2023 topps, part deux

i have added some 2023 topps series 2 cards to my collection, and somewhat appropriately for today, one of the cards i found in my packs was this father's day manu patch of cub rookie christopher morel:

happy father's day to you, whomever and wherever you may be. i'll be seeing my dad later this month which will be nice.

i found a jordan walker card

which was also nice, and i thought it was good of topps to create and distribute this thairo estrada card

that features an image from pride night last year (notice the patch on his sleeve). i was at the rays game last year that made news for player protests against such a patch, and i know pride night in other sports has recently been downplayed or even wiped from the schedules. the dodgers have had their own controversy over the pride night they hosted earlier this weekend. still, representation matters and i was pleased to see the patch make it on to some cardboard.

i had previously joined a team break, so i had all of the dodgers in hand - here are nine of the ten dodger series 2 base cards:

and here's the tenth:

we've seen that trayce thompson card before - sort of - in his double dipper post, and we will see most of those other dodger cards again in a future post wherein i compare the factory team set to the flagship cards. 

the only parallel i received was a rainbow foil version of thompson's card

i think it would be nice if topps put out a fully horizontal set for a change. it's unlikely, but i think it would work.

a couple of notes about two of the base cards. first, miguel rojas gets his first dodger card ever

even though it's a photoshop job. rojas, like thompson, is a dodger double dipper, but i won't do a separate post since there is no card of rojas in dodger blue from his stint in 2014. what i don't like about the card is that topps put the number 17 on his jersey. when i first saw the card, i wondered why miguel vargas had a second 2023 topps base card. rojas wore 11 for the marlins, and he is wearing 11 for the dodgers. i have no idea what topps does when they photoshop cards like this. it seems like they pick a random number. however, they got the number right for j.d. martinez on his 2023 bowman card. it just boggles the mind.

the other card that had me shaking my head was yusniel diaz'

diaz, like rojas, is in his second stint as part of the dodger organization as he was part of the trade that netted the dodgers manny machado back in 2018. he re-signed with the dodgers in early 2023 and is currently playing at oklahoma city. he has never played in the majors for the dodgers - he only has one career big league at bat - and so the image on his card is an obvious photoshop job. according to baseball reference, diaz wore 84 for the orioles when he made his big league debut so i don't know how topps decided to stick joe beimel's number on him as a dodger. he is even wearing number 93 as an oriole on his 2023 heritage card that was produced by topps. again, the mind is boggled.

i also assumed that the background on diaz' card was not original to the image of him jogging, and made reference to my assumption in that post about the aforementioned 2023 bowman j.d. martinez card. well, i was wrong. i had assumed that topps used a photo of diaz from his time with the orioles, but they used a photo from his 2021 minor league season, and there really is a tree up there in right center field at surprise stadium in peoria, az. 

on to some inserts! here are a couple of geographically oriented freddie freeman cards. first he is a "favorite son" of californiz

and then he also suited up for canada as a "world baseball classic star"

freeman's status regarding california and canada is identical to mine, except for his professional baseball success.

there is, of course, more 1988 to find in series two, and here is mookie betts' card

along with that of miguel vargas

betts had a 1988 card in series 1, but vargas was only included in the silver pack parallels

tony gonsolin is included in the series 2 all aces set

as the lone dodger representative. strangely enough, i think sonny gray is featured in the series 2 set even though he was already in series 1.

a new insert set for series 2 is the "legends of the game", and the dodger rep is jackie robinson

always nice to add a new jackie card to the collection.

i was in luck with my break as i netted two manu patch cards - one celebrating trea turner's silver slugger award

and one marking clayton kershaw's 2011 pitching triple crown as a "crowning achievement"

so that's what i have to share from series 2. i am waiting on card #350 (alex bregman) to add to that mini-collection, but otherwise i don't think there are other cards to seek out.

while i was waiting for series 2, i did add a few more cards from series 1, including some betts manu patch things - city connect

and team patch

in both base and gold versions. of course, topps didn't bother to match the photos of betts to either the city connect uniform (his hat would have been different) or the brooklyn logo (which the team has historically worn on jackie robinson day).

here's a blue parallel of betts' 2022 greatest hits card

that does show him in the city connect uniform, although they don't have corresponding helmets. this year, the city connect unis have featured white pants with blue piping which looks worse than the all blue in my opinion.

finally, i stumbled upon a couple of cracked ice parallels of kershaw

and vargas

that are only available in special boxes, i guess. i thought they were the standard numbered versions found in series 1 packs, but they are not. they say "collector's box" on the back, and i am guessing this is one way that fanatics keeps people interested between the longer time between releases.

bring on update!