card show date to church

back in may i went to the semi-annual card show at a suburban church. it's held in a gymnasium that seems too small to me to function as a gymasium, but i am not an elementary school child so that might be the issue. anyway, i bought cards from four dealers and found some fun stuff.

the first guy i bought from is a regular at the local shows. i picked up a couple of 1955 bowman cards for the set build, along with this dandy

it turns out that these world series pennants were inserts in the 1961 fleer baseball greats packs. there are then only two dodger world champions pennants (1955 and this one) and i bet that the 1955 version is pretty spendy. cool vintage oddball pickup for the collection for sure.

the next seller i picked up cards from was another regular - the guy who always has bargain boxes with a seemingly neverending variety of cards. i found these three legends variations from 2009 topps update

a yasiel puig variation from 2018 topps

and some numbered dodger parallels from 2022 topps uk edition

turner & turner at your service.

he also had a box of autos and relics that were marked at 50% off sticker which meant most were a buck or two. i took a black parallel of victor gonzalez' 2021 topps update 1986 autograph

and a couple of dodger relics

from his inventory.

this 2009 bowman draft derek jeter card

goes in my name/number on the back collection, and this 2010 topps cards your mom threw out 1969 reggie jackson card

is an original back version

and probably the closest i will come to owning the real thing.

i am not familiar with paw patrol (i can tell you all about the wiggles, however) but i still picked up this 2024 topps update aaron judge thing

did he make a guest appearance on the show? not sure what the crossover is supposed to be.

finally, i chose to buy this 2023 topps mike trout city connect manupatch

i actually like the angels' city connect uniforms, although you don't get too much of it on this card.

there was another seller with a 50 cent box that i stopped to check out. i wound up with a few cards, including a desecrated 1975 topps pete rose card

and a beat up phil garner/keith hernandez rookie card from the same set

i mean no disrespect to bob sheldon and tom veryzer, but those top two guys made this card a hot commodity back when i was trying to complete the oakland a's team sets during the early billy ball days.

i also grabbed this 1979 topps lou brock card

even though i don't have a need for it. it's just such an iconic card from my childhood - seeing the same person as the all-time and season record holder was pretty cool to young gcrl. and it's still cool, even though the player on this card would be different today. looking forward to 2028 topps heritage!

finally, i was on my way out when i saw some monster boxes set up near the doorway. there was a kid - probably late teens - who was set up with a table of toploaded and slabbed stuff. the monster boxes were on the side and clearly not the main thrust of his set up. i didn't want to spend too much more time at the show, but i started looking through one of the boxes.

i wish all sellers were like this one. he came over and told me that he would give me a deal on the singles from the box. i pulled this card out - a 2024 topps holiday shohei ohtani variation 

and asked him how he would price it. he said that it was a variation, and so i was ready for the $5 to $10 price tag. instead, he said a buck or so. um ok. i'll keep digging.

i wound up with quite a stack of cards - parallels and inserts - from various 2023, 2024, and 2025 topps releases. finding a 2024 topps chrome cosmic mookie betts extraterrestrial talent insert

was fun, but most of the cards in the one box i looked through came from topps flagship releases. clearly this person was buying a variety of release formats and looking for the big hits. here's a 2025 topps ohtani 8-bit ballers insert

and a 2025 topps rosie red insert

that both came from the celebration boxes. 

i was able to add the one dodger themed first pitch card to my collection

(that's usc trojan juju watkins) plus some other dodger parallels like a 2023 topps freddie freeman silver pattern foil card

from a collector's box, and some 2024 topps aqua parallels from fanatics packaging - freeman on a league leader card

and walker buehler

as well.

i didn't limit myself to dodgers, as i will always go for a miguel cabrera final tribute parallel

and i also couldn't pass up the color match on the padres team card

the last card i added to my stack was this 2024 topps chrome update jackson holliday stratospheric stars insert

i asked the seller to price the stack and figured i was looking at about 20 bucks. he came back with 10 and it was such a pleasant surprise. i hope to see him at future shows, although he hasn't been at the couple i've attended since then, and i won't be able to get to the next church show.

it's half there in black and white

orel hershiser is one of the many players for whom i had a pc going through 2002. in 2003, i dramatically reduced the number of players that i collect non-dodger cards of, and the bulldog didn't make the list. i've considered reinstating him, as i did with fernando valenzuela, but haven't done that yet. still, i sometimes see a card of hershiser as a met or indian (or giant) and think that i should bring him back into the fold. 

his non-dodger cards sometimes pop up in a couple of my saved ebay searches, and the card below is one of those

you may say that it is clearly a dodger card because the uniform shown is clearly the back of a dodger jersey with hershiser's number 55 on display. that is correct, but the "jumbo patch" comes from his stint as the texas rangers' pitching coach because the patch is half of the black square that the team wore for their late manager johnny oates in 2005. the other half of the patch (with the "6") was on a separate card from this release, but it sold to someone else.

