boo

i've been holding on to this 

2023 topps update jason heyward jack-o-lantern parallel since late last year for the express purpose of posting it tonight.

it's the only one of those that i own, but i have found a few of the other black and orange parallels over the past 11 months:

max muncy

j.p. feyereisen

noah syndergaard

and clayton kershaw

the blaster of 2024 update that i purchased had some of the new versions of these cards in it, including andrew chafin's card 

i think i would add the tigers to that list of teams for which these parallels might be a priority among team collectors.

the one non-"base" parallel that i found was former twin miguel sano, and it's ghosts!

these types of ghosts remind me of charlie brown. 

clearly these are just another parallel that allows topps to increase production numbers and are quite clearly unnecessary. i would say most collectors would consider them a "trick" with only giants and orioles collectors seeing a "treat" due to the color scheme.

happy halloween!

some things were not so different five years ago

after having a saved search for a couple of months, i purchased a 2019 topps dodgers factory team set to complete my run from 2006 - 2024 (no sets in 2021). after receiving it, i sort of recalled why i didn't bother picking it up in real time - the cards are all the same save for the logo placement on some of them. let's take a look anyway, shall we?

here's the back of clayton kershaw's card

with the changed numbering and set affiliation.

flagship is on the left, team set on the right.

ld-1 clayton kershaw

complete with the open fly.

ld-2 cody bellinger

ld-3 walker buehler

ld-4 justin turner

ld-5 pedro baez

ld-6 max muncy

ld-7 corey seager

ld-8 enrique hernandez

ld-9 rich hill

ld-10 ross stripling

ld-11 kenta maeda

ld-12 joc pederson

ld-13 chris taylor

ld-14 julio urias

ld-15 david freese

ld-16 kenley jansen

ld-17 austin barnes

some decent photo choices by topps, but i would have liked some variety between the two sets. i think i remember why i didn't bother with this set in 2019.

if you are interested, here's the running list of these posts. 2016 and 2018 are still partial set posts, and i doubt that i will ever go back and complete them. remember that there was no team set issued in 2021. otherwise, click and enjoy!

2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016

2017
2018

2020

2022

2023

2024

did he have a moment?

i picked up this mike piazza insert several months ago

it's a 1996 pacific crown collection insert card that doesn't scan too well. the theme of the card is "october moments", or, in spanish "momentos del mes de octobre". my high school spanish is still strong enough to know this translation, but it's on the card back, too

the card focuses on the dodgers' run to the playoffs in 1996 which was achieved as the wild card team. piazza had been in the playoffs once before, in 1995, when the dodgers won the nl west for the first time since 1988.

in both years of piazza's postseason appearances as a dodger, the club was swept in the nlds (by the reds and braves, respectively) and he didn't really have any significant moments that would be worthy of this card. his more memorable october moments came with the mets, although the one i remember the most involves roger clemens and a broken bat.

1955 bowman complete through 88!

just a quick post today to share two more complete pages in my quest to finish the 1955 bowman set.

here is sheet number 10, cards 73 through 80

and here are the backs:

we get an extra oriole on the page, or is it a bonus athletic? the checklist seems to be less attentive to teammate matching as we progress, but three out of four rows isn't bad.

i can really appreciate what eddie yost has to say on the back of his card as part of his advice to youngsters. "dreams plus dreams equal dreams, but dreams plus action equal success". i had a therapist at one point say the same sort of thing - "thought without action is fantasy". words to ponder for sure.

here is sheet number 11, cards 81 through 88:

and here are the backs:

again, we have just one set of mismatched teammates.

most of the cards feature biographical information, but lee walls and steve bilko offer some personal thoughts which are always fun to read.

walls counts his biggest thrill in baseball as hitting a pinch-hit triple off of robin roberts when he was 17. walls did indeed hit a pinch-hit triple off of robin roberts as a rookie in 1952, but he was 19 at the time. the card back has his birth year correct (or at least it matches what is in baseball reference's database) as 1933 and he didn't debut until 1952. i find it interesting that walls would remember it less than three years later as being five years ago.

