another lucky 13

the astros are retiring billy wagner's number 13 tonight. the brand new hall of famer spent eight seasons plus 1 appearance with houston, so it makes sense. i have gone ahead and added this 1998 upper deck card

to my retired numbers mini-collection in wagner's honor. 

wagner is the second player to have the number 13 retired in their honor, joining the reds' dave concepcion. 

in other number retirement news, the mariners retired ichiro's 51 last weekend. i had already shared my plans to include this 2012 topps chrome orange refractor

in the mini-collection in anticipation of the number retirement, but now it's official so i'll show the card again. ichiro is the fourth player for whom 51 has been retired, joining trevor hoffman (padres), randy johnson (diamondbacks), and bernie williams (yankees). in related news, the mariners announced that they will add randy johnson to the retirement of 51 in 2026. in my post from last year i had assumed that they would retire the number for both players together, so i already have my card for the big unit picked out.

no word yet on whether or not the yankees will retire cc sabathia's number, and the same with the pirates and dave parker's number. i assumed that both would happen shortly after the hall of fame ceremony but goes to show what i know. i hope it happens for both at some point in the near future.

the almost daily dodger - andre ethier

i've been meaning to have andre ethier be the subject of one of these posts for a while now as i had quite a few of his cards languishing in my scanned folder. however, it was only after acquiring this card

that i got around to putting this post together.

that is a 2007 topps 2006 topps all-star rookie team insert or retail hanger exclusive - however you look at it. ethier's teammate russell martin was also included in the set and i have had his card for about 18 months. ethier's was much more elusive and the one i purchased (as part of the set) is the only i've seen offered for sale over the last couple of years.

it just so happens that it was my 301st andre ethier dodger card according to my inventory listed on tcdb.  here are some of the other 300 cards i have of ethier that i've added over the last few months, each of which are parallels.

2006 bowman gold parallel

2009 bowman chrome refractor parallel

2010 topps chrome refractor parallel

2011 topps marquee blue parallel

2012 topps chrome blue refractor parallel

2013 topps chrome xfractor parallel

being essentially a lifelong dodger resulted in a lot of cards, and he's shown up in a recent set or two (although i can only think of an allen & ginter set) following his retirement.

with 301 ethier cards (all as a dodger), he sits 21st in my list of players - 23 cards behind kevin brown and 33 cards ahead of ramon martinez. of course, some of those cards are duplicates in other player and/or minicollections so tcdb tells me i have only 295 unique ethier cards loaded. either way, i am behind night owl by about 20 cards in terms of the top ethier collectors on the database.

not all lurkers are in the background

my lurker collection was borne out of a desire to find a place in my collection for cards like the 1975 topps world series cards that covered a's victories but featured ron cey and steve yeager in the photo used. or, the 1976 topps steve ontiveros card that featured mike schmidt - a card that i featured in my very first lurker mini-collection post . those were the first cards i remember seeing that fit the "lurker" bill for me (you could argue that the cey and yeager examples are not lurkers at all), although there are other, better known examples.

one of the best known features a foreground lurker - here's nolan ryan on bud harrelson's 1971 topps card

plus, that's either joe morgan or jimmy wynn sliding in to second base. i know i have shown the harrelson card before, but it's a great example of a foreground lurker.

over the last couple of years, i've gone through a bunch of cards that were sitting in monster boxes and found some specimens to extract and add to this mini-collection of mine.  take a look:

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee alfonso soriano

i went looking for the play shown on the card, and if i recall correctly, it's from a game in 2007. dodger andy laroche is there in the foreground, and that's jeff kent in the background.

2009 upper deck o-pee-chee ryan sweeney (derek jeter)

plays at second base - whether they be double play turns or not - and plays at the plate are good for lurkers in front of the card's main subject.  case in point:

2014 topps jose altuve (mike trout)

2012 topps chrome jordany valdespin (giancarlo stanton)

more double plays to follow.

