dean of the dodgers

it wasn't too long after justin dean was involved in a memorable play in the 2025 world series that he was waived by the dodgers and picked up by the giants. i recall thinking that there was no chance we would see dean in a dodger uniform on 2026 topps cardboard as a result.

a couple months after that, he was picked up by the cubs. so, i was surprised that 2026 topps heritage came out with dean featured as a dodger on one of the four-in-one rookie cards. then topps series 2 was released, and dean was featured as a cub. i was hopeful that his golden mirror card would be a dodger card with an image from his "hands up" play against the blue jays in game 6 of the world series, similar to how the nationals' darren baker's golden mirror card last year was a giants card from his bat boy experience during the 2002 world series. however, dean's golden mirror card identifites him as a cub.

i still bought the card, however, since he is pictured walking through the lower levels of dodger stadium, past the gold gloves that dodgers have won in the past. it's a unique look at a part of dodger stadium that fits into my dodger stadium background mini collection. i am 99% sure that the glove on the top shelf at the far right of the card is davey lopes', and the one that would be immediately to the right of that (cropped out from the original photo) is steve garvey's

the back is the same as his regular card, except for the gold coloring

later, topps chrome was released, and i was again surprised - but then again, not, given the time that is needed to print and have cards signed - to see dean as a dodger in the autograph insert set

i made adding this card a high priority and eventually found one for a very low price. here's the back

which has all the same information as his flagship card, except for the team affiliation and transaction information around his arrival in chicago.

of course, the title "dean of the dodgers" makes me think of bill russell, thanks to the 1986 topps card 

that applied that moniker to him on the back.

i picked up a new to me russell card a few months back - a 2017 topps rediscover topps buyback of his 1985 topps card

it's a silver foil version, which sort of conflicts with all of the gold that preceded it in this post, but oh well.