and so it begins?

i have a bigger post in the works regarding 2025 topps heritage high numbers, but it isn't quite ready so here's a smaller one that focuses on a card that has been under the radar (on the blogs, at least). 

it's pete rose's first licensed card in a long, long time and it comes from the "undefeated" insert set in the current heritage high release. many wondered if the removal of rose from the ineligible list would mean the start of new, licensed cards and that may be the case.

i did not see rose on the 2026 topps series 1 flagship checklist (clayton kershaw is included!) but i didn't look too deeply. i do hope that he shows up in some more heritage inserts as time goes by. it's unfortunate for collectors that he will never have a "real one" autograph card in heritage, but that's the price we pay for his gambling and banishment. i will say again that i am not a pete rose apologist, but i was a fan of his exploits on the field and i enjoyed collecting his cards during his career.

i was unaware of rose's card even as i was opening my hobby box. i discovered it when i was looking up the insert set to check on the cards i found in my box. once i saw the card, i sought it out and have added it to my collection. it doesn't count as my favorite non-dodger card of 2025 since i received it in 2026, but i think i will add it to my "meaningful and just because" collection.

i also sought out a couple more inserts from heritage high that were missing from my box. any don sutton insert is going to get my attention, and so i bought his bicentennial stars insert

as well as the holographic parallel

the "base" insert came along with mookie betts' perfect 10 insert

here's the back of sutton's card:

i will say i was disappointed that steve garvey was not included in the bicentennial stars checklist. sutton had a good season - he finished third in the cy young voting and received some mvp consideration in addition to the milestones mentioned on the card back above, but garvey was hitting his stride as a perennial all-star and fan favorite at that time. still, he was included in a different part of the checklist, and i have picked up two of his real one autographs - the base and the red ink

with my red ink example being the bookend version - 76/76!

i say that i've picked up two of his real one autos because now there is a black and white version as well.

i am looking forward to this year's heritage release and perhaps some nice dodger content given their pennant win in 1977. i am disappointed that topps has dropped the "then and now" and "baseball flashback" inserts, but maybe they will make a return. bert blyleven has shared some of the real one autos he has signed for the release so we know it's coming soon. as is my larger post about heritage high - stay tuned!

another one down, still nine to go - and that doesn't include the one i found that i didn't know about

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....

1982 tcma baseball's greatest pitchers burleigh grimes

here's the back

here are the facts about this card:

position on the nefarious 9 list: 4

how long was it on the list? it predated my current tracking, so that means it's been on the list for longer than ten months (march 1, 2025 was when i started these posts tracking the list)

why was it on the list? this card was the last one i needed (i thought) to complete my dodger team set of the "greatest pitchers" and "greatest hitters" sets, regardless of back color (tan or white). more on that in a bit.

how was it obtained? this card was mined out of a 5 for a dollar bargain bin at the monthly collector's club show in december of 2025

what replaced it on the list?  1984 topps stickers #83/357 rick monday and pete o'brien

why was this card added? this is the last sticker that i need to complete the dodger team set from this issue.  last year i added the alejandro pena and steve yeager stickers

that come with bruce benedict and john wathan, respectively. these two additions left me just a monday/o'brien sticker short of another 1980's team set being complete.

back to the tcma card and my thinking that grimes was all i needed for the team set. i hit a vein of these "baseball's greatest" cards in one of the monster boxes and wound up pulling this wes ferrel (ferrell) card

because it didn't look familiar to me. turns out i was right - ferrell is not listed as a dodger on the checklists for the set. instead, he's an indian which is what is shown on the back

it's really great that tcma has a photo of him in a dodger uniform (assuming that is really him) because he appeared in exactly two games (one as a pinch-hitter and one as a relief pitcher) for the brooklyn squad. that was back in 1940 as he was trying to work his way back from elbow problems. it's worth noting that even his 1990 target dodgers 100th anniversary card shows him in a red sox uniform.

at any rate, i now believe that my 1982 tcma baseball's greatest team sets are complete, so it's on to the next one. can you help a blogger out?!

deja vu, but not all over again

a week or so before christmas i found myself across the border in wisconsin. i chose not to pick up any new glarus, but i did make a stop at iconic sports cards just off of i-94 in hudson. it was the second time i've been to the shop, and this time was as positive as the last.

i headed over to the monster boxes sorted by team but first saw a random box of miscellaneous cards sitting on a table. this 1996 pinnacle summit card

was fronting one of the rows. i grabbed it thinking that it was probably not anything on my dodger team set list because the front has it as a very clear jason kendall card. the back

does identify piazza and includes a dodger logo. at any rate, it did not look familiar to me so it was among the cards i purchased. when i got home, i realized that this card was on my team want list and that it was one i did not previously own. i was sort of surprised that i need cards from a mid-90's set like this but i guess i do.

