it was the only option

it’s weird to be in the postseason and not see clayton kershaw on the mound. bone spurs on his toe derailed his season after he returned from shoulder surgery and he was ruled out of the playoffs prior to the nlds. 

he is still with the club and i was happy to hear that he announced he would exercise his player option for 2025 during an interview prior to the start of the nlcs. that means his assault on the 3000 strikeout milestone will continue next year. he’s only 32 away from becoming the second pitcher to ever reach that mark as a dodger and the only one to do so solely as a dodger. in fact, he would be only the third member of the 3,000 k club to have recorded all of his strikeouts with one team, and the first since the club consisted of only two members (walter johnson and bob gibson). the dodgers would also become just the fifth franchise whose all-time strikeout leader had more than 3,000 punchouts, joining johnson's senators, gibson's cardinals, and the phillies (steve carlton), and braves (john smoltz).

anyway, with an 18th season on the horizon for kershaw, here are 18 cards from my collection that haven't been shown here before:

2017 topps chrome prism refractor parallel

2019 topps mini update

2019 topps update black gold insert

2020 panini contenders base and purple parallel

2020 panini donruss orange holo parallel

2020 topps warriors of the diamond insert

2020 topps gypsy queen

2022 panini 3 and 2

2022 topps no hit club insert

2023 topps 1988 all-star blue parallel 

2023 topps cosmic chrome

2024 bowman

2024 topps rainbow foil parallel 

2024 topps chrome all-etch insert

2024 topps chrome refractor parallel 

2024 topps chrome prism refractor parallel 

2024 topps chrome sepia refractor parallel 

the dodgers have unfinished business yet this season, but i will be happy to see 2025 roll around with kershaw on the mound again!

max scherzer is in my hall of famer collection

now that his 2023 season is done, i figured it was time to officially welcome max scherzer to my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that's a 2020 topps gypsy queen black & white autograph card numbered 15/50. here's the back:

i picked this card up a year or so ago, once i decided to add as many of the 3,000 strikeout club members to my collection as possible. that means that only walter johnson is absent from the collection since there aren't any relic cards of his out there.

as for scherzer, i was hoping to see him pitch this year as the mets were on the twins' schedule for a september visit. of course, before that happened, scherzer was dealt to the rangers. no worries - they were in town in august and i was able to make it to one of the games. unfortunately, scherzer didn't pitch in the game i attended - he took the mound a couple of nights later instead (when i was out of town, of course). he struck out 10 twins that night to add to his impressive career strikeout total that now stands at 3,367. that's good enough for 11th all-time, and he is just 4 k's behind greg maddux. 

i am ok with having a card of scherzer as a national since that's the team he has spent the most time with. he won two of his cy youngs with them, and was a huge part of their 2019 world series win. i am a bit disappointed that he doesn't have more dodger cards to choose from, however. still, he's the only pitcher (so far) to reach the 3,000 strikeout plateau as a dodger, and for that i am grateful.

speaking of dodgers, when sandy koufax retired, he had the best k/9 ratio in history - striking out just under 9.3 batters per 9 innings pitched. the game has certainly changed since 1966, and even though strikeouts are up, scherzer's ratio of 10.69 k/9 is mind blowing. he's 4th all-time, but has maintained that ratio through 16 seasons. i think if i needed a strikeout and could pick any pitcher to get it for me, i would likely pick scherzer. 

scherzer is signed through 2024, so it's a good bet that he will be back with the rangers and will pass maddux to get to the top 10 all-time in strikeouts. walter johnson (9th with 3,509 according to baseball reference) and gaylord perry (8th with 3,534) are within reasonable striking distance based on scherzer's last two seasons. don sutton is in 7th place with 3,574 strikeouts, so scherzer would need over 200 k's to catch him, and that's a feat he has not accomplished since 2021. whatever happens, i am hoping to be able to see him pitch before he's done.

