there is no the there

a recent card purchase had me wondering about the regional significance of said purchase, and i will get to that in a bit. first, here's a look at my newest freddie freeman card:

yes, this is a 2023 topps series 1 post!

i bought one of those hanger boxes with 67 cards at target and was lucky enough to get the freeman card above. lucky in that i joined a jumbo hobby case break, so would have no shot at those stars of mlb inserts, as they are retail only. one less card to track down in the wild. more on this insert set later...

here is the first card from the box:

gary sanchez. the guy who broke up the dodgers' perfect game in the bottom of the 8th, just as i was starting to think i might get to witness a no-hitter in person. thanks gary.

here are six of the next seven cards from the box:

so many twins! having purchased this box in a twin cities' suburb, i was amazed at the volume of twinkies right off the bat. however, this series of cards is pretty standard based on the bit of the aforementioned case break's video i watched.

i'll show the back of byron buxton's card

for a couple of reasons. first, topps respects buck enough to give him the uniform number/card number treatment. second, he is such a tease! he's hit 47 homers in his last 153 games, and as the text says, had a run of 55 in a 162 game span. i really hope he can play 140 games in 2023. had he been healthy all season, he would have replaced fernando tatis jr as my favorite non-dodger. and, if he is healthy in 2023, he may well do that yet. finally, i will point out that topps is using the correct, new twins "tc" logo. it's a bit more modern, i guess, than the original version that had the straight top to the "t". there's another logo centered on the "m" that is new this year as well.

here's another card back

which belongs to yadier molina. i set this card aside for my final tribute collection - the card front features a fitting photo

but i am not entirely sure that i will keep it there. that collection generally consists of hall of famers or prominent dodgers from my fandom, with a couple others (such as mark mcgwire) thrown in. i am not sold on the yadi hall of fame case (jaws shows him in jason kendall/darrell porter territory) but we will see. definitely a solid career.

first dodger card for me in the set was julio urias

and the second one was this checklist

that features just a random dugout photo - no real thought given to the combo cards this year, i guess. topps chose a perfect photo for the urias card relative to the card design. unfortunately that seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

i noted on a post over at the cardboard junkie that of course one of the hot rookies this year had a double play turn on his card, so i was happy to find it in my pack

to add to my mini collection. vaughn grissom cards are very popular right now, to say the least.

another card that was also found in dayf's pack as well as mine was this yasmani grandal card

this is a great addition to my "42" mini collection. nice to see topps use this photo for his base card rather than the ssp version. hopefully they get less stingy with the 42 uniform photos!

on to the inserts. the one rainbow foil card i received was a twin

in keeping with the theme of the pack.

my 1988 design insert featured miguel cabrera

it is a looooooooooooooong shot but i would be super happy if steve garvey were featured in the series 2 or update 1988 sets. ron cey, too.

i got a 2022 greatest hits insert of oneil cruz

he hit the ball real hard last year is the point of the card

and then there were four regular inserts like the chrome one up top

just like last year, topps (correctly) calls these inserts "stars of mlb". i have seen them referenced (on sportlots, for example) as "stars of the mlb" which doesn't make sense. "the" nfl, "the" nba, "the" nhl - all of those make sense, but to say "the" major league baseball does not. it's not "the" mlb network, it's just mlb network. just one of those things that i notice and get mildly annoyed by.

here's the last card in the "pack" i purchased

and of course it features a twin.

overall, i don't mind the design. i like white borders, but the team logos take up a lot of space. use 'em if you got 'em, i guess.

i'll have another 2023-centric post up soon as i went to the monthly card show last weekend and found a guy selling all the non-adley/vaughn/harris inserts for cheap. good times - stay tuned.

can you spot the difference?

