so much more than green

it's that day of the year when i typically show off some shawn green cards that i've acquired over the past few months. i don't aim to disappoint, so here's his 2024 topps archives fan favorites autograph

on the 2000 design. here's the back:

green's original 2000 topps card was one of the first to show him in dodger blue, but it featured a posed spring training shot. i like this card image more. i do wonder about the back - why did topps go for cities/states rather than team nicknames? the back of green's original 2000 card says "blue jays" all the way down. 

here's another one - 2005 donruss leather & lumber naturals insert

and one more - 2001 topps hd

that card was the penultimate one i needed to complete the dodger team set. here's the last card i needed - it's kevin brown

and brown is, of course, not green.

to continue the green theme, have a look at some other newish cards to my collection:

2009 upper deck spectrum matt kemp green

2011 bowman matt kemp green

2011 topps triple threads roy campanella emerald

2020 topps finest mookie betts green

that one came from sluggo a few months back, as did this next one

2021 topps walker buehler green foil

2021 topps gypsy queen walker buehler green

2022 topps gypsy queen max muncy green

2022 topps mookie betts gypsy queen green

and now back to 2024 topps archives for steve garvey's fan favorites autograph, in green parallel form

here's the back:

steve garvey side eye!

i don't care too much for colored borders on the 1995 design, but i did buy garvey's gold parallel, too.

it's more of a 2002 topps flagship gold than, say, a 2015 topps update gold

as modeled by joc pederson

2015 was a good year for colored parallels due to the card design and patterning of the border. here's a black parallel, also from update, of brett anderson

and, for comparative purposes, here's a black parallel from 2012 topps update (featuring jamey wright)

10 years later, we have a tyler anderson royal blue parallel from 2022 topps update

i've seen a couple of these royal blue parallels that almost look black

how about some purple? here's a 2010 topps chrome russell martin purple refractor

plus a 2012 bowman chrome ted lilly purple refractor

and a 2013 bowman chrome andre ethier purple refractor

it's not as bright as ethier's but i like lilly's dusk at dodger stadium card a lot more.

here are some 2013 topps chrome orange refractors

i am just two dodgers away from a complete team set of those.

pink is a color used on cards, too, and here's a 2020 topps chrome pink refractor parallel of mookie betts

i thought that this next one was also a pink refractor, but it turned out not to be.

that's a 2022 topps chrome magenta refractor parallel, sent by sluggo. it's numbered to 399 on the back

which was the only way i knew it wasn't pink. once i got the card to my dodger binders, i saw that the pink refractors from 2022 are a lighter shade.

here are a couple of cards dressed in yellow - 2020 topps update clayton kershaw

and 2024 topps emmett sheehan

the 2024 full border works better for colorization than the file folder border on 2020 cards.

i recently ordered some cards from burbank, including two copies of this 2011 topps rafael furcal red parallel

this is a factory set exclusive parallel, numbered to 245. i got one for the dodger collection and one for the double play collection.

i also ordered a couple of yasiel puig parallels from 2016 topps triple threads

those are amethyst and emerald, which are fancier ways of saying purple and green. however, let's stick with emerald as i show you the largest color border endeavor i took on over the past few weeks.

i completed my 2013 topps emerald parallel dodger team set with these three cards 

plus zack greinke's

when these were first introduced in 2013, i was really smitten, but at some point i stopped working on the team set. i'm glad to have it done now.

i also completed the update team set in emerald fashion

with hyun-jin ryu

and yasiel puig

rookies being the last couple of cards i needed.

one reason the color cards from 2013 struck a chord with me was the expansive border space, and now i've started working on obtaining the last few walmart blue 

and target red

parallels i need from 2013 to complete team sets in those colors, too. wish me the luck of the irish!

hoping for handshakes

at the start of every season, all fans are hoping for the best for their team. some are reasonable about expectations or have come to terms with the likelihood of eventual failure, but there is hope regardless. in baseball, success is recognized through the celebration that occurs on the field after a game is completed.

the ultimate celebration comes at the end of the world series, and is usually a mass of humanity jumping up and down. it used to be a bit tamer, with handshakes coming before hugs. here's a 2013 topps chrome update postseason heroes card of sandy koufax after the last out of the 1963 world series

he's waiting to shake john roseboro's hand. here's the regular topps update card 

that makes it clear that game 4 was a day game. that doesn't happen anymore, either.

there are 32 days until the seoul series kicks off the 2024 season, and i am hoping for a celebration at the end of it for the dodgers!

