remembering fernando still

one year ago today fernando valenzuela passed away. the dodgers have continued to honor him with a jersey patch throughout the 2025 season, rather than just wearing it during last year's world series (like they did with jim gilliam back in 1978). i think it was a nice touch by the franchise that benefited so much from fernandomania.

this card

from 2024 topps black & white might have been my favorite dodger card of 2024 had i picked it up last year. instead, i came across it early in 2025. it's still a fantastic card showing the stages of fernando's signature windup (at least from the stretch).

that is not the only card of his that i have added this year. here he is at another stage of his windup on his 1994 donruss card

it's fun to find cards of fernando as an oriole. here's his 1994 topps stadium club 1st day issue parallel

and here's another parallel - a 1995 upper deck electric diamond card

that not only shows him as a phillie, but also at the plate! he won a couple of silver slugger awards during his career.

most of his non-dodger cards come from his time with the padres, and that is due in large part to the proliferation of card manufacturers in the latter part of the 1990s. here are some more parallels from that era - 1996 upper deck collector's choice gold signature

1997 fleer ultra gold medallion edition

1997 pinnacle museum collection

he's been showing up in more and more modern releases as well. this is a 2017 topps new era version of a 1987 all-star card

that is similar to what was included in 2017 topps series 2, but the 30th anniversary stamp is not foil and i believe this was only available with a hat purchase.

here's another card from last year - 2024 topps archives black foil

i will always appreciate more fernando dodger cards, but couldn't topps issue at least one showing him during his (very) short stint as an angel?

it's also fun to add some oddballs from his playing days, like i did with this 1985 all-star program "insert"

it's hard to believe that it has been a year.

34ever

the dodgers dropped some big news yesterday as part of their fanfest celebrations - the franchise will officially retire fernando valenzuela's number in a ceremony during the 2023 season! this is great news for fans like me that felt the dodgers should relax their tradition of only retiring numbers of hall of famers (with the lone exception of jim gilliam) for iconic franchise players like fernando. the truth is, fernando's number 34 has been unofficially retired since he was released by the club just prior to the 1991 season - no player or coach has worn the number since. this will make it official and we will see number 34 up on the facade of the stadium along with the other numbers and microphones.

his number 34 is one of the few numbers that was in use by a player on the 1977 and/or 1978 dodger team (lee lacy) that i do not associate with that player. for example, i still think of jerry grote as #9 rather than mickey hatcher (in his second dodger stint) and rick monday as #16 instead of andre ethier or will smith, but 34 is fernando.

here is the newest fernando card to enter my collection:

it's a 1987 hostess card/sticker that i had no idea existed until i stumbled on an ebay listing. it brought me to 247 (245 unique) fernando dodger cards, according to tcdb. that puts fernando at number 21 on my "top names" list and number 5 among all collectors, although i have a few more of his cards (non-dodger variety) in a couple of mini-collections that i haven't entered in to tcdb.

here's a card that shows his number a bit better, from 2002 topps archives reserve

a few years ago, i culled my player collections to just consist of steve garvey, vladimir guerrero, jimmie hall, and the post-dodger cards of the other starting 8 from the 1977 dodgers. shawn green, steve sax and fernando were the last to be cut, but i've since thought about reinstating fernando. in fact, i mentioned it in a post a while back, and even talked about it with fuji when he and i met up in san jose recently.  well, this number retirement news has helped me make the decision to add fernando to my list of player collections.

unfortunately, i traded away many of his cards to oriole, phillie, padre, and cardinal collectors over the past few years so i don't have many in hand. i do have a few, including this 1995 upper deck electric diamond parallel

and this 1996 pacific crown collection card

plus a few more.

my want list is up, but i haven't finished going through all of my monster boxes of cards that may yield a few more from my past pc. still, i am looking for help! you will be rewarded!

fernando was inducted in to the "legends of dodger baseball" a few years ago, which seemed to me to be the franchise's way of recognizing a tier of player that wasn't going to get to cooperstown and therefore have their number retired. this announcement has me thinking that some other members of that group, such as maury wills

don newcombe

and steve garvey

might join the likes of roy campanella

with their numbers retired, too.