2023 topps series 1 is out, but i don't have any of that to show you - yet. instead, i'll finally post the side-by-side comparison of the 2022 topps team factory set dodgers and their flagship counterparts. 

after no team factory sets were issued in 2021, i wasn't sure what to expect in 2022. once i learned that the sets were back, i was non-committal about picking up the dodger version. it wasn't until after the season ended - around thanksgiving, actually - that i saw a set priced low enough for me to pull the trigger and add one to my collection.  

as a reminder, while i always hope for photo variations or different players, the main differences are the lack of foil, which this year is limited to the topps logo

and the numbering on the backs, which is team focused

nice of topps to identify these as "team set" cards as well.

ready? flagship is on the left, the team set version is on the right and we are going in order from lad-1 to lad-17.

mookie betts

same.

cody bellinger

same.

trea turner

same.

julio urias

same.

justin turner

same.

max muncy

same.

albert pujols

same. pujols signed with the cardinals on march 28, 2022, so i figure the checklist was set prior to that date. i was a bit surprised to see him in the set given he was a free agent unlikely to re-sign with the dodgers.

clayton kershaw

same.

david price

same.

walker buehler

same.

kenley jansen

same. jansen signed with the braves on march 19, 2022, so we can push the checklist date back a bit.

will smith

same.

a.j. pollock

same. pollock was traded to the white sox on april 1, 2022.

chris taylor

nice! this card should definitely have been a part of topps' series 1 or 2 release, or even update. sadly, it was not. taylor was recognized on a checklist card in series 1 that highlighted his walk off in the 2021 wild card game.

gavin lux

photo variation! we get to see lux from both sides now. but not from up and down for you joni mitchell fans.

austin barnes

same.

joe kelly

another guy left out of series 1. he signed with the white sox on march 14, 2022 so we know that the team set checklist was formulated prior to that day. of course, i am sure it was much earlier (cardboard connection says the sets were released in april last year). kelly did show up as a southsider in 2022 update so i am thankful to have one last card of him in a dodger uniform.

if you are interested, this post will provide a glimpse at the previous team set comparisons. can't wait to see what 2023 brings!

one large piazza to go

i received an email from tom at angels. in order prior to one of his recent giveaways asking if i had a need for a mike piazza postcard. i checked my collection and said please and thanks and i soon received this in the mail

it's a postcard that was used by the dodgers to respond to piazza's fan mail as a way of acknowledging the fan's interest without piazza having to do anything. however, it is officially cataloged as a 1993 barry colla postcard.

i figured i would show another card of piazza's that i recently picked up via sportlots or ebay (i can't recall) - it's his 2017 topps 1987 all-star insert

and then show the two together to prove that the postcard is, in fact, postcard sized.

and so it is.

tom also sent a card that i requested from his giveaway - this 1987 fleer star stickers steve bedrosian card

bedrosian is standing in dodger stadium, which is why i was keen to add the card to my collection. thanks tom!

separate from tom's giveaway, i have also recently added a couple more oddly sized mike piazza cards, like this 1995 post cereal card

which came to me unfolded. here is what would be the front and back of the card:

no logos on the card, but with piazza being a catcher you don't really miss the logos. only the cub player's helmet is obviously lacking a logo. solid photo selection by whomever it was.

one more oversized piazza i picked up was this 1998 topps super chrome card

it's his regular chrome card, just super sized.

and then there is a regular old card, from 1998 donruss

it notes his trade to the mets, completely bypassing his marlins tenure.

i put these last three cards together so you can see the differing sizes

pretty standard sizing of cards as far as non-standard cards go.

piazza isn't the only dodger for whom i've been adding oversized cards to my collection. clayton kershaw has a few, and over the last couple of months i've picked up some of them. here's a 2017 topps allen & ginter boxtopper

and, while this looks like a regular 2020 topps turkey red insert, it's actually the boxtopper version

i prefer the allen & ginter boxtoppers that are different than cards you can find in the box in standard size. topps also went a different route with 2021 stadium club and the master photo boxtoppers

i like having cards showing dodgers holding the world series trophy. this photo has been modified to remove the mask that kershaw was wearing below his chin, and that's ok by me.

back to just a larger version of a regular card as a boxtopper, we have this one

from 2022 topps update. it's a reprint of his 2008 update rookie card in larger format.

here's a 2021 topps allen & ginter murad reimagined insert

that i will use for scale.

here's all of the kershaws together, showing their relative sizes

four different sizes there, with the ginter boxtopper being pretty large. i think it required a 8x10 ultra pro sheet to store in my 2017 dodger binder.

big or small, when it comes to dodger cards i collect them all!

