Another double zero milestone

I started this blog in 2008. It doesn't seem that long ago, but it actually is when you consider the lifespan of a major league player with a major league team.

Clayton Kershaw is just one of two players who were featured with the Dodgers in a 2008 Topps set that is still with the Dodgers.

The other one is Andre Ethier.

This despite the fact that he has been traded in my mind about 78 times in the last seven years.

If you want to relax the parameters a little, then there are a couple of other Dodgers in 2008 cards that are still with the team:

Rick Honeycutt is still the pitching coach.

And Eric Stults is back with the team after a long time away, although he was sent down and may end up getting released anyway.

But back to Kershaw, because all that other stuff was a tangent.

Back in 2008, I made a commitment to Kershaw. I saw a pitcher who would perform greatness and I was confident it would happen. In that year, I decided he was my favorite player and that I'd try to focus on Kershaw cards even though I'm not much of a player collector.

Seven years later, there are many, many more Kershaw card collectors than there were in 2008. I haven't bothered to seriously pursue his cards because the prices are too high for me, and I'm still wrapped up in sets and accumulating every Dodger card I can.

But I do make it known that I want each and every Kershaw card and that's grown my collection at a rather modest rate.

The Underdog Card Collector sent this 2013 Turkey Red card of Kershaw to me recently. 2013 Turkey Red was an online boxed-set exclusive a couple years ago, and I didn't feel like throwing $50 at cards for the few Dodgers I wanted. But eventually all of the Dodgers except Kershaw came my way.

And now, Kershaw settles into place, too.

It turns out he was just waiting for the right moment.

This is it: this is my 400th Clayton Kershaw card.

It's not a huge total by player-collecting standards, but in terms of individual players in my collection, only Hideo Nomo appears more times than Kershaw, and someday Clayton will go beyond Nomo, I'm sure.

Zach sent a few other needs as well.

Speaking of 2008, this is a short-print from the Topps Heritage set that serves as a reminder to never try to complete another Topps Heritage set. Seven years later, I'm still 25 cards or so away.

And going farther back into time, here's a 2004 Traded card of Steve Finley with his golden twin, each featuring a freaky looking kid in black in the background that might be the first chapter in what happens when The Omen visits the ballpark.

But enough of the creepiness, it's celebration time!

My Kershaw collection is 400 cards strong!

Only 100 more to 500.

That's when you really know this collecting thing is a sickness.