and then there was manny mota, who seemed like someone who could follow the gilliam rule as a longtime dodger player and coach, but they were quick to redistribute his number 11 after he finally retired. i figured if they didn't do it for mota, they probably weren't going to do it for anyone else. i am glad i was wrong.

viva fernandomania!

certified rauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuul

raul mondesi was my favorite dodger from 1994 through 1999. he was the first dodger to go 30/30 (he did it twice), and he was exciting to watch.

sometime last year i added a certified autograph of the 1994 national league rookie of the year to my collection, picking up this 1995 upper deck autograph card

i didn't scan the coa, so you'll have to trust me.

this card was part of the small set of autograph cards put out by upper deck that year. i have frank robinson and roger clemens as part of my hall of famer collection, but i doubt that i will complete the set. the other two are reggie jackson and willie mays. mondesi was coming off of his rookie of the year campaign, and so was included here over other retired greats and current stars. it's interesting to look back at checklists like this and see where the potential stars of the day wound up.

i also added his 1997 donruss signature series millennium marks certified auto

and i did scan the back of this one

comparing the two autographs, i can't say that they seem to have been signed by the same person.

as i mentioned up top, mondesi was, for several seasons, my favorite dodger player. as such, i have these cards in my "favorite dodger through the years" mini collection:

1994 upper deck sp holoview fx

1995 topps

1996 fleer e-motion xl d-fense

1997 topps finest

1998 upper deck collector's choice

1999 upper deck century legends

these days, mondesi is in jail on corruption charges stemming from his post-baseball political career. not the way anyone thought things would turn out for him. hopefully he can turn things around when he is eventually released.

roger clemens is in my hall of famer collection

i was a fan of roger clemens, and then i wasn't, and then i was again. and then not. but i respect the talent and think of him as one of the best pitchers in the history of the game. he's in my hall of famer collection with this card as his entry:

that is a 1995 upper deck autograph card. here's the back:

and here's the corresponding coa:

in 1984, i had cubs fever. but i also was aware of a couple of rookie pitchers who exploded on the scene. i couldn't wait to get cards of dwight gooden and roger clemens. when my dad brought home both the 1984 topps and fleer traded sets, i went straight for the cards of those two pitchers, and was surprised at topps' omission of clemens. thankfully there was fleer, and for the first time, i broke a set and pulled the fleer clemens card (along with the kirby puckett and gooden cards) to start my player collection of him.

two years later, i was rooting for clemens and the red sox to beat the mets in the world series. he was coming off of a 24-4 regular season during which he struck out 20 mariners in a game (and he would later win his first cy young award and the al mvp for it), but the mets prevailed. i continued to root for him as he repeated as the cy young winner in 1987, and when i moved to southern california for college in 1988, i vowed to get to the big a to see him pitch.  i made it to anaheim on may 17, 1989 for a matchup between clemens and jim abbott. i had clemens on my fantasy baseball team that year, and i was looking forward to seeing him mow down the halos.  unfortunately, clemens gave up 5 runs in the first inning (my fantasy catcher lance parrish took him deep for a 3-run homer so it wasn't a total loss), and he only lasted two innings while abbott threw his first career shutout.

five years later, on april 30, 1994, i was back at the big a to see him again. this time, he went 8 strong innings, striking out 8 angels, and won the game 4-1. not too long after that, however, clemens' career started to wane, and i spent more time following the likes of hideo nomo and pedro martinez. when clemens signed with the blue jays and began to dominate once again, however, i was back on the bandwagon. the blue jays had always been one of my favorite al teams, and i was happy that they had vintage clemens on their side.  he won his fourth and fifth cy young awards in his two seasons in toronto before being traded to the yankees.

at that point, i was still a fan of the player, but after the 2000 world series and the mike piazza at bat in which clemens threw part of piazza's broken bat towards the (former) strongest man in socal, i was done. i didn't care for the yankees anyway, and the rest of clemens' career with houston and partial seasons and contracts with lots of concessions and then back with the yankees after a couple of retirements just got old.  i remember watching his first attempt to achieve career win number 300 on tv in 2003 and being so happy when former dodger eric karros hit a home run at wrigley to deny clemens a chance at getting the win. and then, after his final retirement, there was the mitchell report.

