one down, still nine to go

you might recognize the title of this post as i've used it before. it means that i have added one of my "nefarious 9" - my most wanted cards. of course, that also means that a new card has been added to the list. the list is dead, long live the list.

this time, the card obtained was....

2022 topps chrome #84 albert pujols refractor parallel

unfortunately i forgot to scan the back and i didn't bother to dig the card out of the binder for this post.

here are the facts about this card:

position on the nefarious 9 list: 8

how long was it on the list? it lasted four months on the list (added on march 1, 2025)

why was it on the list? this refractor was the last one i needed to complete my dodger team set of the basic refractor parallels

how was it obtained? this card came to me as part of a sportlots order in july of 2025

what replaced it on the list?  2021 topps stadium club chrome #283 tony gonsolin

one question i don't typically include in these posts is what prompted me to purchase the card (aside from the fact that it was one of the nefarious 9)? in this case, kevin the diamond king reached out and asked if i also needed the pujols prism refractor. i did, and he sent it

along with a bunch of other dodger cards. i figured if he was going to send me the prism refractor, i might as well get the regular refractor. and so i did.

the other cards kevin sent were just fantastic. here is a colorful trio of 2020 panini donruss tony gonsolin parallels

plus a holo prizm of the same card from the donruss optic line

i think i will start calling him "gonso-long" since he is on the 60-day il so often.

how about a 2020 panini chronicles dustin may phoenix pink parallel?

it's numbered to 25

so thank you very much!

i found out that topps did a collaboration with derek jeter in 2022 because kevin included this 2022 topps x derek jeter call of the captain clayton kershaw card

it's actually a blue parallel, and is numbered to 175

and then there was a 2017 panini black friday kershaw manupatch

but none of those cards were the biggest surprise in the bunch.

the biggest surprise of the lot was this 2022 leaf in the game used sports triple relic rainbow cracked ice card

that features hall of famers duke snider, gil hodges, and walter alston. just a tremendous card to see in the package. all three of those numbers are retired by the dodgers, as is number 34. so, not too many "4s" left. i wonder if kenley jansen will make the hall of fame and have his number 74 retired by the club.

thanks kevin - i have some cards on their way to you! and please let me know if you can help a blogger out with any of the cards on my nefarious 9 - you will be rewarded!

it was the only option

it’s weird to be in the postseason and not see clayton kershaw on the mound. bone spurs on his toe derailed his season after he returned from shoulder surgery and he was ruled out of the playoffs prior to the nlds. 

he is still with the club and i was happy to hear that he announced he would exercise his player option for 2025 during an interview prior to the start of the nlcs. that means his assault on the 3000 strikeout milestone will continue next year. he’s only 32 away from becoming the second pitcher to ever reach that mark as a dodger and the only one to do so solely as a dodger. in fact, he would be only the third member of the 3,000 k club to have recorded all of his strikeouts with one team, and the first since the club consisted of only two members (walter johnson and bob gibson). the dodgers would also become just the fifth franchise whose all-time strikeout leader had more than 3,000 punchouts, joining johnson's senators, gibson's cardinals, and the phillies (steve carlton), and braves (john smoltz).

anyway, with an 18th season on the horizon for kershaw, here are 18 cards from my collection that haven't been shown here before:

2017 topps chrome prism refractor parallel

2019 topps mini update

2019 topps update black gold insert

2020 panini contenders base and purple parallel

2020 panini donruss orange holo parallel

2020 topps warriors of the diamond insert

2020 topps gypsy queen

2022 panini 3 and 2

2022 topps no hit club insert

2023 topps 1988 all-star blue parallel 

2023 topps cosmic chrome

2024 bowman

2024 topps rainbow foil parallel 

2024 topps chrome all-etch insert

2024 topps chrome refractor parallel 

2024 topps chrome prism refractor parallel 

2024 topps chrome sepia refractor parallel 

the dodgers have unfinished business yet this season, but i will be happy to see 2025 roll around with kershaw on the mound again!

a day for cards from canada

it's canada day, eh? grab a molson (or labbatt's) and take a look at some cards that i ordered from baseballcardstore.ca.  like most others, i found the site to be a little clunky to navigate, having been spoiled by comc, beckett marketplace, and sportlots. still, i was able to hone in on 100 cards that i unfortunately split over two orders. i was quick to close out my first order lest some cards become unavailable, and shortly after doing so i remembered that i had wanted to search for some other cards, too. in all i wound up spending $19.98 (just about half of that in shipping), but i think i got my money's worth. i was happy to see that they have since instituted a "wait to ship" option, and i already have another 100 or so cards on "layaway".

the cards that i've received included a few cards for my collection, a few to send to trading partners, and yes, a few to flip. in fact, i've made most of my money back after selling just a few cards over the last couple of weeks.

as for the keepers, i'll start with a former nefarious 9 want, a 2000 topps gallery adrian beltre card

in addition to coming off of my most wanted list, that card completes a team set, for me, so good times. 

this next card also completed a team set, in that it was one of i think two cards in the insert set featuring dodgers

finding a 2013 topps chrome connections die-cut card of adrian gonzalez for a dime was nice. i saw in a recent post that dimebox nick picked up the other dodger card from this insert set (matt kemp) from the site. everybody wins.

the most recent release i found was from 2020 panini donruss, and i picked up a tony gonsolin card

as a result. of course, i have since received three more copies of this card thanks to a couple of trade packages, but one of the dupes will make a fine addition to my dodger stadium mini collection. it's also nice to see a card with the players' weekend uniforms that isn't a short print.

