a moment for carl erskine

it's been over a week since we learned of the passing of carl erskine, and i would be remiss if i didn't take a moment here to acknowledge it. aside from being a member of the dodger franchise and "the boys of summer", erskine was a member of his community whose good works won't be forgotten.

i recently added his 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph card to my collection

to go along with the 2004 topps team legends auto of his i already owned. i've been remiss in trying to finish off the dodger team set of these autograph cards, as they come from my favorite fleer "legends" set of all-time. the problem is that i look at what the tommy lasorda card will cost me and kind of lose hope over picking up the others (joe black, roger craig, preacher roe, and duke snider) that i need.

erskine left his mark on my collection in other ways, as he was a fantastic signer of cards through the mail. i sent ttm requests to him once or twice or actually six times, and the cards always came back. i wonder if he kept track of people who sent him cards, because only with my first request did he include his own personalized card.

that card highlighted the carl d. erskine rehabilitation and sports medicine center in his hometown of anderson, indiana where he also donated land for an elementary school that bears his name. it makes no mention of the many organizations that erskine gave his time to, including b.a.t. and the special olympics. although he lived to 97, i think we could have used a few more years from carl erskine.

ya basic

a few months ago i bought a don sutton card from the 1975 mengler set

which left me with just bill buckner's to track down (plus a second steve garvey, i suppose) to complete my dodger team set. or so i thought.

for those of you who are unfamiliar, i showed some others from this set in an older post and more recently found a photo of a checklist and ad for the set that gives a better explanation

i found this helpful, if not a bit frustrating, as neither andy messersmith and jim wynn are listed as dodgers on tcdb. not that i will ever find their cards, or buckner's for that matter, at a price i am willing to pay.

not so long ago, i wouldn't have given the mengler set a second thought. it was too plain, too basic, and not what i thought a baseball card should be. becoming more of a completist (or at least a more fervent player and team collector) of dodgers from this era over the last several years had me thinking otherwise.

adding the sutton card and again seeing how truly simplistic the mengler cards are had me thinking about my early collecting days when i eschewed sets like the ones tcma put out in the late 1970's because they lacked any sort of design or name or team affiliation on the front. today, i have no problem adding cards like this 1979 tcma the 1950's sandy koufax

or this 2019 bowman heritage dustin may

to my collection. yes, they are basic, but they are also baseball cards of players that i collect.

the almost daily dodger - eric karros

here we have a 1997 pinnacle totally certified card of eric karros

you can see that this is a "platinum red" card, which leads me to my disdain for this set.

i first found cards from the 1997 pinnacle certified sets in bargain boxes at shinder's in the late 1990's and only recently fully came to understand these cards, thanks to tcdb. there was a 1997 pinnacle certified set, that included parallels called "certified red", "mirror red", "mirror blue", and "mirror gold". then along came 1997 pinnacle totally certified with the "platinum red" card you see above considered its "base". there are also "platinum blue" and "platinum gold" parallels. each of the totally certified cards are serial numbered - platinum red is /3999, platinum blue is /1999, and platinum gold is /30.

whatever the case, i am one card short (wilton guerrero) of the regular certified dodger team set, but have only three of the seven dodgers in platinum red form for the totally certified team set. i do have one platinum blue parallel, but no parallels of the regular certified set.

the karros came to me from a bargain bin at a card show a few months ago and prompted me to really figure out what i actually had. it's worth noting, since this post was supposed to be at least slightly about him, that his son jared made an appearance for the dodgers during the freeway series and pitched two scoreless innings against the angels. i believe there have only been three father/son dodger combos to date - al and jim campanis, ivan and ivan (jr) dejesus, and dick and dick schofield. maybe the karros boys have a shot to join that list.

taking my turn in the blog bat around with my five best pack pulled hits

i am always happy to engage in a blog bat around, and this one initiated by diamond jesters is no exception. matt asked us to share our five best pack pulled hits, and i knew right where to go. i had previously hinted at my list in a post from a few years ago, and had included some of the cards on that list in a post even further back as part of a blog bat around that i initiated.

before i get to the top five, i will note that i am going to discount anything i found in packs of topps tribute. i opened a box or two of 2001 topps tribute, as well as boxes from 2002 and both retired player releases from 2003. there was a guaranteed hit in every pack, so it's a bit like cheating. i did find some nice cards, including babe ruth bat cards from the 2003 perennial all-star edition

and the 2003 world series edition

my best pull from the inaugural 2001 release was this eddie mathews patch 

which has a print run of 30. i still have both ruth bat cards and the mathews patch card, by the way.

