pretty fly for an insert set

i was pretty interested in the "city to city" insert set in 2024 topps series 2. my interest waned a bit when i found out that not all 30 teams (and their local airports) were represented, and i was even less interested when i saw that the topographical background was the same on all of the cards. having an airport specific photo or map (as bowman international parallels used to have) doesn't seem like a heavy lift.  still, i was interested enough in the cards to add as many as i could find featuring airports that i have flown to and from.

first up is one of the dodgers featured in the set, with lax (los angeles international) as the airport

i flew for the first time when i was just a month or two old, but i won't count that. the next time i flew was from lax. 

first flight: june 1988

most recent flight: november 2024

it is probably the airport i've used the most outside of msp, although there are a couple of others that are climbing the charts.

here's mike trout and sna (john wayne)

my first real job after college was for a firm in newport beach, just up the road from john wayne. it is orange county's main airport and so is associated with the team from anaheim

first flight: 1992

most recent flight: 2012

flying out of john wayne is an experience. due to noise issues they cut engines during climbing, or at least they used to.

evan carter represents dfw (dallas-fort worth)

that flight from john wayne in 1992 took me to dfw

first flight: june 1992 

recent flight: feb 2011

my most recent flight involving dfw was for a conference in fort worth. one night we went to the stockyards which was fun. i had a fantastic margarita as i recall.

ronald acuna jr is here for the atl (hartsfield-jackson atlanta international)

dfw was just a layover en route to atlanta on that trip in 1992. hartsfield is, by the way, the world's busiest airport.

first flight: june 1992

most recent flight: july 2024

i most recently flew in and out of atlanta this past summer when i stopped in to catch a ballgame.

adley rutschman is representing bwi (baltimore/washington international thurgood marshall airport)

i flew to baltimore from the west coast and so went to bwi rather than reagan national (one of the airports missing from this set)

first flight: 1993

most recent flight: july 1999

in 1999 i flew into baltimore and we proceeded to drive up to new hampshire after spending some time in the queen city

here's bos (boston logan international) with ceddanne rafaela on the card

topps seems really committed to rafaela

first flight: july 1999

most recent flight: june 2004 (may 2025!)

that backend of my trip from baltimore to new hampshire ended with a flight out of logan. i last flew to/from boston in 2004 to see the dodgers play the red sox at fenway, but i have a trip planned for may of next year that will include a bosox game if i can swing it.

julio rodriguez is featured on the card for sea (seattle-tacoma international)

i always thought it was officially sea-tac but i guess that's just the location of the airport. i first flew there as a stop prior to driving into british columbia, but i forget which month exactly and am too lazy to dive into my photo archives to find out

first flight: 1996

most recent flight: august 2008

that most recent flight came after a work trip to portland. i drove from portland to seattle to catch the twins playing the mariners and flew home from sea-tac.

here's my now-local airport, msp (minneapolis saint paul international), represented by carlos correa

i first flew to the twin cities for a wedding. at the time, i had no idea that i would eventually live here.

first flight: july 1996

most recent flight: november 2024

i have flown from and to this airport many, many times. i wish i had kept track of all of my flights, but i know the most recent one because it happened today!

san (san diego international) is represented by fernando tatis jr

there was a time when i flew to san diego fairly often

first flight: december 1997

most recent flight: january 2020

the last time i flew there was just a stopover on the way to hawaii.

chicago has a couple of airports with ord (chicago o'hare international) being the north side airport, so we get a cub on the card. specifically, pete crow-armstrong

i've been to wrigley twice, and my first visit to chicago was to specifically see the dodgers play there

first flight: april 1998

most recent flight: may 2009

one of my favorite airport codes is toronto's (yyz), and its card features vladimir guerrero jr

toronto was not the first canadian city i had flown to, but it is the one i've flown to most often now.

first flight: april 2000

most recent flight: june 2016

it's a great city and the fact that it's been eight years since i've visited is something i will work to rectify.

