chrome priority

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 or so, 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. case in point, i went out to add more topps heritage chrome parallels to my collection.

with don mattingly in the news late last year for making it to the fall classic for the first time (he was a coach for the blue jays if you didn't know), i'll start with his 2011 topps heritage chrome parallel.

mattingly was the dodger skipper when their current run of nl west dominance began but he was gone before they returned to the world series. here's the back:

i thought that numbering the chrome "base" to the year of the topps design made sense once they made that switch. unfortunately, topps hasn't maintained that element with these cards.

i should note that it's been over two years since i published this post detailing my status with these cards, but i hadn't forgotten about my appreciation of them. here are some more i added in 2025 that weren't shown in other posts

the hiroki kuroda and ross stripling cards completed my 2011 topps heritage and 2016 topps heritage high numbers chrome dodger team sets, respectively, while the aj pollock card from 2019 topps heritage high numbers was the second to join my collection from that set.

i picked up my first chrome parallel from 2002 topps heritage in the form of chan ho park

which features the "original" heritage chrome parallel numbering on the back:

limited to 553 copies, just as the 2001 cards (using the 1952 topps design) were limited to a print run of 552.

in 2003, the chrome cards (here's kazuhisa ishii's)

switched to the full year numbering to match the card design year

so /1954 for these cards. the refractors then used the 500 series numbering.

topps introduced non-numbered, retail colored refractors in 2011, although i think they skipped 2012 and 2013 before becoming a mainstay. here's a 2015 purple chrome refractor of yasmani grandal

from 2015 topps heritage high numbers.

in 2013, topps switched the numbering of base chrome parallels again. here's a 2018 topps heritage high numbers matt kemp chrome parallel

that shows the /999 numbering on the back

you'll note that topps didn't really prepare a space for the serial numbering on the back of any of these cards.

ok - speed round with some other heritage chrome pickups from last year!

2019 max muncy purple refractor

2020 high numbers mookie betts chrome /999

2021 high numbers albert pujols chrome /999

and purple refractor

2022 walker buehler chrome /999

2023 high numbers clayton kershaw chrome /999

and purple refractor

plus a 2024 high number purple refractor of "zero year" card recipient andre lipcius

in 2024, topps really changed things up. they released a limited number of chrome parallels as they typically did with the initial heritage release. these were numbered to 999 as they had been for years. then, when high numbers came out, all of the cards that had not been paralleled in the initial release were included, but numbered to 699. here's the chrome parallel of the yogi berra/roy campanella card

that i found in a pack of heritage high. note that they also moved the numbering to the front of the card. this change didn't make the numbering any easier to read, however. i suppose i should also note that topps decided to show berra's actual 1951 card here, even though they used a modified version of it back in 1975. the campy side is the same - it's a card that didn't exist until 1975.

in 2025, topps got rid of the numbering for the base chrome and base refractor cards altogether. here's freddie freeman's card

plus some sparkle refractors - dusty baker (and son)

and teoscar hernandez

these next few from 2025 heritage high numbers arrived in early 2026 - light blue sparkle refractors of alex call

and kiké hernandez (along with a regular refractor of kiké)

this next bit is more for me to make things easier as i continue to track down the dodger base chrome parallels. after 25 years of these sets, i still need a lot of them, and here's a year by year breakdown of my needs vs. haves:

2001 - need 2 (have 1)

2002 - need 4 (have 1)

2003 - need 2 (have 3)

2004 - need 1 (have 1)

2005 - need 1 (have 3)

2006 - complete (have 4)

2007 - complete (have 3)

2008 - complete (have 10)

2009 - complete (have 10)

2010 - complete (have 6)

2011 - complete (have 9)

2012 - need 1 (have 4)

2013 - need 3 (have 2)

2014 - need 5 (have 2)

2015 - need 4 (have 5)

2015 high numbers - need 4 (have 1)

2016 - need 2 (have 1)

2016 high numbers - complete (have 4)

