my retired number collection - 12 and 13

this is the 13th 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 people for whom the numbers 12 and 13 have been retired:

wade boggs (retired by the rays in 2000) 2001 donruss 1999 retroactive

boggs is currently the only player for whom the number 12 is retired. i say currently because the blue jays had retired number 12 in honor of roberto alomar, but the number was put back in circulation and issued to jordan hicks during the 2023 season. alomar had his number removed from display at rogers centre due to an mlb policy violation and misconduct charge back in 2014 and has remained out of favor ever since.

as for boggs, he switched from number 26 to 12 when he left the red sox (he will show up in a later post as you probably know) and kept the number when he left the yankees for the inaugural season of tampa bay devil rays baseball. boggs was the franchise's first third baseman, and he delivered their first rbi and home run when he knocked in quinton mccracken with a two-run homer on opening day, 1998. i am guessing that the photo on the 2001 donruss card, made to represent what a 1999 donruss set might have looked like, features a photo from a different hit, but it is nice to think that donruss may have captured that franchise moment on cardboard had they produced a set in '99.

there was a rumor that boggs had agreed to go in to the hall of fame as a devil ray and that arrangement may have had something to do with his number being retired despite having only spent two seasons in tampa before he retired, but he did get career hit number 3,000 (the home run that is more likely shown on the card above) as a devil ray, and his close ties to the tampa area certainly helped. besides, he's in cooperstown with a "b" on his hat after being voted in on his first ballot in 2005. the devil rays did retire his number quickly, however, in a ceremony on april 7, 2000. having his number retired immediately after his retirement means that he was the only player to wear the number for the franchise, and he was also the first player to have his number retired in tampa, (excluding jackie robinson, of course).  

dave concepcion (retired by the reds in 2007) 1983 fleer

concepcion's 1983 fleer card shows his number perfectly, and so was an easy choice for this collection. as i understand it, concepcion chose the number to honor his mother who was born in 1913. it had only been worn by three other members of the franchise (two players and a coach) in their entire existence before concepcion took it in 1970. and, even though it wasn't formally retired by the reds until august 25, 2007, nobody else wore it after concepcion retired following the 1988 season.

as the shortstop for the big red machine, concepcion specialized in defense, winning five gold gloves during his 15 years as their primary shortstop. he could hit, too, however, as attested by a couple of silver sluggers and a career total of 2,326 hits. he appeared in four world series and was the mvp of the 1982 all-star game. while he was a key cog of the reds and their success in the 1970's, he has not been elected to the hall of fame.

[edit - the astros retired number 13 for billy wagner in 2025. 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 13 posts so far):

yankees - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

giants - 3, 4, 11

pirates - 1, 4, 8, 9, 11

guardians - 3, 5

red sox - 1, 4, 6, 8, 9

phillies - 1

cardinals - 1, 2, 6, 9, 10

reds - 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13

braves - 3, 6, 10

astros - 5, 7

mets

orioles - 4, 5, 8

dodgers - 1, 2, 4

twins - 3, 6, 7, 10

white sox - 2, 3, 4, 9, 11

brewers - 1, 4

tigers - 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 11

cubs - 10

royals - 5, 10

padres - 6

athletics - 9

angels - 11

expos - 8, 10

rangers - 7, 10

major league baseball

rays - 12

diamondbacks

blue jays

rockies

mariners - 11

nationals - 11

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

unnumbered players - 12 players recognized by 4 teams

running total of unique hall of famers (including those without numbers): 76

running total of non-hall of famers: 16

i'll take dodger potpourri for $100

i watch jeopardy pretty regularly, and back in early august old friend davey lopes showed up in one of the clues

the answer, of course, is "what are stolen bases?". or, if you are recent champ matt amodio, it's "what's stolen bases?".  here's davey's 1981 fleer card

on which he was referred to as "davy". i found this card in a lot of dodger cards that i bought on a whim a few months ago. i mentioned this purchase in a recent post that showed the 2008 topps heritage chuck essegian "real one" autograph that was included in the purchase. that essegian plus a couple of other relic, autograph, and serial numbered cards were the only ones fully shown in the photos, although there was more information in the description. at any rate, the lopes was not among the hundreds of cards described, but i lucked out and found that it was actually the "finger" variation that i needed!

it's a super dumb variation/error that i had never intended to chase until someone sent me the ron cey card with the same mark in the lower right corner. i half-heartedly added it to my want list and it arrived without warning. sweet.

one of the other autograph cards shown was this 2012 panini cooperstown maury wills famous moments card

that i was eager to add, even though it is a sticker auto.

there was a manufactured sandy koufax historical stitches patch from 2012 topps

but the big ticket item was this 2011 topps jackie robinson topps 60 relic card

super cool.

there were other jackie robinson cards that i needed, such as this 2021 topps legends of baseball insert

on which he is suttoning.  here's a 2011 topps cmg worldwide vintage reprint

and a 2011 topps 60 years of topps insert

which uses his fantastic 1952 topps card. that card also shows up on this 2021 topps doubleheader insert

and again (with some friends) to complete my 2002 topps chrome 1952 world series insert set

jackie was also one of a few 2011 topps lineage parallels that i needed

along with other dodger hall of famers sandy koufax, roy campanella, and duke snider.  here are three more snider cards that were keepers for me:

those cards come from 2005 topps gallery, 2012 topps (golden giveaway golden moments die-cut), and 2012 topps archives.

there were a bunch of 2013 topps chasing history inserts, including these three holofoil versions that i needed

two of which feature sandy koufax. speaking of koufax, i was able to add a few other cards to my collection:

some gypsy queen framed parallels, a 2011 topps lineage stand-up insert, a 2013 topps "the greats" insert, a 2013 topps heritage baseball flashback insert (on which topps commits the sin of coloring the dodger uniform number blue), and some gq and an a&g mini.

there were other minis, too, of different colors and releases:

and a bunch of single card needs.  just a fun box to go through.

one of the cards i found was a 2003 donruss the rookies rickey henderson card

i suppose this set was sort of donruss' update set.

i completed my 2005 topps dem bums insert set through this purchase. one of the cards i needed was carl furillo's

and there it was!

a couple of dodger team cards were keepers, too - the first from 2005 topps heritage

and the second from 2007 topps. the first one is for the team set, and the second goes in the dodger stadium mini-collection.

this 2010 topps national chicle roy campanella sp card

completed my team set. it's a bit disturbing to see campy in a modern jersey and batting helmet, let alone the los angeles nature of it all.  i do still "need" most of the bazooka back variations, but there was one in the box (pee wee reese)

along with a 2013 topps heritage josh beckett venezuelan parallel (fronts not pictured).

more recent dodgers were represented, too, and i added a 2011 topps finest matt kemp card

to the collection.

this 2012 panini cooperstown red barber voices of summer insert

completes the team set (i already had vin scully's card), as did this 2012 upper deck goodwin champions card of charles ebbets

but this 2013 panini golden age card of gil hodges

didn't come with the other two cards (branch rickey and jake daubert) that i needed to be done with this base set.

i thought i went for the rainbow back in 2012 with dee gordon's topps card because of its double play image (with a lurking chipper jones), 

but i guess i failed to track down a gold parallel. not a problem anymore!

finally, here is another one of the numbered cards that was included - a 2001 donruss orel hershiser rookie reprint

numbered to 1985. donruss reprinted this card again in 2005, but without the 20th anniversary foil stamp. it's confusing because the 20th anniversary stamp here could refer to 1985 in 2005 or 1981 in 2001. so, good on donruss for not stamping the 2005 versions.

very happy that i took a chance on this lot! have you ever purchased a lot of team cards like this?