closer to complete

for the last dozen years or so, i've felt that my collection was missing a couple of key cards. i really wanted on-card, certified autograph dodger cards of nomar garciaparra and eddie murray. over the years i saw a few come and go, but the prices were beyond my comfort range. for a while, it seemed like i wouldn't get another shot as the nomar autos coming out were almost exclusively red sox cards, and similarly for murray they were oriole cards.

however, thanks to 2024 topps five star, the market was flooded and i was able to get signed cards of both players for very reasonable prices! here's nomar's "base" card

and here's steady eddie's purple parallel

i think they look great although purple is a weird color for a baseball card.

with these two cards i feel like my collection is a bit closer to completion, although i still would like to add a don mattingly certified dodger auto card. the chase continues!

missing 2007 nomah!

it's hard to believe that it has been 18 years since the dodgers beat the padres in what is known as the "4+1 game". on september 18, 2006, the dodgers hit four straight solo home runs in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the game, and then nomar garciaparra hit a walk-off in the bottom of the 10th.

i was looking forward to 2007 to see all of the cards that would be issued highlighting this tremendous achievement, but it was crickets when topps and upper deck sets were released. nomar didn't sign with topps, and upper deck didn't bother to include that game in their highlights subset.

at least there were some nomar cards, and i've recently gone back and added some that eluded me back then.

one of those cards is this 2007 ud spectrum season retrospection

the only topps cards that featured nomar in 2007 came from the co-signers set where he was named, but took a back seat to jeff kent. kent, coincidentally, was one of the four dodgers to homer in the 9th inning of that game that took place 18 years ago tonight.

here are the bronze and gold parallels from the set

and their backs

i scanned them just to show the variation in font size of some of the serial numbering which i find odd.

here are four more - blue, red, silver red, and silver bronze

by my count, there are six more variations showing nomar that i have yet to acquire, so there's a goal for the future.

mailday at tiffany's

one fine day last month, there were a couple of trade packages in my mailbox. both full of dodger goodness, and both featuring this guy

that's chuck tiffany on his 2005 bowman chrome refractor. it came from oren, a generous reader of blogs who i've now traded with a couple of times.

similarly, night owl sent this card

a 2005 topps update & highlights chuck tiffany gold parallel. not bad cardboard representation for tiffany, who was traded by the dodgers to the devil rays in 2006 and unfortunately never got beyond double-a ball. he did pitch for both the vero beach dodgers and vero beach devil rays which not many folks can say.

oren sent more fantastic parallels, including a black border matt kemp card

from 2014 topps heritage. i'm not sure if these were limited to a print run of 50 back then like they are now, but even if not it's the first one i've seen.

here's a parallel that is definitely limited in number - 557 to be exact

that's nomar garciaparra's 2006 topps heritage chrome refractor, and it is very much appreciated!

sticking with the shiny, here's a 2021 topps chrome platinum anniversary tommy john aqua wave refractor parallel

and my first glimpse at the 2023 version of chrome platinum anniversary with bobby miller's base card

i am sure these cards refractor up nicely.

i had to laugh when i opened oren's package, because he included this 2021 topps chrome mitch white blue wave rookie autograph card

and i had just picked one up at the card show i attended in houston a couple of weeks earlier. what are the odds?

and, while i did pick up a karim garcia autograph at the same show, it wasn't this one

which is from 1998 donruss signature series. oren also sent wilton guerrero's card

plus his millennium marks parallel

for good measure. looks like wilton needed some better guidance on where to sign the cards!

a tip of the catcher's mask (courtesy of this 2006 topps updates & highlights toby hall gold parallel)

to you oren !

meanwhile, night owl completed a couple of team sets for me by sending these two 1997 topps stadium club members only box set cards of mike piazza and todd hollandsworth

as well as this 2023 topps stadium club jd martinez card

i had purchased the stadium club members only sets directly from topps in 1995 and 1996 but didn't bother in 1997. it's as if i knew the cards would be readily available on the secondary market decades later. as for the martinez card, it may as well be manufactured by panini. no team mention on the front and no distinguishing apparel. the palm trees are nice, though.

night owl came with the parallels, too, including this red foil parallel of michael grove's gorgeous 2023 topps stadium club card

a red foil parallel of jackie robinson's 2022 topps stadium club card

and, just to mix things up, a royal blue parallel of mookie betts' 2023 topps card

there was shiny in this group of cards, too, with betts showing up again on a 2023 topps chrome update all-star game insert

and this holo prizm card of clayton kershaw

from 2022 panini chronicles - spectra.

night owl provided some new relic cards for my collection as well, with this 2005 upper deck espn sportscenter swatches card of jd drew

(yes, it is a dodger card because of the logo to the left of the swatch) and this 2014 topps michael young trajectory relics card

and finally, not a relic but a commemorative city connect patch of walker buehler from 2023 topps

to commemorate another great trade with night owl - thanks greg!

the almost daily dodger - nomar garciaparra

here's a card i've had in my scanned folder for awhile that will finally be shared - a 2006 bowman heritage nomar garciaparra silver foil parallel

nomar had a number of dodger cards in 2006 which made me happy. he was my favorite non-dodger and then my favorite dodger and i tried to add as many cards of his that i could. 

come 2007, he was absent from every topps (and bowman) product except for co-signers, and even then he was in the background of jeff kent's card variants. i am just realizing that i don't have any of those cards. some nomar fan i am.

the new team titans

i've posted previously, including an april fool's day post, that i used to read comic books. i particularly read dc releases, although there were a couple of marvel runs that appealed to me. the primary title in my collection was "the new teen titans". our lcs was also a comic book shop, and so we would make weekly pilgramages to pick up comics (with bags and boards, of course) as well as back issues we were missing.