it's getting to the point where i can't just pick up a panini clayton kershaw parallel and safely assume it is a need, but this 2021 mosaic mosaic parallel

was one that i didn't previously own.

boxes like these are good for finding base cards from higher end or obscure releases, and i found a 2021 topps tribute duke snider card 

and a 2025 topps all-star game hyeseong kim card

as evidence.

i don't think anyone was asking for a chrome version of allen & ginter, but in 2022 there was a chrome release separate from the regular a&g set. this walker buehler card

is a numbered magenta parallel

parallels like that are the primary thing i look for these days in these sorts of situations. here's a 2024 topps update gold parallel of dinelson lamet's card

along with three parallels from 2024 topps chrome update/2024 topps chrome sapphire edition

sapphire is something that shows up a lot in boxes like this. i am guessing people buy the sets and pull a couple of specific cards and dump the rest?

in addition to parallels, i am on the lookout for inserts. here is a foursome of freddie freeman inserts that were all new to me

those are from 2024 topps cosmic chrome, 2024 topps heritage high numbers, 2025 topps, and 2025 topps chrome, respectively.

one more dodger insert to show - jason wrobleski's 2025 topps silver pack card

at some point, checklists switched from calling these "silver pack" cards to "chrome" cards but that gets confusing when there are 35th anniversary cards (without the "mojo") in chrome releases so i've stuck with the silver pack nomenclature.

the last time i visited the shop, i picked up a couple of non-certified autographs, and i grabbed one this time around

the late tim crews' 1989 donruss card is really a nice looking card in my opinion and i am happy to be able to add a card he (supposedly) signed to my collection.

it wasn't all dodgers that i purchased - here's a 2024 topps cosmic chrome willie mays galactic greatness insert

and a 2025 bowman dylan crews rookie of the year favorites insert

that i added to my stack.

one more that i will show is this 2022 topps chrome sapphire owen miller green parallel

it's a nice double play card and is numbered to 75 on the back. in all, i wound up with 29 singles for which my cost was $15.

i asked the guy at the counter to grab a hanger pack of 2025 topps allen & ginter, and here's what that contained

it was nice to find a new orel hershiser card in a pack. the mel ott card at the end is a short print

and it sort of looks like the short prints have slightly different coloring.

my pack also included a francisco lindor foil filigree parallel

along with a pair of mini parallels

one gold (obviously), one base mini (less obvious)

the main (full size) inserts this year are "wicked curves" and "sweet victory" and i got one of each - both yankees

the checklists for these inserts is not bad, with some players and moments that don't typically get a lot of play in the current hobby (like sparky lyle) showing up.

i also asked the guy at the counter if he had any old 9-pocket pages lying around from people bringing in old binders of cards to sell. the card shop in the western twin cities used to have some of these binders but i hadn't noticed any the last time i was there. and, the monthly card show used to have one or two people selling binders with junk wax era star cards that i bought once or twice more for the pages. i used these pages for sending cards and i had recently run out of my most recent batch.

anyway, the guy looked over and picked up a binder and handed it to me. it was very clearly a 1993 leaf collection of national league teams

i am guessing that the former owner put this together sometime after 1997 as the brewers were in the american league when the set was released but they were in the binder. since i was in wisconsin, here's a look at some of the brew crew cards that were in the binder

i wasn't looking for ultra pro platinum sheets to cut up, but that's what i got. there was no charge for this binder or these sheets or cards, which included a couple of the heading to the hall inserts

pretty cool move and much appreciated.

in all, my total was $22 and i handed over $2 plus my second 2025 topps chrome shohei ohtani card which was easier for me to find than many of the cards i picked up at the shop. it will probably be a few months, but i'll be back to wisconsin and this shop for sure.

a few different ways to 50/50

shohei ohtani surpassed his 2024 home run total in 2025, but he didn't steal nearly as many bases so his 55 home runs this past season were largely unheralded. in 2024, you'll recall, he exceeded both 50 home runs (54) and 50 stolen bases (59), becoming the first player to post a 50/50 season.

there were plenty of opportunities to be reminded of that fact in 2025. here's a 2025 topps finest finest timelines insert

that uses joe davis' call to mark the occasion.

topps put out a special 50/50 shohei ohtani set in 2024, and i've added a couple more to my collection - one stolen base and one home run

2025 topps included ohtani's achievement in the "2024 greatest hits" insert set

noting that he reached the milestone as part of a historic single game offensive performance. his 6 for 6, 3 home run, 10 rbi line was the subject of a 2024 topps now card

here's the back that gives more detail

note that i already had his topps now 50/50 card - two cards for one game is par for the course for topps now.

of course, he didn't reach 50/50 without hitting 40/40 first. that achievement was also marked with a "2024 greatest hits" insert

the other members of the 40/40 club are all true 40/40 except for ronald acuna jr who is 40/70. i wonder if shohei purposely stopped at 59 stolen bases as 50/50 sounds better than 50/60.

