batting around with some fun facts

i am always happy to participate in a good ol' blog bat around! in diamond jesters original post yesterday, matt wrote about a series of fun statistical facts that were not intuitive based on our primary conception of certain players, even bringing it back to madison bumgarner to match the original version of the concept. i decided pretty quickly after reading matt's post to give it a try! 

i will start with mookie betts

who has more regular season 3 home run games (6) than reggie jackson (2)

who has as many championship series home runs (6) as kiké hernandez (6)

who has finished more regular season games as a pitcher (6) than walker buehler (5)

who has more career home runs (1) than don sutton (0)

who hit fewer batters with a pitch (82) than madison bumgarner (89)

for reference, don sutton had 1,559 plate appearances to walker buehler's 195, and sutton faced 21,631 batters while bumgarner only pitched to 9,098 batters.

this was pretty fun. the only stat i was aware of before i started was that betts had more 3 homer games than mr. october - the other facts i discovered along the way. baseball reference truly is the greatest website.

thanks for the inspiration matt!

my retired number collection - 29

this is the 29th 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 three people for whom number 29 has been retired:

rod carew (retired by the angels in 1986) 1983 topps

following the 1978 season, reigning back-to-back american league batting champ rod carew was dealt to the angels for, among others, future dodgers ken landreaux and brad havens. he spent seven seasons with the club, hitting .314 during that time and remaining a popular and high performing player, as his six all-star nods as an angel attest. he had three top-five finishes in the american league batting title race while playing in anaheim, and hit as high as .331 in 1980. even though carew was the american league's starter at first base in the 1983 and 1984 all-star games, his 1983 topps all-star subset card which serves as carew's angel card in this collection was the last one he received, with eddie murray getting the cardboard in both 1984 and 1985.

while with the angels, carew passed the 3,000 hit milestone and cemented his place in cooperstown and, i think, effectively ending his time with the angels. with that milestone out of the way near the end of the 1985 season, the angels were able to enjoy the attention that comes with a chase for 3,000 hits and still let him walk as a free agent at the end of the season, which they did. even though carew last played in 1985, he had hoped to continue playing but had no takers after becoming a free agent and so ultimately formally retired during the 1986 season.  as an aside, i recall hoping the dodgers would sign him, but they were committed to greg brock at the time.

just like in minnesota, carew was the last angel to wear number 29, and the angels formally retired the number on august 12, 1986 (per this upi article) shortly after his formal retirement announcement. this was largely seen as a pr move by the angels, but carew did have a good relationship with the owner, gene autry. autry at the time was the only other person for whom the angels had retired a number, making carew the first player to be so honored.

rod carew (retired by the twins in 1987) 1979 topps

carew was a twin for the first 12 years of his career, and he was an all-star in each of those seasons. he was the 1967 american league rookie of the year, and a seven time league batting champion. he hit .388 for the twins in 1977, which was the highest average among eligible batters since ted williams hit .406 in 1941. as a result of his performance that season, carew was named the league's most valuable player.

carew's tenure with the twins ended after the 1978 season (when he hit .333 to claim his sixth batting title) due to a rift in his relationship with club owner calvin griffith who had given an offensive and bigoted speech during the offseason which in turn prompted carew's request for a trade. even though carew was not a twin for as long as players like harmon killebrew (who was the only twin to have his number retired before carew) or joe mauer, he is the top position player on the franchise's all-time war leader board.  he also ranks highly in most offensive categories among non-washington senator players.

the twins retired carew's number on july 19, 1987, although they had kept it out of circulation since his departure after the 1978 season meaning he was fittingly the last twin to wear the number. his 1979 topps card is one of my favorite carew cards (behind only the 1978 topps and 1978 o-pee-chee cards), so i am happy to include it in this collection to represent carew's greatness with the twins.

john smoltz (retired by the braves in 2012) 1993 upper deck sp

smoltz spent all but one year (the last) of his 21 year career with the braves, piling up 210 wins, 154 saves, and 3011 strikeouts for atlanta. he won the 1996 national league cy young award as a starter, and later finished third in the cy young voting in 2002 in his first full year as a closer. smoltz spent two more years as the braves' closer before returning to starting, and wound up leading the league in wins and starts in 2006.

smoltz was the 1992 nlcs mvp, and pitched well in the 1992, 1996 and 1991 world series fot the braves. he was a member of the 1995 world championship team, although his pitching line in that series was not the best. overall, smoltz is the franchise's all-time leader in strikeouts. he is fourth in wins, second in saves, and fourth in war for pitchers (behind hall of famers kid nichols, warren spahn, and phil niekro).

