bringing team sets into focus

long gone are the days where it was possible to collect all of the cards of any given player, let alone team. and, while i've tried to finish off a dodger junk wax year (1989) there are still a few oddballs that i haven't tracked down yet - partially due to a lack of focus - and there are probably other dodger cards from that year that i don't know about.

over the last year, i've tried to be a bit more focused when looking back and picking up dodger cards from past years and i've had some success doing so. whether it's targeting a specific team set, insert set, parallel, or something that spans both of the latter, i've been able to fill some holes in my collection that are more meaningful to me than random cards here and there. 

to illustrate that point, here is the first 1952 topps card i have purchased in a long time.

phil haugstad's card gets me one closer to that dodger team set, although i know i will never complete it. i only have one of the high numbers (at least it's jackie robinson) and i still need seven from the lower series. by the way, when it comes to topps flagship sets, only the 1952 and 1953 dodger team sets are incomplete in my collection, but the remaining 1953 cards (jim gilliam, johnny podres, and even dixie howell and bill antonello) are daunting.

as for my full set builds, i only have high numbers to go when it comes to the 1952 homage that is 2001 topps heritage. i finished the low numbers a couple of years ago or so, and the only card i've added since is old friend ramon martinez's

with 85 high numbers still missing, i doubt i will ever finish this set, either.

insert team sets are far easier to complete, and this 2024 topps update sandy koufax autumn tales card

finished off my 4-card dodger team set.

there were only three cards in the 2024 topps around the horn insert team sets, and mookie betts'

was the last one i needed.

as for actual team set base cards, one of the more recent ones i completed was 2001 topps fusion

those two cards were the last ones i needed and i don't know what took me so long to pick them up. it helps to focus, i suppose.

i even went and tracked down the last three cards i needed to complete the 2013 topps target red border parallel dodger team set. the zack greinke and carl crawford cards

came quickly, but the luis cruz card

had me at the mercy of a saved ebay search for several months. finally someone posted a bunch of these parallels for all sorts of players and i was able to finish the set. i still have several missing from the 2013 topps update release, but having this (and the walmart blue border) team sets for the flagship cards is still something.

even better, this 2013 topps update yasiel puig card

was the final emerald parallel i needed to complete my full run - flagship and update - of dodger cards of that particular parallel. puig is as excited as i am to have this completed.

singer sing me a song

i have r.e.m. on my mind currently as i have recently purchased tickets to see the michael shannon/jason narducy r.e.m. tribute show for the third consecutive year, and the post title comes from a line in their song "king of birds". i also have dodger baseball on my mind, and the title fit this card

as a young bill singer is shown in dodger stadium on his 1989 smokey dodger greats card. dodger stadium, and california in general, always brings its siren song out when i return for a visit. maybe someday i will move back, but that would be several years out yet. 

i've had that singer card for quite some time, but recently acquired a second copy so i can add one to my dodger stadium collection now. same goes for this 2021 topps chrome update max muncy all-star game card

muncy was the starting dh for the national league in the game. note that the card uses a photo of muncy that is not from the game - 2022 was the first year that these inserts were made to be game specific (except for the few subjects who did not attend the all-star game festivities). behind muncy is one of the static billboards shaped to mimic the two scoreboards over the pavilions. this particular advertisement is for estrella jalisco which is a mexican pilsner that i have not tried. when it comes to mexican beer, i've had dos equis, corona, and tecate. i've also had a beer called chihuahua, but i think that is an american beer. next time i'm at dodger stadium, i will give estrella jalisco a try. hopefully that is sometime in 2026.

blue is a fall color this year

game 1 of the 2025 world series kicks off shortly after this post posts, but i won't be able to watch it due to a conflicting engagement. i am hoping it is as thrilling as last year's game 1 turned out to be. here are some related cards to the event, including a 2025 panini prizm trey yesavage card

his meteoric rise to the majors and the postseason is one of the more intriguing stories going in, and getting the game 1 start adds to the incredible season he has had. i found this card in a nickel box at the local card shop - twin cities cards, to be exact. i would expect his cards to be well sought after in 2026 releases.

there is maybe just one person as hot as vladimir guerrero jr going into the series. here's a 2021 topps update all-star game insert of vladito

that i found in a quarter box at a mall show recently. for the record, i was happy for guerrero and the blue jays but would have been happy for the mariners, too, had they won game 7. i didn't really care for george springer being the hero given his connection to the astros and their cheating during the 2017 season and world series, however i am looking forward to this matchup.

this card

arrived in my mailbox too late to show as a lead-in to the nlcs this year, but i can show it now. this is from 2025 topps dynamic duals which is in its third year (i think) as an online only release. jackson chourio had a better series than andy pages, but pages caught the last out so he has that going for him.

