my retired numbers collection - lucky number 7

this is the eighth 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 the number 7 has been retired:

7 mickey mantle (retired by the yankees in 1969) 2008 topps chrome

mickey mantle announced his retirement on march 1, 1969, and thankfully topps kept him in the set that year. they noted his retirement announcement on the back of the card, along with the fact that he retired with baseball's third highest home run total of all time. his other achievements include a triple crown in 1956, three mvp trophies, and seven world series titles. he was a yankee lifer, and the club retired his number a few months after his announcement, on june 8 to be exact, making mantle the last yankee to wear 7. he was inducted into the hall of fame in 1974 on the first ballot as you would expect from an icon such as mantle.

i like the fact that topps started including him in sets once they secured the rights. having number 7 missing from flagship sets was a bit weird. the 2008 topps chrome card i've used for this collection is a great card in my opinion. the angle of the photo suggests that the photographer was in the stands rather than a photographer's well. i may have to track down the refractor version of this card at some point.

7 craig biggio (retired by the astros in 2008) 2002 donruss originals

i really was a fan of this set when it was issued, perhaps in response to topps' heritage release the previous year. donruss, however, skipped 1981 altogether. anway, the 1984 design that they used for this card of craig biggio shows his number 7 pretty clearly and so it was the card that i chose. biggio's number was retired by the franchise on august 17, 2008. biggio had hung up his spikes at the end of the 2007 season with more than 3,000 hits and 400 stolen bases and so was the last astro to wear number 7.

biggio, who only suited up for the astros during his career, was voted in to the hall of fame in 2015, his third year on the ballot. i used to think that 3,000 hits or strikeouts was an automatic stamp, but that has been disproven time and time again. still, i am glad that biggio was enshrined as i followed his career fairly closely once he moved to second base.

7 ivan rodriguez (retired by the rangers in 2017) 1997 topps

the rangers retired number 7 for irod on august 12, 2017 following his induction in the hall of fame. he spent most of his career in texas over two separate tenures, and when he left the club each time, his number was put back in to rotation. as a result, delino deshields (the son of the delino deshields who was traded by the expos to the dodgers for pedro martinez - sigh) was the last ranger to wear number 7 on the field.

rodriguez had his best years in a ranger uniform, winning the 1999 mvp, although his best postseason success came as a tiger and a marlin. he appeared in the world series with both of those franchises, winning a ring in 2003 with florida. i chose the 1997 topps card for this collection because it is hard to find a card showing his number when he is wearing the catching gear.

7 joe mauer (retired by the twins in 2019) 2011 topps chrome

the speculation was rampant that 2018 was going to be mauer's last year, and when he donned the catching gear in the last game of the season, i think it became clear that he was intending to retire. he did formally announce his retirement during the offseason, and so the twins retired his number 7 on june 15, 2019 making him the last twin to wear the number. 

mauer was the first pick in the 2001 draft, and the st. paul native played his entire career for his hometown (well, the city next door, anyway) team. 2023 is his first year on the hall of fame ballot, and my guess is that he doesn't get the votes this year. i expect to see him enshrined in cooperstown within the next five years, however, as his peak was high with three batting titles and an mvp award to his name. 

[edit - mauer was elected to the hall of fame on his first ballot! i will update the stats below accordingly]

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, 5, 6, 7

giants - 3, 4

pirates - 1, 4

guardians - 3, 5

red sox - 1, 4, 6

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2, 6

reds - 1, 5

braves - 3, 6

astros - 5, 7

mets

orioles - 4, 5

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3, 6, 7

white sox - 2, 3, 4

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6

cubs

royals - 5

padres - 6

athletics

angels

expos

rangers - 7

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

5 - retired by 7 teams

6 - retired by 7 teams

7 - retired by 4 teams

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 52

running total of non-hall of famers: 7

get back

if you are looking for beatles content, this is not the post for you, although i did start watching the beatles documentary on disney+ a while back but haven't got back to it, no pun intended. no, today is the day that i share most of the cards that are in my often mentioned "name/number on the back" mini-collection.

i'll start by showing a card that would fit in to the collection, but it's not there (yet).

that's a 2013 panini hometown heroes yasiel puig short printed card. it's a fairly recent addition to my collection, and sits in my dodger collection. i don't really plan to track down another one for the mini-collection, but who knows.

the idea for this mini-collection was spurred by the existence of some cards that i liked aesthetically, but didn't necessarily "fit" anywhere in my collection. i have always liked photographs that show a subject from behind, giving viewers a glance at what they are looking at. another reason for this mini-collection is that when one goes to a baseball game in person, players have their backs to you much of the time, especially if you sit in the outfield seats or behind home plate. as a result, these cards often mimic the views that i enjoy at the ballpark. 

the first card that struck me in this way was paul molitor's 1998 topps card

molly was my favorite non-dodger for awhile, but what drew me to this card was the vantage point of the photographer. i was playing baseball in an adult league when the card was issued, and i saw similar scenes every time i was in the on deck circle. i really really like this card.

