now let's relive october

no burying the lede here - the dodgers were crowned as world series champions last october. the first franchise to repeat since the 2000 yankees. that fact was captured on one of the topps now cards following the classic game 7

which was the best game i've watched in a long, long time. 

like last year, i started slowly with my topps now purchases during the postseason. i skipped the wild card series and only purchased one card from the nlds

that is a terrible card for phillie fans, but it's what topps went with to document the dodgers' series win. it's the worst/best card depicting an error since any card showing the ball getting through buckner (if there even is a card showing that play). if not, dick green's 1974 topps card? the cover of the dodgers' 1975 yearbook? errors don't get a lot of play on cards.

here's the back

i bought two of these so that i could put one in my dodger stadium collection. i also like this card because the legendary billie jean king is easily visible at the far left of the photo. she's a part-owner of the club if you weren't aware.

i would up with a couple more cards from the nlcs than i had for the division series. here's shohei ohtani sliding into third on tatooine

seems like topps was stretching for a reason to make another ohtani card, but that's life

and yes, i bought two so that one could go in my tatooine collection.

i also bought this two-way ohtani card

his game 4 performance was epic. here's the back:

and so i also bought the series recap card

mainly because of the back

which again, was a two-card purchase so i could feed the dodger stadium collection. interesting that topps took a different angle on the photo for this one.

unlike last year, i bought most of the dodger world series cards in real time - i didn't wait for the game 7 victory. let's begin

game 2 - topps kept the cards for each game exclusive to the victor, so there were no game 1 dodger cards. in game 2, will smith 

got the dodgers on the board in the first inning and then broke a 1-1 tie in the bottom of the 7th with a home run. he added another rbi in the 8th to get to his 3 rbi night noted on the card.

max muncy 

homered a couple of batters after smith went deep to give the dodgers a two run lead. 

yoshinobu yamamoto

pitched a complete game to secure the win.

topps took note of yamamoto's postseason performance up to that point, and paired him with orel hershiser

to celebrate each of them having thrown back-to-back postseason complete games

game 3 was a classic, with the dodgers winning in exciting fashion after 18 innings.

tommy edman

whose error early in the game led to a couple of unearned blue jays runs, made a nice defensive play to preserve the tie in the top of the 12th inning. with the bases loaded, he charged a slow grounder by nathan lukes and flipped the ball to freddie freeman to end the inning.

clayton kershaw

was the pitcher at the time, having been brought in to face lukes with two outs and those bases loaded. this card represents his last appearance as a dodger in a major league game.

will klein

followed kershaw's replacement, edgardo henriquez (who threw two solid innings), and wound up completing four clutch innings, allowing just one infield single and a couple of walks. he was high energy and kept the scored tied through the top of the 18th so that...

freddie freeman

could lead off the bottom of the 18th with a walk-off home run

ohtani did some things in the game, too. he hit two homers, resulting in this card

and he reached base all nine times he came to the plate. he was 4 for 4 with five walks, and earned this card

showing him after hitting one of his two doubles on the night.

the dodgers dropped game 4, but i did purchase this vladimir guerrero jr card

vladdy's home run gave the blue jays the lead for good as well as giving him the jays' all-time record for postseason dingers. i bought the card because ohtani is lurking in the foreground, but mainly because dodger superfan mary hart has finally made a card. she's there on the right, squished between the world series logo and the card design element swiping by her face. i watched a fair amount of entertainment tonight back in the day and have been waiting for her to make her way on to a card given her season ticket seats she's held for the last decade at least.

it was do or die for the dodgers in game 6, and mookie betts

came through with a 2 run single to put the dodgers up 3-0 in the third inning. it was 3-1 dodgers with one out and a runner on second in the bottom of the ninth when...

kiké hernandez

ran in to catch a slow liner and relay the ball to second to complete a game ending double play. the back of the card has no words

just some celebration with mookie and miguel rojas who made a fantastic pick of the throw.

tyler glasnow

relieved roki sasaki in the bottom of the ninth with two on and no outs, but induced a pop out and then the game ending liner. his appearance was reminiscent of hershiser, kershaw, randy johnson, madison bumgarner, and so many other starters who turned to relievers in a postseason series in which they had also started a game. and, he wasn't the last person we would see in that capacity!

i watched most of game 6 on a plane, and then saw the ending while we were waiting to exit the car rental ramp at the airport. i was able to watch game 7 at a family member's house which was nice. the dodgers pecked away at an early blue jays lead, with max muncy

going deep in the top of the 8th inning to cut the jays' lead to one. that enabled...

miguel rojas

to tie the game in the top of the 9th with his unlikely solo blast. i thought that the jays had won it in the bottom of the 9th when daulton varsho hit a one out, bases loaded grounder to rojas and he stumbled before throwing home where...

