peas & carrots

i was taking a run through my scanned/unposted folder a while back and noticed a preponderance of cards featuring mookie betts and freddie freeman. that's no surprise for a dodger collector, but there was more to it than that. so, you get a post featuring these two mvp's who seem to go together like peas and carrots.

from 2023 topps heritage high numbers, this combo card

features la's finest. and these 2024 topps gold foil and rainbow foil parallels

feature a couple of la stars who are part of a dangerous lineup.

even when not on the same card, i was seeing double in the folder. here are a couple of cards from 2024 bowman chrome

that i've had for a while. they are part of that collecting subset that features cards on cards (not the st. louis kind). i don't collect them, but they are fun to come across.

here are a couple more inserts - these are from 2025 topps

that i probably should have combined into a single image. i'll do that with their individual cards from 2025 topps finest

and 2026 topps

those perennial all-star inserts were included in the celebration mega boxes. i didn't see any of those around here this year.

having betts and freeman playing together has proven to be mutually beneficial as the dodgers have won two world series titles in the four seasons that the pair have been teammates. of course, other players have had a lot to do with that, but these two guys seem to me to be the foundation of it all. it's an embarrassment of riches, sure, but it's not ruining baseball. 

clubhouse presence

the theme of many of my posts over the last few months has been "focus". there are certain sets or inserts that i am paying closer attention to, given the fact that there are too many to acquire and a scattershot approach doesn't really resonate with me at the moment.

one of the inserts that i have chosen to focus on more is the "clubhouse collection" relics found in topps heritage releases. in recent years, steve garvey has been on the checklist, which got me thinking about other dodgers throughout the years. i already had some of these cards in my collection, but have spent some time over the last year or so to purposefully add a few more.

this is (obviously) an auto/relic clubhouse collection card featuring garvey

that comes from 2025 topps heritage high number. it is hand numbered (as clubhouse collection cards are) on the back

that is 1/25, as topps puts a line through the 7. i don't know anyone who writes the number 1 that way, but whatever. also, note the cartoon on the back:

looks like an early version of tcdb at work there.

2001 was the first year of heritage, and there were only a few relic cards included. the dodgers were represented, with shawn green being the subject

here's the back:

nice to see wes parker's name there! topps abandoned the writeups sometime in the 2010's as we will see in a bit. they also went away from the hologram stickers pretty quickly.

jumping to 2004, here's another shawn green relic

with the back:

with another cartoon related to baseball card collecting

the relics were pretty small in 2007, and while the green above was identified as "uniform", this duke snider

is more specifically "pants". here's the back

with a generic cartoon.

from that same year, we were treated to a rafael furcal bat card

that has the same generic cartoon on the back

he had a really good year for the dodgers in 2006, setting or matching career highs in several categories, but i guess topps felt that his previous history was more important.

here's a card from 2012 heritage - it's should-have-been 2011 mvp matt kemp

at this point, things are just referred to as "memorabilia". here's the back:

he really did have a monster year in 2011. i don't quite get the cartoon. 

i picked up another kemp card, this one from 2015.

and now we see the backs

having a very minimalist approach.

fast forward to 2023 topps heritage high numbers for this miguel vargas card

i do like that topps used the 1974 traded design for those cards. of all the ones in this post, this is the first one that i could easily identify the year that it belongs to.

same goes for this 2024 topps heritage high number dual relic of garvey and freddie freeman

it's numbered to 75 on the back

and, applying what we've learned, it's number 14/75. i don't know what the book of "relics" is that the cartoon is showing. is that someone's card binder that contains only relics? does anyone store their collection that way? i suppose there are some that do - my relics are contained within my year-by-year team collection or various player or mini-collections.

here's another dual relic card of the dodger first basemen of then and now.

it's from 2025 topps heritage high number and is numbered there on the front. the back is pretty generic

with no cartoon whatsoever!

this year, i've managed to pick up will smith's clubhouse collection card

with an even more boring back

while i could see the 1976 design elements on the 2025 heritage cards, these don't say 1977 to me other than the full white borders. the text is giving 1960's or early 70's vibes.

garvey has another dual relic in this release, and this time he shares space with smith and not freeman. here's the one i've been able to secure

now numbered to 77 to match the year. the back is as you would expect

i probably should have scanned or reposted other examples i have from other years of heritage, but i think this is enough. i'll continue to focus on these cards (i'd love to pick up one of the triple relic dodger cards out there) and am really looking forward to next year. i hope the design of the clubhouse collection cards then is more obviously showcasing the 1978 set design. stay tuned!

there's a new favorite in town

hey! the 2026 baseball season is upon us!

clayton kershaw's retirement brought an end to his run as my favorite active dodger. that means i needed to pick a new one for 2026, and it was a pretty easy decision. my new favorite active dodger is mookie betts.

there are a few reasons i chose betts, but it basically boils down to the fact that i really enjoy watching him play the game. as you can imagine, i have a number of his cards in my scanned/not posted folder, so here are a few:

2021 topps 582 montgomery

standard portrait and basic card design from a set that nobody really needed or asked for.

2023 topps favorite son insert

betts is the best player to come out of tennessee in the history of the game. his war surpasses hall of famer todd helton, and all other natives of that state. dodger fans might recall that jim gilliam is also from nashville, which seems fitting as he was also highly skilled at multiple positions.

2023 topps allen & ginter short print

betts had two cards in the 2023 ginter set for some reason. this is the one numbered in the 300-series.

2025 topps gameday drip insert

he cleans up pretty well, and still wears that plastic bat and ball necklace he got from a young fan several years ago when dressed to the nines.

