isn't it iconic?

it's been a while since 2025 topps heritage was released and i mentioned that i was working on a post related to the player icons that make the 1976 set so memorable. today, i finally publish that post, and it starts with a red parallel of darren baker's rookie card

it's not his flagship golden mirror variation, but i do like this card. aside from the color match, it features the familiar second base icon with sweet double play action. i've added baker and a host of other cards to my double play collection since that initial post. here's a colt keith chrome parallel

and a bunch of base keystone players

i also picked up a marcus semien variation

for the double play collection. semien's regular card has the all-star star instead of the player icon. of course topps calls these "cartoon variations". more on those later.

there is also an insert set devoted to the player icons, and i added both jose altuve

and semien to my dp collection

as the second basemen represented in the set.

this insert set has both a cardboard and a foil version - here's elly de la cruz to demonstrate

and here's first baseman freddie freeman

to represent the dodger collection. these cards use the 1976 icons and topps calls these inserts "1976 player icons" and not cartoons so i don't understand how the variations are cartoon variations.

anyway, here's a reminder of what all of the 1976 player icons looked like:

i had to use carl yastrzemski's first baseman icon since there were no dodgers given that one back in 1976. steve garvey had the all-star star and when he plays every day there really isn't anyone else to show at that position (as a primary).

now, here are the variatons in 2025:

one of the first things i noticed is more detail or shading of the figures, and also that the position text is mostly left justified. 

you can probably tell that the right handed pitcher icon comes from shohei ohtani's variation

that i was fortunate to pick up in a lot of heritage cards i purchased a while back. the lefthanded pitcher icon comes from tarik skubal's card

which i used to own. i tried to convince myself that the icon is based on clayton kershaw 

but i don't think it is. that silver pack card from 2025 topps series 2 is sort of close, but not really. maybe it's justin verlander based. any ideas?

another item of note is that, while the dh was in effect in 1976, there weren't any players given that positional designation. in 2025, there are a few that have it. here's what the player icon looks like for those players:

the lefty is from joc pederson's card and the righty is from marcell ozuna's. here's the variation:

it comes from kyle schwarber's variant card. schwarber hits lefthanded and his base card features the same icon as on joc's card. his chrome parallel, however, features the righty dh. go figure.

here's a blue parallel of joc's card that i found in a pack

along with ozuna's that was also pack pulled by me

now, i noted that there weren't any dh's in 1976, but topps did use that icon on the batting related league leader cards. here's the american league home run leaders to represent leftys

along with the a.l. batting leaders for the rightys

i would need to be convinced by a preponderance of evidence that the icon used on those cards is not based on carl yastrzemski. his 2012 topps archives deckle edge insert

is pretty demonstrative of my thinking.

topps used the same icons for the league leaders in 2025

including the shortstop icon for the stolen base leaders (minus the baseball)

and the pitcher icons on the pitching league leader cards

topps was pretty true to the original with this leading firemen card, as it is the only leader card that covers both leagues. they are still short on data - the back (as it was in 1976) shows only previous winners and their teams

with no mention of "points" or how the points are calculated. today, i can google this and find out that relievers get 3 points for a save, 2 for a win, and are deducted 2 for a loss. us kids in the 70's just shrugged our shoulders and figured that topps and rolaids knew what they were doing.

it's worth noting that topps took another run at player icons as part of their "1976 redefined" insert set. here's corey seager's card

as an example. the icons are all different from the variations of the base set, and this one in particular screams chipper jones. the jump/throw image is similar to chipper's 1993 upper deck card but matches his 2023 topps stadium club card spot on.

one down, still nine to go

you might recognize the title of this post as i've used it before. it means that i have added one of my "nefarious 9" - my most wanted cards. of course, that also means that a new card has been added to the list. the list is dead, long live the list.

this time, the card obtained was....

2022 topps chrome #84 albert pujols refractor parallel

unfortunately i forgot to scan the back and i didn't bother to dig the card out of the binder for this post.

here are the facts about this card:

position on the nefarious 9 list: 8

how long was it on the list? it lasted four months on the list (added on march 1, 2025)

why was it on the list? this refractor was the last one i needed to complete my dodger team set of the basic refractor parallels

how was it obtained? this card came to me as part of a sportlots order in july of 2025

what replaced it on the list?  2021 topps stadium club chrome #283 tony gonsolin

one question i don't typically include in these posts is what prompted me to purchase the card (aside from the fact that it was one of the nefarious 9)? in this case, kevin the diamond king reached out and asked if i also needed the pujols prism refractor. i did, and he sent it

along with a bunch of other dodger cards. i figured if he was going to send me the prism refractor, i might as well get the regular refractor. and so i did.

the other cards kevin sent were just fantastic. here is a colorful trio of 2020 panini donruss tony gonsolin parallels

plus a holo prizm of the same card from the donruss optic line

i think i will start calling him "gonso-long" since he is on the 60-day il so often.

