my retired number collection - 51

this is the 48th 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.

so, without further ado, here are the three people for whom number 51 has been retired:

trevor hoffman (retired by the padres in 2011) 2000 topps

hoffman retired after the 2010 season with 601 career saves. he earned 552 of them as a padre, filling the closer role in san diego from 1993 through 2008. interesting to me is the fact that hoffman first wore 34 with the padres (that was rollie fingers' number) after joining them during the 1993 season, but switched to 51 for the 1994 campaign. that number shows up nicely on his 2000 topps card above, as does the easily identifiable orange on the jack murphy stadium outfield wall.

the padres officially retired number 51 for hoffman on august 21, 2011. they had not issued the number since he left the club after the 2008 season, so he was the last to wear it for the pads. he is the franchise leader in games pitched, saves, era, k/9, and a host of other metrics. one of the greatest closers in history, hoffman was elected to the baseball hall of fame in 2018 on his third ballot.

randy johnson (retired by the diamondbacks in 2015) 1999 topps

johnson spent a total of eight seasons in two separate stints with the diamondbacks. his first run, from 1999 through 2004, is the stuff of legend. in those six seasons, johnson won the cy young award four times and finished second in one of the other two years. he won 103 games in those six seasons, and 118 as a dback overall. he won the pitching triple crown in 2002 and led the league in strikeouts four other times and era twice while pitching in arizona. he sits atop the team's all-time leader board in many pitching categories, including strikeouts and era. most notably, perhaps, he was a co-mvp of the 2001 world series wherein he was 3-0 in two starts and a memorable relief appearance in game 7 against the yankees.

his 1999 topps card features his number 51 thanks to the numbers on the front of the diamondback jerseys, and i had it in my long discarded pc box so it makes its way into the collection. when johnson left arizona for the yankees prior to the 2005 season, the team did not reissue his number. he wore it when he returned for the 2007 and 2008 seasons and it was formally retired without anyone else wearing it on august 8, 2015. that coincided with johnson's election to the baseball hall of fame on his first ballot.

bernie williams (retired by the yankees in 2015) 2002 topps

randy johnson wore number 41 when he pitched for the yankees because 51 belonged to bernie williams. i think his 2002 topps card is a great one and would have fit in my "name/number on the back" collection if i hadn't pegged it for this one early on.

williams spent his entire career with the yankees, spanning from 1991 through 2006. he wasn't officially part of the "core four", but he did contribute to four of the yankees' world series titles won during the era of jeter, pettitte, rivera, and posada. he was the 1996 alcs mvp and finished his career with 22 postseason home runs.

while not a hall of famer, the yankees held out his number following the 2006 season and formally retired it on may 24, 2015. it makes sense for the yankees to have retired the number given the fact that williams is squarely within the top 10 in many offensive categories on the franchise's all-time leader board.

i fully expect the mariners to retire number 51 next year in honor of both randy johnson and ichiro, as ichiro should be inducted into the hall of fame in the summer of 2025. i already have cards in my collection to fit the honor, just as i have with stephen strasburg should the nationals decide to follow through on their earlier intent to retire number 37. for ichiro, i have his 2012 topps chrome orange refractor parallel

and for the big unit, i have his 2022 topps stadium club xfractor parallel

now it's up to the mariners to not let me down!

[edit - the mariners retired number 51 for ichiro in 2025 (and will honor randy johnson in 2026). this retirement is not reflected in the tracking below]

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

retired numbers by team (through the 48 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21, 23, 32, 37, 42, 44, 46, 49, 51

giants - 3, 4, 11, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 30, 36, 42

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11, 20, 21, 33, 40, 42, 44

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

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 14, 26, 27, 34, 42, 45

phillies - 1, 14, 15, 20, 32, 34, 36, 42

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10, 14, 17, 20, 23, 24, 42, 45, 85

