william dills smith appreciation post

i didn't want to confuse anyone - this is not about the actor or the pitcher (or the guy i know from work) - but rather it is about the dodgers' catcher and your national league all-star at that position, so i used his full name in the post title.

will smith has been an all-star before, but this year, he will start behind the plate for the national league. he is, as far as national league catchers go, the man

it says so right there on that 2020 topps finest card.

through last thursday, smith was hitting .326 with an on base percentage of 0.430. both of those numbers were leading the national league, and in fact, smith was the only qualifying batter hitter over .300! it is possible that smith might become the first dodger backstop and fifth catcher overall to win a batting title. for that we will have to wait and see. in the meantime, here are some more cards of smith that have been languishing in my scanned folder

2020 topps retail factory set foilboard

not a smith card per se, but that is him in the air there after a rookie year walk off home run.

2024 topps archives

2024 topps chrome refractor

2024 topps heritage white border

2024 topps holiday silver glitter

2024 topps stadium club chrome parallel

2025 topps heritage chrome pink sparkle refractor

perhaps if his offensive success continues, we will get some cards showing him without the tools of ignorance.

only three dodger catchers have been all-star game starters in my lifetime - mike scioscia (1990), mike piazza (1994-1997), and russell martin (2007) - so i am happy to see smith make it four this year. however, what i am really looking forward to is seeing his topps heritage card next year with that sweet sweet all-star banner at the bottom. 

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!

the almost daily dodger - gavin lux

can a player ever live up to the hype? gavin lux was the dodgers' first round draft pick in the 2016 draft and in 2018 he was the franchise's minor league player of the year. late in the following season, he was in the big leagues and was one of the top three prospects in the game going into the 2020 season.

i dare say he has not lived up to that hype.

because of his top prospect status, i have a lot of gavin lux cards. here are some that have been languishing in my scanned folder - a 2022 topps archives card

and three rookie card inserts - 2020 panini donruss optic stained glass

2020 topps finest finest firsts

and 2020 topps finest the man

lux missed the entire 2023 season due to injury, and had a slow start to 2024. he has really come around after this year's all-star break, however, hitting .366 with a 1.101 ops in the 31 days following the midsummer classic. he was the national league player of the week right after the break, and i am hopeful that he is hitting his stride as he approaches the magical age of 27.