the card is from leaf's 2020 in the game used sports release. here is the back:

it's not the first card to mix up the image on the front with the swatch on the card - reggie jackson was confused with reggie white on one series of cards from this set - and i noticed in one of the 2023 releases that a john roseboro bat knob card featured a number that wasn't roseboro's. doesn't mean it's not valid, but it raises an eyebrow. same goes for the black bat knob that was on steve garvey's 2023 card. i don't know that he ever used a black bat in a game. makes me glad i could authenticate the bat knob and bat end that i have in my collection.

this is the first card that i own that features a game worn memorial patch, but topps has issued at least one commemorative patch card that features one

as the marlins incorporated a memorial to carl barger in their inaugural season patch. that gary sheffield card is from 2010 topps. both it and the hershiser card are in my arm band and memorial patch mini-collection as tangential cards to the theme.

there are a few patches that were worn in 2024 by various teams and i've already shown a card featuring one of them. i'll have some others in the future as i continue to be captivated by these memorials to players and other field personnel who left an impact on the franchises that they represented during their careers.

card shop pregaming

i had some time to kill before a work event one friday evening so i stopped at one of the local card shops to check out their bargain bins and nickel and quarter boxes. i considered the trip a warmup for the monthly card show which would take place the next day. the inventory was a little low, but i still found cards to take home with me.

i know that the shop doesn't typically bust product, so i am guessing they bought some cards from someone who went for a large 2024 topps chrome yankee team break. there was one aaron judge card to be had, although it was the all-etch insert

but i found a juan soto 1989 35th anniversary card, too

among a bunch of other yankee refractor parallels.

there was a random teoscar hernandez refractor parallel

so maybe it wasn't just a yankee thing.

i had not known that 2024 topps finest was out, but i found freddie freeman's base card

and a couple of "baseball's finest" inserts - shohei ohtani

and clayton kershaw

with yoshinobu yamamoto on the injured list, his cards haven't been as tough to find. these two inserts from 2024 topps finest

were a quarter apiece. as was kershaw's 2024 topps museum collection card

his copper parallel was fifty cents

i did grab some non-dodgers, including a 2010 topps factory set limited edition exclusive hanley ramirez card

for the name/number on the back collection. it was a nickel.

this 2022 topps 75 years of the roy nomar garciaparra card

was also a nickel. i recently completed the dodger team set from this release which would have been so much more of a priority if it had featured all 151 or so roys instead of just a handful.

here's a 2021 topps jack flaherty 70 years of topps chrome parallel insert

i am assuming we will see flaherty and his number 0 in update later this year.

i figured there was some sort of shenanigans when i found two different 2024 topps finest jung hoo lee cards

and it turns out one is the base and the other is a "rare" short print. ok topps.

i spent a total of 20 bucks on loose cards - about 90 in total - but couldn't resist picking up one of the blasters of 2024 topps chrome that was in the case. i should have left it alone. i did find a clayton kershaw base card

and a freddie freeman "strokes" insert

but the rest was pretty poor. i figured i would find some 2024 topps chrome at the show the next day, but i was wrong. still, i left with some cards and i will share some of them in a future post. stay tuned!

my retired number collection - 42

this is the 25th 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.

i am skipping ahead a bit here, with jackie robinson day coming on monday. so, without further ado, here are the three people for whom number 42 has been retired:

jackie robinson (retired by the dodgers in 1972) 2008 topps stadium club

the dodgers retired number 42 for robinson on june 4, 1972 in a ceremony that also saw numbers 32 and 39 retired for sandy koufax and roy campanella, respectively. the trio were the first to be honored by the franchise, and i like to think that jackie was the first number retired of the three as he was the first to be enshrined in cooperstown, with his induction taking place in 1962. oddly enough, the dodgers, who had held his number out of rotation since robinson retired, issued the number briefly to ray lamb in 1969.

robinson's 2008 topps stadium club card is a good looking card except for the fact that it is miscut (i don't think i've seen one without the white "border" at the bottom). it gives a good look at his number, and so is appropriate for the collection. as for his career, robinson was the 1947 rookie of the year and the 1949 mvp of the national league. he helped the dodgers get their first world series championship in 1955 and retired after the 1956 season with a .313 lifetime batting average.

jackie robinson (retired by mlb in 1997) 2015 topps the jackie robinson story

in honor of jackie robinson's contribution to the game of baseball as the first black man allowed to play in the major leagues, number 42 was retired across the entire league on april 15, 1997 - the fiftieth anniversary of his debut for the dodgers. active players who were wearing 42 at the time could continue to wear it, but clubs were not allowed to issue it to new players.  here's a list of each team's last player to wear 42 on the field, according to baseball reference:

dodgers: ray lamb (1969)

diamondbacks: franchise began play in 1998 

braves: armando reynoso (1992)

orioles: lenny webster (1999)

red sox: mo vaughn (1998)

cubs: glenallen hill (1993)

white sox: scott ruffcorn (1996)

reds: roger salkeld (1996)

guardians: michael jackson (1997)

rockies: armando reynoso (1996)

tigers: jose lima (2002)

astros: jose lima (2001)

royals: tom goodwin (1997)

angels: mo vaughn (2000)

marlins: dennis cook (1997)

brewers: scott karl (1999)

twins: michael jackson (2002)

expos: kirk reuter (1996)

mets: mo vaughn (2003)

yankees: mariano rivera (2013)

a's: buddy groom (1997)

phillies: toby borland (1996)

pirates: jason schmidt (1997)

padres: pedro martinez (1994)

giants: kirk rueter (1997)

mariners: butch huskey (1999)

cardinals: jose oliva (1995)

rays: franchise began play in 1998 

rangers: marc sagmoen (1997)

blue jays: xavier hernandez (1999)

nationals: franchise began play in 2005

i am not 100% sure about sagmoen for the rangers. he made his big league debut on april 15, 1997 and i would find it surprising that the team would give him number 42 to wear on the night it was being retired. the practice of players wearing 42 on jackie robinson day didn't take hold until later.

