a tale of one team

with the dodgers' postseason kicking off this weekend, i figured it was time to revisit their 2020 championship club and a couple of sets that i've purchased in the last few months. first, i had received a single card from their 2020 topps total set courtesy of brian, and that got me thinking that i should put my money where my mouth is when it comes to my appreciation of topps total sets. this one was a bit different as it was an online release that came in waves, but some kind soul was selling a dodger team set on ebay and i bit.

second, i had found a single card from the 2020 topps x ben baller 2020 world series champions set at one of the local card shops and it also got me thinking about buying a complete set of this online only release. it was pretty easy to find for a decent price so long as i didn't want the autograph card that came with each box (spoiler alert - i didn't).

so, having these sets in hand, i decided to compare the players included. there are 31 cards in the total set and 32 in the ben baller set, with 26 players in both sets. i'll show them first - total on the left, ben baller on the right.

pedro baez

austin barnes

matt beaty

cody bellinger

mookie betts

walker buehler

tony gonsolin

brusdar graterol

kiké hernandez

kenley jansen

joe kelly

clayton kershaw

adam kolarek

dustin may

jake mcgee

max muncy

joc pederson

a.j. pollock

edwin rios

corey seager

will smith

chris taylor

blake treinen

justin turner

julio urias

alex wood

of those 26, 13 are still with the team (including urias) but that includes kelly and hernandez who left and returned via trade. of those 12, only a handful are actually healthy enough to be on the postseason roster this year. i should also note that kolarek returned to the dodgers in 2023 but was traded to the mets during the season.

only two of the players who were included in just one of the sets is still with the club, and one is gavin lux who was featured in the total set

he wasn't on the world series roster back in 2020, and he won't be on the postseason roster this year as he's recovering from an acl tear suffered during spring training.

the other player still with the club is jimmy nelson

who missed 2020 but pitched in 28 games for the dodgers in 2021. he has re-signed with the dodgers each year since then, but has been injured for the duration.

the players who only appeared in one set that are no longer with the club include david price 

who sat out the 2020 season, josh sborz

who was not on the dodgers' 2020 postseason roster and is now with the rangers, ross stripling 

who was traded to the blue jays during the 2020 season and now pitches for the giants, and dylan floro

who the dodgers traded to the marlins prior to the 2021 season and was most recently released by the twins last week.

the ben baller set also included some dodger legends for some reason, including jackie robinson

who never played in los angeles. maybe he was included to represent the franchise's 1955 championship, but that could also be represented by duke snider

who is also shown as a brooklyn dodger even though he played in la through 1961.

sandy koufax 

was part of the los angeles dodgers' first three world series titles in 1959, 1963, and 1965 

and tommy lasorda 

managed the club to their next two titles in 1981 and 1988.

the biggest head scratcher is the inclusion of don sutton

i am a big fan, but he (unfortunately) never won a world series with the dodgers or anyone else. he did pitch for the team in the 1974, 1977, and 1978 fall classics (along with an appearance as a brewer in 1982) but i don't get why he is in the set instead of, say, fernando valenzuela or orel hershiser.

as you would expect from topps, the backs of the ben baller cards are fairly nondescript

that only differs in the player name and position.

the total backs aren't much better, especially when you compare the kershaw to the price

some player specific text, but it looks like topps forgot to edit the second paragraph on price's card to make this a 2020 card instead of 2019.

i haven't bit on any 2023 postseason sets yet, but i hope i have good reason to in about a month's time!

highly surprising and completely appreciated

although he's been quiet on the blogs, brian from highly subjective and completely arbitrary is still out there and i have some cards to prove it! brian sent me a package sometime last fall, and it's a shame it has taken me so long to share.

first up is a professionally printed "card that should have been" 1967 topps sandy koufax

i created one of these missing final tributes a long time ago, and it is great to have this version in my collection. the back

meets the final tribute criteria by having his complete career stats on the back, even if they don't have the year by year stats and they also show a line for 1967. it's still great. you can see that the card was produced by or for the greater boston sports collectors club in 2008 based on the "celebrating 23 years" note in the text. there are some other similar "cards that never were" under the gbscc name out there, including a 1957 bob feller that would be nice to have.

speaking of nice to have, i've been eyeing a complete dodger team set of 2020 topps total after brian sent this will smith card

from the online only set. we will see if i pull the trigger (spoiler alert i am certain that i will). i just miss topps total so much.

this is a 2022 topps mike piazza insert

and i appreciate topps showing him as a dodger from time to time. of course, he had to be a dodger in this "welcome to the show" set.

brian also hit some mini-collections, such as the dodger stadium one with this 1985 donruss mario soto card

and the double play mini-collection with this 1994 fleer ricky gutierrez card

nice cameo of hall of famer jeff bagwell there, too.

this next card

wasn't a need, but it is such a great card that i had to show it anyway. fernando valenzuela's final topps flagship card as a dodger, and the photo selection and design complement each other so well.  although, this isn't topps but instead is o-pee-chee!

oh my!

here's where i remind folks that i once dedicated an entire blog to the differences between topps and o-pee-chee cards. check it out if you haven't already!

a couple of the cards that i featured on that site were also included in brian's package, including this 1991 dodger/mets mashup of bob ojeda

and a blue jays/padres card of joe carter

forget the "now with" - card packages from brian always have the good stuff. thanks brian!