one down, still nine to go

you might recognize the title of this post as i've used it before. it means that i have added one of my "nefarious 9" - my most wanted cards. of course, that also means that a new card has been added to the list. the list is dead, long live the list.

this time, the card obtained was....

2022 topps chrome #84 albert pujols refractor parallel

unfortunately i forgot to scan the back and i didn't bother to dig the card out of the binder for this post.

here are the facts about this card:

position on the nefarious 9 list: 8

how long was it on the list? it lasted four months on the list (added on march 1, 2025)

why was it on the list? this refractor was the last one i needed to complete my dodger team set of the basic refractor parallels

how was it obtained? this card came to me as part of a sportlots order in july of 2025

what replaced it on the list?  2021 topps stadium club chrome #283 tony gonsolin

one question i don't typically include in these posts is what prompted me to purchase the card (aside from the fact that it was one of the nefarious 9)? in this case, kevin the diamond king reached out and asked if i also needed the pujols prism refractor. i did, and he sent it

along with a bunch of other dodger cards. i figured if he was going to send me the prism refractor, i might as well get the regular refractor. and so i did.

the other cards kevin sent were just fantastic. here is a colorful trio of 2020 panini donruss tony gonsolin parallels

plus a holo prizm of the same card from the donruss optic line

i think i will start calling him "gonso-long" since he is on the 60-day il so often.

how about a 2020 panini chronicles dustin may phoenix pink parallel?

it's numbered to 25

so thank you very much!

i found out that topps did a collaboration with derek jeter in 2022 because kevin included this 2022 topps x derek jeter call of the captain clayton kershaw card

it's actually a blue parallel, and is numbered to 175

and then there was a 2017 panini black friday kershaw manupatch

but none of those cards were the biggest surprise in the bunch.

the biggest surprise of the lot was this 2022 leaf in the game used sports triple relic rainbow cracked ice card

that features hall of famers duke snider, gil hodges, and walter alston. just a tremendous card to see in the package. all three of those numbers are retired by the dodgers, as is number 34. so, not too many "4s" left. i wonder if kenley jansen will make the hall of fame and have his number 74 retired by the club.

thanks kevin - i have some cards on their way to you! and please let me know if you can help a blogger out with any of the cards on my nefarious 9 - you will be rewarded!

1955 bowman complete through 160!

it's been a while since i added any cards to my 1955 bowman set build, but i can still provide an update post as i have a few complete sheets that you haven't seen yet!

sheet 18, cards 137 through 144

the shantz brothers provide the highlight of the page, with bowman's followup to the 1954 topps o'brien brothers card. unlike topps, however, bowman gave each brother an individual card, too. bobby's card is right next to the duo's card in the set, with billy's is coming up later in the set.

here are the backs:

the backs of both shantz cards address bobby's injuries that limited his time following his mvp performance in 1952.

brooklyn dodger don newcombe is on that page as well, and the well loved card you see above was actually in my dodger collection until a few months ago. for this project i picked up another one of newk's 1955 bowman cards

which turned out to be an upgrade, so i put it in the dodger collection and moved the other one to the set. maybe i have it backwards, but that's what i did.

sheet 19, cards 145 through 152

here are the backs:

not a lot of star power on that page, but the backs have some fun information. both bob nieman and sam mele count their biggest baseball thrill as hitting the first home run of their career - in nieman's case he hit one in each of his first two big league at bats! and how lucky was mele to get his home run ball back from the fan in exchange for a new ball? today that would have cost him at least a signed ted williams bat.

sheet 20, cards 153 through 160

a couple of yankees and a couple of dodgers, but they are not side by side as teammates. gil hodges looks annoyed at the creases in his card. sorry gil.

here are the backs:

this page also gives us the corrected version of ernie johnson's card, with the photo on the front matching the player on the back. note that johnson gives another vote to stan musial as the best hitter he's seen (bill klaus on the previous page voted for his teammate ted williams).

here's a look at the ernie johnson error card

that's don johnson of the orioles. here's the back of the error card

which is the same as the correct card.

back to gil hodges, his card status is the same as newcombe's. i found a card in better condition for the set and wound up putting it in the dodger collection instead.

no more creases, gil!

so there you have it. as of now, i've shared exactly half of the set! however, i am further along than that as i need just 47 cards to have all 320. stay tuned!

that's really super, super teams

2002 topps super teams can perhaps be considered a precursor to upper deck's 2004 legends timeless teams release in that it focused on specific team subsets without including every franchise on the checklist. however, super teams was even more focused, and with more player representation, than timeless teams.