however, this post is about different ways to 50/50. sometime last year, i picked up this 2020 topps tyler white card

it's his mother's day pink parallel that is numbered to 50. this one is numbered 50/50

as is this 2021 topps joc pederson father's day blue parallel

i would imagine that ohtani 50/50 parallels go for a hefty sum - these were both pretty cheap. i don't expect any 2026 cards to focus on ohtani's 50/20 season in 2025, but we can be sure that there will be plenty of his cards throughout every release.

remembering a legend

i was hoping against hope that i'd be able to include fernando valenzuela's election to the hall of fame in this post, but the eras committee didn't vote for him to be inducted. i was surprised that he was even considered to be honest, but once his name was on the ballot i thought that there might have been a path to selection. why else have his name added to this ballot if there weren't something beyond his hall of very good statistics?

what i do have is his topps living set card

that i bought sometime during the fall of 2025. i have a handful of these cards featuring various dodger subjects and should probably seek out some others. it's nice to see fernando included in the set and even better to see an image of him with his big hair and comparatvely small hat.

another card that i picked up later last year related to fernando was this 2025 bowman chrome yoshinobu yamamoto mojo refractor

i actually bought two copies of that card so that i could put one in my memorials collection. yamamoto is sporting the black patch that the dodgers wore in memory of fernando during the 2025 season. while they also wore the patch during the 2024 world series (i have blake treinen's card featured in this post in my collection to mark that occurrence) we know that this card features a photo from 2025 because of the gold adorned jersey and world series champion patch that yamamoto is sporting.

this is the first time that the dodgers have had a memorial span seasons. jim gilliam's patch was worn only during the 1978 world series as the team did not carry it over into 1979, but i am glad that they honored fernando for the entire 2025 season. the yankees did a similar thing for thurman munson in 1979 and 1980 and yogi berra in 2015 and 2016, as did the cardinals for august busch jr in 1989 and 1990 although i don't have any examples of the 1989 memorial. 

regardless of hall of fame status, fernando remains an icon of the sport. viva fernandomania!

a '54 shuffle

last week i showed the card that represents 2025 topps in my "flagship through the years" colleciton, and four years ago i showed the cards that represent topps' baseball releases from 1952 through 1959 that collection.

today i am sharing that the card representing 1954 topps has been switched out. the o'brien brothers are out, and mel parnell is in.

parnell's card is a nice example of the 1954 topps set. here's the back:

had there been a cy young award in 1949, it may well have been parnell to win it with his 25 wins and 2.78 (bbref says 2.77) era. it is also interesting to consider that parnell accepted help from a fan - pretty sure that wouldn't happen today.

so, the reason that i've made this swap is that my sampler sets are back in play and i wanted the o'brien card as a "combo" card example from the set. i'll have more to say about my samplers in the coming months, but you might recall that they were cards that i acquired from topps flagship sets that i had not completed and they represented the different teams, subsets, and other various elements of those sets.

i have a different card representing the red sox and the blue background in my 1954 sampler set, but parnell round his way to become a part of my "permanent" collection anyway. 

1955 bowman complete!

it's been almost two years since i decided to pursue the 1955 bowman set, and here we are with the last 16 cards to share. i know you're busy, so i'll get right to it...

sheet 37, cards 305-312

just like last time, four umpires on the left and four team representatives on the right. i don't say players, because there's a manager in there (just as there was a coach or manager in the last post' sheets)

i am going to go through all eight of these subjects, so strap in...

frank umont, whose ethnicity is omitted on the card back, was one of the first umpires to wear glasses on the field. he was also a professional athlete before turning to umping - he was a guard for the new york football giants in the 1940's.

bob cerv is the last yankee in the set. perhaps best remembered as a roommate to mickey mantle and roger maris during the 1961 season, cerv had some power of his own as evidenced by the 38 dingers he hit for the kansas city a's in 1958. he had three different stints with the yankees, with this card being issued during his first.

r.a. "babe" pinelli was a major league infielder before switching to umpiring. he played mostly for the reds in the 1920's, but debuted with the white sox in 1918. i suppose that means he was a teammate of shoeless joe jackson's, but he debuted after jackson's 1918 season was over due to injury. pinelli's ethnicity is also left out of his card back bio, as is the fact (for obvious reasons) that he was behind the plate for don larsen's perfect game.

al lopez gives us the last manager card of the set, and he's a hall of famer to boot. the former dodger backstop took the indians to the fall classic in 1954, so it makes sense for him to be included in the set. his national league counterpart, leo durocher, did not receive the same consideration from bowman. his card back notes that he is an "expert" in managing and was an "expert" catcher as well. thesauruses were rare in the 50's i guess.