the braves retired smoltz's number on june 8, 2012 as part of his induction into the franchise's hall of fame. three years later, in 2015, smoltz was voted into the national baseball hall of fame. he was the last brave to wear the number, which is shown almost in its entirety on his 1993 upper deck sp card.

adrian beltre (retired by the rangers in 2019) 2012 topps

beltre spent the last 8 years of his career with the rangers, earning three gold gloves and three silver sluggers in that time. he retired as the franchise's third best player in terms of war, which is an indication of his overall value on the field for a club that has had some solid long term players during the course of its history.

beltre retired following the 2018 season, and the rangers retired his number on june 8, 2019 so as to be able to hold the ceremony in globe life stadium where beltre spent his time with the club. he was the last ranger to wear 29, and i think the 2012 topps card above is a good one for this collection. beltre will be inducted into the hall of fame this summer as a first ballot inductee.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 29 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, 27, 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, 26, 27, 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, 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, 42

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 42

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 42

angels - 11, 26, 42

expos - 8, 10, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 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

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)

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): 122

running total of non-hall of famers: 44

the almost daily dodger - aaron harang

today i am featuring aaron harang, who spent one season with the dodgers. here is his 2012 topps gold parallel card

up until the moment i started writing this post, i assumed that the photo used for the card was photoshopped to show harang in a dodger away uniform. something about the number (size? location?) just seemed off. plus, the photo is from a game at petco park, and harang pitched for the padres in 2011.

what has me questioning that assessment is the fact that he is shown wearing number 44. while that is the number that he wore for the dodgers during the 2012 regular season, he had never worn that number before. he wore number 41 for the padres, and sported that number during spring training as a dodger.  harang did make his dodger debut in san diego on april 8, 2012, and the card is from series 2, so i guess it is possible that the photo is legit but less than two months from photo to card release (baseballcardpedia notes that series 2 was released on june 2) seems pretty tight.

anybody have any thoughts about the image on the card?

not as advertised

we may well see the 2023 baseball season come to a close tonight if the rangers can win another road game. seeing corey seager continue his strong play in the postseason makes me a bit wistful for what might have been if he had decided to remain with the dodgers, especially given the diametrically opposed results for the two teams this season.

first up here is a 2011 topps heritage advertising panel that i picked up recently

with the back 

that has nothing to do with the front as you would expect from an ad panel. i show it only because it sort of fits with the title - the dodgers weren't as advertised once the postseason began.

the dodgers won the west (again), just like they did back in 2013 - a title which warranted a mural on the outfield wall that showed up on yasiel puig's 2014 topps photo variation card

before the dodgers went full advertising on the outfield wall.

i picked up a couple more variations from 2014 topps featuring hyun-jin ryu and hanley ramirez

celebrating in ways that i was hoping to see more of this year.

i was hoping to see another pennant which would have made this 2023 panini donruss duke snider card

much more relevant.

same for these 2017 topps update sandy koufax cards - heroes of autumn

and storied world series

that could have been used to draw a parallel to the performance of some other postseason participant wearing the dodger uniform.

finally, i was hoping that this 2022 topps stadium club clayton kershaw trophy hunters card

would have stood in for a different trophy that the dodgers would have hoisted.

back to "wait 'til next year" i guess. in the meantime, i can live vicariously through old friends nathan eovaldi

and corey seager.

what the heck, i may as well give the guy his due and recognize him as a ranger

he may well win his second world series mvp trophy tonight!

collecting by numbers

most of the cards missing from my steve garvey collection are serial numbered items - low numbered parallels or similarly scarce auto and/or relic cards.  this was especially true prior to the last couple of years when garvey was absent from almost all new topps releases. still, even now, most of his cards are numbered. as a result, it's not every day that cards get added to my collection. but it does happen!

i've been dumping new garvey gets in to this draft post for more than a couple of years, so there are going to be quite a few cards shown. one of the most recent of these numbered garvey cards to enter my collection is this 2021 topps archives signature series 1983 topps buyback auto

it is randomly numbered to 52. the buyback itself is not in very good shape at all. hey topps - let me know if you need some cards in better shape to buy back for future releases. i can definitely help!

the next card is actually unnumbered. not just not serial numbered, it has no number whatsoever.

that is the unnumbered version of the 1990 baseball wit

release. i mentioned these cards in a post earlier this year, but i've had the garvey for a couple years now.

