A Pirates account on Bluesky recently featured the Pirates player for which he had the most cards and then put out the question (I’m paraphrasing), “which Pirates player has the most cards in your collection?”
My favorite team isn’t the Pirates, so I could only guess. My first thought was Dave Parker, but I knew that wasn’t right because he also appeared with the Reds on many junk wax sets that at least equaled the number of Pirates cards I owned of Parker.
This got me curious about the player with the most cards for every MLB team in my collection. So I went to TCDB to crunch the numbers — which took a few days because TCDB has been crashing like mad lately.
It turns out I was correct about Parker. He’s not my collection’s most frequent Pirate. But I was in the right era. My most for each team is the product of several factors: the era when I started collecting (’70s), my favorite cards (also the ’70s and early ’80s), the overproduction years, my collecting hiatus (mid ’90s to mid ’00s), my lack of enthusiasm for some teams (you’ll see) and, most of all, star power.
So let’s look at all the teams, starting from the team/player with the most cards down to the least.
1. Dodgers
Clayton Kershaw – 1,307
Far-and-away the player with the most. I don’t quite understand why TCDB gives you a player total when you compile a list of the players with the most cards in your collection — in this case 1,307 — but then you click on his name and the total is lower (1,289).
Because I’m a Dodgers fan, there are 45 players total in my collection with more cards than the highest number for each of the rest of the teams. But press on we must!
2. Phillies
Mike Schmidt – 186
While researching this, it was enormously helpful if the player competed for just one team his whole career.
3. Royals
George Brett – 161
Schmidt and Brett dominated my childhood fanhood years, into my teenage years and even as a young adult.
4. Orioles
Cal Ripken Jr. – 133
5. Reds
Johnny Bench – 118
5. Brewers
Robin Yount – 118
7. Red Sox
Carl Yastrzemski – 110
Jim Rice was close with 103.
8. Mets
Dwight Gooden – 104
The first player on this list that competed for more than one MLB team.
9. Yankees
Don Mattingly – 103
The last player in the 100s. Technically, Mickey Mantle has the most cards in my collection of all the Yankees but screw those home run history cards that are nothing but padding filler.
10. Padres
Tony Gwynn – 98
11. A’s
Rickey Henderson – 97
Not even Henderson’s Dodgers cards can compete with the number of A’s cards I have of him.
12. Braves
Dale Murphy – 91
Murphy edged out Hank Aaron by two cards. I’ll have to do something about that.
13. Cubs
Ryne Sandberg – 90
A player I never connected with but all of the other Cubs totals are so meager.
14. Pirates
Willie Stargell – 89
Not Parker, of course, it’s Pops!
15. Tigers
Miguel Cabrera – 88
First modern-era player other than Kershaw.
16. Angels
Mike Trout – 87
Naturally.
16. Cardinals
Albert Pujols – 87
18. White Sox
Carlton Fisk – 84
19. Expos
Tim Raines – 82
Raines is winning the retro card race with Gary Carter because Carter’s Expos cards have to share time with his Mets cards.
20. Mariners
Ichiro Suzuki – 78
21. Rangers
Nolan Ryan – 76
22. Astros
Nolan Ryan – 75
The only player to represent more than one team. The only reason Ryan has more Rangers cards in my collection than Astros is because of junk wax sets. Ryan spent nine years with the Astros and just five with the Rangers.
23. Twins
Kirby Puckett – 68
Puckett edges Joe Maurer by one card! Also, if Rod Carew stayed with the Twins he would have this category locked up.
24. Nationals
Stephen Strasburg – 56
25. Rays
Evan Longoria – 55
26. Blue Jays
George Bell – 49
It’s amazing that Bell has held on for so long. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. should surpass him in the next year.
27. Giants
Tim Lincecum, Will Clark – 48
The only team with two players at the top. I should add another Lincecum card because I can’t maintain my status as a Giants-disliker with Clark at the top.
28. Rockies
Tood Helton – 45
Edges out Troy Tulowitzki.
29. Guardians/Indians
Andre Thornton – 40
This really surprised me. Either this is the result of not collecting in the mid-1990s (I have almost no Carlos Baerga Indians cards and might have more Orioles Albert Belle cards) or this team doesn’t hold on to their players very long.
30. Marlins
Giancarlo Stanton – 38
31. Diamondbacks
Paul Goldschmidt – 20
That’s paltry. But I certainly don’t want any more Diamondbacks cards.
I’ve done a couple of other posts similar to this, like when I examined the players with the most cards in my collection besides the Dodgers. But I like the team-by-team approach — I do it a lot on this blog. And, per usual, my curiosity is now satisfied.