k is for kershaw

on the last day of the 2022 season, the photo tile accompanying the all-time career strikeout leader page at baseball reference looked like this:

the day after the last day of the 2022 season, it looked like this:

so long, cy young - clayton kershaw is now 24th all-time in career strikeouts with 2,807.

at this point, i would say it's safe to assume that both justin verlander and max scherzer will pass phil niekro and greg maddux in 2023, and they may well get past walter johnson and the 3500 k mark if they pitch beyond this year. and, with kershaw returning for 2023, he should pass mike mussina, mickey lolich, and jim bunning. greinke is back, but kershaw may pass him as well given the low strikeout rate greinke showed last year. i hope both of those guys stick it out to reach 3,000 strikeouts, but we will have to see. for almost all of my life, jim bunning was the guy i knew as the pitcher who had the most strikeouts without getting to the 3,000 milestone, but now it looks like it could well be either greinke or kershaw. 

kershaw remains my favorite dodger, and will be until he no longer wears their uniform. i have a habit of adding his cards to my collection every chance i get, and so i have many cards that have arrived over the last year that i haven't shown off before. there are a lot!

this 2011 topps target hanger pack exclusive 

is one of my favorite cards i've picked up in the last year. these are fairly tough to find at this point and i was happy to see one pop up with a decent price.

this is the 2011 topps lineage venezuelan variation

as you may be able to discern from the card back.

here's a 2015 panini black friday panini collection card

that conveniently rounded out my last comc order

this 2021 panini donruss holo red

was sent courtesy of the diamond king

and now for an obscene amount of kershaw cards with or without comment:

2008 bowman draft picks & prospects gold parallel

2009 bowman chrome

2010 bowman chrome refractor

2010 topps walmart black

2014 topps update all-star stitches

2015 topps black parallel

2016 topps mlb debut

2018 topps archives snapshots black & white

2018 topps heritage new age performers

2018 topps high tek - three different patterns!

2018 topps on demand postseason

2019 panini prizm red prizm

2019 topps chrome pink refractor

2020 topps factory set gold star parallel

2020 topps heritage photo variation

2020 topps heritage clubhouse collection

2020 topps on demand black and white

2020 topps opening day blue and red parallels

2021 panini chronicles america's pastime

2021 topps chrome refractor/pink refractor/sepia refractor

2021 topps royal blue

2021 topps factory set gold star

2021 topps factory set foil board

2021 topps factory set gold star (base)

2021 topps project 70

2021 topps triple threads aqua marine

2022 topps 1987 and 1987 silver pack

2022 topps chrome refractor

2022 topps factory set gold star

2022 topps holiday

2022 topps holiday ornament

2022 topps opening day

2022 topps pristine

2022 topps throwback thursday 1967-68 hockey design

2022 topps tribute

2022 topps update royal blue

ok now for some non-licensed stuff

and even more non-licensed stuff:

how about some minis and other non-standard sized cards:

so many parallels to chase!

multi-player cards count, too!

now for some solo landscape parallels

this is a 2016 topps throwback thursday card

as is this one:

both use designs from the 1950s - 1955 bowman and 1958 topps tv westerns.

i went for even more tbt cards:

and now for some inserts/parallels using older topps designs that are not throwback thursday cards:

whew.

that's 123 cards of kersh that were new to me last year. and, i still have quite a few in my scanned folder that i will hold off on sharing for now even though i am tempted to add 70 more so that the number of cards in this post matches the number of strikeouts kershaw needs to get to 3,000. 

instead, however, i will show just one more card. it's my latest kershaw card purchase, although i don't have it in hand yet. 

it's a 2020 topps clearly authentic autographed card, numbered to 30. this is my 12th certified kershaw auto and immediately one of my favorites. can't wait to see it in person once comc clears their queue!

after entering all of my kershaw cards at tcdb, my total stands at 1,117 unique which is good enough to place 5th among collectors on the site - at least as of last weekend when i last checked. i have a few more on the way (including the clearly authentic card above), so maybe i will get to 4th place for a spell. and, maybe someday, i will get to the point where i have one of his cards for every two of his career strikeouts - and i hope that means that i need at least 1,500 cards.

it's great to know that kershaw should already be in camp, and the dodgers' non-world baseball classic participating pitchers and catchers report tomorrow! rejoice!