how about a 2020 panini chronicles dustin may phoenix pink parallel?

it's numbered to 25

so thank you very much!

i found out that topps did a collaboration with derek jeter in 2022 because kevin included this 2022 topps x derek jeter call of the captain clayton kershaw card

it's actually a blue parallel, and is numbered to 175

and then there was a 2017 panini black friday kershaw manupatch

but none of those cards were the biggest surprise in the bunch.

the biggest surprise of the lot was this 2022 leaf in the game used sports triple relic rainbow cracked ice card

that features hall of famers duke snider, gil hodges, and walter alston. just a tremendous card to see in the package. all three of those numbers are retired by the dodgers, as is number 34. so, not too many "4s" left. i wonder if kenley jansen will make the hall of fame and have his number 74 retired by the club.

thanks kevin - i have some cards on their way to you! and please let me know if you can help a blogger out with any of the cards on my nefarious 9 - you will be rewarded!

how gcrl got his groove on

a few months ago, my siblings and i were going through some old family photos. it was a task that remains unfinished, but we came across some pictures that we had not seen in decades which was fun. some of those pictures documented my first visit to anaheim stadium back in 1979.

1979 was a special year for the california angels, and i remember following them pretty closely. part of that was due to the fact that they added rod carew to their roster, but don baylor was still my guy - my favorite non-dodger.

baylor's nickname, as proven by this 2006 fleer greats of the game nickname greats card, 

was "groove", and he was in a groove in 1979, on his way to the american league mvp award and the first ever postseason appearance for the halos.

my dad drove our family down to anaheim one weekend in august to see a game and visit disneyland. although we had a camper, we stayed in a motel not too far from the stadium. anyway, i was sure to wear my homemade baylor t-shirt to the game, but i also made sure to wear my dodger helmet from a stadium giveaway, too. here's some photographic evidence:

yep. that's 8 year old gcrl getting his groove on along the left field railing at the big a. the angels' bullpen coach bob clear is walking on the grass. i recall the female usher noting that i was a fan of baylor's and asking me if i was related to him. sadly, i am not. 

here's a photo that i likely made my dad take during baylor's at bat in the sixth inning

he flew out to center with dan ford on first. you can see the blue jays' shortstop (future dodger alfredo griffin) looking up and heading towards center. 

here's a photo of the angels' bullpen during the game

this was obviously after the team relocated the big a structure out to the parking lot and were preparing for the seating expansion to better accommodate the los angeles rams as tenants.

going back to the first inning, here's rod carew being thrown out at first base

this was my first time seeing him play in person, and i was pretty excited about it. this game was also the only time i ever saw danny ainge play a professional sport.

back to "groove", i see that the fleer greats card shows baylor wearing number 12, and i do not recall him doing so. thanks to baseball reference, i know now that baylor wore number 12 in 1977, his first year with the angels, because number 25 was being worn by bobby bonds. when bonds went to the white sox for the 1978 season, baylor switched to his more familiar 25 (and yes, that is a 25 on the back of my t-shirt).

speaking of bonds, he made an appearance in one of the photos we found

my dad was in bonds' foursome in a local celebrity golf tournament back in 1981. this was the tournament's second year, with the first year having been played under the name "don sutton celebrity golf tournament". with sutton in houston in 1981, he was no longer the "host". i believe i got bonds' autograph later that evening at the banquet (it could have been at a hot stove dinner a different year), but i do know for sure that my dad said bonds could hit the ball "a ton". groovy.

as an aside, here is jack clark's nickname greats card from that same set as baylor's

why am i showing this? because, while i did not get a photo with baylor at the game i attended, i did find a forgotten picture of me and jack the ripper at a hot stove event. the dodger fan in me can't bring myself to post it though.

mini post for mini collections

here's a quick post celebrating some of my mini-collections and some recent cards added to said collections.

2015 topps chrome derek jeter

this one is for the "final tributes" collection as it includes all of the captain's career stats on the back

i grabbed this card from a bargain box at a show earlier this year.

same with this 2022 topps stadium club chrome hank aaron card

that features willie mays and so goes into my "lurkers" collection.

2002 donruss originals albert pujols

2015 topps rookies rising gold parallel

2016 topps stadium club bryce harper

2018 panini donruss nolan ryan retro 1984 variation

these cards all slot into my "names/numbers on the back" collection. the pujols is a card i've had since 2002, but the gold card and the harper came from those same bargain boxes as the jeter. i picked up the nolan ryan card in a san jose card shop when i was there back in the spring. 

2020 topps chrome dee gordon sepia refractor

2024 topps holiday carlos correa

these two are obviously for my "double play" collection. i found the gordon in a bargain box at a show, but the correa was sent to me by rod at padrographs.

thanks rod!