advantage, my collection

those home field advantage cards that topps has included in recent flagship and update releases are case hits, and don't show up at card shows from what i've seen. i decided to track a couple down, including one of my adopted home from 2023 topps update, even though it's carlos correa on the card

for the record, my least favorite astros, in order, are yuli gurriel, jose altuve, george springer, and then correa. jr richard used to be on the list but only because he was so great, especially against the dodgers. that was respect, not scorn. anyway, the card arrived and it's not really reflective of the twin cities at all.

the downton scene in the upper left is minneapolis (that's city hall with the green copper roof on the tower), but saint paul is nowhere to be seen. the building in the upper right is also in minneapolis (it's the minneapolis institute of art, or mia - pronounced like nomar's wife's name). it would have been pretty easy for topps to tick the saint paul box with a shot of the state capitol, but i guess they had other ideas. 

the other two images reference northern minnesota with a wolf (the international wolf center is in ely, minnesota) and the split rock lighthouse which is on the north shore between duluth and grand marais. fine towns, both.

i went and picked up freddie freeman's card from 2023 topps series 1

there's a very "hollywood" theme to this one, with the academy museum and a film reel shown. also featured are the griffith park observatory, rodeo drive street signage, and a couple of ubiquitous palm trees.

the dodgers' home field advantage cards (two of them, anyway) from 2024 topps are a little more straight forward

the first one gives us two images of clayton kershaw, palm trees, dodger stadium, and the hollywood sign. the second features two images of yoshinobu yamamoto, more palm trees, a different view of dodger stadium, the santa monica pier, and the iconic theme building at lax. i suppose it's easier to focus when there are four other teams in the state, although topps used palm trees on cards for other teams, including the padres. there is another home field advantage card featuring a dodger in 2024, but it's sandy koufax and seems to be even scarcer than the two i've managed to obtain.

these cards were first seen in 2022, and i also recently added mookie betts' card from the series 1 topps release that year

there is a lot going on there for sure! beach scene at sunset! downtown la skyline snippet! palm tree! lifeguard station! movie camera! beverly hills sign! and, what i assume is supposed to be or at least represent a california grizzly bear to boot. the california grizzly has been extinct for 100 years now.

it will be interesting to see if the home field advantage inserts continue, and if so, what other southern california landmarks might be seen on cardboard.

these cards are not to be confused with the unnecessary topps flagship parallels from the early 2000's that were "home team advantage" cards. i have some of those, with my most recent pickups being shawn green's 2000 card

chin-feng chen's 2001 card

and the dodger team card from 2002

i wonder how long topps will go with the home field advantage inserts. there are plenty of iconic landmarks to go around for most teams, and i would really like to see what the a's card looks like next year.

i need 0 of 525 of 456 2002 206 cards

the title of this post is a very roundabout way of saying i completed the 2002 topps 206 set! i finished it off - all 456 cards plus the 69 variations - in early 2021 with a couple of online purchases to get the final few cards i needed. like this joey votto card:

a votto card in 2002! actually, the votto is not from 2002, as the third series of this set was issued in 2003.

i took a liking to this set when it was first issued (the first series, anyway) back in 2002. part of my interest in it stemmed from the fact that i was unlucky with my pursuit of the first topps heritage set in 2001. i had preordered a box of 2001 topps heritage when it was first announced - before we knew of short prints and what not - but my seller passed away and i was pretty much last in line to be accommodated and never did get that box or my money back. by that time, boxes were way more expensive and here i am twenty years later with my set still incomplete.

anyway, when this set came out, i decided to pursue it the way i had originally intended to pursue heritage. i thought is was great to have cards with this design in the modern size. i was still all in when topps issued the second series, although that release included a bunch of variations, and then the aforementioned third series came along, and it had more variations plus short prints.

here are a few more of the first year players who, like votto, were in series three and were among the last cards that i obtained. the first year player cards were slightly short printed in series one and two, but i don't think that was the case in series three. however, some came with variations.

