something about old acquaintances

we are about to enter 2024 and i suppose that means some people somewhere will be singing "auld lang syne". to quote sally albright, "it's about old friends". one old friend that returned to the fold in 2023 was kiké hernandez. he showed up as a dodger in the 2023 topps holiday set and again in 2023 topps heritage high numbers. his card is the lone dodger short print, but i picked it up for not much more than the cost of a regular base card:

the fact that hernandez played for the dodgers just a couple of years ago means that topps has a number of photos already on hand, so his inclusion in these sets is not surprising to me. in fact, topps used that same photo on a previous hernandez card, although they photoshopped him in to a red sox uniform.

they actually did a decent job, too. still, it's good to see the original photo on cardboard.

conversely, even though he too is a dodger double dipper, miguel rojas was a dodger a long time ago and there is no cardboard evidence of his first tenure in dodger blue. he did get a very nice card in high numbers, and is joined below by a very bad photoshop job on gus varland's card, plus the long awaited clayton kershaw 2024 heritage card

the varland card is interesting to me. i mean, topps obviously knew that varland was a dodger, but they didn't know what number he was wearing? he returned to the franchise in may but didn't make his dodger debut until august, so i suppose it is possible that topps created the card in between those dates and took a guess. still, he didn't wear 99 for the brewers earlier in 2023 so i am not sure where that came from

and yes, i said varland "returned" to the dodgers because he was in their system prior to being claimed by the brewers. however, he never pitched at the big league level for the dodgers prior to this season so i don't consider him a double dipper. 

finally, i thought maybe we would get an homage to claude osteen's flamingo pose with kershaw's card, but instead we get a photo that should have been used on a portrait card. 

there are two more landscape cards in the dodger team set - bobby miller and michael busch

of the five shown, the rojas card is the best in my opinion. not sure why topps refuses to show full feet on these cards. i wouldn't mind having doubles of the rojas and miller cards for the dodger stadium collection, too.

topps used similar photos for miguel vargas and j.d. martinez

and these cards are giving me some yin and yang vibes. one features a rookie, at night, in the home whites. the other features a seasoned veteran, in a day game, in the road grays. i am just thankful that none of these cards feature the fake backgrounds we have seen in heritage for the last few years.

the last dodger base card in high numbers is lance lynn

with lynn signing with the cardinals so early in the postseason, i didn't think we would get a dodger card of him, but here we are. he's already an old acquaintance but i was glad to see him included by topps.

not a dodger but another old acquaintance of sorts, stephen strasburg did not pitch in the major leagues in 2023. in fact, he's only appeared in eight games since he helped the nationals win the 2019 world series. despite his efforts, it appeared that his career was over when, late in the 2023 season, the nationals announced that they would hold a retirement news conference for their former ace (including news of a number retirement in 2024). but then, they cancelled and announced that they expected him to serve out his contract.

after all this transpired, it was a surprise to me to see strasburg included in 2023 topps update.

the back of the card tells the story of his career

i think it is likely that this card will be a true final tribute, as it seems he will not make it back to a major league mound in the future. i don't know enough about the contract terms to speculate on the reasons behind the nationals' reversal but it sure wouldn't surprise me if it were somehow financially motivated as it has been reported that there was no insurance policy taken out on his contract.

if strasburg's career is over, he will have unfortunately failed to live up to the ridiculous hype that surrounded his entry in to professional baseball while still compiling one of the best k/9 ratios in history. he had nearly 1,700 strikeouts through his age 30 season and was certainly on pace to pile up a lot more. i wonder what happened to the guy who spent way too much money on his bowman superfractor auto or whatever it was back in 2009 or 2010. it made national news as i recall. maybe that guy has similarly invested in jasson dominguez.

in other news, we are now 80 days away from the dodgers' season opener which will be held in south korea on march 20. here's a 2023 topps now card of emmet sheehan 

to accentuate the 80 day milestone until we have regular season baseball again. it's kind of dumb, though, as spring training will continue for the dodgers and padres after they return from their two game set in south korea. still, it's the 2024 season and it is only 80 days away!