speaking of my mini collections, i wasn't able to search for them as well as hoped due to the lack of photos, but outside of targeting specific cards that i needed to complete team sets or were part of my most wanted list, i found it easy to search by set or parallels.  as a result, i found a few more dodger needs like these silver signature parallels from 1996 upper deck collector's choice

and these black gold cards from 1992 leaf

and a couple of gold/gold rush parallels of professional pinch-hitter dave hansen

one of the sets i searched for was 2002 topps 206 which i am still trying to complete. i did find one card that i needed

jason pridie was drafted out of high school in 2002, but received a card (and variation) in this set. he didn't hit the majors until 2008 with the twins.

another easy way to search the site was by player name, and one name i searched was mike piazza. i have mentioned a few times here and in comments on other blogs lately that i am continually amazed at the number of piazza dodger cards that i don't have.  i found two cards of his to add to my collection

so that's a start. these are from the 1994 baseball aces playing card set by bicycle. brett butler and tom candiotti also have cards in this set, but they weren't available on the site.

another player i searched for (along with a "dodgers" filter) was milton bradley. not sure why his name came to me, but i came away with a couple new cards of him 

yes, that prosigs card on the left is a dodger card even if bradley is still wearing a cleveland uniform.

one of the searches that prompted my second order on the site was vladimir guerrero. i was perplexed by the 2018 topps update walmart exclusive hall of famer highlights insert set and was looking to add some non-parallels from that set. i was able to find one, which was nice.

after searching for a large number of sets, parallels, and players, i gave some thought to what else might be out there. and then i remembered, you can't go wrong with pacific. i found a few cards to add, including some crown royale cards that hit a few different collections for me:

in hindsight, i should have cleaned out their stock.

cards from and inspired by an arbitrary source

brian at hsca is one of the many bloggers who took a cue from jon to offer up free stuff fridays. i was able to claim some cards throughout the spring for my various mini-collections, including a 2012 topps tyler greene double play turn

along with another card from that set for my dodger stadium collection, this one featuring brad brach

i also claimed a 2011 topps chrome rookie autograph

and a 2019 topps magneuris sierra rainbow foil parallel

for my tatooine collection.

speaking of that particular collection, a long while back brian showed the 1981 donruss tim stoddard card as part of his 9-card, team by team posts featuring 1981 cards.

i realized after seeing that post that the stoddard card would also fit in my "name on the back" mini-collection, but then i remembered that i hadn't formally christened that collection yet. still, it's an early entry in my tatooine collection that i honestly hadn't looked at in years and figured i would scan and post it for posterity.

there were a couple of other cards that brian posted that gave me inspiration. one of them was one that i was too late to claim, so instead i went to sportlots and bought a copy for my collection. that was this 2019 topps stadium club andrelton simmons card

which in turn inspired me to review some 2020 topps images in hopes of finding other missed double play cards to add to my cart. as a result, i found this cesar hernandez card

that was new to my collection. while i was at it, i took a deep dive in to some other sets (using comc to browse through photos), and found a nice dodger lurker card from 2006 upper deck

looks like sandy alomar jr. is the catcher here, but i'm not sure who is in the background. one of the best things about this card is the umpire's head and leg positioning. not only does this card hearken back to 1973 topps photography, but it fits nicely in my lurker collection.

the last card i added to my sportlots cart from that particular seller (in order to maximize shipping costs, of course), was this 1994 score jeff kent card.

i had received the gold rush version of this card in a different trade, but lacked the base version.  when brian included this 1994 upper deck jeff kent card in one of his packages

it reminded me and inspired me to go get the base version of the score card. both cards hit a number of my mini-collections as the cards feature dodger stadium in the background, dodgers lurking on someone else's card, memorial patches (although i only keep one representative card for each memorial), and, in the case of the score card, a double play turn.

i'll end things with a few more cards that brian included in one of his pwe's. first up are some 2020 panini donruss cards. here's walker buehler

and here's clayton kershaw

in true panini fashion, one of these cards is a variation. and, in true panini fashion, it's a fairly lame variation, but at least they make it easy to spot.  here are the backs of the buehler

and kershaw

cards.  you'll notice that the donruss logos are different. the red one on the kershaw card indicates the variant, in this case it is the location listed under kershaw's name.  yes, this is a 'chavez ravine' variation.  this is the second case this spring where i've received cards from another blogger that featured a buehler base and kershaw variation where i wondered if the sender was aware of the variation. not because of value or anything, but rather out of curiousity. i've not shared the other trade yet, but as for this one - brian, what say you?

this variation is easier to spot

that's a max muncy holo orange parallel.

one more donruss card to share, and it's a cody bellinger diamond king

i remember opening packs of 1982 donruss and being super excited about diamond kings. of course, it helped that steve garvey was the dodger representative in the inaugural version of the subset, but i thought it was a cool way to feature another card for the stars of the day, as opposed to what donruss (and fleer) did in 1981 with random additional star cards.

this has turned in to a long post which makes sense given brian's generosity, but i'll wrap it up with one more card. it's a 2020 topps opening day sticker preview card of cody bellinger

i think the sticker release is the last thing to hit target shelves for a while.

thank you brian for the free stuff fridays (although i see those posts more as trade bait than giveaways) and for the extra cards and for providing some inspiration for me to discover and add more cards to my collection!