anyway, seeing the 2023 topps chrome "titans" inserts featuring clayton kershaw

and mookie betts (his is from chrome update)

got me thinking about a dodger superhero squad.

first, kudos to topps for using two different views of dodger stadium on these two cards! the betts card, especially. it looks to me like the photo was taken from inside elysian park - perhaps at the helipad. i have doubles of each of those titans cards in my dodger stadium collection.

on to the lineup!

clayton kershaw (2021 topps platinum players insert)

kershaw's most prevalent nickname, as far as i know, is "kersh". according to baseball reference, another nickname for him is "the minotaur". for this group, perhaps he is "the platinum player". or i suppose he could keep "minotaur". that works, too. although his superpower would be along the lines of throwing weapons, so maybe minotaur doesn't make sense after all. 

russell martin (2008 bowman blue parallel)

martin brings an alpha flight element to the team, because, you know, he's canadian. the captain canuck moniker is taken, however. given that he is the field general (think nightwing) here, maybe he's just "dodger" for this squad.

nomar garciaparra (2008 ud premier)

nomar is our first baseman. he unlocks his super power by proceeding through a set series of movements with his hands and feet. once he has checked and re-checked his batting gloves - look out! he's at full power! oh - he goes by "nomah".

max muncy (2019 bowman holiday)

i will take a moment to note that this is a pretty nice card that i've also added to my dodger stadium collection. i really enjoy seeing the unocal/union 76 logo on cards! anyway, muncy is, i guess, just "munce". he has super strength, but poor contact skills, so it's hit or miss as far as his ability to get the bad guy.

justin turner (2020 panini absolute unsung heroes)

what an appropriate card for the post. turner's alter ego would be "redturn". his backstory would be similar to that of jason todd/the red hood, even though i don't care for that sort of revisionist story telling.

pee wee reese (2012 panini golden age mini parallel)

obviously, his alter ego is "pee wee". he would be the guy who was a sidekick but is trying to show his worth on his own. he would also provide the comedy relief, sort of like gar/beast boy/changeling in the ntt.

manny ramirez (2010 topps opening day blue parallel)

ramirez, known as "manny" just does "manny" things. like mash.

matt kemp (2013 panini father's day team pinnacle)

known as "the bison", kemp wouldn't necessarily appropriate other cultures, but his oklahoma roots would result in some sort of native american traditions that he would apply in a shaman-esque manner.

mookie betts (2021 panini donruss livestream insert rapture parallel)

betts is fast, so he's the speed guy in this ensemble. and, mookie is as good a name as anything.

yasiel puig (2013 topps chrome)

if kemp is "the bison", then puig is the "wild horse". he would be the newcomer to the team that is prone to wanting to do things his way to the detriment of the team. he's the guy that the villain would take hostage, thanks to his overzealousness.

kenley jansen (2021 topps significant statistics)

jansen's ability is in evading attackers. they only get a 14% hard hit rate on him, so he can duke it out with most villains. nicknamed "kenleyfornia", he's also the fish out of water of the group.

there are so many possibilities. and then there are other groups that this squad could team up with in crossover fashion. what about team tomorrow?

and the z team?

i'd read those books!

lion eyes

this post is a couple of months out of sync, as it is based on the fifth sign of the zodiac - leo - which governs from july 23 through august 22. i had it all laid out and i guess forgot to hit publish. keep that in mind as you read on as i had planned to show this card back in mid august:

it's a 2022 topps gypsy queen gq gems insert featuring walker buehler who was born on july 28, 1994, and is therefore a leo. represented by a lion, leo's gemstone is something called peridot, but this card shows a ruby. based on a quick internet search, leos also "respond" to rubies.

i am not a leo, but seeing that card got me thinking about what other dodgers could be represented on a card like that. here are a few:

nomar garciaparra

that's a 2007 fleer mini die-cut card of nomah, who was born on july 23, 1973.

don drysdale

shown on a 2008 donruss sports legend museum collection card, was also born on july 23, but in 1936. it's interesting to me that they scrubbed drysdale clean of logos and the dodgers' script. on other 2008 cards they didn't go to such extremes.

pee wee reese

was another dodger born on july 23 - in 1918. he's shown on a 2019 topps stadium club red foil parallel, so that would be a card that was issued over 100 years after pee wee was born.

max scherzer

was born on july 27, 1984. his card here is a 2021 panini contenders base card that includes a photo of him from his short stint with the dodgers.

chad billingsley

is two days younger than scherzer, having entered this world on july 29, 1984. his 2007 topps chrome white refractor features fellow leo garciaparra in the background. i've added quite a few chrome parallels from 2007 and 2008 in the past year. they may be two of the best years (along with 2003) for chrome parallels, in my opinion.

ryan pepiot

is also a leo on the later end of the spectrum. he was born on august 21, 1997. that card is a 2022 topps update red foil parallel, by the way. pepiot was only 10 when that card of nomar i showed earlier was released. zoinks.

and then there are randy wolf

and jeff weaver

shown on a 2009 topps walmart black parallel for wolf, and a 2009 topps update target throwback parallel for weaver. both of these guys were born on august 22, 1976, and they were dodger teammates in 2009.

of course, it's been done before as don sutton and reggie smith were dodger teammates for several seasons and they shared april 2, 1945 as their birthday. that makes them aries, which would be a separate post if topps had used a dodger to represent that sign instead of nolan arenado. it probably would have made for a more interesting post since their birthstone is the diamond which translates well to baseball. however, with the demise of gq, we probably won't get any more inserts related to the zodiac unless a&g steps in, but they already did a birthday related insert set in 2010. 

happy (belated) birthday to these (and all the other) dodger leos!