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 20, 24, 42

braves - 3, 6, 10, 21, 25, 31, 35, 41, 42, 44, 47

astros - 5, 7, 24, 25, 32, 33, 34, 40, 42, 49

mets - 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 31, 36, 37, 41, 42

orioles - 4, 5, 8, 20, 22, 33, 42

dodgers - 1, 2, 4, 14, 19, 20, 24, 32, 34, 39, 42

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10, 14, 28, 34, 36, 42

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 14, 16, 19, 35, 42, 72

brewers - 1, 4, 19, 34, 42, 44

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11, 16, 23, 42, 47

cubs - 10, 14, 23, 26, 31, 42

royals - 5, 10, 20, 42

padres - 6, 19, 31, 35, 42, 51

athletics - 9, 24, 27, 34, 42. 43

angels - 11, 26, 30, 42, 50

expos - 8, 10, 30, 42

rangers - 7, 10, 26, 34, 42

major league baseball - 42

rays - 12, 42, 66

diamondbacks - 20, 42, 51

blue jays - 32, 42

rockies - 17, 33, 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 10 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)

30 - retired by 3 teams

31 - retired by 4 teams (retired by cubs and braves for same person; retired by cubs for two players)

32 - retired by 5 teams

33 - retired by 4 teams

34 - retired by 8 teams (retired by astros and rangers for same person; retired by brewers and a's for same person; retired by a's for two players)

35 - retired by 3 teams

36 - retired by 4 teams

37 - retired by 2 teams (retired by mets and yankees for same person)

39 - retired by 1 team

40 - retired by 2 teams

41 - retired by 2 teams

42 - retired by 30 teams (retired by cardinals and yankees for individuals in addition to jackie robinson)

43 - retired by 1 team

44 - retired by 4 teams (retired by brewers and braves for same person)

45 - retired by 2 teams

46 - retired by 1 team

47 - retired by 2 teams

49 - retired by 2 teams

50 - retired by 1 team

51 - retired by 3 teams

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): 160

running total of non-hall of famers: 58

advantage, my collection

those home field advantage cards that topps has included in recent flagship and update releases are case hits, and don't show up at card shows from what i've seen. i decided to track a couple down, including one of my adopted home from 2023 topps update, even though it's carlos correa on the card

for the record, my least favorite astros, in order, are yuli gurriel, jose altuve, george springer, and then correa. jr richard used to be on the list but only because he was so great, especially against the dodgers. that was respect, not scorn. anyway, the card arrived and it's not really reflective of the twin cities at all.

the downton scene in the upper left is minneapolis (that's city hall with the green copper roof on the tower), but saint paul is nowhere to be seen. the building in the upper right is also in minneapolis (it's the minneapolis institute of art, or mia - pronounced like nomar's wife's name). it would have been pretty easy for topps to tick the saint paul box with a shot of the state capitol, but i guess they had other ideas. 

the other two images reference northern minnesota with a wolf (the international wolf center is in ely, minnesota) and the split rock lighthouse which is on the north shore between duluth and grand marais. fine towns, both.

i went and picked up freddie freeman's card from 2023 topps series 1

there's a very "hollywood" theme to this one, with the academy museum and a film reel shown. also featured are the griffith park observatory, rodeo drive street signage, and a couple of ubiquitous palm trees.

the dodgers' home field advantage cards (two of them, anyway) from 2024 topps are a little more straight forward

the first one gives us two images of clayton kershaw, palm trees, dodger stadium, and the hollywood sign. the second features two images of yoshinobu yamamoto, more palm trees, a different view of dodger stadium, the santa monica pier, and the iconic theme building at lax. i suppose it's easier to focus when there are four other teams in the state, although topps used palm trees on cards for other teams, including the padres. there is another home field advantage card featuring a dodger in 2024, but it's sandy koufax and seems to be even scarcer than the two i've managed to obtain.

these cards were first seen in 2022, and i also recently added mookie betts' card from the series 1 topps release that year

there is a lot going on there for sure! beach scene at sunset! downtown la skyline snippet! palm tree! lifeguard station! movie camera! beverly hills sign! and, what i assume is supposed to be or at least represent a california grizzly bear to boot. the california grizzly has been extinct for 100 years now.

it will be interesting to see if the home field advantage inserts continue, and if so, what other southern california landmarks might be seen on cardboard.

these cards are not to be confused with the unnecessary topps flagship parallels from the early 2000's that were "home team advantage" cards. i have some of those, with my most recent pickups being shawn green's 2000 card

chin-feng chen's 2001 card

and the dodger team card from 2002

i wonder how long topps will go with the home field advantage inserts. there are plenty of iconic landmarks to go around for most teams, and i would really like to see what the a's card looks like next year.

the almost daily dodger - hideo nomo

after posting some hiroki kuroda cards last week and mentioning hideo nomo in that post, i figured i would make the next "almost daily dodger" installment all about the 1995 national league rookie of the year. i have had a few nomo cards in my scanned folder for awhile, and here they are!