sfo (san francisco international) is one of my favorite airports. topps chose marco luciano for the card

i used to have family in the bay area and so would fly out that way to see them. lately i've flown into sfo and taken the opportunity to drive down the coast to southern california

first flight: september 2003

most recent flight: october 2023

i may be heading out towards the end of the year, but not fully certain yet.

here's the other chicago airport, mdw (chicago midway international) with luis robert jr on the card

back when i worked at a place that had a significant presence in chicago, i would typically fly to midway and hop on the orange line to get downtown.

first flight: july 2004

most recent flight: may 2006

that last flight out of midway was at the end of a business trip during which i took in a game at whatever comiskey was called at that time.

the first time i flew to mci (kansas city international) i wound up not using my ticket to fly out. here's bobby witt jr on the card for that airport

after flying to midway for the first time, i flew to kansas city to meet up with some friends and go to a royals game

first flight: july 2004

recent flight: august 2024

the most recent trip to kc was for work, but the royals weren't in town.

i've been to houston a few times, and i always fly into iah (george h. w. bush international) which is represented by alex bregman

most of my trips to houston involved work in some fashion, including my first flight 

first flight: february 2006

most recent flight: september 2024

i've seen a couple of games at minute maid park (or is it only the one?) and my recent trips seem to coincide with the astros being out of town

jazz chisholm isn't with the marlins any longer, but he's on the card repping mia (miami international)

i've flown to/from miami a few times now, usually as a gateway to the caribbean which was the case with my first flight there

first flight: feb 2007

most recent flight: december 2022

in between those flights i've also flown there to stay in florida - a week in the keys ten years ago or so

cvg (cincinnati/northern kentucky international) is actually in kentucky. elly de la cruz is on its card

i've only flown there once, and it was for work. this was the trip where i got to see matt kemp play for the reds and hit his lone home run of the season

only flight: april 2019

i took a cab into cincy and when we got across the river the guy said "welcome to ohio". i didn't realize i had been in kentucky.

later that year i scheduled a stopover in phoenix after leaving southern california. here's corbin carroll for phx (phoenix sky harbor international)

it was hot, but i got to see a game at the bank or whatever they are calling that stadium

only flight: sep 2019

i also met up with a blogger that night!

jose ramirez represents cle (cleveland hopkins international)

just as with cincy, i've only flown into cleveland once, and it was for work

only flight: august 2021

a friend and i caught a game at the jake and then drove to columbus.

next up is junior caminero on the card for tpa (tampa international)

i've only flown in and out of tampa once

only flight: june 2023

i did get to the trop for a game during that trip, which was all vacation, no work.

it's sort of the same deal for milwaukee, which has christian yelich on the card for mke (milwaukee mitchell international)

except that i flew in and out of milwaukee last summer

only flight: august 2023

and i didn't see a game on that trip (which was for work). the only games i've seen in milwaukee were arrived at by a road trip. so, maybe not like tampa at all.

so there you have 21 of the 30 cards in the set. there are some teams that have multiple cards in the set, and some that have zero, which blows my mind. 30 teams, 30 cards, 30 airports (ok maybe 29 becuase of new york and both teams being closest to laguardia). 

the missing teams and airports are the nationals/dca (reagan national), rockies/den (denver international), and tigers/dtw (detroit metropolitan wayne county). i've flown to/from reagan and denver and through detroit. dtw is probably the airport that i've spent the least amount of time in - just a quick layover during which i had to run between gates.

teams/airports that i don't have in my collection are yankees/lga (laguardia), mets/lga (laguardia), a's/oak (oakland international), phillies/phl (philadelphia international), pirates/pit (pittsburgh international), and cardinals/stl (st. louis lambert international). both times i've flown to new york i've used jfk, and my one trip to st. louis was a road trip. and, i've flown to sacramento but not oakland, and that doesn't count with this set.

i do have plans to get to those other stadiums i've missed, so i may yet be adding lga, phl, and pit to my collection. stay tuned!