will smith

got his foot down on home plate just in time to force pinch runner isiah kiner-falefa. i also thought that the jays won it when the next batter, ernie clement, hit a ball to the gap in left-center field, but...

andy pages

took control and made the catch despite running into kiké hernandez. this is a fantastic card. at this point, i really didn't care who won - i just didn't want it to end on an error or by some george springer heroics.

will smith

put the dodgers on top with a solo blast in the 11th inning, and

yoshinobu yamamoto

who had relieved blake snell in the bottom of the 9th with two on and one out and immediately loaded the bases before inducing that grounder to rojas, closed it out by getting alejandro kirk to hit into a double play started by...

mookie betts

whose 6-3 turn was a joy to behold, and then...

the celebration ensued

as you might expect, ohtani did some things. he was the starting pitcher, but he also had two hits

which made him the second pitcher in history to have multiple hits in a game 7 in which he pitched (dizzy dean is the other, in 1934). both ohtani and dean were 2 for 5 in their game 7s, but dean pitched a shutout in his.

yamamoto was named the series mvp

and...

clayton kershaw

got to go out as a champion

speaking of kersh, i bought a couple of his regular season topps now cards back in september. this one marks his final start at dodger stadium

and this one covers his final regular season start, period

i also bought the topps now world series champions 15 card set like the dutiful (gullible?) fan that i am. i will present those cards with little commentary:

most of the photos are nondescript, which allows topps to keep those better photos for future releases, or short prints within this set. each 15 card set was guaranteed to have a chase card - a numbered parallel, short print (or ssp), or auto/auto-relic. my set came with an ohtani short print

which features a fairly nondescript photo. still decent, though.

2025 was a fun year to be a dodger fan, and mookie's 2022 topps stadium club card says it all

does pat riley still own the copyright to "threepeat"?!

it's rickey is the title

dodger legend rickey henderson has two cards in 2025 panini select - one in the base, concourse level checklist showing him as an oakland athletic, and one in the super (?) short printed diamond level showing him as a los angeles dodger. guess which one i bought?

there haven't been too many of these pop up for sale that i have seen, and i found this one priced with a low buy it now. prices seem to be settling, although the parallels for this card are going for a lot more. here's the back:

the other dodgers included in the diamond level series are hyeseong kim and hall of famers albert pujols and pedro martinez. i might go for base cards of the latter two, but it was rickey that i really wanted.

the only other card from the set i have so far is roy campanella's

campy's concourse level card is much easier to come by than rickey's dodger card in this set, and if i want to add any of rickey's dodger parallels, they will have to come via reasonable buy it now postings. with those, i'll have to be "right on time" because, you know, it's rickey.

bonus content! this showed up today!

i’ve opened a couple of packs and will have a post up this weekend most likely. the 2026 season is nigh!

when topps didn't, gio does

it's been a while since i made a custom card - a couple of years, i think - but i remember enough from my time churning them out that i can say the motivation for making them (customs of the non-art variety) stems from missed opportunities by those who made the real cards. someone was left off of a checklist? make a custom. didn't care for the photo the "real one" used? make a custom. significant event not covered by a highlight or record breaker card? make a custom. rookie not given a card? make a custom. player switched teams and the "wrong" team was represented in a set? make a custom. veteran fan favorite not given a proper send off? make a custom.

those were the reasons i and many others made and make custom cards, and there is none better in the game than gio from when topps had (base)balls. gio takes his creations a step further than most and produces physical, professionally printed sets that are fun to collect.

back in october of 2024, he dropped his "series 18" set that covered all six of the reasons for making customs that i gave above, with fantastic results. let's have a look.

1970 topps bert blyleven

bert made his big league debut in 1970, so could have been included in a later series. he was 19!

1971 topps larry doby and jon matlack

topps hadn't produced stand alone coach cards since the 1950's, but they've had at least one recently in the topps now universe. a doby expos card would have been sweet. as for matlack, he debuted in 1971 and, unlike blyleven, was included as part of a late series release. that card, however, was a three-player rookie card (with old friend ted martinez), so gio gave him his own solo rookie card.

1972 topps rusty staub traded

le grand orange was traded from the expos to the mets on april 5, 1972. that was later than the transactions involving steve carlton, joe morgan, and frank robinson, but still plenty of time for topps to include a traded card in the late series. they chose not to. 

1973 topps sadaharu oh

this is just a straight up "fantasy" card of the japanese legend. oh and the yomiuri giants won their 9th straight title in 1973.

1974 topps graig nettles

gio makes an improvement upon nettles' actual 1974 topps card

1975 topps steve blass and felipe alou

both blass and alou finished their major league careers in april of 1974 and so didn't make the 1975 topps checklist. gio gives them both a proper final tribute send off. i believe the blass is the second 1975 card he's made for blass. as for alou, his brother matty also played his last game in 1974 and was also denied a card. gio corrected that omission as well.

