fetch...the comfy chair!

when panini lost their license from the mlbpa, my first thought was that they would not issue any more baseball products. that was a pretty naive thought, and when i saw that a donruss release was on the calendar for 2023 (with a few mock-ups), i figured it would feature a bunch of retired players and steeled myself for a boatload of steve garvey parallels to hit the market a la 2021.

when i first saw the checklist, i was surprised to see the garv not included, and when i saw that rafael furcal was getting a dodger card in the set, my reaction was "i did not expect that!". then, of course, my mind went immediately to "nobody expects the spanish inquisition!". it's not a direct parallel to the monty python sketch, but that is how my mind tends to work.

i found a cheap team break to join, and sure enough, i was sent a 2023 card featuring rafael furcal as a dodger

the best thing about this release is that, apparently, panini no longer feels the need to color the dodgers' front-of-the-jersey number blue. i was pretty happy to see the red numbers on these cards!

the other dodger to get the 1990-ish design treatment as a "retro" subset subject is duke snider

who is also subject to some shenanigans with a reverse image parallel, as two of these next three cards attest

the middle card is the independence day parallel, and the holo reds are numbered again this year. parallels of variations are dumb, but i guess they expand the checklist so more cards can be printed.

the 2023 donruss set is broken up in to diamond kings, rated prospects, retired guys, and retired guys in a retro design.  here are some of the other dodger retired guys

babe herman

this guy hit .393 for the brooklyn robins in 1930, but that happened to be the year that bill terry hit .401. stupid giants players.

great to see jim gilliam get a card in 2023 that isn't the same old diamond kings card

and i would love to see that image in color. it would have been fantastic as his 1957 topps card with that ebbets field background.

a couple of the dodgers' rated prospects are michael busch

and bobby miller

both of whom have spent time with the big club in 2023, perhaps a bit ahead of schedule.

my break netted me some parallels of these two as well - blue holo for miller

and "america" for busch

that america parallel is numbered to 50, but the icon is just the lower 48 states.

i wound up with the duke snider elite series insert, too

there's a lot going on there.

it was a pretty solid team break for me, but it failed to include one of the retired guys that i really wanted to add to my collection - don sutton.

i sought out some cheap parallels for the hurler, including his holo orange,

"red holo", 

"liberty",

"on fire",

and "voltage"

parallels.

that last one is numbered to 25 but i got it for about $2.50. not bad. plus, the guy who sold me the red holo threw in the base

for free!

i was happy to see panini use old man sutton with his perm. that's the don sutton i remember. and, as odd as it sounds, this is my favorite non-steve garvey dodger card of the year. meaning, it has made me the happiest to obtain - not the best looking card. we will see if it holds that status at year's end.

i was so pleased with my team break and sutton additions, that i actually bought a pack of this stuff at target. i didn't get any of the other dodgers i was missing, but i did add some cards for my "name/number on the back" mini-collection. 

johnny bench

mark mcgwire

and pete rose

i actually really like that rose card - i confess!

in a similar vein, i walked to my mailbox early last week and was shocked to find a sase inside. i had not sent out a direct ttm request for years, but there was a return in my hands. my initial thought was "i did not expect to see one of these ever again" and so this 1978 topps card signed by don carrithers

also qualifies for this post. all told, it took 1,041 days for this card to find its way back to me. still far shorter a time than the spanish inquisition was in place. what a surprise, which as it turns out, is the chief weapon, or at least one of the main weapons, of the inquisition, along with fear, ruthless efficiency, and an almost fanatical devotion to the pope.

thanks don! and "donruss"!