taking all betts

well, to be clear, I am not looking for all of mookie betts' cards, just the ones showing him as a dodger. i am off to a good start with my one topps now purchase, plus this fantastic blue big league parallel

this one came to me from p-town tom as part of a recent trade package that helped me complete my big league set. the package also included mookie's base card

which was one that eluded me in my two-box break.  there is no doubt that this is an actual image of dodger-mookie thanks to the spring training crowd and jersey, but most importantly the presence of the nike logo on the right shoulder.

i also had to find betts' series 2 card online as it wasn't found in the box that i opened.

topps was so anxious to get betts in to series 2 rather than wait for update that they took the same photo that they used for his opening day card 

and airbrushed him in to dodger blue. kudos to them for adding the all-star game patch, but they missed the tell-tale nike swoosh. still, not a bad job. this is the reverse of what topps did in 2006 with nomar's card - he was a cub in series 1 and was photoshopped in to a dodger uniform for opening day with topps using the same photo. 

back to the cards from p-town tom...

one of the cards that i needed for my set was this javier baez card

this is an early contender for my favorite card of the year. when i first saw it, i thought it was a multi-exposure image, but then recognized it as baez parroting kris bryant's actions in the foreground. that, plus the fantastic busch stadium murals in the background make for a great card. i enjoy the fact that baez is keeping alive the ss/3b shenanigans that elvis andrus pioneered with adrian beltre a few years ago.

a couple of other cool cards from tom - kevin kiermaier

this is some great alignment between the player and the outfield wall graphics. it looks comic book-ish and i like it very much. it reminds me of torii hunter's all-star game catch in 2002 that aligned very well with the miller park graphics.

it's too bad that image hasn't been made in to a card (at least as far as i am aware).

here's one more from tom - it's gavin lux's card

while not an exciting image, it is one that we probably wouldn't see in flagship except as a photo variation given it is lux in warmup attire.

in addition to the set needs that tom sent, i have a couple of orange parallels from my boxes to show, along with some mini collection hits that i've picked up. first is this joc pederson orange parallel

that showcases his home run trot from the 2109 nlds. joc has 7 postseason home runs to his credit at this point, including 3 big ones in the 2017 world series.

next is one of the league leader cards featuring clayton kershaw

given kershaw's fall from number one ace status, it was nice to be reminded that he still led the dodgers in wins last season and was 7th overall in the league in era and whip. that's still pretty ace to me.

some of the cards i added to my mini collections include these michael chavis

orlando arcia

and jose altuve

double play cards, plus this carlos correa

tatooine card.

and finally, hank aaron makes an appearance for the second year in a row on christian yelich's award winners card

i suppose joe torre is there, too, but this card goes in to the lurker collection thanks to hammerin' hank.

thank you tom! i hope you received the cards i sent and that you are close to completing your big league set!