hal dixon has one of the more mug shot type cards in the set. we aren't given his ethnicity, but we are told of his extensive experience prior to joining the major league's umpiring ranks. he worked the 1959 world series, but that was his last hurrah as he resigned following the season's end due to the fact that his request for a raise was denied.

ken lehman is the last dodger (and final national leaguer) in the set, and i am sure that some kids opening packs were a bit confused. lehman hadn't pitched in the big leagues since 1952, and he didn't make any appearances in 1955 either. he did return to the dodgers in 1956 before moving on to the orioles in the summer of 1957. a seattle native, lehman eventually returned to the pacific northwest and coached udub's baseball team.

lawrence goetz went by larry and was from cincinnati. it looks like bowman punted on ethnicity for these late-set umpire cards, but that's ok and frankly less weird. we learn from goetz's card that he worked at a post office when he decided to take up umpiring which is a very faulkneresque thing to do. he was also one of the umpires featured in a norman rockwell painting entitled "tough call".

bill wight's card is the last on the page, and the back lets us know that he did not appear in the majors in 1954, thus missing the team's pennant win and world series appearance. he did, in fact, return in 1955 with the indians but finished the campaign with the orioles.

sheet 38, cards 313-320

no coach or manager on that sheet, but three bosox plus a card of the guy who probably frustrated kids the most. who wanted a card of cal hubbard back in 1955? well, i am sure there were some who were happy to find a card of the umpire supervisor, but not for that reason.

here are the backs:

i was happy to see one last non-bio back among this group.

a.j. donatelli continues the trend of ethnicity not being given for umpires, but i would guess he has some italian blood. the card back notes that he was a pow during world war ii for 15 months, and further research shows that he began umpiring softball games during this time, choosing to continue with that effort when he was liberated and returned to the states. he was also the umpire featured on the first ever issue of sports illustrated

dale mitchell spent nearly his entire career with the indians, playing for them from 1946 through partway of the 1956 season. he appeared in two world series for cleveland, but is best know for his appearance in game 5 of the 1956 fall classic when he was with the dodgers and pinch hit for sal maglie and struck out to end the game and secure don larsen's perfect game.

cal hubbard, as previously noted, was the umpire supervisor. this followed a successful umpiring career that was ended by a shotgun pellet hitting him in the eye. prior to his baseball officiating career, however, hubbard was a football star. he played in the nfl as a tackle for the giants, packers, and pirates (who became the steelers) and was elected to the pro football hall of fame in 1963. i am guessing some card collectors in 1955 recognized hubbard as a football player given his status in the game as one of the greatest tackles in league history. he's scotch-irish, by the way.

marion fricano's card features the final non-bio back of the set. his advice to youngsters is to develop character, which is solid advice no matter the times. fricano's major league career ended in 1955 with a handful of appearances for the a's, but he would continue to pitch in the minors for a few more seasons.

wm. r. summers, known as bill, is the last umpire of the set and is noted to have been a "gifted after-dinner storyteller". i am guessing that in addition to visiting troops, this refers to the offseason hot stove circuit that was commonplace until the early 1980s. i remember one hot stove i attended circa 1980 that turned into a bit of a roast of pete rose. i don't remember the stories, but i do remember rose commenting as such when it was his turn to speak. as for summers, he's the guy who called jackie robinson safe at home during the 1955 world series much to yogi berra's displeasure.

sid hudson begins the run of three red sox players to end the set. he was a 12-year veteran of the major leagues who was actually released by the red sox in april of 1955. another card for kids to be confused about, given the fact that this series was the last to be released (i am assuming there were more than two series). regardless, hudson turned to scouting and later to coaching, serving the washington senators/texas rangers franchise for 25 years following his playing career.

al schroll's card predates his major league debut by three years. he had been in the boston system since 1951, but didn't appear in a big league game until april of 1958. after the following season, he was dealt to the cubs for bobby thomson and then finished his career with the minnesota twins in their inaugural 1961 campaign.

and finally, we have george susce jr to close out the set. the back tells us that his father was a big leaguer and was coaching when this card was released. the younger susce, unlike the previous two red sox on this sheet, actually appeared in big league action in 1955, making his debut against the yankees in april. he went on to win nine games in a season highlighted by a one-hit shutout against the a's in july.

and there you have the 1955 bowman set and the last of the true bowman baseball cards, period. 

if you'd like to check on any of the previous posts, here they are for your convenience:

cards 289-304

cards 273-288

cards 257-272

cards 241-256

cards 225-240

cards 209-224

cards 185-208

cards 161-184

cards 137-160

cards 121-136

cards 105-120

cards 89-104

cards 73-88

cards 65-72

cards 49-64

cards 41-48

cards 33-40

cards 17-32

cards 1-16

it's been fun, but i don't see myself chasing another vintage set. i've learned not to say never, though. thanks for following along and happy new year!