chrome priority

long gone are the days where it was possible to collect all of the cards of any given player, let alone team. and, while i've tried to finish off a dodger junk wax year (1989) there are still a few oddballs that i haven't tracked down yet - partially due to a lack of focus - and there are probably other dodger cards from that year that i don't know about.

over the last year or so, i've tried to be a bit more focused when looking back and picking up dodger cards from past years and i've had some success doing so. whether it's targeting a specific team set, insert set, parallel, or something that spans both of the latter, i've been able to fill some holes in my collection that are more meaningful to me than random cards here and there. case in point, i went out to add more topps heritage chrome parallels to my collection.

with don mattingly in the news late last year for making it to the fall classic for the first time (he was a coach for the blue jays if you didn't know), i'll start with his 2011 topps heritage chrome parallel.

mattingly was the dodger skipper when their current run of nl west dominance began but he was gone before they returned to the world series. here's the back:

i thought that numbering the chrome "base" to the year of the topps design made sense once they made that switch. unfortunately, topps hasn't maintained that element with these cards.

i should note that it's been over two years since i published this post detailing my status with these cards, but i hadn't forgotten about my appreciation of them. here are some more i added in 2025 that weren't shown in other posts

the hiroki kuroda and ross stripling cards completed my 2011 topps heritage and 2016 topps heritage high numbers chrome dodger team sets, respectively, while the aj pollock card from 2019 topps heritage high numbers was the second to join my collection from that set.

i picked up my first chrome parallel from 2002 topps heritage in the form of chan ho park

which features the "original" heritage chrome parallel numbering on the back:

limited to 553 copies, just as the 2001 cards (using the 1952 topps design) were limited to a print run of 552.

in 2003, the chrome cards (here's kazuhisa ishii's)

switched to the full year numbering to match the card design year

so /1954 for these cards. the refractors then used the 500 series numbering.

topps introduced non-numbered, retail colored refractors in 2011, although i think they skipped 2012 and 2013 before becoming a mainstay. here's a 2015 purple chrome refractor of yasmani grandal

from 2015 topps heritage high numbers.

in 2013, topps switched the numbering of base chrome parallels again. here's a 2018 topps heritage high numbers matt kemp chrome parallel

that shows the /999 numbering on the back

you'll note that topps didn't really prepare a space for the serial numbering on the back of any of these cards.

ok - speed round with some other heritage chrome pickups from last year!

2019 max muncy purple refractor

2020 high numbers mookie betts chrome /999

2021 high numbers albert pujols chrome /999

and purple refractor

2022 walker buehler chrome /999

2023 high numbers clayton kershaw chrome /999

and purple refractor

plus a 2024 high number purple refractor of "zero year" card recipient andre lipcius

in 2024, topps really changed things up. they released a limited number of chrome parallels as they typically did with the initial heritage release. these were numbered to 999 as they had been for years. then, when high numbers came out, all of the cards that had not been paralleled in the initial release were included, but numbered to 699. here's the chrome parallel of the yogi berra/roy campanella card

that i found in a pack of heritage high. note that they also moved the numbering to the front of the card. this change didn't make the numbering any easier to read, however. i suppose i should also note that topps decided to show berra's actual 1951 card here, even though they used a modified version of it back in 1975. the campy side is the same - it's a card that didn't exist until 1975.

in 2025, topps got rid of the numbering for the base chrome and base refractor cards altogether. here's freddie freeman's card

plus some sparkle refractors - dusty baker (and son)

and teoscar hernandez

these next few from 2025 heritage high numbers arrived in early 2026 - light blue sparkle refractors of alex call

and kiké hernandez (along with a regular refractor of kiké)

this next bit is more for me to make things easier as i continue to track down the dodger base chrome parallels. after 25 years of these sets, i still need a lot of them, and here's a year by year breakdown of my needs vs. haves:

2001 - need 2 (have 1)

2002 - need 4 (have 1)

2003 - need 2 (have 3)

2004 - need 1 (have 1)

2005 - need 1 (have 3)

2006 - complete (have 4)

2007 - complete (have 3)

2008 - complete (have 10)

2009 - complete (have 10)

2010 - complete (have 6)

2011 - complete (have 9)

2012 - need 1 (have 4)

2013 - need 3 (have 2)

2014 - need 5 (have 2)

2015 - need 4 (have 5)

2015 high numbers - need 4 (have 1)

2016 - need 2 (have 1)

2016 high numbers - complete (have 4)

2017 - need 2 (have 2)

2017 high numbers - need 3 (have 1)

2018 - need 7 (have 1)

2018 high numbers - complete (have 1)

2019 - need 5 (have 4) 

2019 high numbers - need 1 (have 2)

2020 - need 8 (have 4)

2020 high numbers - need 3 (have 1)

2021 - need 4 (have 1)

2021 high numbers - need 6 (have 1)

2022 - need 4 (have 1)

2022 high numbers - need 1 (have 1)

2023 - need 3 (have 1)

2023 high numbers - need 4 (have 1)

2024 - need 4 (have 1)

2024 high numbers - need 27 (have 1)

2025 - need 22 (have 6)

2025 high numbers - need 8 (have 2)

the 2026 topps heritage checklist is out, and the dodgers have 22 base chrome cards (the full set is paralleled). i've pre-ordered some product from topps and am looking forward to adding to this list! stay tuned!

bo knows janitorial services?

i did not have a steve garvey tcg card on my bingo card for 2025 or 2026 or any year, actually. nor did i have an inkling that there would ever be a garvey card that played on his mr. clean nickname in a way more associated with the "other" mr. clean.

