time but sold or traded it before i decided to collect fernando's post-dodger cards as part of a pc.

2. 1993 pinnacle delino deshields/carlos baerga team pinnacle 

deshields is on the front of the card, but it's the baerga side that i wanted for the double play collection. bonus glimpse of gene autry's retired number on the outfield wall at the big a!

3. 2020 topps allen & ginter 9 ways to first fielder's choice

another dp turn, assumedly unsuccessful as the point of the card is that the batter reached first base on the play.

4. 2016 topps (and topps chrome) byron buxton perspectives

and 

5. 2016 topps andrew mccutchen perspectives

technically, i only had the flagship cards of buck and cutch on the list, but picked up the chrome buxton at the same time. these are for my name/number on the back mini collection.

6. 2001 fleer platinum travis lee

it may be blurry, but that's dodger stadium's outfield wall behind lee, so this was wanted for that mini-collection.

7. 2004 donruss alex rodriguez

same for this arod card. don newcombe's mural is on the wall behind rodriguez, who may well be turning two here.

8. 2004 fleer ultra preston wilson

mookie's kid is also in dodger stadium, with steve garvey's mural in the background! this is one of two cards that will forever be on the most wanted list - the other is kent bottenfield's 2001 fleer triple crown card - because of garvey's appearance in the background. i've considered doing the same with thurman munson's 2023 topps stadium club card, but haven't pulled the trigger on that yet.

i currently have 10 bottenfields and the same number of wilsons, but only scanned five, along with one of the gold medallion parallels

i would love to add more!

9. 1980 topps football dan dierdorf

this card was wanted because of the black armband dierdorf is sporting. the st. louis football cardinals added the memorial for teammate j.v. cain who passed away during training camp prior to the 1979 season. it's only the second football card i have in my memorial collection, with the other being a card showing the patch the cowboys wore for tom landry.

lastly, i will show this 1993 pinnacle mike piazza home run club

card for some reason. this card came from a box set and is the lone dodger, so my team set is complete! i am not sure why it is here because it was never on the most wanted list, but yet i scanned it and added it to an early draft of this post. perhaps it was a card that was destined to join the list but was acquired before that could happen.

at any rate, there are nine dodger cards on the list today, along with nine non-dodger cards, so please take a look at my "nefarious nine" and see if you can help a blogger out. you will be rewarded!

there was a wills, so i thought there might be a way

maury wills was one of the players eligible for the hall of fame on the golden era committee ballot, which was voted on yesterday. unfortunately, wills did not get the call from the hall.

i am a bigger hall kind of guy, so i was hoping wills would make it. that would also initiate the retirement of his jersey number by the dodgers, which i also support. wills was a big part of the franchise as it moved from brooklyn to los angeles, and his speed was an asset on those somewhat underperforming offensive teams of the early 1960's.  

i am biased, of course, and wills is probably just a hall of very good player who stole a lot of bases and broke one of ty cobb's records in his most well known season. anyway, i figured i would show some autographs of wills that i've acquired recently - particularly after fuji noted how affordable his certified autos can be in response to one of my earlier posts.

2004 topps retired signature

and a full run of fleer greats of the game autos from 1999 to 2001

i've thought about adding wills to my hall of famer collection, but haven't pulled that trigger (yet). i guess i am not too unlike the dodgers in their retired number stance when it comes to guys like wills and gil hodges - another guy who was on sunday's ballot but, unlike wills, one who was elected to cooperstown. i assume the dodgers will now retire hodges' number 14, and i will certainly be adding him to my hall of famer collection (along with a couple others). stay tuned on that.

in other hall of fame news, it will be interesting to see who is elected by the writers for induction in 2022 with some big names entering their last year on the ballot and some big names being added to the ballot for the first time. i'm looking forward to the results!

rod carew is in my hall of famer collection

one of my favorite non-dodgers during the first several years of my baseball fandom was rod carew. he is in my hall of famer collection, represented by this 2004 topps retired signature card:

it's a beaut.  here's the back:

rod carew was a twin on his two cards in the 1978 topps set, which was the first time i saw cards of his. the all-star shield on his base card meant that i spent a lot of time looking at and studying that particular card, so carew as a twin is not a strange sight to me. however, when carew landed with the angels prior to the 1979 season, my fandom got turned up a notch.  as a result, my hall of famer collection features him as a halo.