1976 topps red sox combo card

combo cards didn't really make it into the 1970's at topps. they were big in the 60's and have rebounded in the 2000's. having a card of the three red sox stud outfielders is great, similar to the card gio made for the dodgers' 30 home run quartet. i don't think he's tackled the legendary dodger infield yet though!

1977 topps frank robinson and gene tenace

both robinson and tenace were included in the 1977 topps set, but robinson was just a small part of the indians' team card and really deserved a final tribute to salute the end of his playing days in 1976. as for tenace, he received an airbrushed card from topps (and o-pee-chee) in 1977 following his signing with the padres in the offseason. one last look at tenace as an oakland athletic is welcomed!

1978 topps paul molitor and bob horner

a solo rookie card for molitor, who appeared in the set on a 4-in-1 card, and a "missing" rookie card for bob horner. in horner's case, there were no late series or traded or update sets issued in 1978, so it's more of a fantasy card. horner was drafted by the braves on june 6, 1978 and debuted in the big leagues less than two weeks later, going on to be named the national league's rookie of the year. 

gio was kind enough to include two copies of the molitor and horner cards for my 1978 topps master set.

1979 topps tom lasorda and billy martin

freddie patek wasn't the only all-star left without a banner in the 1979 topps set, as the managers of the 1978 midsummer classic were pretty much ignored. lasorda was present on the dodger team card, but martin was no longer the skipper of the yankees when the 1978 season ended so he wasn't in the set at all. i would welcome a return of solo manager cards to topps flagship, along with stadium cards.

here's the bonus card in the set - a 1973 kellogg's willie mays card

complete with stats on the back!

what a fantastic set!

then, last july, gio issued his 1980s career cappers set featuring retired greats who should have been better treated by topps at the end of their careers.

1980 topps jim hunter and lou brock

hunter was shut out in 1980, and brock only got half of a highlight card.

1981 topps willie horton and willie mccovey

horton's big league career ended in 1980, but he played in the pirates' organization for the next two seasons. in fact, his only real 1981 card is a tcma minor league card with the portland beavers, as for mccovey, he at least got a card from fleer in 1981 but nothing from topps or donruss.

1983 topps willie stargell

it's a willie parade! stargell was included in the donruss and fleer sets in '83, but not topps. topps didn't include wilver in their 2018 1983 anniversary insert sets, either.

1984 topps jim kaat, carl yastrzemski, gaylord perry, and johnny bench

three of these four were included on the iconic (yet disappointing) 1984 topps highlight card as retiring legends, but kitty kaat was nowhere to be found in '84 - not even in fleer or donruss. bench and yaz got 1984 all-star design cards from topps in 2019, but not regular cards that would have had their career stats on the back. kaat and perry were omitted altogether.

1985 topps amos otis and jim palmer

there were no cards of either otis or palmer in 1985. seeing otis in topps' 2020 1985 anniversary set would have been a miracle, but i was hoping to see palmer. no dice.

1987 topps george foster, cesar cedeno, and tony perez

the only 1987 card of any of these three stars was perez's 1987 fleer card. none of them were featured by topps in 2017 or 2022, either. it would be nice to see some foster and cedeno cards these days.

1988 topps phil niekro, reggie jackson, and steve garvey

all three of these players were given cards by score in 1988, and reggie also had a fleer card. niekro actually appeared in 1988 topps, but on a highlight card with his brother, joe, and as an indian. he finished his career as a brave, so gio's card is appreciated. 

like me, gio is a proponent of steve garvey as a hall of famer, and per my request, gio added an extra garvey card to my order for my collection. here's the back of garvey's 1988 topps career capper:

i've created a stat back for my version of garvey's card that should have been, with a front that was created by punk rock paint.

1989 topps don sutton, graig nettles, and steve carlton

once again, score to the rescue in 1989, at least by way of cards for sutton and nettles. there were no cards of carlton to be had aside from his baseball talk card (that shows him as a cardinal). sutton at least had a box bottom card, but that's not the same as a final tribute. of the three, a missing nettles card is the biggest head scratcher since he was on the expos roster the entire season. by the way, gio and i used the same photo of old man sutton for our 1989 cards. 

the bonus card in this set was a 1981 topps saduharo oh card

most recntly, gio announced the sale of his 1976 topps "power roll" dice game set. this is a masterpiece. the set includes 25 cards in the 1976 topps style, a pair of six sided dice, two mini pencils, a "wthballs" pinback button, and two pieces of bazooka gum. he went all out, for sure, and the cherry on top is that most of the cards feature verifiable 1976 season action shots, thanks to the presence of the various bicentennial patches on the players' sleeves.

my set took an adventure across the united states before arriving, but it's here and it is glorious. of course, gio added an extra steve garvey card

for my collection which is always appreciated. here's the back of garvey's card:

snake eyes for a garvey home run!

if you like custom cards or just miss the players of the 1970s, i strongly encourage you to check out gio's work.