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

the bell can't be unrung

the dodgers have produced 18 rookies of the year. of the first 17, only jackie robinson, jim gilliam, and jim lefebvre spent their entire mlb playing careers with the franchise, so it was pretty much inevitable that the club's most recent winner of the award, cody bellinger, would wind up playing somewhere else. in fact, it wasn't even a surprise that the dodgers did not sign him after the 2022 season, given how poorly he had fared at the plate since his 2019 mvp campaign even though he was heading in to his year 27 season. and, now that the decision was made and the dust has settled a bit, there is bound to be some second guessing as bellinger is playing well for the cubs. however, there is no going back - you can't unring that bell(inger).

i recently added a 2022 topps allen & ginter chrome gold parallel bellinger autograph card

to my collection. i picked up the card because i realized that i did not have a bellinger auto in my collection, and even though this one is on card and numbered to 50, it wasn't very expensive. that surprised me a bit given the resurgence bellinger is experiencing in 2023 with the cubs, but i am not complaining.

i assume that the dodgers struggled with the decision last offseason to sign or not sign bellinger, but even now as he is playing well, i don't disagree with the decision that they made. here's a comparison from august 21 between james outman - the guy who has, for the most part, taken over for bellinger in center field - and bellinger:

you can see how well bellinger is playing (when he plays) in 2023. in fact, at this point in the season, bellinger could have gone 0 for 4 in each of the cubs' remaining 40 games and he would have still hit what he hit for the dodgers in 2022. however, what is not shown are the salaries - $722,500 for outman in 2023 and $17,500,000 for bellinger in 2023. sure, bellinger has the better statistics (in fewer games played), but over $16,000,000 for another 1.7 war isn't worth it, especially with the dodgers once again running away in the nl west. besides, there will be a bigger payday for bellinger on the other side of this season which carries a bit of a risk.

anyway, i have some bellinger cards that have been languishing in my scanned folder for a while, so here you go:

his status as an elite player on a high profile team meant that bellinger was included in a bunch of online sets, like topps' throwback thursday line. this one is from 2020

i would say it is about time that topps included an mvp subset in flagship again.

here's a 2022 topps 582 montgomery card

from "set 2". it gives off some 1992 topps vibes to me.

this is easily one of the oddest bellinger cards i have in my collection

it's from the 2019 topps direct 360 gary vee set, and is a "wine pairings" card. i guess cannibalizing bellinger would best be paired with a german wine.

he was also included in a bunch of insert sets, like this 2020 topps warriors of the diamond card

that celebrates his 2019 mvp campaign - 9.0 war. wow.

and here's a 2020 topps gypsy queen tarot of the diamond insert

which anoints bellinger as "the star"

he also got some prime real estate on team cards, like this 2022 topps factory set gold star parallel

not the most flattering photo.

panini didn't avoid bellinger either, as evidenced by this "eyes on the prize" mosaic parallel insert form 2021 mosaic

giving some screen time to aj pollock as well

and then there are the regular old base cards, like this 2021 topps gallery card

i am guessing that we will see a boatload of bellinger cards in the near future as the cubs are likely going to return to the postseason. i'm not sure what uniform bellinger will be wearing in 2024, but we will definitely see plenty of it on cardboard.

this situation reminds me a bit of what happened with adrian beltre after the 2004 season. however, the circumstances were completely opposite. while bellinger struggled in his walk year, beltre put together a career year for the ages, leading the national league in home runs, as noted by this 2005 playoff prestige card

the dodgers decided not to resign him, and he went on to create for himself a hall of fame career while the third base turnstyle continued to spin at dodger stadium. i get it - it's tough being a gm.

as for bellinger, i am guessing that we will see a boatload of his cards in the near future as the cubs are likely going to return to the postseason. i'm not sure what uniform bellinger will be wearing in 2024, but we will definitely see plenty of it on cardboard. i will tip my cap to him, just like he is doing on this 2018 topps 1983 all-star card

and be happy for his success, as long as he still swings at those back foot breaking balls against the dodgers in the postseason.