it did take me a while to find a card that featured him as an angel with an on-card signature that dated from before his heart attack in 2015 (which resulted in a shakier signature as well as the elimination or reduction of the pen trail coming off of the "w" in subsequent years), but patience paid off and i found a magnificent specimen. of course, the perfect card for this collection would be a buyback auto of his 1979 o-pee-chee card, as that was a prized possession for me in the summer of '79.

as mentioned up above, i first knew carew as a twin, but i spent a lot of time following the 1979 angels and their quest for their first postseason appearance. carew, who had been traded to california prior to the season, was up to his usual tricks early in the season, and was hitting around .350 when he went on the disabled list in june. he missed the all-star game, which disappointed me, but came back soon thereafter to help the halos reach the alcs for the fist time.

i went to my first angels game in 1979, and so got to see carew in action in person for the first time. it was a game against the blue jays on august 19, and carew went 0 for 3 with 2 walks. i was there more for don baylor, but it was bobby grich who provided the offensive firepower that evening. i went to another angel game while carew was active - it was against the a's in 1982 - but i don't recall any specifics of that game, other than rickey henderson stole a base and billy martin argued with the umpires.

carew's batting stance was a favorite of mine to mimic during wiffle ball games in the front yard as a kid, and i was pleased to find him spending a good deal of time with the twins after i moved to minnesota.  as such, i was able to get his autograph a time or two at twins fest or the old autograph parties they used to have, and also let him know that i was a fan.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relic

nap lajoie - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

tris speaker - 2011 topps tribute dual relic green parallel 53/75

eddie collins - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

george sisler - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

dizzy dean - 2001 topps tribute relic

hank greenberg - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

bob feller - 2001 topps archives certified autograph

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relic

ted williams - 1992 upper deck baseball heroes autograph 1067/2000

stan musial - 2002 topps team topps legends autograph

yogi berra - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1640/2000

sandy koufax - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1707/2000

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints certified autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

bob gibson - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

frank robinson - 1995 upper deck autograph

don drysdale - 1993 nabisco all-star autographs

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

pee wee reese - 2001 topps tribute relic

lou brock - 2018 topps archives signature series 1989 buyback 53/61

jim hunter - 1998 donruss signature series significant signatures 0736/2000

willie stargell - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures 

red schoendienst - 2012 panini cooperstown signatures 038/549

jim palmer - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

rod carew - 2004 topps retired signature autograph

fergie jenkins - 2013 topps five star baseball autograph 154/333

gaylord perry - 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

hal newhouser - 1993 front row premium all-time greats autograph

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autograph 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autograph 43/45

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback 048/147

phil niekro - 2017 panini donruss recollection collection 1983 donruss buyback autograph 13/33

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

robin yount - 2001 upper deck ultimate collection ultimate signatures 112/150

carlton fisk - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

tony perez - 2004 fleer national pastime 2002 fleer greats authentic autograph buyback 30/59

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

ozzie smith - 2019 topps finest finest origins autograph

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

eddie murray - 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary sigs 45/50 

dennis eckersley - 2017 topps archives signature series 1984 topps buyback 47/99

paul molitor - 2016 topps museum collection archival autographs 021/125

wade boggs - 2005 upper deck baseball heroes autograph red parallel 30/49

ryne sandberg - 2016 topps five star autographs gold parallel 17/50

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites certified autograph

tony gwynn - 1997 donruss signature series millennium marks autograph 0702/1000

cal ripken jr - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 32/75

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants past time signatures

andre dawson - 2000 fleer greats of the game autograph

bert blyleven - 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams autograph

ron santo - 2004 topps retired signature autograph

greg maddux - 2018 topps luminaries masters of the mound autograph 13/15

pedro martinez - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 09/60

ken griffey jr - 2003 upper deck game face autograph

mike piazza - 2014 topps five star autograph 35/50

tim raines - 2018 topps tribute tribute autograph green parallel 26/95

alan trammell - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

roy halladay - 2017 topps archives signature series 2004 topps buyback 15/23

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

roger clemens* - 1995 upper deck autograph

 

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.