in recent years, most of the garvey cards have come from panini. i try not to purchase panini product off the shelf since they seem intent on screwing me out of my one redemption request that's in limbo, but i have picked up many, many garvey cards on the secondary market.

from 2019 panini immaculate collection, i have a garvey auto numbered to 49

and the gold parallel numbered to 25

those two cards are about as well as panini can do without a license, in my opinion. yes, there is no logo on the helmet, but it is not as obvious as on these next cards, also from 2019 panini immaculate collection

those are the dual material autograph cards, and again, i have the "base" numbered to 49 and the gold parallel numbered to 25.

i added a third bronze parallel from 2004 upper deck legends to my garvey collection

these are numbered to 50 as you can see. i only need the 1977 subset bronze card to complete the garvey bronze collection from this set, and that one is the one i wish i had the most as it is a "memorable moments" card which looks great in bronze (and gold). hopefully someday.

here's a 2008 donruss threads garvey parallel

it's the "century proof gold" version, numbered to 50

it's amusing to me how different companies, and sometimes the same companies, change up numbering for gold (and other precious metals) cards from one release to another.

at least serial numbers like 99, 50, and 25 are fairly universal. in 2005, donruss went crazy with their studio portraits release. i think there are 56 different steve garvey cards in that set, all serially numbered with some, like this one

which is a studio blue card numbered to 45

this set includes cards numbered in increments of 5 from 5 to 60.

here's another gold card - a 2021 panini national treasures retro materials holo gold

card numbered to 25

here are more cards numbered 25 - the first two from 2005. one from donruss classics

and one from donruss leather & lumber

2012 panini signature series provided me an opportunity to add this diamond cuts auto

and this signature stamps card

both of  which are numbered to 25. here's the back of the stamp card

the diamond cuts auto is neat because it features a photo from garvey's introductory press conference back in december of 1982. i think the first card to feature such a photo that i was aware of was wayne gretzky's 1988-89 topps card, but i could be wrong.

upper deck also has some garvey cards numbered to 25, and i've added this 2007 sp legendary cuts quad materials card

to the collection. i am still on the lookout for the dodger version of this card.

this 2002 upper deck sweet spot classics bat card

is paired with the gold version of a jersey card from the same set that was already in my collection.

there aren't too many cards numbered to 15 in my collection, but i do have this one from 2019 panini national treasures

it does kinda suck to see a sticker auto on a card numbered to 15.

even worse is a sticker auto on a card numbered to 10 as is the case with this 2012 topps golden moments gold sparkle card

the card would look a lot better with a hard signature in my opinion.

going back to 2016, panini released something called pantheon. there were a bunch of garvey cards, and one that i didn't have until a couple of years ago was this "arena acclaimed" materials card

that is numbered to 10

this is a "bronze" card, but the only other version is numbered to 1 and panini calls that a "holo silver". go figure.

also from 2016, panini's national treasures release included a "six swatch signatures" card. i already had the "black" version which is numbered to 10, but i now also have the "green" version numbered to 5

these are really attractive cards in my opinion, even with padre brown, yellow, and orange.

one of my favorite recent garvey numbered gets is this 2004 upper deck legends gold autograph card

that is numbered to 5

i have 2 of the 4 garvey gold autographs now which is two more than i really ever figured i would find. 

finally, the newest numbered garvey card to come in to my collection is this 2021 topps dynasty relic-auto card

numbered to 10. this is the "dap-sg2" card, one of three different cards (each with a different photo) of garvey in this set. it completes my trifecta of having one of each of the three, each numbered to 10. i previously showed the other two in this post.

i don't see the trend of numbered parallels and low-numbered base cards changing any time soon. and so it goes for the player collector, although i am long since resigned to not having anywhere close to all of them. 

bonus content!

sometimes player collections reach a point where the line is moved and items are added that are a bit of a stretch. i have a couple of new examples, beginning with this 2022 topps x aaron judge curated set card of dusty baker

which features steve garvey in the on deck circle in the background. unfortunately, not much of garvey is visible, but i will still add this to my garvey collection (along with one for the dodger collection).

in addition, i recently found this 1991 dodger pocket schedule

in a box that i hadn't looked through in several years. i am adding it to the garvey collection because he appears on two of the pins that were given away that season, including one honoring the infield of cey, russell, lopes, and garvey (not the way i normally refer to them, but going around the horn that's how it is). and yes, both the 30-home run pin celebrating dusty baker, garvey, cey, and reggie smith, and the infield pin are already in my garvey pc. there just aren't enough cards featuring garvey, cey, russell, lopes.