the return of mr. glass, now

there is no doubt that tyler glasnow is a talented baseball player, as evidenced by his stellar start against the tigers yesterday. for him, however, staying injury-free has been a challenge. if you could at all read the stats on the back of this 2026 topps vintage stock parallel card

you would see that glasnow's career high in innings pitched is 134 in 2024, the same year that he made a career high in starts with 22. he now has over 1000 strikeouts in just 805 innings pitched, but that has occurred over the span of 11 seasons. 

for no real reason other than it's a recent pickup and you can actually read these stats, here's the back of a 2022 topps david price vintage stock parallel

the front of which is not too dissimilar from the regular topps cards

while topps has continued it's thoughtful "vintage" interpretation of the card design in 2026

i definitely would like to have more of these cards in my collection because of the fronts and in spite of the backs. i think this year, the vintage stock parallels do not cover the entire series 1 and 2 sets, but are instead made for just a handful of players from each team.

here's another recent glasnow pickup from 2026 topps - a city connect relic card

these dodger uniforms make me think of cupcakes with the confetti. i think they would look better without that noise. for the record, i don't think the mark on the swatch is a confetti part of the material - it looks too small and round. like maybe an isolated dot of ketchup spray. who knows.

one more card to share - a 2024 topps update gold foil parallel

that looks pretty sharp.

make no mistake, i am glad that glasnow pitches for the dodgers, and it seems that they are handling his workload appropriately to make sure that he is available when it counts the most - the postseason. he had a big save in the world series last year, after missing the fall classic in 2024 following those career high starts and innings in the regular season. i just hope the kids don't have any more reasons to call him mr. glass.

a card show in h-town, part 1

i have never travelled out of state for a card show, although i've toyed with the idea of heading into wisconsin once or twice for that purpose. both nationals that i attended were in california where i was living at the time, but maybe i'll get to ohio one of these days. anyway, i didn't travel to texas for a card show, but i did see that one was scheduled during my visit in may, so i took advantage.

it was a good ol' fashioned hotel show at a marriott out near hobby airport, appropriately enough. the tables were full and the people were friendly, even as i was wearing my dodger hat from the 2017 world series. here's what i walked away with:

the first table i stopped at had a dollar box with a bunch of relics and autos and a few other items. i spent $21 for 21 cards. here are a few highlights:

2007 upper deck premier christy mathewson (silver) and jimmie foxx premier stitchings

2022 panini select rookie jumbo swatch holo prizm cards of andre jackson

and lars nootbaar

2021 panini spectra jahmai jones rising rookie gold prizm dual patch relic /10

one of the reasons that i added this card to my stack is that it was in a one-touch case. i posted about another jahmai jones card that i bought for the same reason a while back.

also in a one-touch was this card from a different sport altogether

that's a 2021-22 panini chronicles draft picks donruss optic rated rookie bronze prizm parallel of jalen suggs. it's also a ridiculously long name for a card. i figure i can flip these cards so that i am basically being paid to take the one touch cases.

here's a 1996 pinnacle johnny damon artist's proof

that caught my eye. even though i was still collecting in the 1990's, i didn't go for pinnacle and missed out on all the duflex glory.

there was also a binder of autos and parallels on the table - without prices. i usually don't bother but took a look and asked how much this 2021 topps chrome rookie blue wave refractor autograph of mitch white

would cost. it was just another buck. the seller asked if he was any good and i mentioned that he had just been dfa'd so there was a team out there that didn't think so. i was happy to see later that day that white had been picked up by the brewers.

the next table i stopped at had a bargain box with a twist. they priced the cards such that you get get as many as you could fit into a box (similar to a 1980's box set box) for $10. i wound up getting 61 cards to fit.

these cards included a bunch of 2021 topps finest flashbacks dodger cards

and some other random stuff like a 2001 bowman heritage chase utley rookie card

a non-retail 2022 panini absolute gil hodges card

and a 1998 pacific crown collection chipper jones card featuring dodger catcher tom prince

and i maintained my artist's proof streak by picking up this 1998 score showcase series david segui card

i then added four cards from the higher priced box to my stack, and got those for another $10. these included a couple of panini braves relics

a 2014 panini hall of fame roy campanella elite dominator

and a 1998 donruss signature series ismael valdes millennium marks auto

by this time, this seller's friend had started setting out his wares on the table next to these boxes. i took a quick look at one of the boxes and asked about pricing on this 2022 topps freddie freeman batting helmet commemorative relic

he said five bucks. i told him i would give him a couple bucks for it, but would give him five if he added these two cards - a 2014 topps chrome onelki garcia blue refractor rookie autograph

and a 2022 topps stadium club chrome walker buehler orange refractor

he agreed. the buehler is numbered to 25

it's great to be in non-dodger country!

this wasn't the end of my day, but i'll save the rest for another post. stay tuned!

can you spot the difference?