if memory serves, clemens denied all of the allegations of performance enhancing drug use, even refuting testimony that his good friend andy pettitte had given. i certainly don't know the truth, but it rang true to me. that's where i'm at today - i'm not going to discount or apologize for his actions, but i do think clemens (with 7 cy young awards, 354 wins, and 4,672 strikeouts) was a great pitcher who will eventually make it in to the hall of fame, and he has earned a place in my collection.

here's my hall of famer collection as its been documented so far:

babe ruth - 2003 topps tribute world series edition world series tribute relic 351/425

honus wagner - 2001 topps tribute relic

tris speaker - 2011 topps tribute dual relic green parallel 53/75

eddie collins - 2002 topps tribute milestone materials relic

george sisler - 2004 topps tribute hall of fame tribute relic

dizzy dean - 2001 topps tribute relic

bob feller - 2001 topps archives certified autograph

jackie robinson - 2004 topps clubhouse collection clubhouse relic

ted williams - 1992 upper deck baseball heroes autograph 1067/2000

stan musial - 2002 topps team topps legends autograph

 

yogi berra - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1640/2000

sandy koufax - 1998 donruss signatures significant signatures 1707/2000

roberto clemente - 2005 donruss greats hall of fame souvenirs relic

warren spahn - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

mickey mantle - 2000 upper deck legends legendary game jerseys relic

willie mays - 1997 topps willie mays reprints certified autograph

al kaline - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

duke snider - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 144/250

bob gibson - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

hank aaron - 2004 topps originals 1979 topps all-time record holders rbi 03/32

frank robinson - 1995 upper deck autograph

don drysdale - 1993 nabisco all-star autographs

harmon killebrew - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures

pee wee reese - 2001 topps tribute relic

jim hunter - 1998 donruss signature series significant signatures 0736/2000

willie stargell - 2000 upper deck legends legendary signatures 

jim palmer - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

fergie jenkins - 2013 topps five star baseball autograph 154/333

gaylord perry - 2003 topps finest finest moments autograph

rollie fingers - 2018 topps archives signature series 1978 topps buyback 1/3

reggie jackson - 2018 topps tier one tier one talent autograph 19/60

steve carlton - 2018 topps five star career year autograph 43/45

mike schmidt - 2002 topps archives autoproof 1980 topps buyback 048/147

phil niekro - 2017 panini donruss recollection collection 1983 donruss buyback autograph 13/33

don sutton - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

carlton fisk - 1999 upper deck century legends epic signatures

tony perez - 2004 fleer national pastime 2002 fleer greats authentic autograph buyback 30/59

dave winfield - 2003 upper deck sp authentic chirography hall of famers 121/350

ozzie smith - 2019 topps finest finest origins autograph

gary carter - 1999 fleer sports illustrated greats of the game autograph collection

eddie murray - 2004 upper deck sp legendary cuts legendary sigs 45/50 

dennis eckersley - 2017 topps archives signature series 1984 topps buyback 47/99

paul molitor - 2016 topps museum collection archival autographs 021/125

bruce sutter - 2003 topps all-time fan favorites certified autograph

cal ripken jr - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 32/75

jim rice - 2005 upper deck past time pennants past time signatures

andre dawson - 2000 fleer greats of the game autograph

bert blyleven - 2004 upper deck legends timeless teams autograph

greg maddux - 2018 topps luminaries masters of the mound autograph 13/15

pedro martinez - 2018 topps high tek portraitek autograph 09/60

ken griffey jr - 2003 upper deck game face autograph

tim raines - 2018 topps tribute tribute autograph green parallel 26/95

alan trammell - 2001 fleer greats of the game autograph

roy halladay - 2017 topps archives signature series 2004 topps buyback 15/23

pete rose* - 2018 panini flawless legendary signatures 15/25

barry bonds* - 2001 bowman heritage autographs

roger clemens* - 1995 upper deck autograph

 

you can find the full list of hall of famers (and some not - yet) that i aim to include in this collection at my want list site.

*not currently a member of the hall of fame