so, on to non-guaranteed hits. here's an honorable mention:

that's a mickey mantle magenta printing plate 1/1 from 2006 topps chrome. it was an exciting pull, but it seemed gimmicky to me at the time, and i sold it. even though it was the first 1/1 i ever pulled, i have it just outside of my top 5 pack pulls. 

number 5 is this 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams platinum auto 1/1 of bake mcbride

pulling a 1/1 from a pack of cards of one of my favorite upper deck era sets is a very good thing.

number 4: 2003 ud sp legendary cuts bill dickey cut auto #/25

to this day it is the only hof cut auto i have ever pulled. oddly, i've pulled cut autos of living guys like mark prior (back when he was still pitching) from a pack. anyway, i bought a box of this product online for $60 and sold this card for $200 back in 2004. it's the only box of legendary cuts i ever bought.

number 3: 2016 topps chrome update clayton kershaw auto/relic /25

it's a lot of padres for a dodgers card, but pulling this card from a target blaster was a huge surprise. the autograph is way more visible in hand - the scan brings out the bubbles.

number 2: 2000 upper deck legends mickey mantle legendary game jerseys relic

a coworker and i went to a card and comic store over lunch one day and i bought a box of this product back in 2000. i was stoked to find this card in one of my packs as relic cards were fairly new to the hobby. i immediately tried selling it, but set a high reserve that was just barely not met. that coworker asked me why i would sell it, because "isn't a card like that why you collect?"  he was right, and the card is still in my collection today.

number 1: 2013 topps allen & ginter nick saban autograph

this card came from a target blaster back in 2013, and it is one that i did sell. it's number 1 on the list today because of what it is worth today - my baseball focused brain didn't really think this one through, although i did get a nice sum for it 11 years ago. still, who knew that alabama would go on to win three championships in the ensuing years after this card was issued.

thanks for the inspiration matt!

garvey's back without a brand new photo

after not making the checklist in 2023, steve garvey returned to where he had been in 2021 and 2022; which is to say that he was relegated to the autograph section of the 2024 topps tribute checklist. it took me awhile to bite on one of his cards, but i finally did.

i settled on the green parallel due to price and whimsy. it's 99/99 which by my math makes it a 1/1 (that's a math joke - not a hitz bro serious take). 

there are other varieties, of course, but i don't plan to add any of them -the base /199, blue /150, gold /75, purple /50, orange /25, red /15, black and plates /1 - unless the price is low and i am in a certain mood. i would probably go for a base rainbow were he included in the base set, but i'm not going to chase the autos like i did in the past.

the design is a bit different for tribute with the horizontal elements and i like it, but as i mentioned in an earlier post, i am at the point where i need to see some new photographs across the expanse of products topps produces. this particular photo was also used by topps in their 2023 finest and pristine releases, as well as their 2017 bunt digital issue and so i have enough cards displaying this image.

an embarrassment of opportunity

there were three card shows in the twin cities metropolitan area last saturday. the regular monthly club show, a semi-annual regional show at a local church, and a mall show. this would be the south metro, west metro, and east metro. i made it to two of them and could have hit the third but i haven't been too impressed with the mall shows over the last couple of years.

i started off with the church show, just because it usually features some different sellers than the club show (which is a given when they are on the same day), but it was a bit underwhelming in terms of the number of tables. it wasn't too crowded, however, so i was able to belly up to a few tables pretty easily.

first stop was an older couple who i have purchased cards from before. they have a good variety of stuff in their bargain boxes, although they don't have dime boxes. i started with the 6/$1 boxes, and my favorite find was this 2004 fleer greats of the game announcing greats card of kirk gibson and ernie harwell

but a close second was this 1993 upper deck robin yount and george brett insert

celebrating their 3,000 hits. i used to have a 3k collection and i still have a hard time passing up any cards that are based on that milestone for hitters or pitchers.

i had some good luck with the few dodgers i pulled as i didn't check want lists. thankfully, these were all needs

1994 upper deck mike piazza electric diamond parallel

1995 donruss studio mike piazza

1996 upper deck collector's choice raul mondesi silver signature parallel

and 2022 topps pro debut pee wee reese milb legends insert

technically, that reese card would be a red sox card as he was a member of their organization while playing in louisville, but i am making an exception because it's the champ.