there aren't too many cards that i could think of off-hand that match a dodger up with a blue jay, but the one that immediately came to mind was the 1993 topps card featuring mike piazza and carlos delgado

that was a hot commodity back then for sure.

as far as players go, i immediately think of ron fairly (pre-scanned dodger card not readily available as i type this post so i defaulted to o-pee-chee (oh my!)), 

raul mondesi,

and shawn green

as players who have played for both the dodgers and blue jays, but i know there are several others like bob bailor, al oliver, russell martin and rickey henderson to name a few. i also think of roy hartsfield,

who was a dodger farmhand in the 50's and a dodger coach before ultimately going on to manage the jays.

i don't do an annual post of my favorite team rankings like night owl does, but if i did, the blue jays would be in position 2 or 3 on an annual basis. i will probably explain why in a future post, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in my near-term future if the blue jays were crowned world champs. with that said, let's go dodgers!

remembering fernando still

one year ago today fernando valenzuela passed away. the dodgers have continued to honor him with a jersey patch throughout the 2025 season, rather than just wearing it during last year's world series (like they did with jim gilliam back in 1978). i think it was a nice touch by the franchise that benefited so much from fernandomania.

this card

from 2024 topps black & white might have been my favorite dodger card of 2024 had i picked it up last year. instead, i came across it early in 2025. it's still a fantastic card showing the stages of fernando's signature windup (at least from the stretch).

that is not the only card of his that i have added this year. here he is at another stage of his windup on his 1994 donruss card

it's fun to find cards of fernando as an oriole. here's his 1994 topps stadium club 1st day issue parallel

and here's another parallel - a 1995 upper deck electric diamond card

that not only shows him as a phillie, but also at the plate! he won a couple of silver slugger awards during his career.

most of his non-dodger cards come from his time with the padres, and that is due in large part to the proliferation of card manufacturers in the latter part of the 1990s. here are some more parallels from that era - 1996 upper deck collector's choice gold signature

1997 fleer ultra gold medallion edition

1997 pinnacle museum collection

he's been showing up in more and more modern releases as well. this is a 2017 topps new era version of a 1987 all-star card

that is similar to what was included in 2017 topps series 2, but the 30th anniversary stamp is not foil and i believe this was only available with a hat purchase.

here's another card from last year - 2024 topps archives black foil

i will always appreciate more fernando dodger cards, but couldn't topps issue at least one showing him during his (very) short stint as an angel?

it's also fun to add some oddballs from his playing days, like i did with this 1985 all-star program "insert"

it's hard to believe that it has been a year.

defense

prior to this past weekend, only twice in my lifetime the dodgers had won back-to-back national league pennants - 1977-78 and 2017-18. neither of those instances presented an opportunity for the franchise to repeat as world series champions - in fact, the dodgers lost all four of those world series matchups. the franchise has only had two opportunities previously to repeat as world series champions - 1955-56 and 1965-66 - but fell short each time. this year, the dodgers will once again truly be able to defend their title and perhaps join a short list of franchises who have successfully done so.

the yankees, of course, but also the blue jays, reds, a's, and red sox have repeated as world series champions, and in the divisional era, you can remove boston from that list. 

anyway, on saturday morning i looked through my scanned folder to see how many dodger cards i had showing people playing defense. non-pitcher dodgers, as subject of the card, wearing a fielding glove, basically. out of 199 scanned cards, these are the ones that fit the criteria (save 1 or 2 that will show up in future posts with specific topics)

2013 topps chrome yasiel puig refractor

sure, the game's over, but puig has his glove

2021 topps cody bellinger 1986 all-star

2020 world series excitement from cody!

2021 topps mookie betts 1952 redux chrome

mookie is actually making a defensive play!

2022 topps tribute justin turner

third base defense in action!

2023 topps big league mookie betts wrapper redemption

one of the five tools on display from mookie!

2023 topps flagship collection max muncy

another actual defensive play on cardboard

2023 topps x j-rod mike piazza

definitely playing defense here

2024 leaf press pass premium retro base reflector prismatic blue

could be a shot from between innings warmups, but still. this one is numbered to 20

which is a high print run for leaf releases these days.