2024 topps 2023 silver slugger winner manufactured relic

this card is not as thick nor as heavy as the manurelics had been in the past. likely because it was just inserted in packs rather than included as a bonus card to blaster packaging.

as for the card that represents betts in my favorite dodger collection, i didn't have a lot of choices at this point so i went with his 2026 topps flagship card of which i had a couple extras.

with the changing of the guard, i was thinking about kershaw and my fandom. i would say that he is firmly on my "mount rushmore" of favorite dodgers of all-time. this gives me an excuse to post more cards, like his 2021 topps yellow parallel

joining kersh in that quad of dodger greats is steve garvey, seen here on a 2021 panini donruss orange holo parallel

those are my two favorite dodgers of my lifetime. the third player on this list is sandy koufax, whose 2020 topps allen & ginter silver portrait parallel is shown below

including koufax is a nod to my dad and his fandom, but i would think most dodger fans in general consider koufax one of the four greatest dodgers of all-time.

the final player in the foursome is jackie robinson. this is his 2021 topps gallery printer proof parallel

it may sound dumb, but i am really proud to be a dodger fan because of jackie robinson. 

one thing with betts becoming my favorite dodger is his autograph. i have signed cards of each of my favorite dodgers through the years (and favorite non-dodgers, too - post forthcoming). i do not, as of yet, have an autographed card of betts. i did re-acquire a rookie card of his (i sold the couple of base rookies i had found in packs back in 2014). this time, i found a 2014 topps update gold parallel of his rookie debut card

it's not in the best shape, but that's why i was able to acquire it for a really low price. here's the back

i'll keep my eye out for an autographed card to add, but prices are pretty ridiculous even as he has begun signing a significant number of cards for topps in the last couple of years.

i'm looking forward to the season and following betts as he chases his fifth world series title!

the k is for kershaw kountdown concludes - baseball immortality unlocked edition!

clayton kershaw made his ninth appearance of the 2025 season wednesday night against the white sox at dodger stadium, just three strikeouts shy of the 3,000 mark. i am pleased to be able to post the final edition of the k is for kershaw kountdown as he recorded his 3,000th strikeout on his 100th (and last) pitch of the night in front of a hometown crowd filled with dodger faithful!

in honor of his performance and achievement, here are three cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,998 through 3,000.

2,998 - 2021 topps museum collection single player primary pieces quad relics copper parallel #/75

this is actually the newest kershaw card in my collection, as i picked it up at one of the local card shops on monday. i had noticed it when i stopped in a couple of days prior but didn't pull the trigger. but, since the shop is close to my work, i made a pit stop to grab it because of the red patch and the comparatively low price.

2,999 - 2022 panini chronicles spectra colorgraphs auto

i bought this card at that same lcs during my weekend stop. it is the least amount of money i have paid for any kershaw autograph, and that is because the design and execution of the card is terrible. the paint pen that kershaw was given to use is too dark against the faux brick background and so the signature is difficult to see. still, it's an on card auto and the price was more than right.

3,000 - 2025 topps k-zone insert

as soon as i saw these inserts in 2025 topps series 2, i knew that this would be the card to represent strikeout number 3,000. there is a backwards k version which would have been more appropriate, but is currently cost prohibitive. still, if you scan the back of this card

the k is backwards. 

i had figured that strikeout number 3,000 would come against old friend miguel vargas the second time through the lineup. instead, kershaw struck out vargas the second time around for his first k of the night, then got lenyn sosa swinging to end the fifth and vinny capra looking to become the 20th pitcher (and fourth lefty) to reach 3,000 regular season strikeouts in a career.

the broadcast made a big deal about kershaw being the "third" pitcher to do it with one team (walter johnson and bob gibson - the first two to reach 3,000) are the others they were referencing. however, john smoltz recorded the first 3,011 strikeouts of his career with the braves before splitting his final season with the red sox and cardinals (and no, i don't consider smoltz's minor league time in the tigers' organization to have any bearing on his major league career in this regard). if kershaw does, in fact, remain a "dodger for life", then he will join johnson and gibson as the only members of the 3,000 strikeout club to have only pitched for one franchise in their career, but let's not cheat braves fans of their 3,000 strikeout guy.

as for the game itself, the first thing i noticed was how full the stadium was for the first pitch. it was packed which is rarely the case at the start of a game at dodger stadium. everyone knew what was likely going to happen, and they knew that it could happen as quickly as the first inning, even though it wound up taking six.  kershaw allowed four runs in those six innings of work, but he didn't figure in the decision as the dodgers mounted a 9th inning comeback to walk off the white sox 5-4. he walked one, and allowed nine hits - one of which was a two-run homer by austin slater. his next start should come on the road in milwaukee, and if he hadn't reached 3,000 on wednesday, i would have definitely made the trip into wisconsin to be there in person.

as it is, i am happy to have been able to see him pitch in person a couple of times, including one of the best performances of his career. what a time it has been to be a dodger fan, even though neither the franchise nor the personnel structure of the game are the same as it was when i first started following the club.

here are some more kershaw cards because it's his achievement that this post in the kountdown is all about, and these particular cards seemed appropriate.

2015 topps tribute relic

2015 topps stadium club gold foil parallel

2022 topps stadium club chrome

2023 topps heritage high numbers now & then

2023 topps stadium club red foil parallel

2023 topps stadium club sepia parallel

certainly worth a tip of the cap!

kershaw is still in 20th place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there unless he passes john smoltz (or is himself passed). smoltz has a career strikeout total of 3,084 and so kershaw is now 84 k's behind smoltz, with exactly 3,000 for his career.

what an achievement, and what a career. thanks for kounting down with me and congratulations to clayton kershaw!