in my most recent trade with sluggo, i received nearly the entire dodger team set in retrofractor form. these cards are numbered to the season represented, so in the dodgers' case that means 1955

the only card not included was jackie robinson's, but a quick online purchase later, and that was remedied

in addition to the 1955 dodgers, the teams in the set are the 1954 giants, the 1957 braves, the 1960 pirates, the 1961 yankees, the 1967 cardinals, the 1969 mets, the 1970 orioles. the 1974 a's, and the 1986 mets. the mets are the only team to show up twice, and i think roger maris and gil hodges are the only two to appear for more than one team in the set.

i had a couple of these retrofractors in my collection already, but was excited to complete the set so easily. they look pretty sharp in person, and are similar to some of the bowman heritage parallels from around the same timeframe. i had hoped that there would be a sequel to this set to include other super teams, but so far it's been a one and done.

these memories have waited

in one of the boxes i received from sluggo, among the dodger cards were complete sets of the ted williams card company's 1993 "memories" inserts featuring the 1955 brooklyn and 1963 los angeles dodgers.

i had most of the 1963 dodger cards, but the 1955 ones were new to me. the first one features a fantastic color photo of roy campanella

along with a photo of jim gilliam wearing number 15

which makes me wonder if it is a photo of him from his time with the baltimore elite giants but with a brooklyn "b" added to his cap. the other dodgers are gil hodges

and duke snider

with a nice "posed" action shot. the fifth card in the 1955 part of the set is a checklist

and the 1963 checklist that finishes off the 10 card memories set was also a need

the '63 dodgers featured are don drysdale, willie davis, johnny podres, and maury wills. podres, of course, would have fit with the 1955 players as he provided one of the greatest memories from that season with his world series game 7 performance.

nowhere is my chrome

2024 topps chrome has been out for awhile, but i haven't seen any in the wild. i did pick up a blaster online from target, using some target circle credit to offset the ballooning cost of these things these days. i haven't been to a card show or shop since may, so i suppose i haven't been looking too hard - only quick peeks at the card aisle when i am in target from time to time.

team breaks have been hard to come by as well, as shohei ohtani is the assumed favorite for the national league mvp award and the presumed return of the mvp buyback program has prices pretty high. i did find an ohtani card in my blaster

but it is an insert and not his base or a refractor parallel. i am not complaining about that - it's just an obvservation. the only other dodger in the blaster was will smith's base card

i showed one non-dodger keeper from the blaster yesterday, and another keeper (for now) is this zack greinke

i continue to hold out hope that greinke will return and pitch for somebody, but if not at least we have some final tribute cards for him.

i've also not seen any 2023 topps chrome platinum anniversary out there either. with no ohtani dodger cards in that set, i was able to secure a team break pretty easily. here's clayton kershaw's card

the dodger checklist seems to be smaller this year which means that there aren't a lot of middle reliever or interesting checklist choices like there were a couple of years ago. no steve garvey cards, but gil hodges is back!

topps missed on his eye color, though.

jackie robinson is a given

as is roy campanella

and that's a refractor parallel of campy. the other refractor i received was kiké's

but i also got a michael grove green refractor parallel

there's a card show here in a couple of weeks that i will probably try to get to. if i make it, i am hoping to find some 2024 topps chrome for the picking.

inspired by baseball cards at dodger stadium

during one of the many dodger broadcasts i've watched in the last two to three years, i saw a photo from dodger stadium that was used as a bumper or a promo background that showed steve garvey's legends of dodger baseball monument. on that monument, his 2005 topps pristine card was shown.  during my recent trip to dodger stadium, i wanted to be sure to find the monument and see what cards represent the other members of this fairly new dodger tribute group.

i had a heckuva time finding them, however. i wandered all around the stadium, looking at a bunch of other displays including gold gloves and murals and photos but couldn't find those specific items. i saw an information booth tucked under the right field pavilion just off center field and walked over to inquire. on my way there, i spotted some glass cases with a bunch of baseball cards in them. one of those cards was steve garvey's 1976 topps card

these cards (they are high-res reprints) dangle from either end of a player's bat, and the display honors los angeles dodger all-stars.

