moving on...line

it's no secret that topps has moved much of their business online this year, through their anthology, topps now, and thursday throwback brands (all three of which i have purchased cards from, although mostly via the secondary market).  i did not pay attention to the online only stuff prior to this year, and i don't know that i will pay it much mind next year.  however, i was intrigued enough by topps now to buy into it this year, and my main man steve garvey was featured in the anthology and thursday throwback sets, so i sought out those cards.

the garv most recently made an appearance in the online exclusive 2016 topps archives snapshots set, and here is his card to prove it.

there's a black and white parallel, plus an auto (i have the b&w, but not the auto).  this is a decent idea as far as using some of the discarded photos topps photographers amassed back in the 70's and 80's that have been peddled on ebay through the topps vault.  however, it looks to me like this is the same photo topps used for garvey's 1976 card.

sigh.

the anthology cards i purchased were essentially reprints of garvey's 1971 topps card, and the throwback thursday card he was featured on was a 1975 topps style card featuring his 1974 and 1978 topps cards (he was the mvp of the all-star game both of those years).  while this archives card is new, it is also recycled, and so i don't really know why i bother anymore.

as an aside, i had meant to post this last saturday, as a way of bringing garvey to the internet around the time that the dodgers and cubs were playing game 6, since garvey has had a way of disrupting the hopes and dreams of cubs fans in potential nlcs clinchers.  unfortunately, i didn't post it, and the cubs won, and i suppose it's my fault.  i will admit that i caught cubs fever in 1984 (i was a ryno fan, too, and even started collecting cubs topps team sets from 1970 on) right up until they faced off against the padres and garvey in the nlcs. then i was rooting for the padres, and was pleased as punch when the garv hit his game 4 walk-off to force a 5th game.

i was somewhat down on sunday due to the premature end to the dodgers' season, but i've already moved on, as i didn't have high hopes this postseason anyway.  there is some serious work to do by the dodger front office, but i won't presume to lay out a plan that they could follow.  i just know i will be disappointed if kenley jansen is a giant in 2017. just like i'm sure i'll be disappointed in topps' online offerings.