2017 - need 2 (have 2)

2017 high numbers - need 3 (have 1)

2018 - need 7 (have 1)

2018 high numbers - complete (have 1)

2019 - need 5 (have 4) 

2019 high numbers - need 1 (have 2)

2020 - need 8 (have 4)

2020 high numbers - need 3 (have 1)

2021 - need 4 (have 1)

2021 high numbers - need 6 (have 1)

2022 - need 4 (have 1)

2022 high numbers - need 1 (have 1)

2023 - need 3 (have 1)

2023 high numbers - need 4 (have 1)

2024 - need 4 (have 1)

2024 high numbers - need 27 (have 1)

2025 - need 22 (have 6)

2025 high numbers - need 8 (have 2)

the 2026 topps heritage checklist is out, and the dodgers have 22 base chrome cards (the full set is paralleled). i've pre-ordered some product from topps and am looking forward to adding to this list! stay tuned!

where it is with heritage chrome

a few weeks ago, i gave a synopsis of where my dodger collection is regarding topps heritage releases. this post will do something similar with the chrome heritage offerings. some collectors don't like the idea of chrome cards in heritage releases since there were no chrome cards using flagship designs until the late 1990's. i like the chrome cards and don't see them degrading the heritage sets at all, although there are plenty of other things for collectors to nitpick about (myself included).

anyway, the inaugural heritage release in 2001 introduced us to these partial set parallels, and i just recently finally added one to my collection

2001 sets meant dodger collectors were getting a whopping serving of kevin brown, shawn green, and gary sheffield cards. those three are the dodgers who were feted with chrome cards in 2001, but i only have brown's.

in 2002, brown and green again got the chrome treatment and were joined by paul loduca, omar daal, and chan ho park. i don't have any of those cards. i did pull a cc sabathia chrome card from a pack of 2002 heritage, but i've since parted with it.

five dodgers were included in the 2003 topps heritage chrome cards, including ruddy lugo

in addition to the lugo, i have shawn green's card but am missing kaz ishii, franklin gutierrez, and loduca.

there were only two chrome dodgers in 2004 - shawn green and edwin jackson - and i only have green's card. in 2005, green was joined by ishii, jeff kent, and eric gagne. i have the green and the ishii from that set.  then, in 2006, jeff weaver

rafael furcal

and kent 

joined nomar garciaparra as chrome dodgers. this is the first team heritage chrome set that i have completed.

i have also completed the dodger 2007 heritage chrome team set. it features andre ethier

delwyn young

and jonathan broxton

broxton's card looks fantastic in refractor form

it's the only one of the three that i own and i wouldn't have it any other way.

i have also completed the team set for 2008 heritage chrome. this one includes 10 dodgers (2 of which are part of the inaugural high numbers release). in addition to ethier, kent, andy laroche, and hiroki kuroda, dodger fans were treated to cards of andruw jones

matt kemp

brad penny

takashi saito

russell martin

who i also have in refractor form

and chin-lung hu

whose refractor looks really great

there were 10 more dodgers in 2009 heritage, and i have them all. kuroda

martin

penny

orlando hudson (high numbers)

ethier

whose refractor also sits in my collection

james loney (whose refractor made this post rather than the base)

the others in the team set include clayton kershaw, kemp, manny ramirez, and randy wolf.

six dodgers showed up in 2010 heritage as chrome parallels, and once again, i've been able to complete the set. here's chad billingsley's card

he is joined by kemp, kershaw, ethier, martin, and manny.

in 2011, if i recall correctly, the chrome cards were included in heritage and chrome? is that correct? anyway, there are nine dodgers and i have six of them. i am missing don mattingly, kuroda, and billingsley, but have casey blake, loney, kershaw, etheir, the kemp/ethier combo card, and kemp's solo card. here's his chrome parallel

that also graces my collection.

