a few different ways to 50/50

shohei ohtani surpassed his 2024 home run total in 2025, but he didn't steal nearly as many bases so his 55 home runs this past season were largely unheralded. in 2024, you'll recall, he exceeded both 50 home runs (54) and 50 stolen bases (59), becoming the first player to post a 50/50 season.

there were plenty of opportunities to be reminded of that fact in 2025. here's a 2025 topps finest finest timelines insert

that uses joe davis' call to mark the occasion.

topps put out a special 50/50 shohei ohtani set in 2024, and i've added a couple more to my collection - one stolen base and one home run

2025 topps included ohtani's achievement in the "2024 greatest hits" insert set

noting that he reached the milestone as part of a historic single game offensive performance. his 6 for 6, 3 home run, 10 rbi line was the subject of a 2024 topps now card

here's the back that gives more detail

note that i already had his topps now 50/50 card - two cards for one game is par for the course for topps now.

of course, he didn't reach 50/50 without hitting 40/40 first. that achievement was also marked with a "2024 greatest hits" insert

the other members of the 40/40 club are all true 40/40 except for ronald acuna jr who is 40/70. i wonder if shohei purposely stopped at 59 stolen bases as 50/50 sounds better than 50/60.

however, this post is about different ways to 50/50. sometime last year, i picked up this 2020 topps tyler white card

it's his mother's day pink parallel that is numbered to 50. this one is numbered 50/50

as is this 2021 topps joc pederson father's day blue parallel

i would imagine that ohtani 50/50 parallels go for a hefty sum - these were both pretty cheap. i don't expect any 2026 cards to focus on ohtani's 50/20 season in 2025, but we can be sure that there will be plenty of his cards throughout every release.

now let's relive october

i wasn't really looking forward to the nlds once it was determined that the dodgers would be playing the padres. however, they prevailed and after they won the pennant, i decided i would pick up a couple of the topps now cards documenting their success.

this is the card from the nlds victory

and what really sold me on the idea of buying this card was the back

it features a view of dodger stadium that you don't often see on cards - looking out from the dodger dugout. you also get a glimpse of some coaches which is nice, too.

the pennant clinching card is similar

even down to the back

of course, i bought two of each so i could throw one of each in my dodger stadium collection.

speaking of the nlcs, i at some point over the summer added a second 2024 topps heritage buyback of the dodgers' nlcs champion card from the 1974 series for my dodger collection

and at the same time picked up a second 1974 mvp buyback for the same reason

i'm still missing steve garvey's solo buyback card though.

now back to this october. i mentioned at one point that i was at lax when the dodgers won the world series. about an hour after the final out, i was on a plane headed out of the country. a day or so later, i bought the topps now 15-card team set (seen in last week's post) and decided to go ahead and pick up the dodger cards from the world series. so, let's relive the dodger victory!

game 1

865 - mookie betts/shohei ohtani

you know topps was jonesing to get ohtani on as many cards as possible. here, betts has hit a sacrifice fly to score ohtani and tie the game 2-2 in the bottom of the 8th inning.

866 - freddie freeman

freddie freeman's walk-off grand slam to end game 1 was such an epic moment. when i decided to go back and buy these cards, the only ones of these available were selling for $50 and up. i chose to wait for the cards to get into the hands of the buyers and hope that some would sell their excess copies for cheap. there was a one or two week window where that was the case and i took advantage. here's the back:

i can see kirk gibson and orel hershiser and steve sax and mickey hatcher in this image. speaking of gibby...

kgff - kirk gibson/freddie freeman

this card was, i guess, a special card created by topps and not part of the sequential numbering. i bought two so i could put one in my "games i've attended in person" collection thanks to the inclusion of gibson's 1988 game 1 homer.

game 2

867 - teoscar hernandez

hernandez's two-run homer in the bottom of the third broke a 1-1 tie and put the dodgers ahead for good.

868 - freddie freeman

freeman followed hernandez with a home run of his own, making it the fourth consecutive world series game in which he had homered. this card was the one that cost me the most. i paid $14.99.

869 - yoshinobu yamamoto

yamamoto threw 6.1 innings and gave up just a solo home run to giancarlo stanton. he retired the next 11 batters in a row after allowing that dinger.

game 3

870 - freddie freeman

another game, another dinger for freeman. this was a two-run job in the top of the first that gave the dodgers a lead that they would not relinquish.