no players have been added since 2017 which is too bad, but i still had fun looking through the cases. they aren't in any particular order (juan samuel is hanging above garvey) and there is a wide variety of cardboard representation.  here are photos of the cases (sorry for the glare)

there were a few mother's cookies cards in there along with a couple tcma/renata galasso cards, plus an unlicensed panini donruss card for dee gordon, and even a topps now card for cody bellinger. i was happy to see some 1978 topps for rick monday and don sutton. for the record, the infield was represented with 1976 topps (garvey and davey lopes), 1983 topps (bill russell), and 1975 topps (ron cey).

the person at the booth was able to direct me to the legends display (it's under the drip line of the left field pavilion just off the center field plaza) and so i headed over. each player has a metal display with a card and text displayed. here's a sideways view of all six members:

the first three members were inducted in 2019 - they were don newcombe, steve garvey, and fernando valenzuela

so there's the pristine card i mentioned up top. newcombe has a 1991 topps archives ultimate 1953 card, and fernando's card comes from 1986 topps and shows an alternate take on his 1981 topps traded card. none of these cards are iconic for the player, and i have to admit i was a bit disappointed with the card selection.

here are the other three members - maury wills, kirk gibson, and manny mota

wills and gibson went in during the 2022 season, and mota was just added in april of this year. those are obviously 1972, 1990, and 1970 topps cards, respectively. orel hershiser will be inducted later this year - not too long after the dodgers retire fernando's number 34.

speaking of which, here are the retired numbers on display in the left field corner:

this was my first time to the stadium since they added the microphones for vin scully and jaime jarrin, and number 14 for gil hodges.  i will have to come back sometime after number 34 is added.

i was actually surprised to see that the dodgers also had a display for the retired numbers behind the right field pavilion at the back of the center field plaza. each of the numbers and microphones have the same sort of display as the legends of dodger baseball, complete with baseball card images for the field personnel.

 

1 - pee wee reese

that's reese's 1953 topps card, but the borders tell me it's actually from the 1991 topps archives ultimate 1953 set.

2 - tommy lasorda

1989 topps

4 - duke snider

1959 topps

14 - gil hodges

1991 topps archives ultimate 1953

19 - jim gilliam

1964 topps

20 - don sutton

1978 topps

24 - walter alston

1965 topps

32 - sandy koufax

1964 topps

39 - roy campanella

1991 topps archives ultimate 1953

42 - jackie robinson

2012 topps archives

53 - don drysdale

1961 topps

vin scully

jaime jarrin

some interesting choices there, and it's a shame that there aren't even dodger team issue cards for scully or jarrin to be used. it would have been easy enough, i think, to include them in the lapd/dare sets at some point.  it will be in august that fernando valenzuela joins this group, and i wonder if they will just move his marker from the legends side, or add a new marker. he is obviously the first (and will probably be the only) legend of dodger baseball to later have his number retired so there are no set rules for how to handle the "promotion".

seeing all these cards got me thinking.

i thought about pulling together the cards that represent the dodger all-stars in to a mini-collection, but the fact that the post-2017 all-stars aren't recognized killed that idea. then i thought about a mini-collection for the legends of dodger baseball, but the card selection didn't thrill me. same for the retired numbers, even though the use of the 1991 archives set would make chasing down cards for campy and the others a lot less expensive.

after returning from my trip and looking through all my photos - it hit me. i have decided to put together a mini-collection featuring cards of all field personnel to have their number retired by a major league team. so, not just the 11 (soon to be 12) dodgers, but the dozens of yankees (i exaggerate only slightly) and people from the other 28 (plus the expos) teams as well. my goal will be to find cards that show the player/coach/manager's number but i know that will be impossible thanks to honus wagner whose 33 was retired by the pirates even though i don't know that he ever wore 33. plus i don't think there is a card of don zimmer showing him wearing 66 for the rays. focusing only on field staff means i don't need (or want, frankly) a card of bud selig wearing number 1 for the brewers or august busch jr wearing 85 for the cardinals. gene autry actually wore an angel uniform with 26 on it, but there are no cards showing it.

there are over 200 retired numbers in major league baseball, and i've already begun culling cards from my duplicates and monster boxes that have been sitting around without a purpose. i'll post some cards from time to time and i'll have a "have" list up at my want list site.

some teams don't display uniform numbers anywhere but the back, so one or two of you may be wondering how i will differentiate these cards from my "name/number on the back" mini-collection. well, i knew from the get go that there would be at least one card in both collections, but for the most part i will try to avoid duplication across collections. for example, this 2002 topps stadium club bernie williams card

meets the criteria for both collections, but is only going to be in the "name/number of the back" binder. i've got a different card that isn't quite full back for the retired numbers collection. and yes, the yankees retired bernie williams' number. stay tuned!