2012 heritage included five dodgers and i have three of them, including kuroda in base

and refractor format

i am missing ethier's card and the matt kemp league leader card, but i have kemp's solo card and kershaw's league leader card in chrome form.

2013 heritage only had five dodgers as well, and i own ethier and kershaw cards but need hanley ramirez', kemp, and adrian gonzalez. for 2014, hyun-jin ryu, zack greinke, and yasiel puig joined kershaw, ramirez, gonzalez, and kemp. i have kershaw and kemp

and i also have purple refractors of greinke and kemp

i don't have kemp's 2015 heritage chrome card, but i do have greinke's

i also have kershaw, dee gordon, puig, and gonzalez, but am missing ryu, ramirez, and kenley jansen. as for the high numbers, i have jimmy rollins but none of the other dodgers (yasmani grandal, trevor cahill, alex guerrero, and brett anderson).

there were only three dodgers - greinke (need it), puig (need it), and kershaw (got it) - given chrome cards in 2016 heritage, but high numbers gave us four more. scott kazmir and ross stripling are the two i am missing as i have julio urias and kenta maeda

it was more of the same in 2018, with four dodgers in the base run of heritage - kershaw (got it), maeda (got it), corey seager (need it), and urias (need it). then, in high numbers, there were four more. i need andrew toles, rob segedin, and cody bellinger, but have jansen.  

in 2019, topps returned to a greater number of dodgers included as chrome subjects as seager, maeda, bellinger, yu darvish, walker buehler, alex verdugo, puig, and kershaw were all included. kershaw's is the only card of those that i own, although i do have a couple of refractor parallels of others.  in high numbers, there was only matt kemp, and while i need his base chrome card, i do have his refractor parallel

man it was good to see him back with the dodgers in 2018.

things got sort of confusing for me in 2019 when i was putting together the checklists. i guess some of the chrome cards were only available in mega boxes, like this jansen

and this joc pederson 

while matt kemp was among those getting true "base" chrome cards. i don't have kemp's card, but i do have his refractor parallel

in all, i still need buehler, kemp, maeda, and max muncy from the base chrome checklist (i have kershaw), and i need only bellinger from the mega box checklist (i have seager in addition to the pederson and jansen cards above). high numbers included chrome cards for a.l. pollock and alex verdugo (along with russell martin in the mega boxes), but i have none of those.

twelve dodgers were included in 2020 heritage chrome (combining base and mega box exclusives). of those twelve, i only have bellinger

jansen, kershaw, and verdugo. i am still on the lookout for muncy, dustin may, gavin lux, will smith, seager, buehler, justin turner, and pederson.  i do have refractor parallels of bellinger 

and jansen

and they look pretty sharp. i would love to add the mookie betts chrome card from 2020 high numbers, along with any of the other three dodgers (edwin rios, brusdar graterol, and david price) but i have yet to do so.

in recent years, as you can tell, i've paid less attention to completing team sets of chrome, and that is true for 2021 where i only have kershaw and need the other four dodgers (muncy, betts, seager, and bellinger) plus the seven dodgers in high numbers (dj peters, victor gonzalez, price, lux, zach mckinstry, albert pujols, and buehler). 2022 is the same, where i am missing all of the chrome cards from the base heritage (buehler, urias, betts, trea turner, and bellinger) and only have kershaw from the high numbers release (missing craig kimbrel).

finally, 2023. so far, there are four dodgers to chase in chrome form - james outman, betts, freddie freeman, and buehler. i have buehler's card

and am looking forward to high numbers and what i will assume will be another kershaw card.

i mentioned that i have a number (actually all) kershaw chrome cards, including purple refractors from 2021 

and 2022

and i figured i would show the complete run of base kershaw chrome cards, starting in 2009

2010

2011

2012 (no base chrome card for kersh)

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

as i mentioned, i am looking forward to seeing kershaw's heritage card this year - might it resemble claude osteen's 1974 card? - and whomever else is in high numbers this year. 

thanks for sticking with this post - it was a lot of cards for sure!