1995 bowman's best

this card was unattainable in 1995

1998 pacific aurora on deck laser cut

there is a lot going on with that card. add some more foil treatment and it is peak 1990's insert!

2003 fleer tradition b&w goudey

this is a square-ish card, numbered on the back

2004 upper deck etchings

this one is the newest to me, as it was a throw in to complete a sportlots order sometime in the summer

2004 upper deck play ball

this was at one time a nefarious nine need of mine. i think i have seen those clouds on some topps heritage cards circa 2021.

with these cards, i am approaching 500 dodger cards for nomo. i don't know that i have any of his non-dodger cards in my mini-collections, but most of those aren't entered into tcdb yet anyway. i am guessing i will eventually hit 500 but i don't see myself getting too far past that milestone.

there's a whole new meaning now

50/50 has always meant "a 1 in 2 chance" or "could go either way" or "even split". there is a new meaning to 50/50 now, thanks to shohei ohtani who surpassed the half century mark in both home runs and stolen bases last thursday.  he joins jose canseco as a trailblazer - canseco recorded the first 40/40 season in 1988, a feat commemorated by topps in 2023 with this card

now, ohtani has created his own club for players with 50 homers and 50 steals. here's his 2024 bowman card (thanks kerry!)

i was able to watch most of the game, in fact i opened the mlb.tv app just after ohtani hit home run number 49. to see him add numbers 50 and 51 was pretty great. his 6 for 6 performance was easily one of the greatest individual offensive games in the history of baseball, and better than the one i saw in person - shawn green's 4 homer game - thanks to the rbi total and the two steals he recorded.

ohtani also passed green to become the dodgers' all-time single season home run leader. he is obviously the dodgers' first 50/50 player, and also their first 40/40 player. as you saw in last night's post, matt kemp narrowly missed hitting that mark in 2011. so, what the heck, here's a 2023 panini chronicles certified blue parallel of green

and a 2013 topps finest green refractor parallel of kemp

just to clear out a couple more cards from my scanned folder.

what an amazing season each of these guys had, but ohtani's is something new entirely!

40 for 40

back in his "should have been mvp" 2011 season, matt kemp fell one home run short of becoming the fifth member of the 40/40 club. that honor has since gone to ronald acuna jr, some 12 years after kemp just missed out.

today is kemp's 40th birthday, so that's one 40 milestone he has reached successfully. in honor of his 39/40 2011 season and his latest trip around the sun, here are 40 kemp cards from my collection that i've not previously shown here.

2006 topps turkey red red parallel

2006 upper deck special fx

2007 topps chrome refractor

2008 topps chrome copper refractor

2008 upper deck timeline gold parallel

2008 upper deck ultimate collection

2009 bowman chrome

2009 bowman chrome xfractor

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee black parallel

2010 bowman chrome refractor

2010 topps chrome refractor

2011 bowman international

2011 topps attax foil parallel

2012 bowman orange parallel

2012 topps gold parallel

2012 topps walmart blue parallel

2012 topps tribute bronze and blue parallels

2012 topps update golden parallel

2013 bowman blue parallel

2013 bowman state and hometown parallel

2013 bowman platinum gold parallel

2013 topps blue slate wrapper redemption parallel

2013 topps chrome blue refractor

2013 topps chrome purple refractor

2013 topps chrome black refractor

2013 topps tribute blue parallel

2013 topps tribute superstar swatches and famous four baggers relics

2014 topps kemp green parallel

2014 topps chrome orange refractor

2014 topps chrome purple refractor

2014 topps chrome xfractor

2014 topps turkey red

2018 topps big league blue parallel

2018 topps chrome update pink refractor (all-star game)

2018 topps chrome update pink refractor 

2018 topps update (all-star game) rainbow foil parallel

2018 topps update (all-star game) rainbow foil parallel

and how about a 2013 topps museum collection primary pieces quadruple relics patch card numbered to 5 to cap things off

there are only five players better represented in my card collection than kemp, who clocks in at around 530 unique cards. i am always keeping an eye out, so that total will likely continue to grow.  happy birthday to the bison!