1997 fleer ultra rickey henderson (mike piazza)

yes, that's piazza's arms and leg waiting for rickey

mike piazza also gets the foreground lurker treatment on kerry wood's 2003 topps stadium club card

here's a good one - albert pujols' 2007 upper deck card

features justin verlander in the foreground and ivan rodriguez in the background.

staying with the background, my lurker collection allows me to keep a 1984 fleer glenn hubbard card

thanks to barney rubble and the phillie phanatic. of course, i would have had this card in my "meaningful and just because" mini-collection - there's no way my collection would be complete without it.

here's another good example of background lurking - 1990 fleer baseball all-stars robin yount (paul molitor)

sometimes the lurker is as prominent on the card as the subject, like this 1995 upper deck michael jordan card 

featuring harry caray, for example. and this 2001 upper deck joe dimaggio pinstripes exclusives card

featuring dimaggio and mickey mantle.

i guess what i am getting at is that there are a bunch of lurker cards out there that i've formally moved to my mini-collection. i may have shown some of these before, but oh well.  enjoy.

2016 topps update edwin encarnacion (mike trout)

2015 topps update paul goldschmidt (mike trout)

2000 fleer ultra sandy alomar jr (roberto alomar)

2012 topps opening day joe mauer (david ortiz)

2002 upper deck magglio ordonez (derek jeter)

2002 fleer ultra tino martinez (mike piazza)

2002 fleer ultra jeff kent (mike piazza)

i promised more double plays...

1990 upper deck bill doran (tony gwynn)

1992 donruss delino deshields (tom glavine)

1992 upper deck jose oquendo (ryne sandberg)

1993 leaf lance blankenship (robin yount)

1993 topps mickey morandini (andre dawson)

1993 upper deck jeff huson (back - rickey henderson)

1994 topps felix fermin (rickey henderson)

1994 upper deck collector's choice bret boone (rickey henderson)

1999 ud choice damion easley (rickey henderson)

1995 topps jose lind (cal ripken jr)

1995 upper deck denny hocking (frank thomas)

1998 pinnacle carlos baerga (ryne sandberg)

1998 topps joey cora (roberto alomar)

1998 topps kevin plawecki (larry walker)

1996 upper deck royce clayton (back - henry rodriguez)

2000 upper deck jay bell (dodger player)

2001 topps stadium club jose offerman (derek jeter)

2005 topps all-time fan favorites rod carew (brooks robinson)

2012 topps chrome orange refractor/2012 topps chrome/2012 topps opening day dee gordon (chipper jones)

2003 upper deck jerry hairston jr (dave roberts)

yes, he's hard to see, but that's dave roberts sliding in during his dodger playing days.

how about some catcher cameos?

1997 upper deck fred mcgriff (back - tom prince)

1993 upper deck kirt manwaring (gary carter)

1989 topps padres leaders (gary carter)

1978 topps roy white (carlton fisk)

2011 topps brian duensing (joe mauer)

2012 topps javy guerra (dioner navarro)

time for some coaches/managers!

1993 topps donovan osborne (joe amalfitano)

1975 topps mike marshall '74 highlights (walt alston, bill russell, steve yeager)

1995 score gold rush brian anderson (rod carew)

2008 topps john mclaren (ichiro)

here are even more lurker cards - background and foreground and equal ground!

1981 topps carl yastrzemski (carlton fisk)

1998 fleer si world series fever jim thome (cal ripken jr)

1995 upper deck collector's choice se juan gonzalez base and silver signature (reggie jackson)

1994 upper deck collector's choice frank thomas up close & personal (rickey henderson)

1994 upper deck harold baines (cal ripken jr)

1995 upper deck ozzie guillen (eddie murray)

1999 upper deck ray durham (rickey henderson)

1993 upper deck kelly gruber (jack morris - and pat borders)

1993 upper deck fred mcgriff (back - tony gwynn)

1993 upper deck ramon martinez (brett butler)

1999 topps sammy sosa (eric young - and (i think) todd hollandsworth)

2014 topps update chone figgins (clayton kershaw and don mattingly)

2015 topps stadium club carlton fisk (tom seaver)

2015 topps stadium club ernie banks (barack obama)

2007 upper deck masterpieces cal ripken jr (lou gehrig monument plaque)

yes, i know this one is a stretch.

just a couple more...

1994 upper deck all-time heroes johnny podres (roy campanella and don hoak)

and one of my favorite finds from the last couple of years:

1994 upper deck all-time heroes marv throneberry (bob gibson)

such a mets card. one of the best cards to show an error this side of dick green's 1973 topps card, and the fact that bob gibson is on the basepath makes it even better.