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!