871 - teoscar hernandez

hernandez threw out a lumbering stanton at the plate to preserve the dodgers' 3-0 lead in the fourth inning.

872 - walker buehler

how great was it to see buehler pitch well in the world series. he walked the yankees' first batter of the night, but allowed only three more base runners in his five innings of work. dave roberts actually took a pitcher out at the right time for a change, before the yankee lineup faced buehler for a third time.

game 4

873 - freddie freeman

for the second night in a row, freeman hit a two-run homer in the top of the first to give the dodgers a lead. it was also his sixth consecutive world series game with a home run. that turned out to be the dodgers' lone highlight in this game. i had already forgotten that the dodgers' starter for the game was ben casparius making his first big league start and seventh major league appearance. maybe he will get some cardboard love in 2025.

game 5

880 - freddie freeman

there were no topps now cards produced showing the atrocious yankee defense in the fifth inning of this game, but this card shows freeman driving in unearned runs two and three to give him 12 rbi in the series.

881 - teoscar hernandez

hernandez followed freeman's single with a two-run double to tie the game at 5.

882 - mookie betts

the yankees retook the lead, but gavin lux (not given a card) and mookie betts hit back-to-back sacrifice flies to give the dodgers the lead in the top of the 8th.

883 - blake treinen

treinen was tremendous in this game. he got the last out of the sixth inning after brusdar graterol walked three yankees. then he finished the seventh and eighth innings to set up the save for an unlikely hero. speaking of dodger heroes, i bought two of these treinen cards so i could put one in my memorials collection as this is the best card i've seen so far in terms of showing the patch the dodgers wore for fernando valenzuela during the world series. 

884 - walker buehler

i wasn't sure what to make of buehler's gladiator pose in real time but he started celebrating soon enough. it's corny but i was really happy for him to have that moment after the injuries he has dealt with. the dodgers were in a bit of a darren dreifort situation again with buehler's free agency, but they didn't bite this time. i would have gambled on buehler for sure, especially seeing that he signed just a 1-year deal with the red sox.

885 - los angeles dodgers

here's the big jump around scene around the mound. chris taylor, kiké and mookie haven't made it in yet.

886 - freddie freeman

mvp!

that was a fantastic october to remember, and i'm glad i added these cards to my collection.

the almost daily dodger - a.j. ellis

here's a 2015 topps rainbow foil parallel card of former dodger catcher a.j. ellis

you can't see it, but under that chest protector, ellis is wearing number 17.

i've mentioned many times that i associate numbers with players to remember things like lock combinations or license plates. for most of my adult life, number 17 has been len matuszek. at this point i'm not sure why it wasn't carl erskine, but there's no going back now. even as ellis claimed the number for seven seasons, i never strayed from matuszek. 

these days, there is a new guy on the club wearing 17

and he did something in his first year with the club that had never been done before (yes, i own one of the 653,757 copies of his topps now 50/50 card. and yes, that is the actual print run number).

i think matuszek's days are finally numbered.

memorial patches for willie mays

over the course of his hall of fame career, willie mays played for two franchises. he was honored after his passing on june 18, 2024 by three in the way of a memorial patch worn on their uniforms.

two days after mays passed away, major league baseball saw the giants and cardinals play a game in mays' hometown of birmingham, alabama. the rickwood field game was meant to salute the negro leagues and it expanded into a celebration of mays' life and achievements. 

i assume that 2025 topps will have a card or two highlighting the game, but i went ahead and bought this topps now card of adam kloffenstein

because it clearly shows the "mays 24" patch that he and all of the cardinal players wore during the game. staying in the topps now lane, here's a card showing the patch that the mets wore to honor mays

which just included his number 24.

mays, of course, finished his major league career with the metropolitans, and his number was retired by the franchise a couple of years ago. it was with the giants, however, that mays created his legacy as one of the, if not the, greatest baseball players of all time.

this 2024 topps update jorge soler rainbow foil parallel

shows the "mays 24" patch worn on the left chest. 

each of these three teams wore additional patches during the 2024 season, but i will cover those in future posts.

mays had issued a statement a day or two before he passed away regarding his disappointment in not being able to travel to birmingham for the games, which included a minor league matchup between the birmingham barons and the montgomery biscuits on june 18th. it was during that game that mays' death was announced to the crowd, and it was a powerful moment to witness live.

