getting in to the game just once

in a 2020 move, 2020 leaf in the game used sports was released in 2021.  have you ever looked at cardboard connection's new release calendar? i use it as my primary source for upcoming card sets, preview images, and checklists - it's great. however, over the last couple of years i've been watching many releases slide down the calendar over time. last year, the pandemic was the assumed primary cause which is totally understandable, but why, for example, has the 2019 upper deck chasing amy set slid from 2019 to 2020 and now to 2021 (i see that it is now renamed 2021 upper deck chasing amy)? i have no interest in the set, but i am curious. are they waiting to get signed cards back from jay and/or silent bob? anyway, i hadn't seen the latest 'in the game used sports' release show up on the 2020 calendar at any point in time, but there it was in 2021 a week or so in to the new year.

steve garvey was featured in both the 2018 and 2019 releases, so i took a look at the checklist and found that, once again, the garv was included on a few different cards. as i culled the checklist to add to my garvey want list, i was again stunned by the number of parallels. garvey is featured on four unique cards, each of which have 7 different parallels. that's 32 cards from one release. no worries - i had previously decided to really only look for one example of each unique card from these types of leaf and panini releases. i was able to pick up the quartet fairly quickly, and without further ado, here they are!

the fantastic franchise (padres) #/35

this is the "base" version. all four cards have the highest print run/base version set at 35 copies. this one is pretty colorful, thanks to the variety of padre uniforms shown for each player, as well as each swatch embedded in the card. we know that tony gwynn's swatch comes from a pads jersey, and it is pretty clear that joe carter's does as well. the dave winfield piece is likely from a yankee jersey, while the gaylord perry swatch must be from his time as a mariner (the ancient mariner, as it were). ozzie smith's piece is from his cardinal days, and roberto alomar's is a met pinstripe. ken caminiti's bat could be from any of his stops (san diego, houston, texas, maybe even atlanta), and i would guess that garvey's swatch is from a dodger jersey.

you can't really tell from the scan, but that card is actually numbered 6/35, so it's garvey's uniform number to boot (ebay 1/1 and all that). the seller did not put a premium on it and instead had a reasonable buy it now price that i was able to accept quickly, which is really the only way i add garvey cards numbered 6 of whatever to my collection.

the fantastic franchise (dodgers) #/7

this is considered the platinum blue parallel. there's a span of dodger history here from brooklyn to today, which is nice. four rookies of the year, a couple of mvp's, and a couple of cy young winners. i would guess that the mike piazza swatch is from a mets alternate jersey, but it is reasonable to think that garvey, fernando valenzuela, eric karros, and hideo nomo all have dodger uniforms featured. the karros even has a bit of red thread, which is nice. the tom lasorda, walt alston, and clayton kershaw relics are certainly of dodger origin.

decade vs. decade #/12

here's where leaf goes off the rails a little bit. first, they messed up the reggie jackson jersey image by using a packers jersey of reggie white! white does show up on a couple of cards in the set, but he shouldn't be on this one, obviously. this card is supposed to pit players from the 70's against players from the 80's, but thurman munson is the only one who played in the 70's but (sadly) didn't appear in at least six seasons in the 80's. don mattingly, rickey henderson, and cal ripken are good choices for the 80's, and it looks like george brett is also repping that decade, even though he played a lot in the 70's.  it's not perfect execution, but i get what leaf was going for here. i've noticed that mattingly has some other relic cards in the set that feature dodger duds, so i am guessing that his swatch here is not from his playing days. reggie's could be from his angel or second a's stints, but i would guess that the other six come from the teams you would expect (no doubt about the munson, ripken, or brett swatches, for sure).

and hey - it's another card numbered 6/xx! same deal - reasonable buy it now allowed me to score the garvey ebay 1/1.

moniker matchups #/12

if you haven't guessed, the cards numbered to 12 are the purple foil parallels. here, we get to see an actual person on the card, likely thanks to pete rose's agreement with leaf. as the name of the subset implies, the nicknames of rose and garvey are prominently displayed here. charlie hustle was one of the first baseball nicknames i learned, and mr. clean is certainly the nickname i associate most with garvey - not "popeye" or "senator" that have shown up on other cards over the years.

i think leaf did a good job with these. rose and garvey match up well as contemporaries from their nl west rivalry as well as their career overlap. reggie jackson is featured in this subset, too, but garvey was matched up with him last year (thanks to their careers both ending in 1987), so i am glad to see someone new with him. there are some other nice matchups in the set, like rickey henderson/tim raines, stan musial/willie mays, and nolan ryan/tom seaver, as well as a couple that made me think for a moment. those include dwight gooden and roy halladay (both have "doc" as their nicknames) and greg maddux and orel hershiser (mad dog and bulldog). nicely done, leaf.

ok. so, i lied. i wound up pulling the trigger on another one of the dodgers' fantastic franchise cards - the red foil #/3

some decent patch parts for lasorda and karros (red patch!), plus some piping for nomo. i couldn't resist!