2023 topps series 1 is out, but i don't have any of that to show you - yet. instead, i'll finally post the side-by-side comparison of the 2022 topps team factory set dodgers and their flagship counterparts. 

after no team factory sets were issued in 2021, i wasn't sure what to expect in 2022. once i learned that the sets were back, i was non-committal about picking up the dodger version. it wasn't until after the season ended - around thanksgiving, actually - that i saw a set priced low enough for me to pull the trigger and add one to my collection.  

as a reminder, while i always hope for photo variations or different players, the main differences are the lack of foil, which this year is limited to the topps logo

and the numbering on the backs, which is team focused

nice of topps to identify these as "team set" cards as well.

ready? flagship is on the left, the team set version is on the right and we are going in order from lad-1 to lad-17.

mookie betts

same.

cody bellinger

same.

trea turner

same.

julio urias

same.

justin turner

same.

max muncy

same.

albert pujols

same. pujols signed with the cardinals on march 28, 2022, so i figure the checklist was set prior to that date. i was a bit surprised to see him in the set given he was a free agent unlikely to re-sign with the dodgers.

clayton kershaw

same.

david price

same.

walker buehler

same.

kenley jansen

same. jansen signed with the braves on march 19, 2022, so we can push the checklist date back a bit.

will smith

same.

a.j. pollock

same. pollock was traded to the white sox on april 1, 2022.

chris taylor

nice! this card should definitely have been a part of topps' series 1 or 2 release, or even update. sadly, it was not. taylor was recognized on a checklist card in series 1 that highlighted his walk off in the 2021 wild card game.

gavin lux

photo variation! we get to see lux from both sides now. but not from up and down for you joni mitchell fans.

austin barnes

same.

joe kelly

another guy left out of series 1. he signed with the white sox on march 14, 2022 so we know that the team set checklist was formulated prior to that day. of course, i am sure it was much earlier (cardboard connection says the sets were released in april last year). kelly did show up as a southsider in 2022 update so i am thankful to have one last card of him in a dodger uniform.

if you are interested, this post will provide a glimpse at the previous team set comparisons. can't wait to see what 2023 brings!

more thoughts on 2022 flagship (so far)

well, it's almost the end of march and the only baseball cards i've seen on a big box retailer shelf is 2022 topps flagship. and it was only hanger packs at that. i bought a couple and then ordered a blaster from target's online store.  the first card i am going to show came from a sportlots order, however.

the stars of mlb inserts seem to be the most prolific. this one is clayton kershaw

who is still a star but not an ace. it's been a long time since i've been able to witness a career arc like kershaw's contained to just one team. i hope he signs with the dodgers again after this season is over, but we will see how things go. he's still my favorite dodger and i will be keeping an eye out for a card to add to my mini-collection of favorite dodgers through the years.

i did add a card to another mini-collection with this shohei ohtani card:

ohtani's card represents the 2022 flagship set in my flagship representative collection. i need a catchier name for that.

speaking of ohtani, i found this checklist card and found it interesting

there are a few things going on. it's a photo taken at target field which is quite photogenic and shows up on a lot of cards these days, thanks in large parts to the camera well on the home plate side of the visitor dugout. if you see a card of a player in the on deck circle wearing away grays, it's a good bet the photo comes from target field.

there are also the big advertisements - ford and jack daniel's. reminds me of the days of the big brut and marlboro ads in yankee stadium and candlestick, respectively, showing up on cards.  finally, there is kenta maeda's t-shirt which is one that he had made for his teammates showing willians astudillo in a sumo wrestler caricature. 

maybe someday fanatics will do a proper insert set of team/fan t-shirts and not give them the photo variation treatment like topps did. i still have never picked up the max muncy "go get it out of the ocean" t-shirt card. i'll have to do that someday.

speaking of variations, it was nice to see this travis d'arnaud card

as his regular card. it's a card that features a photo from jackie robinson day (note the patch on his right sleeve), but it's not a variation. this happened last year in gypsy queen with andrew mccutchen's card even though there was a specific variation theme in gypsy queen for cards featuring images from jackie robinson day. oh well, this card does not go in to my "42" mini-collection because we can't see the 42 on the jersey. still, it gives me some hope that we might see a real 42 jersey on a regular old base card someday. there aren't too many of those around.

i found a 6-4 stars insert:

as a fan of the double play turn at second base, i was hoping for some double play action on these cards. i was disappointed.

some other dodger gets included david price

corey seager

a trea turner league leader card

and julio urias

i also found a 1987 insert of jackie robinson

that uses a less frequently seen image. i don't care for the superimposed or poorly colorized background, however. i assume the bright colors behind jackie are vendors? at first glance i thought it was the phillie phanatic but the color is a bit too flourescent.

i also found a fernando tatis jr. 1987 insert

that is going to represent tatis as my favorite non-dodger for 2022 in my favorite non-dodger through the years mini-collection. i assumed that this photo was of a walk-off home run given the a's catcher's reaction, but it was just a 3rd inning dong.

here's a die-cut mike trout insert

for some reason.

i did not find the wander franco rookie card, but i did get an insert of his

at first i thought this was the blue parallel and was excited about my riches that i would receive from someone out there, but alas, it is just the regular version of the insert.

bring on series 2 and let's see who sits at card #350!