he went everywhere

raul mondesi was no longer a dodger when i pulled this card from a pack in 2002

that's one of many team variation cards donruss/leaf included in their 2002 rookies & stars set, showing players with their former teams as well as current ones. it was kind of neat to find a paul konerko dodger card in 2002, but i liked the mondesi the most. largely due to the very visible manny mota heroes patch he sported back in 1999.

while he was a dodger, mondesi was included in a bunch of insert sets, and i finally added his 1995 pinnacle red hot card

to my collection. at the time this card was released, mondesi was my favorite dodger but i wasn't buying pinnacle so i really didn't know about this card until a couple of years ago when i found the mike piazza.  here's another new to me mondesi insert i picked up a few months ago - 2000 topps chrome power players

it's a parallel of the regular power players inserts from flagship, and i was ignorant of its existence for a couple of decades.

back to that leaf card up top - mondesi was a blue jay to start the 2002 season (having been traded straight up for shawn green a couple of years prior), and he has a card showing him in blue jay gear. however, the set was issued late enough in the season such that mondesi's base card shows him with the yankees who acquired him on july 1 that year.

after that, he moved on to the diamondbacks, pirates, and angels before finishing his career with the braves in 2005. six teams in four years is a lot of movement even if it's not quite to the level of what kenny lofton did over his last few seasons. this sort of knowledge comes in handy sometimes when i see the diamondbacks pop up on the immaculate grid.

one more card of mondesi that i was oblivious to until last fall is this 1998 donruss days card

it was apparently some sort of hobby dealer redemption card, and mondesi is one of 14 subjects in the set. thanks to comc for this one - i bought it the same day i learned of its existence. and, speaking of days, only 43 (see what i did there?) left until the dodgers and padres kick off the 2024 season!