i have seen several cards of garvey from the bo jackson battle arena release(s) pop up, but didn't pull the trigger until i found one with a very very low buy it now. as a result, i now have this card in my garvey collection

according to the checklist, that card comes from the 2026 bo jackson battle arena - the griffey set. it's a mr. clean steve garvey debut grillin' battle foil fire super short print. i do not know what it does in the game.

there are so many variations - autographed cards included. i've only seen one card go for less than i spent on this one, and most go for silly prices.

it's harder to tell on this card than most, but that is a mop bucket to garvey's left, filled with weapons suitable for hand-to-hand combat. he appears to be holding a knife of some sort. other cards have him holding a mace or a frozen trident or wearing boxing gloves. there may be other variations as well.

here's the back of the card 

which is pretty typical for tcg releases.

it's certainly one of the more unique cards in my collection. anyone out there collecting this set or playing this game?

cards of future past

the latest in a long line of envelopes i've received from madding at cards on cards was packed with cards featuring some players from before we knew them and some players from before they weren't really known at all.

what i mean by that is that there were several cards from 2014 bowman draft, including some black parallels that were exclusive to asia packaging. here's corey seager's top prospects insert black (or some say asia) parallel

plus those same parallels of base cards featuring grant holmes, jeff brigham, and john richy

you know seager - he's a two-time world series champion - and grant holmes just recently made it to the major leagues with the braves. brigham has, at least to me, carved out a big league career under the radar, appearing in 94 games over parts of six seasons. he's currently with the cubs after pitching for the dbacks last year. richy made it to triple-a with the phillies after being part of the chase utley trade, but didn't get any further than that. richy was the dodgers' third round pick in the 2014 draft, with holmes being their first rounder and brigham their fourth. 

that just leaves the second round, and the dodgers used that pick on alex verdugo, whose chrome prospect card

was also included in the mailing. you know verdugo, of course, as he played for the dodgers and was sent to the red sox in the mookie betts trade. he struck out to end the 2024 world series, and then played half of the 2025 season for the braves. he is currently unsigned as i understand it.

kerry included some more recent cards of someone we may eventually know - 2025 bowman jesus tillero propsect and prospect chrome inserts

he's not quite 20 years old, and has pitched in rookie league and a-ball so far. let's see what happens!

here's an actual major leaguer card of edwin rios

it's a 2020 topps chrome refractor parallel. rios showed some pop for the dodgers in 2020, hitting 17 homers plus two in the postseason. his big league run ended with the reds in 2024.

dalton rushing's big league career is just beginning, and kerry sent a 2023 bowman platinum card

of the dodgers' backup catcher. he's in a tough spot with will smith firmly entrenched, but hopefully he gets his time or is spun off and given an opportunity elsewhere.

finally, a hyeseong kim ornament insert from 2025 topps holiday

kim is another current big leaguer who should see more action in 2026 than he did last year (if he's healthy) as tommy edman will miss some time to start the season.

all in all, another great envelope full of cards from cards on cards. thanks kerry!

a team set 30 years in the waiting

about three years ago, i came across this 1996 topps mike piazza card

here's the back:

if you are familiar with the 1996 topps set, you know that the card front and back are a mismatch. the "star power" subsets had a monthly breakdown of stats. here are the two piazza card backs from the 1996 topps set for your reference:

however, i didn't buy the card because of the back situation - i bought it because it has this addition under the topps logo

that graphic (which matches a jersey patch the dodgers wore) denotes the 35th season of dodger stadium which occurred in 1996 (note to topps - this is how heritage buybacks should be named, as this wasn't the 35th anniversary but rather the 35th year that the dodgers played in the stadium. saying a 1977 card has a 50th anniversary in 2026 is just wrong).

sorry for the rant. 

a little bit of research told me that this was a 1996 topps team topps dodgers card, from a factory sealed set! now, this predates the team sets that are sequentially numbered with a team related prefix by ten years, and i was very unaware that this set even existed.

since finding the piazza card, i've had a couple of ebay searches running with no luck until late last year when someone in alaska of all places listed this 

for sale. still sealed! i placed a bid and wound up being the only bidder, winning the set for less than the current blister team sets sell for.

i did consider keeping it sealed, but ultimately opened it to reveal the full set within:

the backs are identical to the flagship backs - here's nomo's card back

with just those two piazza backs being swapped. 

i took a photo of the back of the packaging, because it held more information

the package contained a 16 card team set, plus a bonus 15 card pack and a bonus "big" topps card. here are the team set and the bonus card pack - front:

and back:

even though there are rockies on both sides of the bonus pack, it's not a rockies team set. there are just 13 random cards from 1996 topps in between with no additional logos. in fact, only a few teams were given these team sets - braves, orioles, cubs, white sox, indians, dodgers, yankees, mariners, and rangers - according to tcdb. each set had a special logo (some have a team specific logo like the dodgers and some have a "team topps" logo). to make things stranger, these were sold only at walmart (again, according to tcdb).

here's a scan of the cardboard insert

with a checklist of sorts on the back

so where is this big topps card? i was thinking it would be nestled in there somewhere, but no - it was the back of the package

so it's just a normal nomo card printed on a bigger piece of cardboard. weird. here's the back:

what an oddball thing.

assuming there is a 2026 topps factory dodger team set, i think i will add this to the running list of team set posts i've made. now if only i could find a complete set of the 2004 fleer dodger team set - the one with the blue design....