another card in my collection that shows the giants' patch is hayden birdsong's topps now card

i picked this card up because it documents his appearance in a game that i attended in person

there was some debate after mays passed as to who took over the mantle of "the greatest living ballplayer". this was a title given to joe dimaggio in 1969 and i believe when dimaggio passed, ted williams became the unofficial bearer of the title. i don't recall if hank aaron claimed the title after williams died in 2002, but in 2015, major league baseball gave four players - aaron, mays, johnny bench, and sandy koufax - the title at the all-star game. so, is it now koufax or bench that we consider the greatest living ballplayer? or is there room for mays' godson barry bonds in the discussion?

his name is jose miranda

it's already been a month since the fourth of july, which is hard to believe. that also means it's been a month since i've been to a major league baseball game. i mentioned before the fourth that i was planning to head to target field to see the twins take on the tigers, and i did just that. here's my digital ticket stub

it was not the best weather day for a game - it rained off and on - and the game was eventually called after seven innings with the twins taking the game 12-3. we stayed for the whole thing and got to see jose miranda have a game. he went 5 for 5 in a game that would become part of his record setting streak of hit in 12 consecutive at bats. it was the best performance by a miranda that my wife and i had seen in person since seeing "hamilton" in new york back in 2015.

given miranda's big day, topps put out a card that now sits in my "games i've attended" collection

here's the back:

these were actually the only "fireworks" we saw that day, as most communities canceled or postponed their shows due to the weather.

i don't know that i will get to another game this year, but if i do, i hope something worthy of a card happens!

atl in a day

it's no longer called suntrust park, but i've added this 2019 topps rainbow foil parallel card of the braves' stadium to my "stadiums i've seen games in" mini-collection

i tacked on an 18-hour detour to atlanta as part of a recent trip and took in a game at truist park on july 2 featuring the san francisco giants and atlanta braves. here's a photo i took of the back of the centerfield scoreboard after that game that leaves no doubt as to what name the field has these days.

it features images of hank aaron hitting in a stadium that was fifty years and two stadiums ago.

i've been to atlanta before a few times, but never during baseball season. it was hot but i didn't notice an extreme level of humidity so it was somewhat tolerable. i stayed near the ballpark and walked about a mile to the game which is situated in the type of mixed use development that the owners of sports teams salivate over these days.

i didn't stop at any of the shops or restaurants, instead heading into the park a couple of hours early. i wandered all around the stadium and took note of the displays that were presented. the team does a good job of incorporating past players and moments through statues, award displays, and timeline presentations. i took a few photos, and here is one of the panel representing the braves in the 1970s.

dusty baker, jim wynn, phil niekro, earl williams, jeff burroughs, ralph garr, ron reed, gary matthews, and darrell evans are featured. not all of those guys are braves to me, but i did recognize them all.

as you might expect, there were some displays that addressed the team's nickname, including the assertion that the name "braves" was actually applied in reference to new york politicians who were associated with tammany hall (named for tamanend, a native american leader of the lenape). there are some interesting articles featured on the sabr site about tammany hall and baseball, but i am not sure there is conclusive evidence that this is where the name came from. even so, i’m not sure it matters as the franchise fully embraced the native american imagery from the start, and i saw some foam tomahawks in the hands of some fans. i did not see any encouragement of the "chop", but it still happened a couple of times during the game.

as i usually do, i sought out the retired numbers, and they were displayed both on the concourse and on the facade of one of the upper levels in foul territory along the left field line.

dale murphy, bobby cox, chipper jones, warren spahn, andruw jones, john smoltz, greg maddux, phil niekro, eddie mathews, hank aaron, tom glavine, and jackie robinson are represented. 

as for the game itself, i had a single ticket 

that put me on the giants' side of the park, and it was fine. i didn't wear any dodger gear, and i found the giant fans on either side of me quite pleasurable to chat with throughout the game. here's the first pitch from reynaldo lopez to jorge soler

can you tell which giant player is 6'-11" pitcher sean hjelle?

here's the final on the scoreboard

it's a bit blurry, but the giants prevailed 5-3. there were some highlights as both teams had back-to-back home runs but i didn't expect any topps now cards to be generated based on what i witnessed. i checked anyway the next day and saw that the giants' starter, hayden birdsong, got a card

thanks to earning his first big league win. i put in an order for the card and will add it to my "games i've seen in person" mini-collection when it arrives. if only topps now had been around in 1998 when i witnessed kerry wood's first win!

thanks for hosting me atlanta! only six home teams left for me to see to get to 30. hopefully i can cross another one off later this season. stay tuned!