a different chrome priority

back in march i shared my prioritization of picking up dodger chrome parallels from topps heritage releases. since then, i have focused on other chrome pickups - primarily the topps all-time fan favorites refractors issued from 2003 through 2005.

i had some of these in hand already, but over the past few months i have brought my collection to the brink of completion concerning these parallels numbered to 299. let's take a look at some of them.

2003

ron cey

i scanned the backs of some of these cards - here's cey's

i appreciate that these cards show just the dodger stats. 

tommy john

interesting that topps used a 1976 photo for john on a 1979 design card.

the what happened? question there is the same one that was on john's actual 1979 topps card.

don newcombe

i don't know, or don't recall at this point, how topps chose designs for players in this set. newk, of course, was the 1956 cy young award winner as well as the mvp of the national league so this design makes some sense as a choice for him. 

tom lasorda

i remember being disappointed when this set was released that topps didn't make this a manager card instead of a pitcher card. they used photos of lasorda from his managing years, so it would have made sense. there were some manager cards in the 1954 set, so it wouldn't have been outside of canon.

johnny podres

both podres and lasorda are rocking los angeles dodger hats on brookly dodger-era card designs

so is duke snider

the 1955 design makes sense for the duke, who had a strong case for mvp that year. having him shown as a brooklyn dodger would have made more sense. here's his card back:

someone at topps can't do math, as his "dodgers life" stats don't reflect his actual franchise totals. for example, he had 1,995 hits as a dodger, to go along with 389 home runs and 1,271 rbi. those latter two numbers are more in line with what you would expect from a franchise's all-time leader (which snider remains).

don sutton

he's suttoning!

topps ignored sutton's return to the dodgers in 1988 in terms of the text on the back of the card, but acknowledged it as part of his statistical record. 

maury wills

wills' actual 1970 topps card features him wearing a hat. this is not an improvement over that card.

i realize that stolen bases weren't a card back stat in 1970, but in wills' case it would have been nice for topps to make that add.

steve sax

classic saxy

the other dodger in this set (not shown) is steve garvey (with a 1973 design card), and while i have a refractor as part of my garvey pc, i am in need of another one for the team set. 

all of the players featured above are shown on card designs for which there were already real-time dodger cards issued. i would have preferred to see wills as a dodger on a 1968 design, or cey on a standalone 1973 design card. missed opportunities by topps to fill in gaps in some players' records.

2004

brett butler

butler was a dodger in the 1991 topps traded set. 1991 was good for butler - he led the league in runs scored and walks that year. and times caught stealing, if i am being fair.

kirk gibson

1988 would have been a more obvious choice for gibson's card

orel hershiser

bulldog did get the 1988 design for his card. what i like most about this card - the base version especially - is roy campanella (partially obscured) in the background.

duke snider

topps advanced duke's card design by a year, but put him back in brooklyn where he belongs on a 1956 design card. they even kept his unique black/orange color combo!

don zimmer

this image would have fit right in with the rest of the 1957 topps set. here's the back:

topps went with zimmer's brooklyn totals rather than his dodger totals. he played with the los angeles dodgers for a short time in 1963. a dodger double dipper!

maury wills

all of the cards we've seen from the 2004 set (and the next one, too) feature dodgers who already had dodger cards from the year of their fan favorites design. this wills, however, puts him as a dodger whereas he was a pirate in 1967.

reggie smith

reggie's was the last one i needed to complete the team set.

the dodgers won three pennants with smith on the roster, but i suppose he didn't contribute a whole lot to the 1981 pennant due to injuries. still, he was the right fielder of the team of my youth and deserves more respect from topps!

davey lopes and charlie hough are the other two dodgers in the 2004 team set. i had both of their cards in my collection well before i began this pursuit. for the record, steve garvey was a padre in this set, but sadly not shown on the 1988 card design (1984 was used).

2005

roger craig

i assure you that craig had two arms and two legs, despite what you see on the card above.

bob welch

this card gives 1982 topps dave stewart vibes

johnny podres

podres on a 1955 design feels right. here's the back:

in the text on the back, topps forgets that podres pitched for tigers and padres at the end of his career.

steve garvey

it doesn't feel right to have an in-focus photo on the 1974 topps design for the garv. this is one of two of these cards i have in my collection. here's the back:

garvey did not, in fact, have 2021 hits in 1978, nor did he have 2001 hits in 1980.

joe pignatano

pignatano was a bit of a surprise to me when this set came out, but i like it. his actual 1959 topps card is a nice one, with the los angeles coliseum in the background. here's the back:

the comic is the same as on his 1959 topps card, but the text justification here is much wonkier.

tom niedenfuer

this is the most recent refractor i have picked up for this effort. i sometimes joke about niedenfuer (he's a pitcher the dodgers "niedenfuer" games) but he was a solid reliever over the balance of his career.

baseball reference doesn't show niedenfuer on the franchise leaderboard for era (i assume too few innings) but i do know that he has fallen at least a couple of spots from fourth-best ever by a dodger with 300+ games thanks to kenley jansen and clayton kershaw. 

i still need two refractors to complete the team set - carl erskine and clem labine - but i have the other four not shown here. those belong to dusty baker, rick monday, pedro guerrero, and duke snider.

out of all of the cards from the three year run of this release, only the 1967 maury wills card features a player with the dodgers when they were shown with a different team in the original release. again, i think this was a missed opportunity.

there are other chrome cards i've added to my collection over the last several months. one of them is this 2002 topps traded & rookies chrome steve garvey refractor

it's the only refractor parallel i have from that set (and it's the second one in my collection) but i always like bringing a new garvey card into the team collection.

i did complete the 2013 topps chrome refractor parallel dodger team set by purchasing these three cards

and i completed the 2015 topps chrome pink refractor parallel dodger team set by adding these three cards

plus clayton kershaw's card

kershaw's prism refractor 

was also the last one i needed for that parallel dodger team set. i still need four of the sepia refractors, so maybe that will be the next pursuit.

finally, here are three random-ish cards from 2024 topps chrome update - gavin stone refractor

jack flaherty prism refractor

and kevin kiermaier raywave refractor

i am a long way from completing any of those team sets, but i'll keep picking away at it as opportunities arise. stay tuned!