42 card pick-up

happy jackie robinson day, everybody!

i've been stockpiling cards for this post for quite a while, so buckle up!  i have a "42" mini-collection which includes players wearing number 42 in the post-jersey retirement era, not including players like mo vaughn or mike jackson who were grandfathered in and allowed to wear the number after april 15, 1997. yes, it's been 25 years since the number 42 was retired around baseball, but players haven't been celebrating by wearing the number for quite that long.

it bothers me a bit that the majority of the cards in my 42 collection, by far, are variations or inserts but it is what it is. here we go...

the first card up is one of those variations, but it's too great to pass up. it's a super short print 2013 topps chrome matt kemp photo variation

i don't think these come in refractor mode, so i lightened the scan. here's what the scan actually looks like

i have wanted this card for a long time, as it shows both my former favorite player and the outfield wall at dodger stadium celebrating jackie robinson day. the only thing that would be better about this is if it were just a regular base card.

here's a card that was easier to obtain - it's a 2010 upper deck biography insert of tim wakefield

who took a no-hitter in to the 8th inning on jackie robinson day, 2009.

gypsy queen is probably the most consistent brand these days for finding the jackie robinson variations. here are some from 2018 that i've acquired

ichiro

francisco lindor

yasiel puig

yoenis cespedes

khris davis

chris sale

ervin santana

the puig goes in the dodger collection. someday i'll see about picking up a second one for the 42 collection.

every once in awhile, topps will let a 42 card slide in to the base set. such was the case with the 2015 update yasmany tomas card and the 2016 update chad qualls cards, and it is the case with this 2018 gypsy queen mike moustakas card

2016 is the first year i recall seeing these variations, and there were some pretty random players selected for the honors. here are some of the ones i have in my collection - brett anderson

collin mchugh

wily peralta

adeiny hechavarria

mike moustakas

travis wood

and scott van slyke

in 2017, topps moved the 42 jerseys to their "salute" insert set. these were easier to find than the variations from the previous year which was nice. they continued that trend in 2018. here are some of the 2018 cards in my collection.

adam jones

bryce harper

dexter fowler

alex wood

corey seager

and here are some of the 2017 cards i have.

clayton kershaw

mike trout

nolan arenado

bryce harper

miguel cabrera

joey votto

eric hosmer

evan longoria

ryan braun

and andrew mccutchen

i enjoy seeing mccutchen wearing number 42. i wish topps would do a better job of including players of color in these variations. i don't really need to see a guy like ryan braun wearing the jersey. it's kind of like seeing jerry jones take a knee with his players. anyway, topps also created manufactured relic cards celebrating jackie robinson day in 2017, and i have the cutch card

from the set.

topps did it again in 2018, and i again added cutch

to my collection, in addition to adrian beltre

and matt kemp

too. i like this design quite a bit, and i have a few more on their way from comc at the moment.

here are a couple of 2019 gypsy queen variations - khris davis

and zack godley

the godley is my most recent jrd acquisition, but i have a few more on their way from comc, including the manufactured relics i alluded to above.

one card that isn't on its way is a second 2020 topps gypsy queen max muncy photo variation card

that one is in my dodger collection so i need another. i am also pretty sure that the blurry guy behind muncy is tommy lasorda.

aside from gypsy queen, topps now is the most reliable source of cards for this collection. i have this 2018 clayton kershaw card

and this 2021 ronald acuna/hank aaron card

in my collection. they celebrate performances that just happened to occur on april 15, but then i also have the cards developed to specifically note the special day across baseball. here are the 2017

2018

2019

2020

and 2021

versions of the jackie robinson day card. i am sure i will keep this going and pick up the 2022 version of these cards when they are offered tomorrow, but for tonight i am going to watch the dodgers and thank jackie robinson.

thank you, jackie robinson.