the second card that made me consider starting this mini-collection was vladimir guerrero's 1999 topps gallery card

i had a vladdy pc going at the time this card came out, so it fit in my collection, but again, the point of view of the photographer put me on the field or in the dugout. two years later, i found this 2001 topps stadium club mo vaughn card

and i knew i had to start a specific mini-collection. i even referred to this card as "perfect" in this post. still, it took me a long time to commit, and in the meantime, more cards were produced that fit the bill. i also found some older cards that i added to the collection. 

i've listed out all of the cards that currently sit in this collection here (there are over 90), and i'll show about half of them below:

there are some historic baseball moments that resulted in cards that fit this collection. like this 2007 upper deck masterpieces babe ruth card

and from the same set, a carlton fisk card

fisk's home run "trot" was also featured on a 1999 upper deck century legends memorable shots card

and a year later, upper deck included a card of "the catch" 

in the defining moments insert set to their 2000 legends release. "the catch" may have been the first baseball highlight that i took a strong liking to. i remember coming home from little league practice after catching a fly ball in the outfield with my back to the infield and telling my parents that my catch was just like willie mays'. so, i am always looking for cards that feature the play for this collection, and nick sent me one awhile back - this one is from 2016 topps

the vladdy up above is one of the rare baserunner cards in this collection, but there are a few others, like this 2015 topps evan longoria 'til it's over insert

and rickey henderson's 1999 upper deck century legends card

sometimes the baserunner makes it to home plate, as on this 1999 topps gallery mark mcgwire card

sometimes fielders make the cut as is the case with andy van slyke's simply fantastic 1992 topps stadium club card

this is one of my favorite cards thanks in a large part to the third base coach cameo.

matt williams' 2001 topps stadium club card 

is another "fielder" example.

on denard span's 2014 topps card (target red parallel)

we get the rare on-field camera man view as opposed to the specator view, but i like it! this card shows span tipping his hat to the crowd after making a game saving and game ending catch against the giants in 2013.

sometimes, there are pitchers that make the cut for the collection, such as jeff lahti's 1984 donruss card

david cone's 1993 upper deck card

and hideo nomo's 2001 topps card

pregame lineups also provide an opportunity for images to be used for cards that fit in this collection. such is the case with this 2002 topps card

and this 2018 topps update card

this 2017 topps stadium club willie mccovey card

features a photo i absolutely would have taken had i been there at the giants' spring training venue to do so.

there are a couple of "on deck" cards in the collection, including this one of david dahl

from 2019 topps stadium club. by far, however, the greatest number of cards in this collection feature players at bat.

2021 topps heritage dick allen baseball flashbacks

2007 topps moments & milestones joe mauer black parallel

2001 upper deck rickey henderson

sometimes, the vantage point shifts closer to the seats behind home plate, which is great. here are a few of those types of cards

1985 topps stickers steve garvey

1994 topps george brett gold parallel

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee chone figgins

2017 topps stadium club nolan arenado

2007 upper deck first edition vladimir guerrero

2002 upper deck vintage sammy sosa/cubs checklist

1992 topps stadium club tom pagnozzi

here's one that features the scene as it appears from behind the batting cage

that's a 2003 topps stadium club j.d. drew card and darn if it doesn't make me feel like a batting coach.

most of these batter cards use photos from the camera wells near the dugouts. here are some more:

1995 select mark mcgwire

mcgwire's 1993 select card features a centerfield camera shot of him at the plate - i've thought about creating a mini-collection of those cards, too, but so far i've resisted.

2000 upper deck gary sheffield

love this card!

1982 donruss duane kuiper

1999 upper deck ultimate victory shawn green

1999 upper deck victory ken griffey jr sweepstakes

2000 upper deck and upper deck gold reserve magglio ordonez

2002 topps total jeff bagwell

2012 topps frank robinson 1987 mini

sometimes it's a nickname on the back

but the card still fits, like this 2019 topps big league juan soto card

the camera well next to the visitor's dugout at target field is a great place for photographers to capture aesthetically pleasing images. joe mauer's 2011 topps chrome (and refractor parallel) cards

are a great example of this, however, the wider shot used for his factory team card

is all kinds of fantastic.  from the same set, we get denard span's card

with a similar image used.

and then there is the 2008 upper deck manny ramirez card

which tells the story from behind the subject. great card!

this 2010 topps allen & ginter nick markakis card

features a shot from a higher vantage point in the stands, which is fairly uncommon i would say.

the most recent card to enter this collection actually hasn't arrived yet. i ordered three of this 2022 topps now freddie freeman card

one for the dodger collection, one for the dodger stadium collection, and one for this one.

i'll finish with this 2016 topps gypsy queen jackie robinson walk-off winners insert

i love seeing number 42 on cardboard.

it is a bit subjective as far as what card makes it in to the collection, but if it makes me feel present i am all too happy to add it. this is for sure one of the odder mini-collections i have, but i really do like seeing all the cards together.