m-m-m-my share of a team break

i joined a team break featuring 2024 topps update, and one of the cards i received as result is this silver pack insert of landon knack

when i hear his name, i think of the knack, whose song "my sharona" is a definite earworm that hasn't fully left my brain for over 40 years. it also inspired a young al yankovic to write a parody song and the rest is history. it's a pretty skeevy song, actually, so i doubt there is any reference to it at dodger stadium when knack is on the mound.

i also received most of the team's base set

and after i scanned these cards i realized that the mookie betts card was actually his all-star game insert card. like rafael devers, he didn't play in the game due to injury and so is featured in his regular duds. the use of team rather than league or the asg logos confuses me.

here are the more obvious all-star game inserts i received - shohei ohtani

and freddie freeman

combined with the tyler glasnow and will smith inserts i already owned, i was able to complete the dodger team set related to the midsummer classic.

another freddie freeman insert 

and three of the 1989 inserts

just about round things out. i am thankful for the ohtani card there as it shows him doing the oblique crunch that dodger hitters did when they reached base in 2024. it seems like every team has a number of these routines these days which sometimes seems silly to me based on the situation.

the last card that came from the team break was this all-class insert of jackie robinson

it is the black parallel version, so is numbered to 299 there in the lower right corner.

i've since bought another blaster of update and haven't advanced my 2024 dodger collection a bit. let me know if you can help me out!

it's not all about the base

i ordered a couple 2024 topps chrome update blasters from target in mid-november. i am glad i did because i've been to target a couple of times since and i don't think they ever made the shelves here locally, and when i checked a couple of days ago, they were no longer available online either. each blaster has 7 packs with four cards apiece. let's see what happened with the first blaster.

pack 1

1 base, 1 insert, and 2 of the exclusive xfractor parallels.

pack 2

1 base, 1 insert, and 2 of the exclusive xfractor parallels.

pack 3

2 base! plus one xfractor and one refractor parallel

pack 4

1 base, 1 prism refractor, 1 xfractor, and 1 refractor parallel

pack 5

zero base. 1 insert, 1 reverse negative refractor, 1 xfractor, and 1 sonic ray wave refractor parallel.

pack 6

2 base and 2 of the exclusive xfractor parallels.

pack 7

one base. 1 insert, 1 xfractor, and 1 sonic ray wave refractor parallel.

seven packs and eight base cards, four of which are rookies. this product is clearly about the parallels, which is ok by me in that i never looked to complete chrome sets anyway. i am happy to have the dodgers that i found, including my first jack flaherty dodger card. there are a couple more there that i will keep in my collection, including the ketel marte all-star game insert which goes in the double play collection. and, i do think the negative refractor i pulled is decent although i would have preferred a different pirate pitcher.

the second blaster was similar in terms of base to insert/parallel ratio, but it included a numbered parallel

and an auto (not shown). there were a couple more dodger parallels, too - ricky vanasco sonic ray wave

and yoshinobu yamamoto xfractor

parallels, to be exact.

even though it would have made no sense (or maybe it would have made "topps sense") i was hopeful for vanasco to get a rookie debut card since he made his first appearance on jackie robinson day. it looks like the photo topps used came from his second appearance (and last as a dodger). 

in the end, i have four dodger parallels and one insert, but no base. that's what sportlots is for these days i suppose.

i have a similar post coming up regarding 2024 topps stadium club. stay tuned!

my favorite cards of the year - 2010 edition

i recently introduced my mini collection focusing on my favorite cards from each year that i've been a collector. the basic gist is that i wanted to create a space for the cards that i most appreciated having in my collection in the year that they were released. these were cards that i acquired in the year that they were issued, and that i considered to be my favorites at the time. i have disallowed (most) cards that are already in other mini collections in order to avoid having a mini collection consisting of more steve garvey, double plays, and dodger stadium cards.

in 2010, the twins moved in to their new ballpark and were defending central division champs after having missed the playoffs for a couple of years. there was a lot of optimism and buzz around the team and the stadium. similarly, the dodgers were coming off of back-to-back nlcs visits for the first time since 1977 and 1978. i was all in on both teams, and i think my favorite cards from those years reflects that.

favorite non-dodger card: upper deck biography alexi casilla

after being disappointed with upper deck's 2008 documentary release, i was pleasantly surprised with their biography inserts in their final baseball release. it was certainly less ambitious than documentary, but ultimately more successful. it was more of a highlights insert set along the lines of the topps year in review inserts from 2008 (which was a sort of pre-cursor to "topps now"). 

anyway, game 163 of the 2009 season was a big deal here in the twin cities. the twins had tied the tigers for the american central division lead with a couple of games to go in the season, and they wound up remaining tied through 162 games. game 163 had the potential to be the final baseball game in the metrodome, but the twins made sure that wasn't the case. despite giving up a run in the top of the 10th, they tied the score in the bottom of the inning and then won the game in the bottom of the 12th on a base hit by alexi casilla. given the fact that the game was won by non-star players and the twins went on to get swept in the playoffs (as is their wont to do), i was both surprised and excited to find this card in a pack the following year.

favorite dodger card: upper deck biography orlando hudson

same set! prior to orlando hudson completing the cycle at the dodgers' home opener in 2009, no dodger had ever completed the feat in my lifetime. the last dodger to do it before hudson was wes parker during the 1970 season, and parker was the only los angeles dodger to complete the feat as well. i was watching the game and was pretty excited when hudson doubled to make it three-fourths of the way to the cycle in the bottom of the fourth inning. all three of those hits came against randy johnson, too. hudson tripled in the sixth against a reliever to complete the feat and another thing that i had never seen came to pass. i was excited to find this card in a pack a year later, even though the text is wrong and hudson got a fifth (his final) at bat in which he struck out.

i guess what you are learning is that i like cards that i can tie to specific games or events.

next up, 1984 - stay tuned!