james loney first year player with sky variation

curtis granderson first year player

bj upton first year player with people variation

mark prior red background short print

larry broadway first year player

sergio santos first year player gold

wes bankston first year player blue and with sky variation

khalil greene first year player red variation and green

there were some stars from earlier series that i was missing, like this albert pujols card from series 1

but the majority of what i needed came from series 3.  such as, barry bonds without elbow pad variation short print

sammy sosa blue jersey short print

jason giambi batting short print

nomar garciaparra one bat short print

ichiro blue jacket short print

derek jeter blue short print

chipper jones short print

alfonso soriano without wristband short print

gary carter retired short print

fergie jenkins retired short print

harmon killebrew retired short print

roberto clemente retired short print

and robin roberts retired short print

the roberts card sticks out like a sore thumb due to its photographic quality. it's sort of like the cards topps included in the 1953 archives set from the 1990s for players like duke snider that weren't in the original set except that this is more puzzling.

the reason that most of my final needs were from series 3 is that i slowly chipped away at this set and went from low number needs to high when filling out sportlots orders. every once in a while i found a card that i needed at a show or on comc or even in a trade, but most of the cards i acquired in the last few years came from sportlots.

i don't think i would build this set if it were issued today - i recognize the variations and the short prints for the nonsense that they are now, and there has certainly been t206 overload in the last decade - but 19 years ago i was sold on it.  feels good to have it complete!

2000's represent!

sometime around the year 2000, i began putting together "sampler" sets of topps sets from 1952 through 1969. i had no intention of ever completing any of those sets, and i figured it would be a fun idea to pick up a card from each team and each subset for those older sets.

i finished the task in a few years (it was a low priority), but then decided to scrap the collection as i began putting together the 1965 and 1957 sets.  now, i've decided to put together a "representative card" mini collection that will make it easier for me to see a great card from each topps flagship set from 1952 on.

i'll show off the cards occasionally, along with a reason for choosing that particular card. i won't use a card that is in my dodger collection, or any other collection for that matter, so i should wind up with a good variety.  here are the cards that represent the 2000's in this mini collection:

2000 - mike piazza

piazza had only been a met for a couple of years when this card came out, but it became clear to me by the end of the 2000 season that he would not be wearing a dodger hat on his hall of fame bust that would eventually be installed in cooperstown. he led the mets to the national league pennant and made his only world series appearance that year while putting up what i considered to be typical piazza power numbers - 38 homers and a 1.012 ops. in 2001, he would help bring baseball back in to the national spotlight after 9/11 and even further cemented himself as a met.

2001 - garret anderson

ga may seem out of place in this collection, but i do love this card. it was almost my favorite non-dodger card in 2001, but just couldn't surpass the awesomeness of another flagship card. for their 40th season which occurred in 2000, the angels added murals to their outfiled wall similar to the treatment the dodgers had been featuring at chavez ravine for a couple seasons prior. as far as i can tell, the images were just of notable angels, not limited to any specific theme like the dodgers had over the course of several seasons. some of the angels that were featured were frank tanana, chuck finley, troy percival, don baylor, mike witt, brian downing, doug decinces, reggie jackson, rod carew, jim fregosi, and even gene autry (even though they were owned by disney in 2000), along with nolan ryan and bob boone who both show up on this card. i wanted more of these cards for both the angels and dodgers!

2002 - albert pujols

the machine. pujols burst on the scene in 2001 with a monster season. i was actually more in tune with what ichiro was doing at the same time in seattle, but pujols' numbers were hard to ignore. in 2002, he did the same, and helped the cardinals reach the nlcs.

2003 - derek jeter

2003 was the year that jeter missed a bunch of games after injuring his shoulder in an opening day play involving old friend ken huckaby. he returned in may and helped the yankees win the american league east. again. he destroyed the twins in the alds (although the twins actually won a game that series - their last postseason win to date, in fact) as the yankees advanced to the alcs against the red sox. in game 3 with the series tied 1 game apiece, he hit a solo home run off of pedro martinez in the third inning to tie the game. i was watching the game with a buddy, and i recall us looking at each other in a bit of disbelief. there have been many who have tried to define "clutch", and we agreed that we had just seen it in jeter. the yankees went on to win the series on aaron boone's home run in game 7 (that same friend and i were watching that game and he just about swore off of baseball when boone's homer landed). thank goodness for josh beckett and the marlins.  

by the way, the 2003 topps jeter card is one that almost had me starting a "retired number" mini collection. gil hodges' 14 and parts of tom seaver's 41 and jackie robinson's 42 are visible in the background. i settled for a "42" mini-collection subset, and have jeter's 2003 topps opening day card (same image) in that collection even though the number is partially obscured.