as for bilko, another future dodger and a pacific coast league legend, he has a lot to say, including a reference to "the catch" by willie mays in the 1954 world series and that lee walls got his pinch-hit triple off of the best pitcher in the game.

it's deja vu all over again

the dodgers and yankees are playing in the world series, and the dodgers have a 2 games to none lead as the series heads to new york. pretty sure i've seen this movie before.

i mentioned in an earlier post that there were one or two 2024 leaf lumber cards i was interested in adding to the three i already had, and i did just that a month or two ago.

this was the main one that i wanted

a signature sticks "2" card featuring mr. october himself, reggie jackson, and steve garvey. these guys met in the world series four times in eight years, with jackson winning three of those matchups (once with oakland and twice with the yankees).

jackson and garvey and yankees and dodgers is postseason baseball to me.

the other card i tracked down was garvey's grain assault card

it's got a wood texture but no suspicious bat pieces.

i am very much looking forward to the rest of the series, and am hoping to see mr. october make an appearance at some point to throw out the first pitch at yankee stadium. or his hip. either would be appropriate.

weekend update

i wound up ordering a blaster of 2024 topps update from target and it showed up a few days later. it was a good one for a dodger fan, as this jackie robinson black gold card

was one of the inserts i found.

there was a mix of other insert and parallel types, including the standard gold

and rainbow foil

plus the 35th anniversary 1989 design

the blaster had just one of each of those, but each pack came with a stars of mlb card. here are six of them

one pack had a chrome parallel version

the highlight of update for me, however, has long been the veterans in new uniforms. that has become less and less of an update thing over the years, but i still like to see some of the true "updates". this nick ahmed card

shows him as a giant, which is how he began the 2024 season after spending his entire career through 2023 with the diamondbacks. by the time update was released, ahmed was two teams removed from the giants, having played for the dodgers and then the padres in 2024 after his stint with the nocals. that's not topps' fault, just something unique about ahmed (and amed rosario who finally got a rays card even though he also is two teams removed from them at this point).

one of the most unique base cards in the set is the josh gibson card

which is a checklist but acknowledges the shift in statistical records that occurred in mlb this year. is this the first negro leagues card in a topps flagship base set?

rookies have always been a part of update (or traded) sets, and there are plenty of them this year. part of that is because of the rookie debut cards that have been around for 10 years or so. here's jackson chourio

jackson holliday

and evan carter

on their rookie debut cards. the carter is pretty nice looking. i'd like to get to the rangers' new stadium sometime, but i still have a few others to get to first.

here's a true rookie card of clayton beeter

he's the guy that the dodgers gave up for joey gallo a couple of years ago. i was not too excited about that deal and i have been looking forward to seeing beeter in the big leagues. it's too small of a sample size (3 appearances) but so far beeter is continuing to strike guys out at a high rate.

i did not get a paul skenes rookie card, but i did get this combo card that he shares with former dodger yasmani grandal

pnc park is one of those other stadiums i need to get to. anyway, i was surprised to see that this was considered a "veteran" combo on the back

maybe teammate combos makes more sense for some of these cards? 

there were rookie combo cards in my packs, too, including these two somewhat symmetrical offerings

that had me a bit disappointed when i came across these two later on

i am guessing that the a's will have only "athletics" on their jerseys next year, or will they embrace their temporary home in sacramento fully?

back now to dodgers! in addition to the jackie insert up top, i found a ryan yarbrough card

it's great (i mean it) to have a card showing yarbrough as a dodger even though he finished 2024 as a blue jay. he joined the dodgers in 2023 but didn't get a card after that until now.

two more dodger cards were in my packs, and they are both inserts - tyler glasnow

and will smith

all-star game inserts to be exact. these cards are a bit sneaky because they use team logos rather than the all-star game logos that have been used in past years.

i chose not to buy a hobby box this year, but i did buy in to a 3-box team break, so i am sure i will have more dodgers to show another time.

bonus content!:

i can't let last night's game go unmentioned, so here is a card of "fab four" (as in grand slam) freddie freeman from 2024 topps heritage

it's a photo variation, and i know it's a photo variation because it says so on the back

thanks topps!

and thank you freddie freeman for another unforgettable world series game 1 moment!