bruce sutter (retired by the cardinals in 2006) 1982 fleer

we already know that sutter wasn't the last cardinal to wear number 42, but the team retired it in his honor on september 17, 2006 after being inducted into the hall of fame the month prior. sutter pitched for the cardinals for only four seasons, but he led the league in saves in three of them and was a top-5 cy young award vote getter in those same three seasons.

using his 1982 fleer card here is appropriate as 1982 was the year that sutter helped the cardinals beat the brewers in the world series. he saved two of the cardinals' four wins in the series, and notched the win in a third.

mariano rivera (retired by the yankees in 2013) 1997 topps

rivera was the last yankee and the last player to wear number 42. he was also the only (to date) player to be unanimously inducted into the hall of fame, receiving 100% of the writers' vote in 2019. the yankees, however, had already retired 42 in his honor on september 22, 2013 - just a few days before he made the final appearance of his career. 

rivera is the game's all-time leader in saves with 652. he also saved 42 postseason games as a part of the yankees' resurgence that uncoincidentally coincided with rivera's career which lasted from 1995 through 2013. he was a big part of their five world championship teams during that span, winning the 1999 world series mvp award along the way.

i originally used rivera's 2010 topps card 

for this collection, but moved that card to my name/number on the back collection after i pulled his 1997 topps card from my sportlots inventory.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 25 posts so far):

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

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

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

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

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

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

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 42

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

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

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

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

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 42

angels - 11, 42

expos - 8, 10, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42

blue jays - 42

rockies - 17, 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 (includes mets who will formally retire the number in 2024)

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

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): 113

running total of non-hall of famers: 42

gary sheffield is in my hall of famer collection

it will be about 22 hours after this post goes live that we will learn whether or not gary sheffield will be inducted to the national baseball hall of fame via the writer's association. regardless of what is announced, sheffield is now a member of my hall of famer collection, with this card as his entry:

that's a 2020 topps chrome black autograph card. here's the back:

and yes, i have another one of these in my dodger collection.

to me, sheffield is a dodger. he absolutely mashed during his time in los angeles (his .998 ops in those three and a half seasons is the best all-time for a dodger of any significant tenure) and helped me get over the loss of mike piazza. of course, just when i was ready to consider him as a favorite, he decided he wanted out and so the dodgers traded him to the braves.

that's kind of the story with sheffield - he played in a lot of different places. starting in milwaukee, he was traded to the padres, who eventually traded him to the marlins. from there he was traded to the dodgers and then the braves before signing as a free agent with the yankees who eventually traded him to the tigers. the tigers released him after two seasons, and he signed with the mets to finish out his career.

i did get to see sheffield play in person a few times, including on june 16, 1998 when the dodgers were playing in san diego. he went 3 for 5 that day with a home run and 3 rbi. his home run came off of former (and future) teammate kevin brown in the top of the first. he also homered the next time i saw him - august 28, 1998 against the mets in mike piazza's return to dodger stadium. that was a three-run shot, also in the first inning. piazza also homered in that game, by the way.

i saw him twice in saint louis in 1999 (he was 4 for 9 with two doubles and 3 rbi in those games), and then saw him back in los angeles on opening day (april 2) 2001. he was actually standing at the left field entrance to dodger stadium handing out the rally towel giveaways at one point. i doubled back after my dad mentioned it to me, and i am pretty sure sheffield isn't 5'11" like it says on the back of his cards. he was definitely imposing, however. he hit a solo homer that day.

the last time i saw him play in person was on june 10, 2002. sheffield was a brave at that time, and they were playing in the metrodome. the game went 15 innings and my friend and i stayed for the duration. sheffield played the whole game, too, going 1 for 5 with two walks.

sheffield hit a total of 509 home runs (good for 24th all-time at the time of his retirement as we will see in a moment) and drove in 1,676 runs. he also stole over 250 bases and walked 1,475 times. these are all top-30 numbers in the history of the game, and i think they make sheffield a hall of famer. if he is not elected, it will be because of performing enhancing drug suspicions (he has admitted to using "the cream" at one point). i don't think that should keep him out, just like i don't think known user of "the cream" and "the clear" barry bonds should be kept out.

i also pulled some of his 2010 cards to add to my final tribute collection, including his topps base

and heritage releases

both have his full career stats

on the backs

there's the note that he retired 24th all-time in home runs (he's now 27th) and 25th in rbi (now 30th). that's hall of fame material to me.

as a reminder, you can see sheffield and the other members of my hall of famer collection here!