free cards for the taking

i am inspired by the giveaways that kevin at the diamond king hosted over the last few weeks - congrats to fuji, night owl, and gavin for winning some great cards! as part of those giveaways, i committed to sending out more card mailings than i normally would this time of year. my regular trading partners have dwindled over the years and so i figure a giveaway is the best way to fulfill my commitment.

i will be looking to generate a list from those who comment on this post from which i will randomly select three commenters to receive six inserts and/or parallels featuring players from that team. make sense?

these days, there are no shortages of inserts or parallels to choose from as both topps and panini have gone wild. i have a bunch of these cards languishing in my scanned folder, so here's a sampling of some dodger inserts and parallels that i've picked up but not yet posted about over the last few months.

1997 pinnacle mike piazza/greg maddux cardfrontation

2007 topps finest matt kemp rookie finest moment black parallel

2012 topps gypsy queen matt kemp framed gold parallel

2019 topps update gil hodges iconic card

2020 topps tony gonsolin purple parallel

2020 topps allen & ginter tom lasorda foil parallel

2021 panini chronicles mookie betts revolution fractal parallel

2021 panini donruss mookie betts livestream

2021 topps mookie betts zero to sixty

2022 topps mookie betts sweet shades

2022 topps dodgers foilboard parallel

2022 topps andre jackson 1987 silver pack chrome

2022 topps mini freddie freeman 1987 

2022 topps update freddie freeman 1987 35th anniversary black parallel

2022 topps update mike piazza 1987 silver pack chrome

2023 topps allen & ginter tony gonsolin silver portrait

2023 topps allen & ginter will smith mini gold parallel

2023 topps chrome jp feyereisen refractor parallel

2023 topps chrome miguel vargas sepia refractor parallel

2023 topps chrome update miguel vargas prism refractor parallel

2023 topps update david peralta orange foil parallel

2023 topps update gavin stone royal blue parallel

2024 topps mookie betts rainbow foil parallel

2024 topps chrome mookie betts 1989 35th anniversary

2024 topps heritage high numbers mookie betts perfectly programmed

2025 topps austin barnes (series 2) holiday parallel

2025 topps teoscar hernandez ops leaders

2025 topps michael kopech gold parallel

you get the idea - there are lots of inserts and parallels out there.

those cards are not ones that i necessarily have duplicates of, but i have plenty of similar dodgers for this effort, as well as similar cards for every current major league team. 

leave a comment that includes the name of a current major league baseball team before 11:59 pm on thursday december 18, and if your name is randomly selected, i will send you six non-base cards of said team. i will likely run the randomization on friday morning because i plan to check out a mall show that day and i will be on the lookout for inserts and parallels to supplement my current supply. i will post the results on saturday and connect with the winners via email.

this is not an "almost free friday" scenario - no return is required so have at it. thanks for the inspiration kevin, and happy holidays!

something to look forward to

i was all set for this post to be a nod to blue jays fans and collectors with what they could expect to see in 2026 and beyond from topps until all of the strange and "you might never see that again" plays from games 6 and 7 of the 2025 world series transpired. so, now this post is about cards that i and other dodger fans and collectors can look forward to.

2025 topps chrome world series champions refractor

there are 16 cards in this insert set, but this is the one i wanted most. limited to 50 and, as a result, wildly priced on the secondary market, i had to act fast to buy this one that was undervalued by the seller. here's the back:

these cards were "new" this year and limiting them to 50 copies sucks. i would have loved to be able to complete a set, but there is just no way.

it is possible that topps returns postseason cards to the flaghip set in 2026. i think the last time they did that was 2021 - here's one of the world series highlights cards from that set (it's a yellow parallel)

topps has stayed true to the heritage sets, so there will be singular cards for the world series and the league championship series in the 1977 design next year, most likely.

blue jay fans can look forward to cards like these title clash inserts from 2024 topps dynamic duals

that feature al and nl champs. a shohei ohtani and vladimir guerrero card would be pretty nice.

of course, world series champions are an easy go-to for topps when coming up with inserts, like they did back in 2009 with their flagship and update sets. this one features duke snider

who won a pair of rings with the dodgers.

2014 topps update included another ring focused insert set

this commemorative ring card isn't anything that topps seems to be doing these days, but maybe they bring these back? 

the rings are certainly gaudier these days and would provide some interesting fodder.

traditionally, there have been world series champion relics in flagship each year, although i don't think they were included in 2025 topps. the first year i remember seeing these was back in 2004 and i think they were in update. i pulled a dave roberts relic card which was pretty cool. today, they are less interesting but sort of hard to come by. i added this 2021 topps walker buehler example

earlier this year. it's numbered to 99 which i think is the highest print run of these things. here's the back:

nowhere near as interesting as the johnny podres fake ring card.

this year, perhaps in lieu of relic cards, topps introduced world series champion autographs. i was sure to pick up buehler's

because of his series ending role. here's the back:

the only other two i have are justin wrobleski and tony gonsolin

the buehler and gonsolin are numbered, but the wrobleski is not. i couldn't find any info on non-numbered cards for some reason. the backs are the same as buehler's

these are sticker autos but still pretty pricey. the wrobleski and gonsolin cards were outliers that the sellers put buy it now values between $20 and $30.

and then there are the cards in the future where a world series title is referenced. i picked up this 2025 leaf metal inscription autograph of 1981 world series champion steve garvey

in part because the inscription is "81 ws champs", but also because it's numbered 6/10

garvey also showed up in 2023 topps update with another world series themed commemorative insert set

this is the gold parallel that i tracked down a few months ago. garvey is the guy who gets the most mileage out of that 1981 title, although it would be nice to see some others like ron cey, steve yeager, pedro guerrero, or fernando valenzuela on cards like these.

at least it's nice to see the commissioner's trophy on a card that is sort of easy to find. topps has taken to reserving it in 2025 for semi-rare parallels like a bunch of dodger golden mirror cards. case in point, here's edgardo henriquez's golden mirror parallel

i had to wait for quite a while for one of these - featuring any player - showed up with a decent enough price. here's the back:

henriquez pitched in 3 games for the dodgers in the 2024 regular season, and then 3 more in the postseason, although none of those were in the world series. this year, he pitched in a couple of world series games. i might target his 2026 golden mirror card to keep the set going.

i am hoping that 2026 brings more cards like these, but that they are easier to find. give me a stadium club base card showing clayton kershaw with the trophy like we had in 2021 rather than the golden mirror card we got this year, for example. to the champs go the spoils and i can't wait to add more world series themed cards to my dodger collection in the future!

42 for everyone

happy jackie robinson day!

i continue to enjoy seeing and collecting cards featuring the 1947 rookie of the year.

and today is one of the best days to share some new-to-me cards.

it's one of my favorite days of the baseball calendar, and i have a couple new "42" cards to show in addition to the 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary (which completed my dodger team set), the 2022 panini diamond kings art of hitting insert, and the 2012 panini golden age headlines insert card above, whose text continues on the back:

there are still a lot of people who were alive when jackie debuted in the major leagues which blows my mind. just a reminder how recently this actually happened.

these two cards are jackie robinson day variations from 2019 topps gypsy queen, and they feature carlos correa

and whit merrifield

wearing robinson's number 42, and they've been added to my "42" collection. 

i really do like seeing today's players wearing 42 on cardboard, but these cards from 2023 topps archives 

and 2023 topps update

are better at capturing the meaning of his legacy to a fan like me. without jackie robinson and his peers, there is no three-time world series champion mookie betts. 

a true legend.

thank you jackie robinson.