2004 - manny ramirez

give credit to the red sox, they came back in 2004 and finally beat the yankees thanks to old friend dave roberts, plus david ortiz and a cast of cowboys. manny was being manny in 2004, and this card is a great one in my opinion to represent 2004 in this collection. as fate would have it, the dodgers visited fenway park in 2004 - the first time they had been there since the 1916 world series. i made my first (and only so far) trip to fenway and attended all three games that weekend, the first of which featured a fly ball muffed by ramirez with 2 outs in the top of the 9th inning that allowed the dodgers to tie the game. no worries, though, as david ortiz hit a walk-off single to win the game in the bottom of the inning. manny and his teammates went on to break the curse of the bambino in 2004 which was great except that the boston fans seemed to go from suffering to insufferable as a result.

2005 - carl crawford

just like with the jeter above, i am drawn to this card due to the presence of the retired numbers (this time it's the yankees) on it. the layout of the display of retired yankee numbers is quite different from ken mcmullen's 1971 topps card which also showed some of the yankee monuments, but it is still neat to see them show up on cardboard. here we have billy martin (1), reggie jackson (44), and don mattingly (23). it would have been nice to see this as a horizontal card to fit more yankee legends on it.

2006 - felix hernandez

king felix was 19 when he debuted for the mariners in 2005. i had added him to my fantasy team, and was pleased with his performance for his first few weeks in the bigs. he struck out 11 royals in his third big league start, and then 9 twins in his next game. i missed out on drafting him in 2006, but was excited to get to see him pitch against the white sox in a game at comiskey/us cellular in may of '06 while on a work trip to chicago. he wound up giving up a three-run homer to jim thome in the bottom of the first and only lasted five innings, but i was still a fan.

2007 - josh hamilton

this was the last card that i needed to complete my 2007 topps set - the first set i put together by hand since the 90's, and the first topps flagship set i completed that way since maybe 1987. hamilton had finally made his big league debut after conquering his demons, and was playing pretty well. hopes were high that he was living up to his potential, and so this card was tough to find on the secondary market. hamilton spent just the one season in cincinnati before being traded to the rangers where he won the 2010 american league mvp and put on a show at the 2008 home run derby.

2008 - joe mauer

joe mauer was still a catcher in 2008, and he proved that his 2006 season was no fluke by winning his second american league batting title. he would do that one better in 2009 by winning his third batting title, an achievement not accomplished by any other catcher in history. he tied fellow twin icon tony oliva on the all-time list of multi-batting championship winning players, as well as folks like george brett and pete rose. i went to a few twins games in 2008, including one in seattle, and mauer was 6 for 13 in those contests. i loved watching him hit, even though he seemed to always take a fastball down the middle for strike one.

2009 - mickey mantle

i chose this mickey mantle card to represent 2009 for a couple of reasons. one, it shows him fooling around during spring training doing his pee wee reese impression at second base. two, it lists him as a shortstop. both of those could be reasons for me to add this card to my double play collection, but i have chosen not to. instead it is here for a third reason, and that is that 2009 was the year that topps began to add retired legends to the flagship set as variations. this mantle is not one of those - it is base card #7 as topps "unretired" card #7 in 2006 in order to add mantle to the flaghsip sets - rather, the variations were of players like reese, babe ruth, jackie robinson, lou gehrig, and even guys like george sisler. i didn't mind it, although i do not like how it morphed into multiple variations and super short printing in later years. so, mantle gives a nod to other retired players who got cards in topps flagship in 2009, even if he is just a plain ol' base card himself.

up next, the 2010's represent! stay tuned...

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.