heavy is the head that wears the crown

after picking up that 1997 pacific card-supial card in diamond kings' card draft a few weeks ago, i went to see what other insert sets i was missing from my dodger want list. as you probably know, pacific had some great sets with kick-ass inserts, culminating (in my opinion) in their 2000 invincible release in which the base set was as good or better than their inserts.

anyway, i quickly realized that i had not included the 1997 pacific crown collection gold crown die-cut cards in my want list. i fixed that oversight and then ordered todd hollandsworth's card

from sportlots. the other two dodgers in this insert set (as well as the cardsupial set) are hideo nomo and mike piazza, so holly was the cheapest one to obtain. he was on the top of the world back in 1997, appearing in a number of insert sets as the reigning national league rookie of the year. unfortunately, the level of success he enjoyed during his rookie campaign was hard to replicate and he was eventually traded away.

in fact, the dodgers traded away all five of their consecutive rookies-of-the-year, including 1994 winner raul mondesi.  i recently went to comc to add some cards to my collection (although oddly enough i did not look for more pacific inserts), and i included this 1995 topps cyberstats card of rauuuuuuuuuuuuuul

along with that of pedro astacio to complete my dodger team set. the back shows raul's enhanced projected stats

that might have been without the strike. that's a pretty solid rookie campaign for sure.

there are really only a few types of cards that make me go to comc these days, and one of the two cards that did it this time was this 2004 upper deck legends carlton fisk bronze parallel

not just any bronze parallel, but a memorable moments subset card. these really show off the bronzing, and the gold versions are even better. unfortunately, the gold ones are limited to five of each and are usually priced based on that scarcity rather than the collectability of the player shown.

the other card that drew me to the site was a 2017 topps chrome joc pederson parallel refractor. you know i am on the lookout for more of these cards for my rainbow, but unfortunately, i outsmarted myself and bought another gold refractor instead of the green one i was looking for. i have now added the green refractor to my list of most wanted cards!

to fill out the order, i went hunting for a few mini-collection hits, such as this 2019 topps update willie mays greatest moments insert

i will add any and all cards that show "the catch" to my name/number on the back collection.

speaking of numbers, i added a few more cards to my "42" mini-collection. from 2016 topps, i picked up the jackie robinson day variations of lorenzo cain

wil myers

and a second scott van slyke card

since the first one is in my dodger collection. speaking of which, i decided to complete the team set of the 2018 topps update jackie robinson day manufactured patch

i already had matt kemp's card, so i added yasiel puig, corey seager, clayton kershaw, and cody bellinger to the collection.  i also added josh bell's card

for the mini-collection. note that none of these cards would work this year as there were no "42"s on the fronts of jerseys on jackie robinson day 2022. 

i picked up two more cards for the 1957 topps set build

now down to 30 cards needed!

of course, i also added a few more dodgers to the order. the reason i was able to add that 2017 joc pederson green refractor to my most wanted list is that i bought tommy lasorda's 2020 topps allen & ginter card

that had been on that list previously. tommy completes another team set for me.

i was looking for a card that cost 34 cents or whatever it was that i had left (over the $4.99 shipping), and so this 2013 topps update j.p. howell walmart blue parallel

was the lucky "mr. irrelevant" card. it doesn't complete a set or anything, but it's a dodger card i needed.

before i got to howell, however, i added some other dodgers to the order, including a different 2013 topps update parallel

yasiel puig emeral foil rookie debut! this card was fairly unattainable back in 2013. eight and a half years later, easy peasy.

you may recall that i've been focusing on topps chrome, and this 2016 topps chrome update ross stripling card

means i just need the julio urias card to complete the team set.

this hyun-jin ryu 2013 topps chrome update card

does complete the team set for me, which is nice.

just a couple more cards from the order, and they are both photo variations. this 2019 topps ryu card

is unremarkable, but it was cheap.  better is this 2018 topps update sandy koufax legend variation

always nice to get a new koufax card, especially at a decent price.

that takes care of most of what i ordered from comc (there were a couple other cards, including one for another blogger), but that's not the end of the cards that came in the mail that same day.  matt from diamond jesters has already sent me his return for the cards he claimed in my last "almost free stuff friday". he send this 2022 topps andre jackson card

which completes my series 1 dodger team set. well worth the cards i sent matt's way.  thanks matt!

speaking of trading, let me know if you have any pacific dodger inserts, a 2017 topps chrome joc pederson green refractor, or any other of my wants - you will be rewarded!