2024 topps chrome mookie betts all-etch

another mookie card brings us to the grand total of ten cards. that is fewer than i expected, but hey, chicks dig the long ball and card companies prefer swings.

the world series starts on friday, and i am sure i will have another post or two before then. but just in case, here's a 2003 topps tribute world series edition steve garvey gold parallel

i picked up recently. it's one for the dodger collection, meaning i now own 2% of the print run

63 is not meaningful in terms of garvey, but it is a year that the dodgers won the world series (by sweeping the yankees). a couple of weeks from now we will know if the dodgers were able to defend their title successfully or not!

a duo of dodger double dippers

the latter part of the 2025 season brought a couple of familiar faces back to the dodgers (no, not amed rosario again). first, the club swung a trade with the twins to reacquire brock stewart. i made note of it back in this post wherein i also mentioned that i did not own any cards of stewart's from his first dodger run.

i remedied that, although there aren't too many to choose from. i wound up picking up this 2017 panini chronicles signature series autograph card

showing brock as a member of "los angeles". 

i don't have any cards - and i don't know if there are any to be had - showing stewart with the twins or the blue jays (the two teams he pitched for in between dodger stints), and i don't think he is included on the update checklist this year so it may be awhile before we see more brock stewart cards. he's currently injured and set to become a free agent after the season ends.

the other recent dodger double dipper is andrew heaney. he was added to the roster and made a start at the very tail end of the season, cementing his status. here's his 2022 topps stadium club chrome card

from his first go-round with the dodgers. i suppose 2025 marked his third time with the franchise, but the first time he was only a dodger for a day or so in the offseason after being acquired in a trade with the marlins and before he was traded to the angels.

heaney has plenty of cards showing him with the rangers (that's who he played for immediately after leaving the dodgers). he was a part of their world series championship to boot. unlike stewart, he will get a card in update this year showing him with the pirates - the team he signed with prior to the start of the 2025 season. it's unlikely he will get another dodger card as he is a free agent at the end of the season, but here's hoping i am able to bookend this dodger double dipper.

i used to be a lot more diligent about keeping a running list of these double dipper guys, but i've slacked off in recent years. this post about kiké hernandez has the most up to date list(s), and you can add rosario, stewart, and heaney to it.

(i didn't want to see) apathy in the uk

i was in the uk for a couple of weeks last month, and i decided to keep an eye out for trading cards. i didn't have to wait too long before i spotted some, as there was a significant display of 2026 topps premier league cards in a grocery store in porthmadog - in fact, two different displays

and again in the window of what i would consider a neighborhood market

i didn't purchase any of these cards, but it was interesting to see them and note how visible topps is making them.

i later spotted some tobacco cards displayed on the wall of one of the english pubs we went in. 

as far as i could tell, these 1937 player's coronation series: ceremonial dress cards are actual cards - not a promotional or modern poster. it's a partial set (there are 50 total cards in the set) and they don't seem to be worth too much, but i would guess that the cards have been in place there for decades.

i found no topps baseball uk edition cards which is no surprise since the last issue of those cards was in 2022, and i understood that it was an online product, not necessarily available in brick and mortars. speaking of which, i found no hobby shops that carried cards. there were a couple of shops we discovered on our adventures that looked like they could have had sports cards, but they drew the line at funko pops, apparently. the last time i was in britain, i saw some pokemon cards at a convenience type store, but i didn't see any of that this time.

i do have a couple of recent uk edition pickups to share from that last release to show off:

walker buehler black parallel

these are numbered to 125 which is different from the flagship black parallels

freddie freeman and mookie betts base cards

and a clayton kershaw big ben parallel

which is numbered to 99

this is one of the more unique parallels in uk edition, but i feel that i should remind everyone that big ben is the bell inside the tower, not the tower itself which is formally named "elizabeth tower". 

i think i would like to find a union jack parallel but i haven't done so yet. i do regret that these were not purchased in the uk. sadly, i believe the last cards i have purchased in person outside of the united states were o-pee-chee cards in the early 1980s or perhaps some hockey cards in the early 90s. 

i didn't see a whole lot of baseball things of any sort while we were there. a few dodger hats - one person wearing a dodgers shirt - but when i said "go dodgers" to one of the people wearing a hat, they looked confused. several yankee hats were noted, but were largely worn by what i assumed to be tourists from asia. i did see an older gentleman at the british museum wearing an expos hat which made me smile. i didn't even see any of the wbc gear for great britain. i wouldn't have minded picking up a shirt with the classic default font. it's worth noting (because it relates to this post) that i came across a couple of old tour posters featuring the sex pistols, from whom i took inspiration for the title of this post.

at the conclusion of our trip we flew from london to boston before returning to the twin cities, which sort of stunk because of the layover and having to go through security again after clearing customs, but it did afford me an opportunity to say hello to pedro martinez in the tsa precheck security line at logan. not sure where he was headed, but that quick moment was better than any card i might have found abroad.

as rick steves says, "keep on travelin'!" to which i will add "keep on collectin'!"

bonus content - happy 37th anniversary to kirk gibson and his game 1 walk-off

i've had that black parallel of his 2013 panini hometown heroes curtain call insert in my scanned folder for not quite a year waiting for tonight!