i also added a 2022 topps chrome update purple refractor double play card to my collection

courtesy of jonathan villar. in all i wound up with 42 cards for $7, and then i took a look through their 3/$1 boxes. i came away with these 45 cards 

for $15, although the seller at first just asked for $3. i told her that my california math told me it was $15, but i was happy to pay her price. after that, she would call out to me as "california" when i walked by.

i poked around at a few other tables, but didn't bite on anything. then, on my last round of the church gymnasium i spotted a table with a small box that was maybe half full, but the cards in it were being offered for a dime apiece. i saw some inserts from 2023 topps archives and dug in, taking several home with me including these 9

plus freddie freeman's 1969 single player foil insert

as well as a few others from the set.

the box was mostly base cards, but there were a lot of 2023 panini donruss parallels and inserts, too.

i grabbed a couple of dodger parallels - jim gilliam's purple holo

and michael busch's carolina blue holo

those carolina blues are pretty sharp, in my opinion. the tim raines one is really nice.

i suppose this is a parallel, too

even though it is an insert. it's a rapture parallel of the elite series card for duke snider, to be exact.

i did grab a couple of base cards from the box, including a 1995 sportflix tony gwynn card

for the name/number on the back collection. in all, i wound up with 30 cards for $3 from this seller.

it was still somewhat early, so i decided to head to the club show. i will save that haul for a separate post. stay tuned!

my retired number collection - 26

this is the 26th 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 number 26 has been retired, although only three are in my collection:

billy williams (retired by the cubs in 1987) 1972 topps

using williams' 1972 topps in action card is appropriate because not only does it show his number clearly, it also comes from the year that he led the national league with a .333 batting average. williams began wearing number 26 for the cubs in 1961, the same year that he was named the national league's rookie of the year. he never won the mvp award, but did finish as the runner up in both 1970 and 1972.

with the cubs, williams hit 392 home runs and was a six-time all-star. also during his tenure with the cubs, he set the national league record for consecutive games played (1,117) which stood until steve garvey passed him in 1983. he is among the greatest hitters the cubs have ever had, and sits near the top of the team's all-time leader boards in many offensive categories. he was elected to the hall of fame in 1987 in what was his sixth year on the ballot, and the cubs retired his number on august 13, 1987, shortly after he was formally inducted in cooperstown.

johnny oates (retired by the rangers in 2005) 2001 topps

oates, who played for tommy lasorda's dodgers (among other managers and teams) managed the orioles for four seasons in the early 1990's, took over the rangers coming out of the players' strike in 1995. he managed the club for six full seasons before giving up the reins early in 2001 after a slow start to the season. he led the rangers to three american league west titles during his tenure which gave them their first postseason berths in franchise history. oates shared the manager of the year award in 1996 with joe torre, whose yankees beat the rangers in the alds that year.

when oates stepped down, he was the second winningest manager in club history behind bobby valentine, but both have since been passed by ron washington. sadly, a few months after ending his managerial career, oates was diagnosed with cancer and passed away in 2004. the rangers retired his number on august 5, 2005 with oates being the last ranger to wear the number on the field. his 2001 topps card doesn't show the number, but my choices are limited for a card to represent oates in this collection.

wade boggs (retired by the red sox in 2016) 1992 upper deck

the red sox retired boggs' number on may 26, 2016, almost 11 years after he was inducted into the hall of fame. boggs began his career with the red sox in 1982, hitting .349 in 103 games.  he was even better in 1983, winning the american league batting title with a .361 average. it was the first of five batting titles he would win with boston to go along with six silver slugger awards and eight all-star berths.

i saw a note about ichiro a few weeks ago. it stated that his career average never dipped below .300 after his 10th big league at bat, and it made me curious about boggs, who hit for such a high average as a rookie and finished his career with a .328 average, just a hair better than rod carew. it turns out that boggs hit the .300 mark to stay with a single in his 45th at bat. i can't really argue with his 1992 upper deck card above that identifies him as the "best hitter", although tony gwynn has a case.

i mentioned up top that there are four people for whom number 26 is retired, and the fourth is gene autry. the angels retired number 26 for their owner (their "26th player") on august 3, 1982. there is an angels police card featuring autry that mentions the number retirement on the back, but i am limiting this collection to field personnel only, so the singing cowboy is out.

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

retired numbers by team (through the 25 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, 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, 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, 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, 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

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): 115

running total of non-hall of famers: 44